It's Cloudy in Here

Private Channels Sites

2019-12-17T06:59:00.001-07:00

Recently, Microsoft released private channel functionality for Microsoft Teams. While providing a new collaboration method within Teams, it creates a bit of a challenge from an administrative point of view. Each private channel creates its own SharePoint site collection allowing for file sharing and fast provisioning. However, in the SharePoint Admin Center, the private channel sites are not currently displayed. That leaves PowerShell as the method to find the any SharePoint sites created by Teams private channels.

To list private channel sites, use the Connect-SPOService cmdlet to connect to SharePoint Online. More information on that cmdlet can be found here.

The Get-SPOSite cmdlet is used to find the private channel SharePoint sites:

Get-SPOSite -Template TeamChannel#0

To export the results to a CSV file, try this command

Get-SPOSite -Template TeamChannel#0 | Export-CSV -Path c:\files\teamchannel.csv

Hope this helps in locating these new sites in your tenant!

SharePoint Modern Team Site Permissions

2018-08-22T09:01:00.001-07:00

My first adventure into working with SharePoint ‘Modern’ site templates was utilizing the new Communication site template. Outside of the new ‘Modern’ web parts, the learning curve for site utilization was minimal as the permission structure behaves much the same ways as a SharePoint ‘Classic’ site. My tendency is to go to the Advanced permission settings. Granted, this is because that screen feels comfortable. It is similar to the process I have utilized with SharePoint permissions since 2007! Then I started utilizing the SharePoint ‘Modern’ team site templates and realized that this approach may not be best.

First, let's review the steps completed so far. First, a modern SharePoint team sites is created, PublicTeamSite (this behavior is the same in both the private and public team sites). The privacy setting is set to Public and an Office 365 Group was created along with the site. I do know that it is now optional to create the Office 365 Group when creating a 'Modern' team site but since this option was recently added, the majority of team sites I work with have an associated Office 365 group.

Here is an initial screen shot of the landing page:

Let's say that access is needed for a user account to this team site - there are a couple of options. First, select the Gear icon in the upper right hand corner of the site and then select Site Permissions from the drop down menu.

At this point, my tendency is to select Advanced permissions settings, where I am directed to a page that is similar to what

Thinking that the user account needs edit access, it is added to the Members group. Yet, after the account is added to the Members group, the number of Site Members still only displays as one.

Yet, the user account does have edit access to the site but is unable to participate in conversations (this is a private team site).

When working with Team sites (that have an associated Office 365 Group), there are some options to grant site access.

Start by selecting the gear icon in the upper right hand corner and select Site Permissions from the drop down menu
Select Invite People:

Add Members to Group: this option not only grants access to the site but adds the account to the Office 365 group. When an account is added via this method, the number of members at the top right of the page is updated. Note, that when using this selection only Owner and Member permission settings can be granted. Read access cannot be granted utilizing this method.
Share Site Only: this option adds the user to the appropriate site group. This does NOT add them to the Office 365 group. When added using this selection, the account can be granted Owner, Full Control, Edit or Read access. However, this does not update the members number on the home page of the screen and does not allow the account to participate in conversations (in a private group). This is the equivalent to selecting Advanced permission settings and adding the account that way.

Bottom line: Even though the Advanced permission settings can be utilized to grant permission to 'Modern' team sites, but isn't necessary. Don't be afraid of the Invite People selection. Just be aware that the Add Members to Group will add the user account to the Office 365 Group and can only be used to gran Owner or Member permissions. Share Site Only will grant access to the team site only and will add the account to the appropriate site group (and this is the only option for read access).

SharePoint Error: To open this workbook your computer must have a version of Microsoft Excel

2013-09-16T14:52:00.003-07:00

Recently, I was working with a user who experienced this error message when working with an Excel file in SharePoint: To open this workbook, your computer must have a version of Microsoft Excel installed and your Web browser must support opening files directly from Excel in the browser.

The week earlier, I had encountered a similar error on my own computer as well.

First, I wanted to check to see if the SharePoint Foundation Support for Office was installed (on my computer issue, this was not installed):
I clicked on the Windows icon (or the old Start button location) in the lower left hand corner of the screen, select Programs and Features.

The list of installed programs is displayed, scroll down to Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010, left click on it once and on the menu bar select Change.

Select the Add or Remove Features and then click Continue.

Scroll down and expand Office Tools. Ensure that Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Support is installed.

