Sharegate logo

Sharegate supports the following versions of SharePoint:

• SharePoint 2003 (WSS 2.0)
• SharePoint 2007 (WSS 3.0)
• Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS)
• SharePoint Foundation 2010
• Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010
• Office 365
• BPOS

Disclaimer

This review represents my own personal opinion. The comments here do not represent the views of my employer.

I have undertaken this review at the request of Nothing But SharePoint and aim to provide an unbiased and open view of the product for the benefit of the community. This review represents my personal experience of using the trial software and is not influenced by the supplier of the software and I have received no payment to undertake the review.

Review Criteria

This review has been completed using trial version 3.2.2 of the Sharegate tools. The trial version provides 15 days to review the features of the software. The trial version has a built in limit that only allows the copying of items to 5 at a time.

I’ve completed this review using a local installation of SharePoint 2007 and have been moving content to an Office 365 site that is running SharePoint 2013.

Installation

Sharegate Downloads

I chose the offline installation option and downloaded the 8.4 MB MSI file. The software was installed on a Windows 7 Professional 32-bit host.

Sharegate requires the installation of .Net Framework version 4.0 before it can be installed. With that installed, the installation is straight forward and completed quickly.

The installation is client based. There is an optional web service extension that can be installed to meet some specific criteria. The need to install this will depend on whether you have the following requirements:

• If authors and timestamps must be preserved when migrating content to SharePoint 2007
• If authors (Modified by) must be preserved on draft versions when migrating content to SharePoint 2010
• If approval status must be preserved when migrating to SharePoint 2007 or 2010
• If business data (BDC) must be preserved when migrating to SharePoint 2007

Further information can be found here: http://en.share-gate.com/support/getting-started/installation-web-service-extension

Product Features

Sharegate has seen a number of updates that have added new features. Sharegate hit version 3.1 in Sept and the most recent update to 3.2 was released 23rd Oct. 3.2 introduced:

• Document Sets migration
• Site Workflows and Reusable Workflows migration
• Migrate Lists and Libraries with their content at the same time
• Users and Groups migration
• Permission Levels migration
• Performance increased X2
• Remember my copy mode

All functionality of Sharegate is accessible from the Home page:

Sharegate Home Page

At the time of preparing this review, the product supports:

• Structure Migration
• Copy site objects
• Content Migration
• Copy file to SharePoint
• Copy SharePoint Content
• Public Folders to SharePoint
• Content Classification
• Bulk Metadata Editor

Social computing terminology and concepts in SharePoint Server 2013

This Mind Map has been prepared from the Technet article of the same name:

Social computing terminology and concepts in SharePoint Server 2013

As with other maps, I’ve uploaded to:

Maps for That!

Biggerplate

My full review of the previous version can be found here: http://www.sharepointdownunder.com/board-papers-by-pervasent-review/

Claims Based Authentication

This new release provides support for Claims Based Authentication.

Calendar Integration

In the new release, there is a prompt that the application needs access to the calendar. This feature isn’t fully active yet but needs to be enabled for the application to work properly. Pervasent are aware of this issue and have provided a work around.

If a user has denied access, access to the calendar needs to be set to On within Settings:

Privacy Setting

Board Papers Cover Styles

Users can now manage the covers via the SharePoint site and can add new covers that include branding. The list of available covers is now visible within the site:

Board Papers Cover Styles

New entries can be added with the attachment including the new cover to be used:

Custom Cover

Adding Content to Site

This release also increase the functionality within the SharePoint site and allows for the upload of multiple documents:

Upload Multiple Documents

Scrolling

In the previous release, it was only possible to scroll sideways within content. With this release, there is now a setting to enable vertical scrolling:

Vertical Scrolling

Navigation

PDF Thumbnails are now supported and can be used for navigation of content:

PDF Thumbnails

Support for PDF bookmarks has been introduced in this release to further improve navigation of content:

PDF Bookmarks

Improved Support for Audio and Video

This new version introduces further support for audio and video within Board Meeting agendas:

