This article provides instructions on installing and downloading the Blackboard Collaborate Launcher. The launcher offers Mac OS X 10.8.4 and later users an easy way to join web conferencing sessions and play recordings by using a known and stable version of Java that is bundled within the launcher itself.
Note: Use either Chrome or Safari to download the launcher and launch sessions and recordings. Firefox is currently not supported.
How to Resolve/Troubleshoot:
To install and download the Blackboard Collaborate Launcher, follow the steps below.
Note: The instructions below explain how to launch sessions. Similar steps are used to launch recordings.
1. Click the session link. You will be prompted to download the Blackboard Collaborate Launcher.
- If this is the first time you are launching a session through this browser, you will be presented with the launcher Download pop-up (refer to Image 1).
- All subsequent times you launch a session through the same browser, you will bypass the launcher Download pop-up. If you are the session owner, you are presented with the Launching Blackboard Collaborate page. If you are a guest user, you are presented with the Session Login page. Both of these pages give you the option to download the launcher.
Note: Although you are asked if you want to download the launcher each time you attempt to launch web conferencing, you need to download the launcher only once.
2. Click the Download button in either the Download pop-up or the Launching or Session Login page. You will see a Download Status pop-up.
3. (Chrome users only) Unzip the Blackboard Collaborate Launcher file in your downloads folder.
Note: Safari will auto unzip the file and save it in your Downloads folder.
4. When complete, click the click here link in the Download Status pop-up (refer to image 2 above).
5. Double click on the .collab file in the Downloads folder to launch your session.
6. An open Blackboard Collaborate Launcher.app confirmation dialog may be displayed when installing the Launcher for the first time. Click Open button to proceed (refer to image 3).
7. A Security Warning message is displayed. This message also displays when downloading JNLP files to join web conferencing sessions (refer to image 4).
- Select the option Do not show this again for apps from the publisher and location above.
- Click Run to join your session.
NOTE: Please also see another method to associate the Collaborate File type in Firefox:
Create the file association through your Firefox Preferences.
- From the Firefox menu, select options and then select the Applications tab.
- For the Content Type, collab or jnlp file, select the Action, then use other...
- In the Select Helper Application dialog, select Blackboard Collaborate Launcher or browse/locate Java Web Start Launcher.