Then Click Continue. Finally, click Close to complete the installation.

However, when I did this, the user still encountered the error.

In this case, the issue was the version of Internet Explorer being run. The user was running 64 bit version of Internet Explorer and these features are not supported in that version. Sometimes it is the simple things that cause the issue.

Share Office 365 SharePoint Site with External Users

2013-06-04T12:26:00.000-07:00

One of the questions I get asked a great deal is how to share a SharePoint site in Office 365 with external users. This process has changed somewhat so this blog is my updated version which includes how to tie an external email address to a outlook.com address. This blog assumes that sharing has been enabled at the SharePoint Administration level.

1. Navigate to the SharePoint site that is to be shared with external users.

2. In the upper right hand corner, select the arrow next to Site Actions, then select Share Site:

3. Enter the email account to share the site with in either the Visitors or Members selection. Select Share. Note: Visitors only get Read access to the site and Members have Contribute/Edit access to the site:

4. A confirmation message will appear stating that an email invitation has been sent to the user:

5. The user will receive an email invitation, like the one here. The user selects Accept your invitation:

6. At the following screen, the user selects Microsoft Account:

7. The user is then directed to the site:

Common SharePoint Issues - DataSheet View Not Working

2013-03-27T09:30:00.000-07:00

Due to a series of SharePoint migrations, I have been out of the blogging world recently. These have completed and I plan on being able to actively participate in the Office 365 Community again. In my role, I have the opportunity to work with companies of all sizes ( from small business to enterprise). There are some common issues that I have come across no matter the organization size, so I thought I would begin documentint some of these "common" issues.

Issue: DataSheet view tab not working (greyed out):

The users in this case are using Internet Explorer as the web browser of choice. Note: Internet Explorer is the recommended web browser. Not that Google Chrome or Firefox cannot be used but for all features to work properly, Internet Explorer is recommended.

Troubleshooting: Have the user check which version of Internet Explorer is being utilized to see if it is 64 bit. In the version of Internet Explorer I am utilizing, there is an options icon in the far right hand corner, select that and then select About Internet Explorer from the drop down list :

The About Internet Explorer dialogue box is displayed:

Please note in the version - 64Bit Edition is being utilized. Datasheet view does not work with 64 bit edition of Internet Explorer.

Solution: Ensure that the user runs the 32 bit version of Internet Explorer to access SharePoint. One way to ensure it is 32 bit is to select the Start button and type iexplore and then press Enter. This will launch the 32 bit version of Internet Explorer.

Internet Explorer 10 and Windows Explorer View SharePoint Online

2013-02-27T09:28:00.001-07:00

Due to a large SharePoint migration, I have been out of the blogging world. Now that I have a little free time, I am back to writing. One thing that I am hearing today is in regards to Internet Explorer 10 and Windows Explorer view for SharePoint Online.

I am seeing many reports of open with Windows Explorer NOT working after users upgrade to IE 10. These same users report that if they downgrade to IE 9, it works without any issues.

Just be aware, if upgrading to IE 10 this functionality in SharePoint online may no longer work

PrePopulate SharePoint List Form Data (On Line Version) - Part 1

2012-12-10T14:39:00.000-07:00

One recent project had a requirement where when a new list item was created, several pieces of information needed to be populated based on the logged in user (this is for SharePoint Online in Office 365). There are several great articles dealing with this utilizing InfoPath (credit here to Laura Rogers at http://www.wonderlaura.com). However there is a way to accomplish this without having to create an InfoPath Library and just using a SharePoint list (my approach is to stay simple until I absolutely have to make things more complex).

The first thing to create is the source list. Meaning the list that ties the user account to the data I wish to prepopulate in my list. Create a SharePoint Custom list (in my example titled: Source List) with the following columns: Department column (single line of text), and then a Users column which is a Person or Group column. (Please note for the Show field option at the bottom of the Person or Group column, select Account- this is specifically for Office 365 SharePoint):

Now, it is time to create the list that this information will be supplied to. Just for an example, I will create a list titled Comments with the following columns: Submitter Name (single line of text), Department (lookup to the Source list created above utilizing the department column) and Comments (mulitiple lines of text):

From the Ribbon bar at the top, select the List tab:

Select Customize Form in the Customize List section (Please note for this feature to be enabled, InfoPath Designer 2010 must be installed on the computer) :

InfoPath Designer 2010 will open the form for the Comments list.

