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Working with Sharepoint Calculated Columns

You can use formulas and functions in lists or libraries to calculate data in a variety of ways. By adding a calculated column to a list or library, you can create a formula that includes data from other columns and performs functions to calculate dates and times, to perform mathematical equations, or to manipulate text. For example, on a tasks list, you can use a column to calculate the number of days it takes to complete each task, based on the Start Date and Date Completed columns.

Save a SharePoint List as a Template

You can save an existing site or list as a custom template. Custom templates a way for you to package up a set of changes to an existing site or list and make those templates available for new sites and lists. Every custom template is based on a site definition or feature definition stored on the SharePoint server. You can access custom templates through the Site Template Gallery and List Template Gallery pages.

Add a Time Stamp to a SharePoint List

There are many times when you would like to track the history of a record. For instance you have a contact list of your clients on your SharePoint site and you would love to know who has talked to the client in the past and a brief overview of their conversations so you can talk intelligently to them. Here’s how to set up a Time Stamp on the notes field that will automatically record the time the record was edited and who edited it.

Step 1: Go to the list and click Settings/List Settings  

Step 2: Select Versioning Settings

Step 3: Set the Item Version History to “Yes”

Step 4: Go back to the list Settings and click on the “Notes” column

Step 5: At the bottom of the Notes column stettings select “Yes” for Append Changes to Existing Text

Step 6: You are all done! Now go edit a record in your list and add a comment to the Notes field. Here is an example of what the finished product will look like:

Synchronizing an Excel file with SharePoint

To install the add-in for use in Office Excel 2007
Download and install the Excel 2007 Add-in: Synchronizing Tables with SharePoint Lists.

• Start Office Excel 2007.
• Click the Microsoft Office Button, click Excel Options, and then click the Add-Ins tab.
• Select Excel Add-ins in the Manage drop-down list and click Go.
• In the Add-Ins dialog box, click Browse, navigate to the Excel 2007 SharePoint List Synchronizing Add-in, and then click OK.
• In the Add-Ins dialog box, verify that the SynchronizeWSSandExcel option is selected and then click OK.

Figure 1. The Add-Ins dialog with the Rwsplist option selected 

Publishing and Synchronizing Table Data to a SharePoint Site
Using the add-in is simple, as you see in the following steps.

• To add the add-in to a workbook Save the workbook in the Excel 97-2003 file format by clicking the Microsoft Office Button, pointing to Save As, and then clicking Excel 97-2003 Workbook.
• Specify a file name, and then click Save.
• To publish the table to a SharePoint list Highlight the table. The Table Tools label is displayed above the Design tab.
• Click the Design tab.
• In the SharePoint group, click Publish and allow Sync.

Figure 2. The Publish and allow Sync button on the Design tab

In the Export Table to SharePoint R/W List dialog box, in the Address text box, type in the page address on the SharePoint site where you want to publish the list.

Figure 3. The Export Table to SharePoint R/W List dialog box

In the Name text box, type in the name of the list and, optionally, type a description for the list.

Click Publish  and navigate to the page that you specified earlier in SharePoint site and verify that the list published.

To update the SharePoint list

• In the table in the workbook, make the changes to the data.
• With the pointer in the table, right-click, point to Table, and click Synchronize with SharePoint.

Figure 4. The Synchronize with SharePoint option

In the browser, refresh the list and observe that the list reflects the changes.

Conclusion
Although the ability to update SharePoint lists from Office Excel 2007 is deprecated in favor of publishing and synchronizing lists using Office Access 2007, you can use the Excel 2007 SharePoint List Synchronizing Add-in to update SharePoint lists from Office Excel 2007.

RSS in Plain English

One of SharePoint’s new features in Version 3.0 is RSS (Really Simple Syndication). RSS is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines or podcasts. An RSS document (which is called a “feed” or “web feed” or “channel”) contains either a summary of content from an associated web site or the full text. RSS makes it possible for people to keep up with their favorite web sites in an automated manner that can be piped into special programs or filtered displays.

This short video does a great job explaining RSS! Thanks to the folks at Commoncraft

Add Images to your SharePoint Announcements

The Announcement List in SharePoint is very functional and the expiration date is a great feature for not having to go back and “clean up” after yourself. But the overall look and feel of the announcements is rather boring and they tend to all look the same and run together.

standard view

A real simple solution to make your announcements more engaging is to add images or thumbnails to each like the example below from our Sample Intranet (www.getsharepoint2007.com)

Here’s how: Go to your Announcement List. Click “Settings” / “List Settings” and click on the Body column. By default the Body of the announcement is set to “Rich Text”. What you want to do is select “Enhanced Rich Text” as shown below. This will give you the ability to add images to the body of your announcements.

