SharePoint Buzz

What's on your SharePoint 2010 Wishlist? Part 2

SharePointBuzz — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:57:00 GMT

With the recent sneak peak of SharePoint 2010, we are truly seeing a change in how Microsoft is focusing on the SharePoint platform. As we continue to get additional details we'll definitely be able to guage if Microsoft is listening to their customers or not. :)

If you are new to SharePoint Buzz, I have been asking all my twitter followers, what one thing would they change in SharePoint 2010 from SharePoint 2007? Just as the first part of this wishlist series, what's on your SharePoint 2010 wishlist, the second part brings you more user requests:

SolutionStrat Wow tough ? - I would pre-package a training site collection for auto deployment in each farm with variety of how-tos for users & admins.
analysys Licensing structure that requires per user costs which is a hard sale for customers looking for a collaboration tool
zfiorelli better search result pages or standard search result web parts
Emonhaider An improved deployment mechanism.
SimonTheNinja A more intuitive structure of the 12 hive would be nice for developers
Here_To_Learn A simple way to move/relocate wikis site to site!
feygirrl Most recent agonies:Better move/copy. Populate list column w/content from other lists.Create personal views for other users. Oops 3!
SPDrewHart if I could change one thing - automate the updates of views in web parts - biggest complaint from most of my users.
eppmsolutions from architectural prospective, the way sites/subsites are linked to the content inorder to simplify content & structure modification.
samiam313 I would like for SP to be so exiting that there would be greater adoption by the entire company.
wellhiddenmark I'd like a much better designed and more stable "Manage Content & Structure" module. This would allow me to move entire lists in one go!!markeread Two things... a better ability to transform site content using my own style sheets, and more architectural thinking from business users...
sulameyer Allow user to fully customize the UI when integrating Reporting Services with SharePoint
willsams If I can change 1 thing: the Deployment API. Conducting MOSS 2007 to MOSS 2007 migrations are a pain point and 3rd party tools fall short.
RajivMangal I would say it is the SharePoint Usability. Most frequent complaint I hear is that it is not as intuitive as other MS products.
djako69 i'd change variations & multi-language support + many other things... but still, sharepoint is quite cool
TempletonCo The issue is that it can do so much, but the end users and economic buyers cannot put their minds around it and are not educated.
IssPro09 Right now I can only think of changing the built in workflows in SharePoint. Sharepoint designer is great but more could be used to help the default options that are currently available in sharepoint.
www_PDCA_co_za For now there is nothing I can change about WSS 3.0 or MOSS 2007. They are just perfect.
sharepointpmp access control within a site.needs 2b easier for users to secure objects.should be able to right-click on anything, anywhere, & secure it.
miloriano Hello, it would be it's table structure for CSS. :) It's a pain working with designers, they always attack the table based structure of it.
christina8202 if i could change one thing about wss, I'd give it the ability to inherit quick launches from other sites
sanoojk proprietary nature!
2browndogs Wish list item: enable MOSS as install on Vista Business withouth need for VM. Battling for 3 days to get VM configured to enable dev.
rotaryjay Well, a few things... be a little more standards compliant, stop using tables for layout and *try* to shrink those CSS files somehow!
skw12345 first of all I would change the multi language functionality problem.
Raiffei Visualization of Workflows
SharePointCoder Make it easier to people to install the sharepoint infrastructure updates. Not sure why but many people don't
donalmc I would make the personal experience better. My Site should be My Cloud Site , free from my org's servers but in if neces
NHSanAntonio More dynamic preset templates? Which may be available and I just don't know about them...
ExEv Well, Change the "Title" Field from a custom list to be more flexible
vlanmacdee rt #sharepoint |things i mite change|maybe less complicated web parts on righthand side toolbar?! ...
rogierd1 Make SharePoint free/cheaper. We earn more with more customers and more customizations
dmarshx I would change the content editor to be easily replaced or make the wiki competitive: http://tinyurl.com/lbfvv5
trendoid less url boxes, more browse for file/link. I see too many url boxes.. like the logo setting.
anthony808 It was good to meet you yesterday. I'll have to think about the SharePoint question thou...
izzy69rocks A much simplified workflow system for multi-level workflow (especially with regards to nfopath forms).
swirleydude I'm just hoping to learn sharepoint, there are big opportunities at my company if I know sharepoint.
mattiaskarlsson More obtions to do workflows from within the UI. Something more like Nintex providing.
AppointLink Well I am a SharePoint Solutions Salesman – so if it were more widely adopted that would be great! Can’t wait to see the next version.
murugangs increase the list items to store more than the preferred 2000 limit to increase the performance.
anchorPoint If I could change one thing, I think it would be the license price tag for public facing servers. Not fit for financial crisis as is.
cordierflorent If I could change one thing on Sharepoint, i would enlarge its compatibility (complete support not only for microsoft products)

Thank you to all my twitter followers! Now I turn to you and ask what is on your SharePoint 2010 wishlist?

SharePoint 2010 Technical Preview Released Today

SharePointBuzz — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:23:00 GMT

Waking up this Monday morning, there is tons of information on SharePoint 2010 Technical Preview from Microsoft. More then its' typical for pre-beta. With the initial information that is coming out of the technical preview of SharePoint 2010, I have a strong belief that this version of SharePoint, will be its finest. Sure there are huge improvements coming but I'm taking about getting them right.

Web-Based Office

The biggest news to come out of Redmond, most certainly a direct challenge to Google Apps, Microsoft is rolling out lightweight FREE Web browser versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote. What's even bigger news is that Microsoft says that its browser versions have been tested on all major browsers aside from Internet Explorer, including Firefox and Safari.

SharePoint 2010 Changes

What changes are coming to the sneap peak of SharePoint 2010? Here is a complete list that will be updated:

New User Interface including new Ribbon
Web Edit
Silverlight Web Part
Rich Theming
Multiple Browser Support
Visio Services
SharePoint Designer
Business Connectivity Services (the evolution of the Business Data Catalog)
SharePoint Workspace
Rich Meda Support
Streamlined Central Administration
SharePoint Best Practices Analyzer
Usage Reporting and Logging
Large List Resource Throttling
Unattached Content Database Recovery
Visual Upgrade
Visual Studio 2010 SharePoint Tools
Language Integrated (LINQ) for SharePoint
Developer Dashboard
Business Connectivity Services
Client Object Model (OM)

If you would like to see how the improved the interface, experience and approach has been with SharePoint 2010, then check out the first link below.

Additional Reading

SharePoint Saturday Toronto updates

SharePointBuzz — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:40:00 GMT

We have been extremely busy with organizing SharePoint Saturday Toronto conference. We have finalized the schedule for this event and are looking forward to seeing all local SharePoint Torontorians and SharePoint Buzz visitors.

Schedule Posted!

Download SharePoint Saturday Toronto Schedule

We have a great list of sponsors, speakers and sessions lined up and are looking forward to running a great event.

Sponsors

We have a great list of sponsors lined up for this event. Everyone from SharePoint Delivery, Microsoft, AvePoint and many, many more!

SharePint - SharePoint by Day, SharePint by Night

With every SharePoint Saturday event, comes a SharePint event. SharePoint Saturday Toronto will have its own event as well, where after the conference you will be able to drink and talk about SharePoint or whatever else that your heart desires.

Venue: Drake and Firken right near the Microsoft Campus.

We hope that you will be able to join others in this after conference social.

Registration Closing Shortly

Registrations is going to be closing very shortly. If you have not already, register today!

Related Links

SharePoint Saturday Toronto - Registration is Now OPEN!

SharePointBuzz — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:31:00 GMT

If you are not familiar with SharePoint Saturday events, they are free community-focused SharePoint events dedicated to educating and engaging members of the local technical community.

The first ever SharePoint Saturday Toronto event is being held in Toronto on July 11th, 2009.

We are requesting everyone to register now!