The first thing needed is to prepopulate the Sumitter Name column with the Account Name from the logged in user. There are several ways to approach this and one of the simplest (because I like simple) is to set the default value of the Submitter Name column from a Form Load Rule.

On the Ribbon Bar in InfoPath, select the Data tab:

Then select Form Load in the Rules section:

Under the Form Load Rules, select the New drop down and then select Action:

Enter text to the Details for column (in this example I entered PopulateSubmitterName to remind me of the purpose of this rule):

Leave the Condition as the default and Rule type is Action. Select the Add drop down and select set a Field's value:

The Rule Details screen will appear. Leave Action set to Set a field's value. For the Field selection, select the icon on the right

and select the name of the field to pre-populate - in this case Submitter Name.

For the Value selection, select the fx icon on the right hand side

On the Insert formula screen, select Insert Function:

Select Insert Function:

For Categories, select User and then for Functions select userName and select Ok 3 times:

Finally, Quick Publish the new form to the list by selecting the icon at the top of the page:

Now when the form loads, the User Name is displayed:

A couple of things to keep in mind. The User name is a little different than on premise as I am using an Office 365 setup for this demonstration - which limits how an account can be pulled into the form some.

Also, a condition may need to be set so that the submitter name is only entered if the field is blank.

In part 2 of this series, I wall through populating the Department name based on the Source list where we tied the username to an actual Department.

Lync and Learn Session

2012-12-05T13:37:00.002-07:00

I look forward to leading the Lync and Learn session for the Office 365 community. The past few months have kept me incredibly busy with a SharePoint migration and I have had little time for blogging. My plan is to get back in the blogging mode over the next few weeks.

Tomorrow, I will be providing a high level overview of SharePoint in Office 365. Most users come to Office 365 because of email and basically inherit a SharePoint site. Many times companies do not know what to do with the site and it sits unused. I hope to demonstrate 5 instant collaboration tools in SharePoint that can be used right out of the box.

Link for session info.

Hope to see you online!

Microsoft Surface Screen Shot

2012-11-29T13:48:00.001-07:00

One of the first challenges that I faced with the new Microsoft Surface is how to take a screen shot. Well, the good news is that it is pretty simple (and the source I used can be found here).

To Accomplish thi:

Go to the screen that you wish to screen shot
Press the volume down button (on the side of the Surface) and the Micrsosoft logo button that is on the bottom part of the tablet at the same time
The screen will dim just for a second
The screen shot will not appear under Photos, Screen Shots

Surface Tablet - a 360

2012-11-26T16:12:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have been hectic with a SharePoint migration but I now have time to write a new post. On my last post I stated how I was going to wait on purchasing a Windows Tablet. Well I have now done a 360 degree turn and own a Microsoft Surface tablet. Let me provide my reasoning.

I was looking for a portable device that I could carry with me most days rather than my laptop. My daily activities include email, Lync, One Note and accessing files via Office (utilizing Sky Drive). SharePoint Development is not something that I will do on a tablet (RT or otherwise). Given this scenario, the Surface table (running RT) would work very nicely for me.

Last week I purchased the Surface Tablet and admit that I am happy with it. The keyboard is nice and I am getting accustomed to typing on it. The performance has been good and I am able to now work on the go without always carrying my laptop.

The negatives have been published by many and I confirm that the app availability leaves a great deal to be desired. Price point is a little higher than I think it should be.

At this point Microsoft still has not released a time frame for the Surface Pro version but if you are looking for a device that can help in managing emails, utilize Lync and Office then the RT Surface is something to seriously consider.

Windows 8 Tablet

2012-10-25T13:11:00.002-07:00

I'll admit it, I have been anxiously awaiting the new Microsoft Surface tablet. Other tablets have been tried - iPad and even Android but I need something to help me be more productive and those just didn't cut it (however if I needed to just fill time on a flight across the country, either would fit the bill).

The new Microsoft Surface tablet appealed to me because of the integration of Office (not to mention the cool looking keyboard/case).

Launch of the Surface is tomorrow and I have decided to ...... wait on purchasing a tablet.

I have been asking myself the hard questions such as what will I truly be doing with the Tablet. Mostly email responses, some Lync and basic communication. Given that criteria the RT version of the Surface will fit my needs. Yet, the price point feels too high for me. Not just the Microsoft Surface table price but also many of the competitors. The Dell Windows 8 tablet is pricey as well. At this price point, the tablets are encroaching on the price point of some of the lightweight laptops - with the laptops I get the full OS version, not just RT.