Video Playback

Windows PowerShell for SharePoint Online reference

Available Online

I’ve uploaded the Mindmap to:

Biggerplate: http://www.biggerplate.com/mindmaps/okd1Ac8b/windows-powershell-for-sharepoint-online-reference

Maps for That!: https://www.mapsforthat.com/map.php?m=2983

The Mindmap contains links to each section of the article content:

• Use Windows PowerShell cmdlets to manage and monitor an organization in SharePoint Online
• Use Windows Powershell cmdlets to manage connections to services in SharePoint Online
• Use Windows Powershell cmdlets to administer site collections in SharePoint Online
• Use Windows Powershell cmdlets to upgrade SharePoint Online
• Use Windows Powershell cmdlets to manage groups in SharePoint Online site collections
• Use Windows Powershell cmdlets to administer users and groups in SharePoint Online

Azurati SharePoint2Go

SharePoint2Go Introduction

Unlike applications that are available within the iTunes App Store SharePoint2Go is targeted firmly at the Enterprise. SharePoint2Go has been designed from the outset to be a mobile web application with the intent of providing:

• Support for any device, any form factor
• Parity of functionality

SharePoint2Go is built on Azure Cloud Infrastructure and there is no requirement for anything to be installed within a SharePoint farm to support use of SharePoint2Go.

Mobile-friendly SharePoint on any smartphone or tablet device

SharePoint2Go has been developed from the outset to work on any smartphone or tablet regardless of operating system. SharePoint2Go does not require any client application to be installed and is browser based. SharePoint2Go supports:

• iOS – iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad
• Android
• Windows Phone
• BlackBerry

Review Setup

This review was conducted using a trial SharePoint2Go account.

SharePoint2Go Trial Subscription

Azurati also provided me with access to an Office 365 SharePoint site that I could initially use for the review.

Contoso Office 365 Site provided by Azurati

I was also able to connect SharePoint2Go to a CloudShare hosted SharePoint 2010 site. I did not connect to any of the SharePoint installations I run locally at home as an SSL certificate is required and self signed certificates are not supported for use with SharePoint2Go.

Pervasent Board Papers

Board Papers by Pervasent is an extremely impressive iPad application that integrates with SharePoint to deliver an easily managed and beautifully presented electronic board paper solution.

The Board Papers application can be downloaded for free from the iTunes App Store. In the AU store the app can be found here and in the US store it can be found here.

At the time of writing this review, Board Papers is at version 1.3.1 and is a 16.9MB download. The review has been completed using an iPad 2 running iOS 5.1.1. I’ve prepared this review using a SharePoint 2010 site that Pervasent gave me access to use.

SharePoint Requirements

Board Papers currently works with on premise installations of SharePoint 2007 and SharePoint 2010. Pervasent has plans to add support for Office 365 in the future.

Board Papers supports NTLM authentication with support for basic and claims based authentication in the future roadmap of the product.

Unlike other iOS/iPad SharePoint applications that I have reviewed, Board Papers does require some features to be installed on the SharePoint server to support using the iPad application.

Pervasent features

In addition to these features, the Board Papers application leverages a dedicated web service for communication between the SharePoint server and the iPad device.

Security

There are a number of security features in place to provide safety of the content shown within Board Papers:

• Access to meeting packs is controlled via the SharePoint site permissions and can be centrally granted/revoked as required
• Meeting pack visibility can be centrally managed – published or unpublished
• An expiry date can be set to expire content on the device after a defined period of time
• SSL encryption was used to protect traffic between the SharePoint Server and the iPad in doing this review
• The timeout for locking the application is managed centrally via SharePoint
• A user must log into the Board Papers application on the iPad
• Repeated failed attempts lead to lock out
• Content is masked during app switching so other applications can’t capture screen content
• Any data stored on the application is secured using iOS security features that I have covered here

Other options can also be configured and maintained centrally to ensure all users have the same experience. To further increase security of content you can prevent access to emailing and printing meeting pack content:

Board Paper Settings