Join SharePoint architects, developers, and other professionals that work with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for ‘SharePoint Saturday’, on Saturday, July 11th, 2009 at the Microsoft canada located on 1950 Meadowvale Blvd in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. SharePoint Saturday will be an educational, informative & lively day filled with sessions from respected SharePoint professionals & MVPs, covering a wide variety of SharePoint-orientated topics. SharePoint Saturday is FREE, open to the public and is your local chance to immerse yourself in SharePoint! The day starts at 9:00 AM with a short introductory keynote and ends at 4:30 PM. Lunch will be provided and there will be numerous giveaways throughout the day.

There will be three primary content tracks, each track will consist of five presentations lasting approximately an hour and ranging from introductory, 100-level content to highly-technical, 400-level "expert" sessions. Speakers will represent a broad cross section of the community and offer a variety of different perspectives and points of view.

SharePoint Saturday Toronto is a great opportunity to learn, share and network. Please join us on Saturday, July 11th, 2009 for a full day of education and excitement. A full session schedule will be posted soon. We look forward to seeing you there!

For more information, please visit sharepointsaturday.org/toronto

Hurdles, Schmurdles. Meet K2

SharePointBuzz — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 08:24:00 GMT

The more you use SharePoint, the more potential you see. I know because I’ve been working with it for years.

You see past simple collaboration. You see workflow, document routing and approval features. You envision drastic improvements to efficiency.

But as your vision take shape and your needs get more sophisticated you begin to realize that you can’t build what you want using SharePoint alone. Again, I know because I’ve been working with it for years. Grr.

SharePoint Designer will carry you to a point, but it’s complicated, and then you have to break out other tools, such as Visual Studio.

You want to:

Create workflows that cross site boundaries
Create processes that have advanced conditional routing
Leverage out-of-the-box management and reporting capabilities
Set up advanced, but necessary, rules and policies — to handle

K2 blackpoint
K2 blackpoint gives you tools to get past these hurdles, the obstacles that inevitably arise when trying to accomplish more advanced SharePoint workflows. With K2 blackpoint organizations are able to build far more customizable, advanced, business centric workflows, quicker, easier, and easier to change. No delving into visual studio involving developers. Add more business needed features like escalations, out of office and redirects.

Some important out of the box features include:

· Visual and wizard driven interface.

· Central task management through a single, rich worklist provides users with one place to check their daily work items

· Delegation and redirection of tasks so users and managers can dynamically assign tasks based on need and special circumstances

· Dynamic roles that can be based on SharePoint groups so a process can inherit the group structure already in place

· Exposing of SharePoint list data as business entities, which allows data to be reused and repurposed for more than just SharePoint

· Extensive management capabilities to control access, rights and process instances

· Rich reports for business activity monitoring and process improvement

· Access and integration with data or other systems outside SharePoint with web services integration.

One of the most important features/benefits to K2 blackpoint is how it makes developing processes, and making changes to them EASY. This is accomplished by being visual and wizard driven. (No code) Wizards’ help you build and configure your process (list of event templates shown below)

Each wizard walks you through the creation of an event using easy to follow screens as shown below in the SharePoint Sites and workspaces event. As you step through each wizard you select options and parameters without having to write any code at all.

An important component with rolling out any new technology or process is keeping your users habits and tools in mind. With K2 blackpoint you can stay true to the interfaces you and your users know today, including MOSS, Microsoft Word, InfoPath, and Excel. See below images to get a glimpse at how you can use the built in workflow options in MS word to participate in a K2 blackpoint workflow.

Interacting with the workflow associated with a document can be done right from the MS menu bar.

View workflow tasks associated with a document from office client as well.

Interacting with the K2 process inside of SharePoint looks exactly like you would see for SharePoint out of the box processes. No need to retrain anyone familiar with how this works.

A popular choice of interfaces today is that of InfoPath. With K2 blackpoint InfoPath integration you can build your form and easily integrate it with you processes as shown here.

Add edit or design your InfoPath forms directly in the familiar K2 wizards.

Name the form, and Select a view for each step in the process. Having different views for each step only showing the information that should be seen by the participant can be a great help.