To help with the formatting of your images so that your text will wrap to the left or right use the buttons highlighted below.

Work with Document Libraries in Outlook 2007

Most of us spend hours a day in Microsoft Outlook… working with email, calendars and tasks. Why not bring the documents you use on a regular basis, files that are stored in your SharePoint site into Outlook 2007. It’s a simple process that’s a few click away. Let’s get started!

First: Navigate to the SharePoint Document Library. Select “Actions” / “Connect to Outlook”

Next you will be prompted to approve the document library connection. Select “Yes”

Next you will see your SharePoint Document Library in the folder pane on the left side of Outlook under SharePoint Lists. In the center pane you will see the documents in the Document Library and its respective folders. In the Preview Pane on the right you will see the contents of the document you selected in the center pane, the same way you view email by selecting the email title and view the email contents.

Click the thumbnail below to see this in action: 

No No’s in SharePoint File Names

If you’re like many SharePoint users you have tried to upload a file or multiple files and recieved an error message. The most common problem are documents or images with an “&” in the file name.

Characters that shouldn’t be used in File, folder and site names.

& ~ # %  * ? / + | ” . _ { } \ : < >

Underscore shouldn’t be used at the start of any name and periods can’t be used consecutively in the middle of a name or at the end.

SharePoint Document Management

Document libraries are one of the most important things within Sharepoint. You can store documents very easily within a document library and more importantly you have different ways to find the document you are looking for. It started with Sharepoint Portal Server 2003 and Windows Sharepoint Services 2003, you finally had the ability to use views to categorize your documents based on meta-data. Say goodbye to your complicated folder structures on your departmental drives. 

How much time have you spent in the past to find your documents on your departmental drive? How much time have you spent trying to find your way through the folder structures your colleagues have made on your corporate drives? In the past I have seen many folder structures with over 50 levels deep. For the one who built this structure it could be very useful. However for most of the people this structure is too complicated. Everyone has his own way to find the information he is looking for. With Sharepoint document libraries you can define multiple views, you now have the ability to sort, filter and group your information and these views can be made based on the meta-data you have applied to a document. 

Windows Sharepoint Services 2007 has many new document management features.

Columns, Views and Meta-data in the document library are the most important areas of every document management system. Sharepoint has different column types in place in which you can enter your meta-data. 

• Single line of text 
• Multiple lines of text  
• Choice (menu to choose from)  
• Number  
• Currency  
• Date and time  
• Lookup (information already on this site)  
• Yes/No (Checkbox)  
• Person or Group  
• Hyperlink or Picture  
• Calculated (calculation based on other columns)  
• A picture with display attributes and optional constraints  
• A hyperlink with display attributes and optional constraints  
• Content Type ID  

When you setup a document library for the first time you really have to think about the meta-data. Meta-data is the keyword for making it easier to find your information. Setting up a document library and setting up views can be done by everyone. However when thinking about how to use meta-data and how to categorize your information it is always better to hire a SharePoint consultant to point you in the right direction. 

When you’re thinking about meta-data you always need to think how users will access the information. You always need to question yourself about what the most logical way to find the information within a document library is. 

Edit in Datasheet
The Edit in Datasheet functionality is one of the easiest ways for changing meta-data. It gives you an overview as you would have within Excel. You can use the filter capabilities very easily. On the right side of the screen you can open a new tool pane to expose additional features including export capabilities and charting features. 

Quick Tip
If you upload multiple documents or pictures you cannot select the meta-data. Best practice is to upload multiple individually or edit the metadata for multiple document uploads in the datasheet view.

SharePoint Blog Post with Microsoft Word

SharePoint 2007 is very intergrated with Microsoft Office 2007. You can use Microsoft Word to publish your Blog posts to Sharepoint. Here’s How:

First on your SharePoint Blog select “Launch blog program to post”

Next, Microsoft Word will open with the following dialog box asking you to configure your account settings. Ckick OK (at this time you can also select the “Picture Options” button to to configure where you would like to store images you include in your SharePooint blog posts.)

Next you enter the title and body for your blog post.

Last you select the “Publish” button and you will have the ability to select “Publish” or “Publish as draft”. You’re done! Navigate to your sharepoint site and your blog and you will see you new post.