browser compatibility

Yep I always have to use IE for LEED Online.

But, just to make your head spin, the USGBC.org website does not work properly on IE -- I always have to use Chrome.

Emily - I've only used IE for LEED Online myself because it consistently has worked over the years. I reached out to USGBC Technology team to see if they have any insight into the Firefox change.

Erica - You are correct. USGBC was very clear when they revised its website years ago that it was optimized for Chrome. With IE, you can't see some of the symbols and icons (for videos for instance).

I wanted to take the opportunity to point out an Adobe issue that I noticed after reading Emily's post. When I ran Check System Requirements, I got an red X on Adobe Reader with the message: "LEEDOnline is not compatible with the latest Adobe Acrobat Reader DC version, please uninstall and install the Adobe Reader XI. Please click the link to install the Adobe Reader XI - https://get.adobe.com/reader/otherversions/." I don't have Adobe Reader DC - I have Adobe Acrobat Pro DC. I asked USGBC Technology if DC will ever be compatible.

I'll post more when I hear back.

Wanted to share this update from USGBC Technology team:

For those of you using Firefox 52, when you click Check System Requirements (https://lo.usgbc.org/index/systemRequirements) from the LEED Online log in page (https://lo.usgbc.org/), you should see the message: Firefox 52 onwards NPAPI Plugins (https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/software/mozilla-to-drop-support-f...) support has been dropped, so you may use the Firefox ESR (https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/organizations/) release to continue to work with Adobe Plugin.

Emily - I don't have Firefox installed so I would be curious if you see this. USGBC Technology told me they had already updated the System Requirements in anticipation of the release of Firefox 52.

Regarding Adobe Reader DC, I was told USGBC is not supporting it as there is an issue accessing the web content from the plugin that is blocked.

Emily - I'm glad that this helped!

I reached out again to USGBC Technology team about the DC issue because it affects me (and I'm sure other LEEDusers). I haven't heard back yet. I'm trying to get USGBC Technology to tell me if Acrobat Pro DC has the same problems as Adobe Reader DC as far as blocked content.

I am curious if you have Adobe Reader 11 (XI) installed in addition Acrobat Pro DC. And if so, if it works ok. I hadn't noticed the incompatibility issue until you posted last week - mainly because the forms seemed to work ok in DC. (I upgraded Acrobat Pro X over the holidays.)

Emily - Thanks for sharing that information. I finally got confirmation from USGBC that neither Adobe Reader nor Acrobat Pro DC are supported within LEED Online forms for Windows users with Internet Explorer.

I thought that things were working fine with just Acrobat Pro DC since I upgraded from Acrobat Pro X in in December but did have some glitches. When I heard back from USGBC and researched that both Reader and Acrobat can be simultaneously installed (http://blogs.adobe.com/pdfitmatters/2011/09/installing-both-reader-and-a...), I decided to install Reader 11 (XI) and get LEED Online back in the green.

So far so good for me since the installation. Hope things are going well for you too.

Hi Emily - I am sorry to hear of your LEED Online woes. 

It's a bummer that Adobe removed the 2011 blog post that I referenced above.

I followed the link from Check System Requirements in LEED Online for Internet Explorer for getting Adobe XI - https://get.adobe.com/reader/otherversions/. Unfortunately Adobe only offers Acrobat Reader DC now. I reached out to the USGBC Technology team to see if they have any ideas because their current guidance to users is no longer valid.

While I have not personally used the information in this link for Acrobat vs. Reader - https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1866645 - you might check it out.

On another note, due to changing circumstances in my personal and professional life, I am no longer the LEEDuser Expert for this forum. While I'm not going away, I'm also not going to be keeping up with this forum on a regular basis.

But I WILL report back if I hear from the Technology team.

As per my opinion, you do not change your Mozilla Firefox settings, I must say you have to check your browser settings and enable other devices option. If still, you cannot resolve this issue so I will recommend this link https://www.browsertechnicalsupportnumbers.com/mozilla-firefox-support/

I use Blubeam for all of my work, except for offline LOL forms (which I use Adobe).  It sounds like your Blubeam was interfering with the live LOL forms on IE(?)

Have you found a solution to being able to use LOL forms offline with Blubeam?