Let’s go through and look at some of the ways K2 blackpoint helps you overcome limitations you may have experienced.

Site bound

Sites are no longer an impassable barrier for any of your workflows using K2 blackpoint. Documents and list items can be written to any list in any site in your farm. As shown below documents can easily be uploaded, copied or moved from one site to another giving you the flexibility to take advantage of virtually any site structure.

Truly dynamic workflow paths

The path a process takes is often dynamic and quickly becomes more complex as processes are developed. With K2 blackpoint you don’t have to worry. The sky is the limit as you can see from the below process maps each step in a process can be taken based on virtually any number of criteria either in the form or as part of any data within the process or external to it. This advanced ability greatly aides in the quickness one can build processes and the agility a process has once deployed.

Another important feature that helps dramatically decrease time spent configuring and or maintain processes is the way in which K2 blackpoint interacts with the user/forms through the concept of “Actions and outcomes”

Actions and Outcomes allow processes to separate what decisions, or Actions, users are able to make from the implications, or Outcomes, of those Actions. Because Actions and Outcomes are defined outside of the form, maintenance of those decisions and routing logic is simple in K2. In short, Actions are the decisions that the user can make about the process step. Outcomes are K2’s way of taking the business decision and deciding where the process moves to next.

Based on the action chosen by the user, the outcome of the activity is decided by the K2 Server.

You can add new actions without reconfiguring the user interface or the line rules, greatly reducing the development time and maintenance of your process.

Actions and outcomes are defined within the properties of a client event. While actions remain part of the event, the outcomes are actually defined within the scope of the activity. So, when a user selects the action in the form, K2 evaluates that action against all of the outcome rules. And, based on the outcome of the activity, the lines are evaluated, and those line rules that are true are followed.

Process management and reporting

Finally what good would having all this power if you did not have good management and reporting on what’s going on. With K2 blackpoint and the “process portal” You can get quick access to common tasks

Process management and reporting are built into SharePoint as you can see from the menu picture on the left.

Right from your process portal you can manage process instances, run reports, and manage process permissions and versions.

With the powerful management and reporting features get a quick glance at what processes you have deployed and which ones are running how many have stopped or are even in an error state.

Process portals allow you to handle processes versions seamlessly

From here you can see all active processes running, their respective versions, and number of deployed versions and have the ability to easily roll back to previous versions.

You also have the ability to visually report on information and details inside each process to gain added efficiency.

How can K2 blackpoint help you, what can you build? Join me next time when we start to take a peek into some example solution examples of exactly what you can do with K2 blackpoint including more information on both process designers included in K2 blackpoint. For more information on K2 blackpoint see www.k2.com/blackpoint

You can also check out the K2 YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/k2onk2

Chris Geier is a 15 year veteran of the IT industry, specializing in security and Microsoft product lines. For the past 4 years he has been working in the workflow and BPM space at K2. Also dabbling in community development and Social Media.

It's Like Building WebParts, for Your Phone

SharePointBuzz — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:42:00 GMT

An In-Depth Look at Developing Mobile Applications With Mobile Entrée

Custom development for SharePoint can mean many things. Workflows, master pages, business data catalog implementations, forms services, reporting capabilities, the list goes on and on. Since 2003, the staple of custom SharePoint applications has been the custom WebPart. Mobile Entrée takes the WebPart concept of configurable, modular components, and extends that out to mobile devices. Lets take a look at the similarities shall we?

CreateChildControls

First and foremost; WebParts and Mobile Entrée applications are developed and deployed as SharePoint features.

The definition of a WebPart within a feature is a .NET class that implements one of two WebPart classes. Within these WebPart classes you have methods to override in order to add controls to the screen. Mobile Entrée mirrors this paradigm. The definition of a mobile application is a .NET class that implements the EntreeServer.Module.EntreeApplication class. The EntreeApplication class implements some properties and a method to render controls to the mobile device. This method, called QueryList, can be likened to CreateChildControls.

