> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://squad.so/docs/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Let your teammates use your Mac > Turn on Mac access in Squad for Mac, answer your teammates' requests for files, the open browser tab, or your screen, and share folders. Squad for Mac is in private beta. With Mac access on, your teammates can ask for things on your own Mac: a file in your Downloads folder, the page that is open in your browser, or a look at your screen. Nothing happens on your Mac until you say yes on the Mac, or until you share a folder for that kind of request. Your Mac is not your squad's computer. Your squad works on [its own computer](/docs/computer) in the cloud. Teammates reach your Mac only through the Squad app, only while it runs with Mac access on, and only with your approval or inside a folder that you share. Mac access is Mac only. The web dashboard has no setting for it. ## Before you start * You are the workspace owner. Only the owner can turn on Mac access and answer its requests. Administrators, Collaborators, and Viewers do not see the **Mac access** page. * The squad is one of your own squads, open in the Squad app. Mac access works only for the squad that is open in the app. ## Turn on Mac access Open **Settings** (⌘,), then **This Mac** > **Mac access**. Turn on **Let your squad use this Mac**. The status line says "Connecting this Mac…", then "On as" and your Mac's name. The switch is off by default, on each Mac. When the line says "Mac access isn't available on your squad yet.", your squad cannot use it yet. When it says "This Mac couldn't connect", the app tries again by itself. To try again now, turn the switch off and on. Turning the switch off removes this Mac from your workspace, together with its shared folders. ```text Ask your chief of staff theme={null} Find the invoice from Acme in my Downloads folder on my Mac and attach it to the dispute. ``` ```text Ask a teammate theme={null} Look at my screen and tell me what this error means. ``` ## What teammates can ask for Each request carries a short reason from the teammate. The card at the notch and the notification show you that reason. **Recent requests** does not show it. | Request | Prompt on your Mac | What happens | What the teammate gets | | - | - | - | - | | List a folder | "See what's in" and the folder | The app lists the folder's files and folders. Hidden files are left out. | The names, sizes, and dates. | | Read a file | "Read" and the file | The app sends a copy of the file. | The text in the reply, for a small text file. Otherwise a copy saved in the teammate's workspace. | | Write a text file | "Save" and the file | The app saves the text as a file. It never replaces a file that exists without your approval of that exact change. | A confirmation. | | Open a web page | "Open" and the site "in your browser" | The page opens in your default browser. Only web pages (http or https) open. | A confirmation. | | Read the open browser tab | "See the page open in your browser" | The app reads which page is open in your browser: in the browser in front, or else the first supported browser that is open. | The page's title, its address, and the browser's name. Not the page's text. | | See your screen | "See your screen" | The app takes a picture of the front window of the app that you use. When Squad is in front, or the app in front has no window, it takes your whole main screen without Squad's windows. | The picture, saved in the teammate's workspace. | The window for **See your screen** is chosen when the request arrives. The prompt names it, and exactly that is captured after you allow it. The browser tab works with Safari and with Chrome, Arc, Brave, Edge, Vivaldi, and Chromium. It does not work with Firefox. For the size limits of files, text, and pictures, see [Limits and defaults](/docs/limits-and-defaults#squad-for-mac). ## Answer a request When a teammate asks for something that no shared folder covers, the request shows at the notch, as a card with "Wants your Mac". When the notch is busy, for example with another request or while you talk, the card waits until the notch is free. When the notch is off, the request comes as a notification titled with the teammate's name and "wants to use your Mac". The card names the teammate, what it wants, the file, folder, or address, and the reason. Choose one of these: * **Allow once**: the app does this one request. When the request would replace a file that exists, the button is **Replace it**, and the card says "This replaces the file that's there." * **Always for** and the folder, for example **Always for Downloads**. In a notification, the button is **Always for this folder**. The app does the request and shares the folder. For a listing, that is the folder itself. For a file, it is the folder that holds the file. A read shares the folder as **Read only**, and a write as **Read and save files**. Later requests inside the folder run without asking. This choice shows only for files and folders, and not when the request replaces a file. * **Deny**: nothing is shared. The teammate is told that you did not approve. After you allow a request, the card says "Sent to" and the teammate's name. When Squad cannot remember the folder, the request still goes through this once, and the card says why. You can also answer from the **Recent requests** list. See [Recent requests](#recent-requests). ### When you do not answer A card at the notch that you do not answer moves to a notification after a short time. Esc on the card also moves it to a notification. Esc is never an answer. A request that you do not answer at all expires. The teammate is told that you did not answer on your Mac. A denied or expired request tells the teammate to continue without it, and not to ask the same thing again in that run. For the times, see [Limits and defaults](/docs/limits-and-defaults#squad-for-mac). ### Requests that always ask These ask you every time, also inside a shared folder: * **See your screen.** Squad never remembers screen access. If Squad cannot see your screen yet, the card says so. Allowing it then asks macOS for the Screen Recording permission, and no picture is taken. The teammate is told to ask again after you turn it on. * **Replacing a file that exists.** Files are replaced only when you approve that exact change. * **Open a web page** and **read the open browser tab.