Emily, I am trying to use LOL for the first time on a new computer (in Windows 10), and I am encountering the "Form render issues detected with this browser" error message that you spoke of.  I never had this problem on my old Windows 7 machine.

I tried using Google Chrome - same issue.

I tried using Firefox - same issue.

I tried the Revu fix link that you gave above - same issue.

I tried manually setting Adobe as my default .pdf and .pdfxml - same issue.

I am about to try taking a sledgehammer to my computer .... Can you please help? 

Is there any way that I can actually use LOL on a Windows 10 machine?

thank you very much

Update:
I just figured out that I was, in fact, using "Microsoft Edge" (whatever that is), and not Internet Explorer. I had just assumed they changed the look of the IE icon in Windows 10.
So, now I am using the real IE, and LEED Online is working!!!
So it appears that IE is the only LOL-compatible browser for Windows 10.

We save blank copies of the LEED Online forms.  For some reason, a number of our consultants are unable to access the LEED Online forms from LOL, but have no problems using the saved pdf versions (which are also interactive). That's our fallback. Dreading the day when IE gets pulled...

Has anyone heard USGBC give any guidance/timeline as to when they will finally make LEED Online browser-agnostic? 

Hi Todd!  I have reached out to my technical support contact at USGBC in hopes of getting an update.  As soon as I hear back, I will post here and update the LEEDUser community.

Note: Making Bluebeam my default pdf viewer for Internet Explorer just solved sudden Browser incompatibility issues.

Hi All.  I have had several conversations with technical support for LEED Online and wanted to provide the latest update I have received.  A new integrated platform for LEED Online will be released (already is released with LEED v4.1) that does not take issue with any web browser. It is compatible with all web browsers.  There is a plan currently in place to transition LEED v4 projects to this new platform, but the timeline of this transition has not yet been released.  LEED v2009 projects, due to their age, sunset, and amount of work involved, will not be transitioned to the new platform.  I personally have been utilizing offline forms for well over a year, so I am very excited about the integrated platform.  I highly recommend that for any new projects you are planning to register that you do so under the LEED v4.1 rating system.  LEED v4.1 is not too far of a stretch from LEED v4 and offers a much better user experience for LEED Online.

Hi everyone. Sorry to resurrect this issue, but I'm having the same problem with being unable to open forms on LEED Online. The form begins to load ("Initializing..."), but never loads. "Form save issues detected with this browser" shows at the top of the screen. Been working with my firm's IT and we still can't figure it out. I am using IE, and the compatibility check shows no issues. Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks!

Hi Dane! 

Same for me... Can't make it work. My credit form it does load, but I cannot save it, same  "Form save issues detected with this browser" message at the top of the screen.

Let me know if you find a solution. Thanks!

Thanks Emily. I haven't tried the Bluebeam method yet, but I do have another workaround that seems to be working so far:

If I launch Adobe Acrobat DC prior to logging into LEED Online, the forms seem to behave properly.

Hi all!

I have tried both of your solutions, but none of them is working for me... I suppose it is a Bluebeam issue, since I recently got it (2019 version) but the Internet Explorer box is was already not checked in Plugins tab! I checked it and then unchecked it, and restarted BB and IE a few times, but still does not work...!

I will keep trying! Thanks for your posts!

I did, but still does not work.

I will keep trying...Thank you all for your advice!

Maria, did you end up finding a solution? I have run into a similar issue.

I have been opening foms just fine in IE and then a few days ago the forms would load. I get the "Initializing..." with partial but stuck loading progress bar, then eventually the "Form save issues detected with this browser" error appears at the top and the form never loads.

I tried all of Emily's tricks with Revu and IE settings (thank you!) but still no luck.

When I check my browser compatibility in IE at the LEED Online login page all boxes are checked with green check mark.

Anyone have any other tricks to try? Or a helpful contact with LEED technical support? 

I just checked LEED Online and am STILL able to  access the Credit forms. I have had the "initializing" fail in the past - just keep trying, and good luck!

Thanks Emily, love your lead-in (funny not funny), I'm very familiar with that show. Yesterday, I remembered that late last week some Windows updates were installed on my machine so my suspicion is that is what messed things up. I reached out to LEEDcoach and will connect with my IT team and report any resolution. Let me know if you figure anything out on your end.