Why call it QueryList and not CreateChildControls or Render? There is a two part answer here:

This method does much more than create or render controls to the client. It is the call-back method for all click events as well as the delivery mechanism for all screens within your application.
The term QueryList is just that; a query for a "list". This will make more sense as you read on, but everything that is served to the user's phone is in the form of lists, list groups and list items. Not lists in terms of list data, but in terms of the structure of the display.

QueryList has two parameters, EntreeScopeObject and EntreeListObject. The EntreeScopeObject contains information about what URL the user got redirected from [via the http module], information about what item was clicked and form data. The EntreeListObject is the object that will be returned to the user. To make the comparison to CreateChildControls where you would use the Controls properties to add interface elements, you would add interface elements to the EntreeApplication through the EntreeListObject that is passed in QueryList.

The following image illustrates how you add interface elements to a WebPart. You create web controls, add to or edit their properties and then add them to the Controls property.

Now, to contrast that with how it's done in a mobile application within the Mobile Entrée framework, see the following illustration. Notice that the concept is similar, but you are building your interface with list items instead of ASP.NET web controls.

Event Handling

So, if the EntreeListObject is akin to the Controls collection your WebPart’s controls are put into, the EntreeScope object is your ViewState/Event Handling for state management and the handling of user clicks.

The key to handling user interaction in Mobile Entrée is simplicity. All user interaction flows through the QueryList method and can be accessed via the EntreeScopeObject parameter. Unlike WebParts, of which a page can have more than one, only a single EntreeApplication is ever interacted with, at a time, on a mobile device. This keeps things simple for both the user and the developer. Mobile Entrée takes care of making sure the users’ activity is routed to the correct application and the developer is presented with a simple set of Name/Value pairs of state data, both ViewState-like information and submitted form data.

Event Handling is a simplified merger of the CommandArgument parameter in WebPart controls and the ViewState system. In MobileEntree, just about any ListItem can be clickable and so instead of assigning an OnClick event to only specific controls, a ClickAction object can be assigned to any ListItem object. These ClickAction objects can then be populated with any combination of Name/Value pairs of variables to be sent back in the EntreeScopeObject during a user’s click.

Essentially, based on values in the EntreeScopeObject parameters, the developer populates the EntreeListObject with List Groups and List Items that constitute a response to the users’ activity. This is all the developer needs to worry about. How this ListObject is presented to the user is food for a future article.

WebPart Properties

Comparing how you set up configuration properties is almost identical as well. Let's extend our hello world example and use a property to allow the user to define who you are saying "Hello" to. In a WebPart, this is simple, just create a WebBrowsable property that will replace the static "World" text on the label. The following code snippet would create the property box you see in the tool pane.

Similarly, the same code snippet within the EntreeApplication class would create the mobile application config property editable from the Mobile Entrée Configuration Page seen here.

Summing it Up

So, Mobile Entrée has not only given you a means to create mobile applications within SharePoint, but provided you a familiar way of doing so. All development and deployment can be done from the same Visual Studio project because Mobile Entrée applications can live in the same features as your WebParts. The end result is a powerful framework you can leverage to deploy mobile applications with your web applications through methods and practices you use today.

For more information visit www.mobileentree.com

Speaking on SharePoint Branding 101 at SharePoint Saturday Chicago

SharePointBuzz — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:38:00 GMT

I'm looking forward to presenting this weekend at SharePoint Saturday Chicago on Saturday, June 13, 2009.

I will presenting SharePoint Branding 101,

SharePoint Branding is not impossible. Why deploy a SharePoint site that looks like every other SharePoint site. Applying your corporate brand to your SharePoint site does not have to complex. In this introductory session, we'll look at some generic SharePoint branding options that are available as well master pages and page layouts.

Once you have an understanding of why SharePoint needs to be branded, what can be branded and how SharePoint can branded, you will be able to successful brand your SharePoint site.

I look forward to seeing the Chicago SharePoint comunity.

What's on your SharePoint 2010 Wishlist?