** Shared folders cover only files and folders. ## Share folders A shared folder lets your teammates use it without asking each time. Every other place stays on the default: each request waits for your yes. The **Shared folders** card on the **Mac access** page lists your shared folders. It shows while Mac access is on. Each folder is **Read only** or **Read and save files**. A request to write a file needs **Read and save files**. On the **Mac access** page, open **Share a folder**. Choose **Read only** or **Read and save files**. Pick the folder and select **Share**. The folder shows in the list. To stop sharing a folder, select **Stop sharing** next to it. Choosing **Always for** a folder on a request also adds the folder to this list. * Sharing a folder that is already shared does not add a second row. Sharing a **Read only** folder again with **Read and save files** changes it to **Read and save files**. The other way around leaves it as it is. * Squad refuses to share the whole disk, **Volumes**, **Users**, or a folder that holds your home folder. It says to choose a folder inside it. * A shared folder can also be a project's folder. See [Give a project a folder on your Mac](/docs/mac/project-folders#give-a-project-a-folder). Shared folders belong to one Mac in one squad. For how many folders and Macs you can have, see [Limits and defaults](/docs/limits-and-defaults#squad-for-mac). ## Recent requests The **Recent requests** card on the **Mac access** page shows what teammates asked for and what happened, newest first. It shows while Mac access is on. Each row has the teammate, the request, and how long ago, with a chip: | Chip | Meaning | | - | - | | **Shared** | The request went through. | | **Denied** | You chose **Deny**, or your Mac refused the request by itself, for example for a hidden file. | | **Failed** | The request did not finish. | | **No answer** | Nobody answered in time, so the request expired. | | **Waiting for an answer** | The request waits for you. | | **In progress** | The Mac works on the request. | A request that waits for your answer on this Mac has a dot, **Allow**, and **Deny** on its row, so you can answer it there too. For how many rows the list keeps, see [Limits and defaults](/docs/limits-and-defaults#squad-for-mac). ## What is never shared Your Mac refuses these requests, also inside a folder that you share. You are not asked about them. * Hidden files and folders. * Your Library folder. * Keychains. * System folders. * Anything outside your home folder, unless you share that folder. A file over the size limit is different. Squad asks you about it as about any other file. After you approve, the file is not sent, and the request shows **Failed**. See [Limits and defaults](/docs/limits-and-defaults#squad-for-mac). When you approve a file read at the notch and the file is too large, the card offers **Drop It in the Chat**. It opens the chat with that teammate, with the file attached, so that you can add a note and send it. Approving from a notification or from **Recent requests** does not offer it. ## Permissions on your Mac macOS asks for these permissions the first time Squad needs them. You can change them in **System Settings** > **Privacy & Security**. | Permission | What needs it | Without it | | - | - | - | | **Screen Recording** | **See your screen** requests, and the screen chip in the Delegate panel | No picture is taken. The teammate is told that Screen Recording is off. If you said no before, allowing a request opens the setting. | | **Accessibility** | Only **Close notch cards with Esc from any app** | Esc closes notch cards only while your pointer is on them. | | **Automation**, for each browser | **Read the open browser tab** requests, and the page chip in the Delegate panel | The browser does not share its tab. The request fails, and the teammate is told why. | macOS asks for the browser permission once for each browser. ## Who can use it Only your own work reaches your Mac. The Mac belongs to the workspace owner, and only the owner can connect a Mac and answer its requests. When a teammate works for another person in your squad, Squad refuses its Mac requests. The teammate tells that person that only the owner can ask for something on the owner's Mac. In a squad that you were invited to, Mac access stands down, and it picks up again when you open one of your own squads. See [Invite people to your squad](/docs/teammates). ## When your Mac is connected Your Mac counts as connected while all of this is true: * The Squad app is open on the Mac, and you are signed in. * One of your own squads is open in the app. * **Let your squad use this Mac** is on. Mac access works only for the squad that is open in the app. When you switch to another squad, this Mac stops answering requests from the first squad until you open it again. Each install of Squad has its own id, so two Macs with the same name do not mix. When your Mac is not connected, teammates usually do not have the Mac request tools, or a request says that your Mac is not connected. Either way, the teammate tells you to open the Squad app on your Mac, and continues without it. When the connection drops, the app tries again by itself. When Mac access is turned off from somewhere else, or the squad is reset, this Mac stays off until you turn it on again. Signing out of the app removes this Mac from every squad. ## Touch ID and a locked Mac **Confirm approvals with Touch ID** does not apply to Mac access requests. It covers approvals, decisions, and **Send now** on an email draft. See [Touch ID](/docs/mac/settings#touch-id). The answers in a Mac access notification, **Allow once**, **Always for this folder**, and **Deny**, need your Mac unlocked. ## What happens to the results A picture of your screen, and a file that does not come back as text in the reply, is saved in the teammate's workspace on your squad's computer. Squad removes the result from its own records some time after the request finishes. The request and its outcome stay in **Recent requests**. See [Limits and defaults](/docs/limits-and-defaults#squad-for-mac). In **History** on the web dashboard, turn on **Tools** under **Kind**. Each request then shows as a tool call, and each answer as a second row. The rows do not hold what your Mac sent. ## Check that it works Ask your chief of staff to list your Downloads folder on your Mac. The request shows at the notch. Select **Allow once**. The row shows in **Recent requests** with **Shared**, and your chief of staff replies with the files. This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.