Here is the feedback I received today from GBCI:

"LEED forms render via NPAPI plugins. However, latest version of browsers have stopped supporting Adobe Reader NPAPI Plug-In.

We have been working to make all v4.1 version web-based to overcome these challenges and future LEED versions will be web-based. For v2009 and v4 form version we suggest to use offline form with latest version of Adobe reader DC as the solution.

In the offline mode, project team can download the credit forms on computer, work on those and upload them back to LEED Online. Anyone working on any credit form will see the latest credit form and they can download it (updated form), modify and upload again. More details for offline forms functionality in these links https://www.usgbc.org/help/how-do-I-access-the-credit-forms-offline and https://www.usgbc.org/resources/offline-forms-functionality .

Important points: the last version downloaded form is always the only version that the system will recognize when project team member try to upload the offline form back to LEED Online. Also, don’t change the name of the file and always save the form in Adobe Reader PDF format."

Our IT team also suggested we try to uninstall the Windows updates that were implemented last week to see if that was the issue and try to get back to my previous functionality. I will report out if that works.

I'm a little late to the party - or to binge watching Reasons Why I Hate LOL season 12 - but I have a question about using Chrome for LEED Online.  I've been stuck back in the dark ages of using IE as it worked most of the time (about 50%, which is a good record for LOL), and when I tried to open credit forms on Chrome, I either didn't have the correct plug-in or the form didn't render correctly.  But now that IE will be retired and heading into the great unknown, is the only way to use LOL on Chrome to download the forms to edit and then re-upload?  And I know from past experience with other team members/consultants that getting them to upload again sometimes takes multiple tries, another great use of our time.

Hi Emily and thanks for the information.  I looked up the actual sunset date for IE, and it's June 15, 2022, so that gives the USGBC/GBCI just over a year to get it together, figure it out, and make this a more streamlined process for us.  Or it gives me just over a year to find another career where I don't feel like screaming and throwing my computer out the window on a weekly basis.  It's beyond ridiculous that they expect us to be able to service clients well when various team members are downloading forms and no one knows who has the most recent version and all is chaos.  I cannot understand why they can't create a platform that functions and makes our lives easier - or at least not agonizing.  Sorry to rant....

Nothing useful to add, just that I'm loving the rants. For once it's not just me venting!
IE working for me so far. I'm holding my breath...

Same here, I need a good rant whenever I think about how many years I've spent (barely) putting up with LO. My Bluebeam is currently threatening to update so I'm glad this thread (which has been active since 2017?!) was revived so I can bookmark for troubleshooting in case everything breaks. 

Thanks for sharing the link! From that article...

"Having to use different browsers for different tasks can be frustrating. You may want to stay in a modern browser, but a public website or internal work app may only work in Internet Explorer. That’s where Microsoft Edge comes in. Its dual engine advantage streamlines your productivity. Instead of using “this browser for this site” and “that browser for that site,” now you can just use Microsoft Edge."

I had to laugh when I read that. Sounds like a challenge to LEED Online!

Now that IE is going away very soon,  I open IE and it defaults to Edge. And the Firefox Adobe plugin doesn't work with LOL either. Seriously, after being told by USGBC for the past 3 years that this compatibility issue would be addressed, it still hasn't happened. The clock is ticking, LEED Online. In the meantime, I'll be directing my school clients to CHPS.

Internet Explorer no longer opens on my computer, perhaps because I just switched to Windows 11. When I first used Edge, the forms wouldn't open. However, you can configure Edge to always open a URL in an Internet Explorer compatibility view. I did that for LEED Online and the forms now open. Go to the Edge Settings, then go to the Default browser section. Under "Internet Explorer compatibility", go to "Allow sites to be reloaded in Internet Explorer mode" and select "Allow" from the dropdown. Then, under "Internet Explorer mode pages", add "http://www.leedonline.com/" and "https://www.leedonline.com/."

...and for those of you wondering - no, offline forms do not save properly on Procore...

How am I the first to give this a thumb's up? Best post on all of LEEDUser. Maybe the internet?