You can also configure
other settings for the
content type, including
columns that describe
the content, also called metadata, properties, or attributes. Properties
appear on the Information tab in the
Shared Workspaces task pane in Office
2003. In Office 2007, properties appear in
the document information panel, which
can be turned on by choosing the Properties
command from the Prepare menu under
Office. You can force the document information
panel to be visible by configuring the
Advanced Settings of the content type.
For example, if you create a content type
for Sales Proposals, you can add a column
called Customer. You can then use the
property to create views of the document
library that sort, filter, or group documents
based on Customer. SharePoint search also
indexes the column, so that users can search
for a proposal using the Customer attribute.
You can even make that column a required
property. When users create Sales Proposals,
they will be required to enter the Customer
property. If checkout is required, documents
cannot be checked in until required
properties are populated.
After you create the content type, you
can use the content type in one or more
document libraries. In a document library,
click Settings, then click Document Library
Settings. Select Advanced Settings and click
the Yes radio button that enables management
of content types. Then click OK. The
Document Library Settings page will now
display a new section, Content Types. Click
the link Add from existing site content types,
select your custom content type, click Add,
then click OK. You can delete the default
Document content type from the library,
assuming no documents have been added
to the library. If you add more than one content
type, you can change the order in which they appear on the library’s New menu, and
set the default content type.
Now navigate back to the document
library. Click the drop-down arrow on the
New button in the library toolbar, and you’ll
see the content type as an available document
in the New menu. Documents that
are created from a document library will
be saved to the same library, by default, by
both the Save command and the Publish to
Document Management Server command.
Comparing Document Versions
In many work scenarios, users revise a
document before the document is finalized.
Most users save each new version of
a document with a slightly different name,
resulting in version proliferation that is
difficult to manage. SharePoint’s support
for versions, combined with Word’s ability
to compare documents, unleashes a valuable
capability.
You can enable versioning in the Versioning
Settings page from a document
library’s Settings page. Then, SharePoint
automatically creates a new version of a
document each time the document is saved.
The document library displays only the
most recent version of a document, but you
can use the Version History command of the
document’s edit menu to view, restore, or
delete a previous version.
You can perform the same operations
from within Office applications. Open the
document from the library, click the Office
Button, select the Server menu, then View
Version History. You can even compare versions
by using Word 2007. From the View
Version History command, select an earlier
version and click the Compare button. Word
will compare the current opened version of
the document with the selected previous
version, allowing you to identify the differences
between the versions.
Publishing Blog Entries
SharePoint offers blog capabilities through
the Blog site template. You can post a blog
entry using SharePoint’s Web interface,
but for a richer editing experience you can
use Word 2007 to create and publish a blog
entry. Simply choose New Blog Post when
you create a Word document, or use the
Blog command on Word’s Publish menu.
The first time you publish a blog entry, you’ll
be prompted to configure the URL to the
blog site, and if necessary, your user credentials,
with permission to post entries.
Troubleshooting Client
Integration Features
If you’re having trouble working with document
libraries, you can find quite a few
resources on the Internet with a quick search.
The most common causes of trouble are:
• Browser choice: Before you spend too
much time troubleshooting document
library functionality, be sure you’ve tried
it with Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE).
Some functionality is reduced on other
browsers.
• Browser security settings: Make sure
your SharePoint server is in the Local
Intranet or Trusted Sites zone. Experiment
with those zones to decide which
provides the functionality you desire. IE
7.0’s protected mode also creates additional
prompts for user credentials, but
before you turn it off for a zone, be sure
you’ve researched the implications.
• Permissions: SharePoint’s UI is security
trimmed, so you’ll only see commands
and features based on the permissions
given to your user account.
• Client integration: Some SharePoint
functions, such as the Edit in Application
(e.g., Edit in Word) command on
the edit menu, or the Connect to Outlook
command in the Actions menu, are visible only when Client Integration is
enabled in the authentication provider
for the Web application and zone. To
check whether integration is enabled,
open Central Administration, Application
Management. Click Authentication
Providers, then click the link to the zone.
Ensure that Client Integration is selected—
it’s enabled by default for Windows
authentication, but is disabled by default
for forms-based authentication (FBA).
• FBA: Some client integration features
work differently, and a limited number of
features aren’t available at all, when you
use FBA instead of Windows authentication.
• Sign-in: If you use FBA, make sure that
you select the Sign me in automatically check box in the logon screen, as Figure
4 shows. This option creates a cookie that
lasts until the browser is closed, and client
integration features can use that cookie to
authenticate against SharePoint. You must
select this option and leave the browser
open while using client integration features
against a SharePoint application
using FBA. Despite its label, the option
doesn’t sign you in to the site automatically
the next time you return.
More than Word Can Say
I’ve focused on Word in this article, but PowerPoint,
Excel, Access, OneNote, and Info-
Path use similar processes to integrate with
SharePoint document libraries. Although
I’ve mainly discussed Word 2007, many of
the core integration features are available
in Office 2003 applications as well. There’s
extraordinary integration between SharePoint
lists and both Excel and Access—producing
valuable solutions that I’ll cover in future
articles. Be sure to visit office.microsoft.com
and www.officesharepointpro.com for details
about the capabilities and configuration of
these other applications.
End of Article
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hayess June 17, 2008 (Article Rating: