This document provides tips and tricks for using SharePoint. It discusses migrating content to SharePoint 2010 using rules-based importing. It also discusses designing SharePoint sites to improve usability and adoption, including using themes, fonts, tags, ratings, and metadata. Additional tips include adding maps, searching, organizing content through document sets and drop off libraries, and improving mobile access. The goal is to help users get the most out of SharePoint.

1. SharePoint: Tips & TricksJeff Wisniewskijeffw@pitt.edu

2. Cards on the table SharePoint 2010 userIntranet

3. PollCurrent 2010 users?Current 2007 users?Other?Intranet?Public facing site?

4. Migration Rules based bulk file importing:Using 2010’s “Content Organizer” feature, bulk file imports can be routed to appropriate SP libraries.Ex. Files in a share tagged with “circulation” will be automatically routed into the Circulation SP dpcument library

6. To the cloud!SharePoint is available as a SASPricing per userMost of the functionality of locally installed SPForrester Research says 2010 online viable option for enterprises**http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/sharepoint_2010_more_viable_cloud_option/q/id/56010/t/2

7. Design

8. Be conventionalhttp://www.webstyleguide.com/wsg3/3-information-architecture/4-presenting-information.html

9. Design… …will help drive adoption. Make your SP sites LOOK GOOD!http://www.surl.org/usabilitynews/112/aesthetic.asp

10. Design… “users rated the sites with high appeal as more interesting, easier to use, easier to navigate, more accurate, more trustworthy, and overall more satisfying than the low appeal site…even though the site they were using was manipulated to have poor usability”http://www.surl.org/usabilitynews/112/aesthetic.asp

11. Who’s a pretty site?Invest in design as Sharepoint out of the box is very SharePoint-yCreate themes for sharepoint in PowerPoint and save as .thmx fileUpload to Sharepoint Themes gallery

12. Changing fontsCaveat!Format Text will show both allowed (Theme) fonts and non allowed fonts (Fonts). Even though you can see (Fonts) you can’t apply them!

13. Social

14. Tag, You’re It!Keyword insonsistencies? Fix ‘em!In SharePoint, click the Site Actions menu and select Site Settings.Under the Site Administration heading, click “Term store management.”Expand the System term store and then the Keywords.Navigate to any items that you would like to change.Click the item, twice. It becomes editable.Enter any changes you want to make.

15. CloudyAdd a tag cloud web part to a page:From a page…Page tab > Edit >Click where you want the cloud and… Insert > Web Part > Categories> Social Collaboration> Web Parts> Tag Cloud

17. The user(s) have spoken!Enable user ratings!General settings> Ratings >AllowIn rated libraries, users can sort by rating.Floats useful content up and engages users!

19. Don't Use Spaces When Naming Things in SharePointWhy?http://sharepoint/Shared%20Documents/Lib%20Qual/Final %20data.xlsx

20. Content

21. Sharing mediaDefault max file size is 50mbTo change:Central Administration -> Application Management -> Manage Web ApplicationsCan change up to 2047mbBeware that large media files can negatively impact overall SP performance

22. Picture metadata importSP will automatically import some picture metadata: TitleDateKeywordsCommentsSubject

23. PDFsBy default will NOT open inline. To enable:Web Applications General Settings > Browser File Handling > Set to “Permissive”Caveat: Is all or nothing!

25. Add a Google mapAbridged instructions:Create the map and get the embed codeAdd as web part

26. Add a Google mapget the code for a Google map, and:place the cursor where you want to add a Content Editor Web Part.In the Editing Tools group on the ribbon, click the Insert tab.Click Web Part.Click the Media and Content category, and then click Content Editor.Click Add.In the Content Editor Web Part, click Click here to add new content.In the Format Text tab of the ribbon, click HTML, and then click Edit HTML Source.In the HTML Source window, paste the code for the embeddable map, and then click OK.On the Page tab on the ribbon, click Save & Close.

27. Search

28. SearchSearch in 2010: Boolean …and wildcards (librarian cheer!?!)Note: Defaults to OR-ing termsBooleans have to be capitalized

29. Federated search(Windows 7)Not only search SP from desktop but search ANY OpenSearch compatible site…like Bing!Opensearch.org

30. Search SP from your desktop(Windows 7)Download search connector:http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff899315.aspx#BKMK_O14AsAFedProvider“Add” search connectorBegin searching!

31. Search, the backendCrawl rules can be set using regular expressions Provides admins with ability to highly refine what’s crawled and therefore what’s searchedHR info? Personal sites?

32. Turn on and use managed metadata… …makes search more reliable and results more relevant….more on this later…

33. Links and searchUsing “link to document” as opposed to just “link”Enables search to filter out broken linkswill actually link directly to the external site, rather than to an internal SharePoint list item (eliminates extra step)

34. Globally managed metadataTurn on global managed metadata in Central Administration. From there you create managed term sets that can be used in the managed metadata columns in a list or library.Across ALL site collections

35. Synonyms Can designate synonyms, but can also use to semantically link itemsYour “budget” used to be part of your “planning” document“budget” and “planning” can be semantically linked

36. Organization

37. DropboxCan create a global drop off library and create rule(s) to automatically route documents to specific libraries based on type, metadata*Easier, more efficient for staff*required SP’s managed metadata service be running

38. We go together…Take advantage of the “document sets” featureAllows you to act on a group of documents as a whole*Example: presentation to library boardPowerPointWord documentSpreadsheetApplies to:Version ControlSecurityMetadataWorkflows

39. Security versus theme When in doubt group documents from a business (or end user) perspective, not a security oneSemantics trump securityIf need be you CAN set item level permissionsThough best practice is to not do too much of that

40. Mobile

41. How will this mobilize?Add “?mobile=1” to the end of a SharePoint URL to see how it will render on mobile**works for most but not all SP URLs

42. SP on an iPad?Disable the automatic mobile redirectset the isMobile attribute to “false” in SharePoint 2010’s compat.browser file** Lives at <system>\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\80\App_browsers\compat.browse

43. Adoption

44. Baby steps…Get the best of both worlds by applying an Approval Workflow to a wiki

45. Mission criticalCreate SharePoint only content

46. Make your SP site …staff default homepageDifferent pages for different groups

47. Tips to share?War stories?

48. Thank you