My understanding is that many new Windows 8 tablets will be released between now and January (not to mention that AMD has a tablet chip product being released in January). For now I wait and see. Not easy to do but given the uncertainty of the product offerings at this very moment (and the higher than anticipated price tag) - the right decision for me.

Anonymous Access SharePoint Office 365 Public Web Site

2012-10-12T10:21:00.003-07:00

One question that I am asked alot is about SharePoint functionality in the public web site for Office 365. This week, I came across a very interesting solution on CodePlex here (I did not develop this solution, rather ran across it and wanted to share my findings). Through implementing this solution, I have been able to share a SharePoint calendar on the public facing site (please note there is some limited functionality) and several other items/lists. If you are struggling with this issue, as many are, this is a solution worth checking out.

SharePoint Office 365 External User Filter

2012-09-28T08:24:00.004-07:00

A current project of mine has a rather routine requirement, filtering web parts on the page by the current user. This is a relatively simple requirement to fulfill in that I add a User Filter web part to the page and connect this to the other web part(s) on the page. However, Office 365 allows for this SharePoint site to be shared to outside users and that is where things became interesting.

Many people read a blog to quickly find out how to solve a problem. In respect to that, I am going to detail how I solved the problem first. Further down in the article I provide some reference and background to show how I arrived at this solution.

To filter web part(s) based on current user for external user accounts in Office 365 SharePoint:

Within your list(s), create a Person or Group column type (mine is named Account Name)
Populate this column with the email address of the external user (example: externaluser@hotmail.com and check the entry)
Add a User Filter web part to the page and for the Select Value to Provide, select Current User Name.
Connect the User Filter to the Web Part(s) on the page with the Consumer Field Name being the column created in Step 1 (in this case Account Name)
The Web Part(s) on the page are now filtered based on the current user

Reference and Background:

Let’s examine an external account that has been shared with this site. (Note: this SharePoint site has been shared with outside users by selection Site Actions and then selecting Share Site). All of the external users have Hotmail email accounts to minimize and possible issues. Next, I go to Site Actions à Site Settings à Site Permissions and select the group that my outside user accounts are a member of (in this case it is my Members group). I then select the username for one of these external accounts. Notice the account name (something similar to i:0#.f|membership|live.com#externaluser@hotmail.com. The name row is the name from the email account and then there is a Work email row which is populated with the same email account referenced in the Account row.

What does that information have to do with my user filter? In looking at the account information, I thought that I could create a column within my lists to hold the external shared account email address and then pass the work email from the user filter to this column. However, this approach did not work for me. The only way that I found this to work was to use the solution stated above. Please note that I am sure there are some scripts that can be run to do this same thing but I wanted to stay “out of the box” as much as possible with this solution.

How the Cloud Can Bring Sunshine

2012-09-12T08:43:00.003-07:00

Every day it happens – a computer refuses to boot and another hard drive crashes. Over the past week, I have deal with two such incidents and it reminded me of how things have changed for the better in the computer industry.

Back in the day, so to speak, reinstalling a computer and getting all of the old data off of a crashed computer was an ordeal (for both the user and technician). First, the installation CD’s would have to be found and then finding the installation source for all of the programs. However, the cloud has changed all of that.

Thanks to Office 365 and SkyDrive a computer crash doesn’t mean the end of the world. I had my computer user up and running in less than an hour! Sure, the operating system has to be reinstalled but after that all of the necessary data was in the cloud. Office installation – cloud, user files – cloud.

With the next version of Office 365 on the horizon and the connection with Sky Drive improving, my life will be even easier. A business of any size wants to minimize down time and Office 365 definitely addresses that challenge.

Office 365 SharePoint Survey Part 2

2012-09-06T09:30:00.000-07:00

In my post earlier this week, I went through how to create a SharePoint Survey. Now that the survey is created, there are several options that may provide beneficial and enable us to secure the data.

To access the Survey options, navigate to the survey -> select Settings -> Survey Settings:

Next, select Advanced Settings:

There are several important options here. First, what responses can be read by the users – just the responses the user created or can they read all responses. The type of survey typically dictates this option. The second option determines if a user can create and edit responses that were created by themselves or any of the responses. Typically, the create responses and edit responses that were created by the user is the appropriate selection.

The second row of choices center around the survey results appearing in the search results. Most of the time the surveys that I created didn’t need to be seen by everybody, so I typically set this to No.

