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Home   •   Support and Training  •  SciFinder  •  System Requirements

SciFinder System Recommendations and Requirements - Web Version

Web version of SciFinder System Recommendations and Requirements

As Chemical Abstracts Service continues to make improvements to our network to enhance SciFinder product performance, it is important that you are using the latest supported  web browser technology to ensure you have the best user experience with SciFinders capabilities. (Updated December 29, 2011)

Follow these recommendations to ensure a smooth experience using SciFinder.

1. OS/Browser Recommendations

The following operating systems and browsers are supported. You may experience uncertain results with other configurations.    

Windows XP Professional, Vista: Firefox v3.6x, 4.0.x, 5.0.x, 6.0.x, 7.0.x, 8.0; Internet Explorer v7.x, 8.0; Internet Explorer v9.0 (Vista)

Windows 7: Firefox v3.6x, 4.0.x, 5.0.x, 6.0.x, 7.0.x, 8.0; Internet Explorer v8.0 and 9.0

Mac OS 10.5: Firefox v3.6x, 4.0.x, 5.0.x. 6.0x, 7.0.x, and 8.0; Safari v4.x (32-bit), Safari v5.0.x (requires Mac OS 10.5.8 or higher)

Mac OS 10.6: Firefox v3.6x, 4.0.x, 5.0.x, 6.0.x, 7.0.x, and 8.0; Safari v4.x, Safari v5.0.x (requires Mac OS 10.6.2 or higher), Safari v5.1 (requires Mac OS 10.6.8 or higher)

Mac OS 10.7: Firefox v3.6x, 4.0.x, 5.0.x, 6.0.x, 7.0.x, and 8.0; Safari v5.1

As a reminder, CAS does not support Internet Explorer 6 platform for the web version of SciFinder due to its inability to support newer web standards. If you are using Internet Explorer 6 as your primary web browser, you will experience performance issues with the web version of SciFinder.

CAS strongly recommends that you upgrade your IE6 browser to one of the latest supported versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari in order to achieve optimal performance when using the web version of SciFinder.

SciFinder users who are unable to upgrade their web browser at this time should use the client version of SciFinder to avoid performance issues until the necessary web browser upgrade is completed.

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2. JavaScript, Java and cookies must all be enabled.

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3. A Java (JRE) plug-in is required for structure drawing.

For Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7, install Java version 1.6.0_24 and later. For best performance, version 1.6.0_26 or later is recommended.

For Mac OS 10.5, install Java version 1.6.0_26 and later for Safari, Firefox v3.6 and 4.0. Firefox 5.0+ requires Java version 1.6.0_26 or later.

For Mac OS 10.6 and OS 10.7, install Java version 1.6.0_24 and later.

Note: 64-bit browsers require a 64-bit version of Java.

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4. Internet Connection

SSL (https) connection on port 443 to scifinder.cas.org

http connection on port 80 to chemport.cas.org for full-text linking

Note: Check with your organization's Site Administrator, Key Contact or help desk before changing any settings to conform to these requirements.

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5. Additional Recommendations

- Add https://scifinder.cas.org to your browsers "Trusted Sites" list.

Note: For more information, see your browser help.

- A PDF reader is required for printing SciFinder answers and other information. Adobe Reader can be used with Mac or Windows computers. Preview is a free PDF viewer provided with Mac OS X.

- For Internet Explorer, make sure you have appropriate ActiveX and plug-in permissions.

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For operating hours, see System Availability.