SharePointBuzz — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 05:59:00 GMT

Ever since customers have started implementing SharePoint 2007, they have had requests they wish are a part of upcoming SharePoint 2010 [out of box] features. I asked What's on your SharePoint 2010 wishlist and our 2500+ new followers responded with the following:

sharepointguide: 140 characters is nowhere near enough to answer that q :-) needs to go modular now, as a platform it is still too complex for its market
selvino: About your quick question - In my opinion, MOSS need to be more versatile to support for paper documents. But I am not know enought yet...
PMProfessional: it is tough to pick up one but I would go with making it more like a relational db
rackandstack: Since I only sell Sharepoint, I'd have to say make Sharepoint Server more affordable. Have a great week!
smannina: Support Excel Shared Workbooks http://bit.ly/TkbW0
tammybutow: I would make it easier to customise, make it easier for people to add flash, video, podcasts. A quick option thats easy to find.
ChrisJensenUK: only one? Better develpment platform: ie. better VS integration, some documentation (any!), better error messages, quicker to debug.
dmeeker: I'd say that if I could change one thing it would be to start marketing it as a platform and not a product. Decouple it.
krinker: change?? I do that all day, thats the beauity, but I think your question is OTTB and I'd say related/relational lookups
markharr: Ideally, permit auth users lists from other sources (Google Apps, OpenID, etc). If not that, at least easier setup for FBA.
MTechSharePoint: Have the ability to display webparts on sites other than where they live. ie a better content query webpart or similar solution.
Peterarblaster: wildcard searching.
saintpixel: add more ajax. pretty happy with sharepoint and its flexibility.
dkcorreia: datesheet view for image library .. that would [save] me hours!
jillstoller: I wish more customization was available from the UI; I'm constantly surfing the net for workarounds to avoid requesting server config tweaks
sqlbelle: I'll eliminate the postbacks. Ajaxify!
TechForze: All development and design made simple in one packet, including debugging.
sarvesshah: One thing I would change - making SP harder to install - so there is always good planning involved by skilled user before going live :-)
einaros: Re: What to change. I'd want better template document organizing. But being a friendly guy, I wrote: http://bit.ly/qf3dy
joecasto: sell it to Google
Rudgey84: Introduce a better document image library so I can search by image tags.
sanketshah_18: it would be pre-requisite to run SP,I would like to run SP on XP, Windows Vista system other than server OS.
bradders95: Improvements to calculated columns and also ability to add a person column and this show other details e.g office location in another column
BTeamRocks: make deployments less confusing - that's for sure
010Dan010: To make Sharepoint better I would make it at least as good as Access as a database tool. Obviously web based so MS CRM like functionality would work. I believe most IT solutions could be solved with Sharepoint at that point which would be awesome!
SashiPagadala: I think, there is a scope to improve on the dynamic html rendering of the SP pages. This can be made lot more efficient ...
lguilherme: I'd make it easier to move from one server to another
susher02: Thanks for the message. If I could change one thing about SharePoint it would be better searching/indexing. Cheers, Sue.
1briannettles: It is a tight race between native database replication 4(DR/BCP) and improved enterprise data integration. Then probably list aggregation.
charah028: I think moving files could be simplified (WSS 3.0). My users have trouble with the process and the auto copy is at times an added annoyance
prasadsombhatta: Streamline search
BasLijten: I would change the way Fields, CT's, Lists and other parts of site are deployed. And i would make VS integration better
psdesai: : thanks. If I can change one thing then it would get rid of sharepoint designer and replace it with add in for VS 2008 ;)
ChristianPlante: 1 thing to change?The reports in SharePoint Designer should be native and available to Site Admins under Site Settings - all of the reports!
smannina RT @sharepointbuzz: What's on your #SharePoint 2010 wishlist? Support for sharing Excel files using Excel's Shared Workbooks feature
chrislatta @sharepointbuzz What's on my #SharePoint 2010 wishlist? Search that works..
vha14 Better wiki support, please! RT @sharepointbuzz: What's on your #SharePoint 2010 wishlist?
daniel_karlsson @sharepointbuzz A new API and off-site development :-)
AndrewWBurns RT @sharepointbuzz: What's on your #SharePoint 2010 wishlist? - Ability to set master page for Application pages.
Jaylakh RT @sharepointbuzz: What's on your #SharePoint 2010 wishlist? - Ability to set master page for Appli - http://snipr.com/jr630
unorig @sharepointbuzz Better blogs, wikis, forums
ThisIsOurs_info @sharepointbuzz Enterprise 2.0 features AND project collaboration (web based project mgmt) AND wiki. Collabo/sharing.
SanderdeKoning @sharepointbuzz Storing documents outside the database, .NET 3.5, a new UI which uses recent RIA techniques;
TheSeph @sharepointbuzz Cross-site lists, 3+ navigation depth, ajax-enabled list loading/paging/sorting/filtering, change column display names...
ChristianPlante @sharepointbuzz 2010: large list performance fixed,end user self service (IT maintains the farm only) gui workflow creator like nintex
ChristianPlante @sharepointbuzz more 2010: full native reporting (like quest sec audit) with a sox404 style attestation report
ChristianPlante @sharepointbuzz 2010: a new database content type with larger limits than the current list type. To be used for complicated processes etc...
nayoungkwon @sharepointbuzz Better, prettier look & feel! :)