The next option allows for the survey to be downloaded to offline clients.

The final option allows for the survey questions to appear in a modal popup as opposed to just a normal looking SharePoint page.

Office 365 SharePoint Survey

2012-09-04T09:30:00.000-07:00

Many times feedback from co-workers is beneficial. One way to gather that feedback is through the use of SharePoint Surveys. Many of our clients utilize this tool after training classes, to gather feedback on web content or to gather opinions on other issues (even what day of the week to have a team cookout).

The first step is to create a survey. On upper hand side of the SharePoint page, select Site Actions and
then More Options:

Use the scroll bar on the right hand side of the next page and scroll down to Survey:

On the right hand side of the screen, enter a name for the Survey and select Create:

Survey creation begins immediately and a series of options are available for the first question. The first survey question is entered and then the type of question is selected from the choices below:

Most of these options are self-explanatory and there are other options available as well, including requiring a response and enforcing unique values:

At the very bottom of the page, options are available to continue and create the next question, finish the
survey or cancel:

At this point, the new survey is created and ready for use. The survey can be secured just as any other list within SharePoint. There are several options available on the survey itself and those will be discussed in a blog later this week.

Specify Active Ribbon Office 365 SharePoint

2012-08-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

One of the most frequent questions that I get asked is how to default to a specific active ribbon within SharePoint (Office 365 or on premise). Fortunately, directing a link to a specific active ribbon is pretty simple.

First, let's look at the default behavior when a document library is selected in SharePoint. In this example, I select my Shared Documents link on the left hand navigation and directed to the Shared Documents document library (the link is: //server/shareddocuments/allitems.aspx):

Notice how I must then select the Documents or Library from the ribbon bar at the top. Many of our clients want to go directly to the Documents or Library option. In this example, a link is created to direct the user directly to the Documents tab:

//server/DocumentLibrary/AllItems.aspx?InitialTabId=Ribbon.Document

Now when this link is selected, Shared Documents opens with the Document tab active:

To default to the Library tab, just set the URL to this:

//server/DocumentLibrary/AllItems.aspx?InitialTabId=Ribbon.Library

Now when this link is selected, Shared Documents opens with the Library tab active:

It is rather simple, just adding the ?InitialTabId=Ribbon.Document to the end of the link to the library.

SharePoint Announcement Web Part - Permanent Announcement

2012-08-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

In my last post, I introduced the SharePoint Announcement web part. A question was posed to me asking how to make a permanent or "sticky" announcement always appear at the top of the Announcement list. This post will address that question and propose a solution.

First, I have an Announcement web part on my Office 365 SharePoint home page:

The goal is to have the first announcement (which is titled "Test Announcement - always be first") to always be displayed first in the Announcement list. By default, the Announcement list sorts in order of the newest announcement first.

To create this solution, go to the Announcements list, select List at the top on the Ribbon tool bar and then select List Settings (on the far right of the screen):

For this solution, a new column is going to be added titled "First".
To add this column look nder the Columns header, select Create Column:

A column name must be entered, which in this case is "First":

For the type of column, select Yes/No:

I set the default value to No and leave the Add to default view selection checked:

Select Ok:

Now, return to the page where the Announcement web part is located. On the right side of the web part, select the down arrow and select Edit Web Part:

Select Edit the current view (there are other ways to modify the view but for today this approach will be utilized):

Under the Sort selection, change the First Sort Order to be by First and Show items in descending order:

Then sort by Modified in descending order:

Then select Ok (at the very top or bottom of the page):

Here is a screen shot of the current Announcements:

I will add another Announcement titled "Announcement 6" and then 2 more announcements:

Please note that when adding an Announcement, there is a check box titled First. Select this checkbox for the announcement that needs to always be first:

Now the capability exists to have a permanent first or "sticky" announcement.

Office 365 SharePoint Announcements List

2012-08-08T08:22:00.001-07:00

This continues a back to the basics series of blogs where the focus is introducing SharePoint to non-SharePoint users. In my recent consulting with Office 365 users, I tend to talk about SharePoint features but I am coming to realize that many of my clients have no idea what SharePoint is or what it can do.

In continuing this series today, I discuss one of the most popular features of SharePoint and that is the Announcements list. An Announcements list is a great way to post news, status or other short bits of information with others within your organization. One of the best features about this is the Expire feature that allows an item to disappear from the Announcements list after a certain date.