Comment below on What's on your SharePoint 2010 wishlist?

External Wishlist

Folders: If You Can't Kill Them, Hide Them

SharePointBuzz — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:49:00 GMT

Pity the lowly folder. SharePoint document library folders are not feeling the love from all sides. The common argument is that they promote unorganized document management, make filtering difficult, hide content, provide a rigid hierarchy, and don’t take advantage of SharePoint’s strong and flexible metadata capabilities.

Folders are horrible, horrible little beasts.

And you know what? The general consensus is absolutely correct. Folders are horrible, horrible little beasts.

However, they do have their uses:

The most obvious, people like them. They are comfortable with them, and they like storing their documents into little buckets as defined by them.
Custom permissions can be assigned, by the user, at the folder level thereby providing custom permissions to all child documents and folders. In certain circumstances it may be beneficial to restrict a subset of a document library from certain users or groups.
In a large document library, folders can be used to help limit the number of documents returned from the database for a view. Microsoft recommends not having a library (or view/folder) with more than 2000 documents for performance reasons.

Now, like I said, I’m all for the proper architecting of a SharePoint document management solution utilizing Content Types and views. However, even if the metadata has been properly defined, and the Libraries properly setup, some users will still want the ability to create folders.

So what do you do?

Have both. As they say, let them have their cake and eat it too. Allow them to create their folders, but also create views that filter the documents based on content types or custom columns. The simple trick is to hide the folders for those metadata views:

I often create a "No Folders" public view on those folder-heavy, zero meta-data libraries. That way I can easily see just the documents without those pesky folders getting in the way.

Some possible links for second sentence: “…from all sides…”

This is a guest post brought to you by Pete Robinson, a Toronto based SharePoint Consultant.

Thank you to SharePoint Buzz Sponsors for June 2009

SharePointBuzz — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:19:00 GMT

SharePoint Buzz has been very fortunate to have the community support it during its recent transition from Wordpress to SharePoint 3.0 based blog - if you'd like more information transition, comment below.

This transition and site would not be possible without our friends and sponsors of SharePointBuzz:

Rackspace - if you have SharePoint hosting needs, look no further!
SharePoint Mobile Entrée - the Mobile Application Framework for SharePoint
SharePoint Ads - graciously serving ads focused on SharePoint technologies

If you'd like to catch Kanwal Khipple, the founder of SharePoint Buzz, you can at the following events:

SharePoint Saturday Chicago on June 13, 2009
SPTechCon 2009 on June 22-24 2009
SharePoint Saturday Toronto on July 11, 2009

OPEN - Call for Speakers
OPEN - Call for Sponsors

There's always something new in the SharePoint world and SharePoint Buzz is the place you will hear it.