Most every site in SharePoint has an Announcements list created by default, but let’s walk through how to create one first anyway.

From the lower part of the left hand navigation, select All Site Content:

At the top of the page, select Create:

Select Announcements from the next dialogue box:

On the right hand side of the page, give the Announcements List a name (in this example: Company
News) and select Create:

Now we are directed to the newly created Announcements list:

To add a new Announcement, select Add new announcement:

Enter in the Title and Body (the content of the Announcement) and an Expiration date (if needed) and select Save:

Now, let’s add the Announcement list to our home page, so we return to our home page. On the top left hand side of the page, select Site Actions and then Edit Page:

On the Ribbon Bar, select Editing Tools and Insert. From the Announcements selection, select the drop down arrow and select the name of our newly created Announcements list - Company News.

Our newly created Announcements list is on the page:

Just a reminder that by default the Announcements list shows the new item first. This functionality can be changed and on my next blog I will cover some of the options for the Announcements list.

5,000 Item Limit Office 365 SharePoint - Document Set Solution

2012-08-07T07:58:00.000-07:00

My last attempt at working within the 5,000 item limit with SharePoint online was utilizing folders. Yet, I had one other idea to try and that was the use of a Document Set.

What is a document set? It is a new feature introduced in SharePoint 2010. This allows for the creation of a set of multiple related documents. It is comprised of the Document set content type which is a folder based content type that organizes multiple related documents into a single view where they can be worked on and managed as a single entity. The purpose of this blog is not to go in depth into the workings of the Document Set but rather to see if it could be a solution to the 5,000 document issue that so many have encountered.

First, I have a document library consisting of one Document Set that has 5,000 items in it:

When I go to the Document Library and select the Document Set name, all of the files are listed (granted only a few are included in the screen shot below):

Before I increase the size of this 5K Documents Document Set above 5,000 items, I want to modify the default view. On the ribbon bar, select Library and then Modify View:

On the Item Limit, I am modifying the Number of Items to Display to be in batches of 50 (any number below 5,000 should be sufficient here):

Now, I will go and add another document to the library to increase the size to over 5,000 documents.

I go back to the Document Set and no error……

As long as the view is below 5,000 items in either total view or in batch then this solution works.

The other frequent question that I receive is what do I do with a library that has over 5,000 documents? The best way to resolve this is via a third party product and utilize that to copy over the data. My preference is Sharegate, and I can answer any questions related to Sharegate. **Please Note: I increased the item number to over 5010 and I received an error. Even with the view settings in batches of 50, so we are restricted to that limit even with Document Sets.

Here are some great articles dealing with different ways to manage large lists and libraries:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint-server-help/configure-metadata-navigation-for-a-list-or-library-HA101820113.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262813.aspx

SharePoint Discussion Board List

2012-07-31T09:30:00.001-07:00

One of the first questions that many of our customers ask is “What is SharePoint?” Followed by “What can I do with SharePoint”. We have started a series of blog articles that discuss the different lists/libraries/web parts that are available in SharePoint Online (Office 365). My first installment on this relates to the SharePoint List Discussion Board.

What is a discussion board? A simple definition is an online bulletin board. Basically an area where questions and comments can be posted and other users can respond with comments and solutions related to these topics. Microsoft has a built in Discussion Board available via SharePoint.

To create a new discussion board, open your SharePoint Office 365 site, and select All Site Content (typically on the lower section of the left hand navigation). Please note on most sites there already exists
a discussion board appropriately titled “Discussion Board”

At the top of the page, select Create:

On the left hand side, select Lists and then select Discussion Board – on the right hand side give the Discussion Board a name (example: Discussion Board) and then select Create:

There are several options available for the Discussion Board. To access these, go to the Discussion Board and select List on the Ribbon Toolbar at the top:

On the far right hand side, select List Settings:

There are numerous settings that can be modified but for the purpose of this blog, I wish to highlight the
Advanced Settings features, so under the General Settings header select Advanced Settings:

The Item Level Permissions section has some very important settings. First the Read Access settings allows for users to only see the items they create in the discussion board or all of the items in the discussion board. The second option, Create and Edit access, allows items to only be created and edited by a particular user or all items. In addition, this can be set to none so that users are unable to Create or Edit items in the discussion board.

A few things to point out in relation to discussion boards. First, keep in mind that it is intended to be a public discussion board – so things published there should be treated as if anyone can see it. Also, Discussion Boards do NOT work on mobile phones – by default anyway. There are programs that can be purchased and downloaded on mobile phones to allow the discussion board to be displayed on those devices.

Great news - in SharePoint 2013 this functionality is taken to a whole new level. There will be a new feature called a Community Site. A Community Site will allow for discussions to be open to a larger audience within the organization. Discussions can be setup in different categories and users can then join the different discussions that are of interest to them. The best part is that Moderators will get expanded capabilities including the ability to assign gift badges to users based on their contributions. Also Community Features will be available for activation on sites. Great things are in store for user collaboration in SharePoint 2013 and the next version of Office 365.

Pardon Our Dust

2012-07-30T20:22:00.002-07:00

I am moving into a new Blog template, so please pardon the dust as I work on getting the new template setup.

Email Signatures

2012-07-26T12:18:00.000-07:00

Smart phones have changed everything - even the importance of email signatures. Case in point, I recently had a meeting scheduled with a business acquaintance. This acquaintance was running late for the meeting and need to contact me by phone. He opened up the email I had sent to him expecting to find my phone number in my email signature. However, I had not added that information to signature. This led to a series of phone calls on his side trying to track me down. If I had included the information on my signature, it would have been a simple click and call situation.

My blog today does not discuss the technicality of setting up an email signature but rather recommendations on the information to include. For information on setting up a signature for all users, this is a great post by Loryan Strant here. Here is my recommendation of necessary information to add to an email signature:

First Name
Last Name
Job Title
Company/Organization
Phone Number(s): This may include an office number, mobile number and even a fax number
Email address

There are a number of ways to format a signature but having the necessary information is the most important part. In today's world, email signatures have gone from passive to active information allowing users to act on it from within their phone for quicker communication options.

5000 Item Document Library Limit Office 365 Adventures Continued

2012-07-24T09:30:00.000-07:00

Some time ago, I had written about my adventures in dealing with the 5,000 item limit in an Office 365 SharePoint Document Library. In troubleshooting and working through this issue, I ended up with a SharePoint Document Library folder with more than 5,000 items in it.

The only option to clean up this library was to reduce the number of items to below 5,000. To accomplish this, I created a Non-Folder view and individually selected and remove documents. Given the number of documents, this was a slow and time consuming process - a true effort in futility. Yet, I could not delete the Document Library, so I was just stuck with it.

Enter ShareGate. I was able to utilize the ShareGate tool to Move my documents from one Document Library to another within Office 365. This saved me a ton of time and allows me to be able to once again work with my site on another possible solution.

There are other tools that do the same thing. However, I wanted to submit this alternative for getting a Document Library back to working order. If you do not wish to purchase software, my company as well as other companies that participate in the Office 365 Grid are available to assist in migrating data.

Add Email Disclaimer Office 365

2012-07-09T10:30:00.001-07:00

Most organizations that I work with wish to add a disclaimer of some sort to all outgoing email messages. In this post, I will walk through how to setup email disclaimers.

The first step is to login to the Office 365 portal and then select Admin from the initial landing page:

The next page is the Administration page for Office 365, under the Exchange header, select Manage:

The Exchange Management page is displayed, select Mail Control on the left hand side. Make sure that Rules is selected and select New under the Rules heading:

The New Rule page is displayed, from the drop down menu under If, select [Apply to all messages]. Under Do the Following, select either Append a disclaimer to the message or Prepend a disclaimer to the message:

Please Note: Append the disclaimer will insert the disclaimer at the bottom of the message thread. Prepend the disclaimer will insert the disclaimer before the text of the newest message.

On the right hand side of Do the Following, select Enter text...... The Specify Disclaimer Box appears. Enter the disclaimer text here and select OK:

On the right hand side of Do the Following, select Select one.... next to the Failback Action:

There are 3 options for the Specify Failback Action: wrap, reject or ignore. This option exists in case a message (such as an encrypted message) prevents Exchange from modifying the content of the original message. The wrap option will wrap the disclaimer message in an envelope . The reject will reject the message if a disclaimer cannot be added. Finally, ignore will deliver the message without a disclaimer.

The default setting is wrap and one that most of my clients have utilized. Select OK.

At the bottom of the New Rule page, select Save:

A dialogue box appears confirming that this Rule is to be applied to all new messages, select Yes:

The disclaimer will be added to all outbound messages, here is an example of a recipient message with a disclaimer: