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SharePoint 101
Best Practices for Beginners
Theresa Eller | sharepointmadam@gmail.com | @SharePointMadam
sharepointmadam.blogspot.com | www.slideshare.net/sharepointmadam
About Me
• Business Systems Analyst at MD
Anderson Cancer Center
• Create no-code solutions using
SharePoint 2013 on-premises,
InfoPath, and Nintex Workflows
• Microsoft Office Specialist
certified in SharePoint 2013
• Frequent speaker and blogger in
the international SharePoint
community
Proud dog mom to Shay & Cookie
Community Involvement
• SharePoint Saturday is a FREE one-day
event featuring sessions from
SharePoint MVPs and professionals
around the world
• SharePoint Saturday Paris 2015
• Find me at these locations
• SharePoint Saturday Houston
(April 9 at UH main campus)
• SQL Saturday Houston
(May 14 at San Jacinto College South)
• sharepointmadam.blogspot.com
• Video featured on Webucator’s
YouTube channel
• @SharePointMadam
Secrets for a Better SharePoint Experience
1. Use a supported browser
2. Work around IE11 known issues
3. Turn on Compatibility View
4. Do the math with permissions groups
5. Adding Active Directory (AD) groups
6. Remove stored SharePoint credentials
7. SharePoint 2013 + Office 2013
8. File names & prohibited characters
9. Folders vs. Metadata
10. Excel incompatible features
11. Enable Export to Excel
12. Import a spreadsheet
13. Unlock a locked file (maybe)
14. Calendar overlay
15. Connect a SharePoint calendar to Outlook
16. Green asterisk
17. Color block indicator
18. Document preview
19. Co-authoring documents
20. Versioning
21. Prepare for the List View Threshold
22. Changing views in web parts
23. Drag and drop up to 100 files
24. Windows explorer
25. Recycle bin
26. Proximity operator: NEAR
27. Proximity operator: ONEAR
28. About Me & Ask Me About are searchable
29. View all your Tasks on MySite
30. Software Boundaries & Limits
Browsers
Supported Browsers
Browser Compatibility Browsers Not Recommended
Certain web browsers could cause some SharePoint 2013 functionality to be
downgraded, limited, or available only through alternative steps.
Versions 8, 10, 11
32-bit
Latest Released Version
PC or Mac
Work Around IE11 Known Issues
Known Errors
• JSON error
• Excel Online toolbar inactivity
Solution
• Place InfoPath form in InfoPath
Form Web Part
• Emulate IE10
• Press F12 for Developer Tools
• Change the Emulation (or
Document Mode) to 10
Turn on Compatibility View
• Web Part properties cannot be modified
Permissions
Do the Math with Permissions Groups
200 employees
10 SharePoint sites
2000 assignments
200 employees
x 1 SharePoint group
200 assignments
1 SharePoint group
X 10 SharePoint sites
10 assignments
200 10 = 210 assignments
Adding Active Directory (AD) Groups
AD Groups
• Active Directory or Security
groups
• Can be used to grant
permissions in SharePoint
• Typically maintained by Active
Directory team
• SharePoint Admin may be able
to view but not edit
Emailed-Enabled Security Groups
• Active Directory group that can
also be used as a distribution list
for email (Outlook)
• Can be used to grant
permissions in SharePoint
• Can be owned by someone
outside of AD team to add and
remove members
Remove Stored Credentials
• Every time you change your
password, go into the Credential
Manager(a.k.a. Windows Vault)
and remove your stored
SharePoint credentials
• Avoids the repeated prompt for
credentials when accessing
SharePoint after a password
change
• May also unlock a locked file
The Office Suite
SharePoint 2013 + Office Suite 2013
• Use the Office Suite version that corresponds to your SharePoint
version
• Don’t have multiple versions of Office products
• e.g., Office 2013 with Visio 2010
• Use the 32-bit version of Office unless you have a valid reason for
using 64-bit (e.g., Power BI processing power)
• Otherwise…
• Error may appear
• Files may not open
• Features may be missing
Lists & Libraries
File Names & Prohibited Characters
• Limited to 255 characters
• Special characters should be avoided
• e.g., Space = %20
• 3 characters instead of 1
• Doubled (to 6 characters) when opening
or editing a document
• You cannot
• Use the period character consecutively in
the middle of a file/folder name
• Use the period character at the end of a
file/folder name
• Start a file/foldername with a period
character
• Using an underscore character (_) at
the beginning of a file/folder name
will make the file/folder hidden
Tilde (~)
Number Sign (#)
Percent (%)
Ampersand (&)
Asterisk (*)
Braces ({ })
Backslash ()
Colon (:)
Angle Brackets (< >)
Question Mark (?)
Slash (/)
Plus Sign (+)
Pipe (|)
Quotation Marks (“ ”)
Prohibited characters in file/folder names
Using an underscore character (_) at the beginning of a file/folder name will make the file/folder hidden
Folders vs. Metadata
Folders
• Folder names are not searchable
• Slash (/) is represented as %2F
• Takes up space in URL
• Can be turned off for lists and
libraries
Metadata
• Indexed metadata is searchable
• Can create up to 20 indexes per
list or library
• SharePoint 2016 will automatically
index more columns
• Reusable across a site collection
or within a site
• Each column is metadata
Excel Incompatible Features
• Password Protection is a
common unsupported feature
• Information bar with the list of
unsupported features does not
display when the file is loaded
from a Web Part
• List originated for SP2007
•
• List updated for SP2013
• https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ff595319.aspx
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms496823.aspx
Enable Export to Excel
Import a Spreadsheet
• Use a Table or Named Range to simplify data selection
Unlock a Locked File (maybe)
• Checked-in file may remain
locked for up to 10 minutes
• Reasons files get locked
• An attempt by another user to
open the file within 10 minutes
System crashes while file is open
• File is closed unexpectedly
• Check in was not successful
• Network connection is lost while
file is open
• Possible Solutions
• Wait 24 hours
• Clear your browser cache and
restart your browser
• Clear your cache in credential
manager
• Close all instances of file type
• Kill the file type service in Task
Manager
Sources listed in the Notes section
Calendar Overlay
• Assigns a different color to each calendar view
• Can display up to 10 calendar views on a single calendar
Connect a SharePoint Calendar to Outlook
Separate Calendars both viewable in Outlook
Green Asterisk
• Indicates item or file was added within the last 24 hours
*
Color Block Indicator
• Indicates Skype for Business status
Available Away Busy Do Not Disturb
Document Preview
• Hover over a Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or PDF file in the Search results
to see a preview of the document
• Browse through the document without opening it
Co-Authoring Documents
• Automatically enabled if Check Out is not required
Up to 10 people can simultaneously edit a file
Versioning
• Versioning
Prepare for the List View Threshold
Possible GOOD Solutions
• Prior to hitting 5,000 items or
within the exemption window
• Index columns that should be
searchable
• Create views that keep the
displayed number of items/files
below 5,000
• Import data from another
source, such as SQL
Possible TEMPORARY Solutions
• Disable throttling for the list or
library
• Requires PowerShell
• Increase the limit
• Increases the risk of locking a table
and losing data
Changing Views in Web Parts (1 of 2)
Web Part View
(Default Style)
Modify the View
(Shaded Style)
Web Part View
(Still Default Style)
Changing Views in Web Parts (2 of 2)
• Edit the Web Part
and select Standard
• Click OK at the
warning about
changing the view
• To see the changed
view, click OK to close
the List Views window
and Save the page
Drag & Drop up to 100 Files
Windows Explorer
Good Uses
• Drag and drop files into a library
• Move and copy files
Bad Uses
• Create folders
• Folders are not your friend!
• Delete multiple files at once
Files are PERMANENTLY deleted in Windows Explorer
Recycle Bin
Site Level Site Collection Level
• After site level retention is met,
deleted items move into the site
collection recycle bin
• Default retention is half of the
site level retention
• E.g., 30 days at site level, then
15 days at site collection level
• Can be restored by site
collection administrator
• Almost anything deleted goes
into the recycle bin
• List
• List Item
• Document Library
• File
• SharePoint Site (SP2013+)
• Can be restored by site owner
• Default retention is 30 days
Proximity Operator: NEAR
• Searches for expressions (words
or phrases) within
close proximity to each other
• Default is 8 expressions
• Order of the expressions is
ignored
• NEAR must be in all capital
letters
• SharePoint NEAR Training
• SharePoint NEAR(2) Training
• Searches for “SharePoint” within 2
expressions (words) of “Training”
Proximity Operator: ONEAR
• Searches for expressions in the
order specified
• SharePoint ONEAR Training
• ONEAR must be in all capital
letters
• SharePoint ONEAR(2) Training
• Searches for “Training” no more
than 2 expressions after
“SharePoint”
MySite
About Me & Ask Me About are Searchable
• In the About me section, enter
your bio
• In Ask Me About, enter topics
with which you can help people
• These keywords will be searchable
View All Your Tasks on MySite
• Under your photo, click Tasks
• Tasks from all SharePoint sites
will appear here
• Tasks may take up to 4 hours to
appear on MySite
Impress Your Boss
Software Boundaries & Limits
• Site Collections
• 500,000
personal
• 250,000 other
• Sites & Subsites
• 250,000 per
site collection
• Web Parts
• 25 per wiki or
Web Part page
• Documents
• 30,000,000 per library
• Items
• 30,000,000 per list
• Versions
• 400,000 major
• 511 minor
• File Size
• 2GB (up to SP2013)
• 10GB (SP 2016)
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262787.aspx
Questions?
Theresa Eller | sharepointmadam@gmail.com | @SharePointMadam
sharepointmadam.blogspot.com | www.slideshare.net/sharepointmadam

More Related Content

SPSSA SharePoint 101 Best Practices

  • 1. SharePoint 101 Best Practices for Beginners Theresa Eller | sharepointmadam@gmail.com | @SharePointMadam sharepointmadam.blogspot.com | www.slideshare.net/sharepointmadam
  • 2. About Me • Business Systems Analyst at MD Anderson Cancer Center • Create no-code solutions using SharePoint 2013 on-premises, InfoPath, and Nintex Workflows • Microsoft Office Specialist certified in SharePoint 2013 • Frequent speaker and blogger in the international SharePoint community Proud dog mom to Shay & Cookie
  • 3. Community Involvement • SharePoint Saturday is a FREE one-day event featuring sessions from SharePoint MVPs and professionals around the world • SharePoint Saturday Paris 2015 • Find me at these locations • SharePoint Saturday Houston (April 9 at UH main campus) • SQL Saturday Houston (May 14 at San Jacinto College South) • sharepointmadam.blogspot.com • Video featured on Webucator’s YouTube channel • @SharePointMadam
  • 4. Secrets for a Better SharePoint Experience 1. Use a supported browser 2. Work around IE11 known issues 3. Turn on Compatibility View 4. Do the math with permissions groups 5. Adding Active Directory (AD) groups 6. Remove stored SharePoint credentials 7. SharePoint 2013 + Office 2013 8. File names & prohibited characters 9. Folders vs. Metadata 10. Excel incompatible features 11. Enable Export to Excel 12. Import a spreadsheet 13. Unlock a locked file (maybe) 14. Calendar overlay 15. Connect a SharePoint calendar to Outlook 16. Green asterisk 17. Color block indicator 18. Document preview 19. Co-authoring documents 20. Versioning 21. Prepare for the List View Threshold 22. Changing views in web parts 23. Drag and drop up to 100 files 24. Windows explorer 25. Recycle bin 26. Proximity operator: NEAR 27. Proximity operator: ONEAR 28. About Me & Ask Me About are searchable 29. View all your Tasks on MySite 30. Software Boundaries & Limits
  • 6. Supported Browsers Browser Compatibility Browsers Not Recommended Certain web browsers could cause some SharePoint 2013 functionality to be downgraded, limited, or available only through alternative steps. Versions 8, 10, 11 32-bit Latest Released Version PC or Mac
  • 7. Work Around IE11 Known Issues Known Errors • JSON error • Excel Online toolbar inactivity Solution • Place InfoPath form in InfoPath Form Web Part • Emulate IE10 • Press F12 for Developer Tools • Change the Emulation (or Document Mode) to 10
  • 8. Turn on Compatibility View • Web Part properties cannot be modified
  • 10. Do the Math with Permissions Groups 200 employees 10 SharePoint sites 2000 assignments 200 employees x 1 SharePoint group 200 assignments 1 SharePoint group X 10 SharePoint sites 10 assignments 200 10 = 210 assignments
  • 11. Adding Active Directory (AD) Groups AD Groups • Active Directory or Security groups • Can be used to grant permissions in SharePoint • Typically maintained by Active Directory team • SharePoint Admin may be able to view but not edit Emailed-Enabled Security Groups • Active Directory group that can also be used as a distribution list for email (Outlook) • Can be used to grant permissions in SharePoint • Can be owned by someone outside of AD team to add and remove members
  • 12. Remove Stored Credentials • Every time you change your password, go into the Credential Manager(a.k.a. Windows Vault) and remove your stored SharePoint credentials • Avoids the repeated prompt for credentials when accessing SharePoint after a password change • May also unlock a locked file
  • 14. SharePoint 2013 + Office Suite 2013 • Use the Office Suite version that corresponds to your SharePoint version • Don’t have multiple versions of Office products • e.g., Office 2013 with Visio 2010 • Use the 32-bit version of Office unless you have a valid reason for using 64-bit (e.g., Power BI processing power) • Otherwise… • Error may appear • Files may not open • Features may be missing
  • 16. File Names & Prohibited Characters • Limited to 255 characters • Special characters should be avoided • e.g., Space = %20 • 3 characters instead of 1 • Doubled (to 6 characters) when opening or editing a document • You cannot • Use the period character consecutively in the middle of a file/folder name • Use the period character at the end of a file/folder name • Start a file/foldername with a period character • Using an underscore character (_) at the beginning of a file/folder name will make the file/folder hidden Tilde (~) Number Sign (#) Percent (%) Ampersand (&) Asterisk (*) Braces ({ }) Backslash () Colon (:) Angle Brackets (< >) Question Mark (?) Slash (/) Plus Sign (+) Pipe (|) Quotation Marks (“ ”) Prohibited characters in file/folder names Using an underscore character (_) at the beginning of a file/folder name will make the file/folder hidden
  • 17. Folders vs. Metadata Folders • Folder names are not searchable • Slash (/) is represented as %2F • Takes up space in URL • Can be turned off for lists and libraries Metadata • Indexed metadata is searchable • Can create up to 20 indexes per list or library • SharePoint 2016 will automatically index more columns • Reusable across a site collection or within a site • Each column is metadata
  • 18. Excel Incompatible Features • Password Protection is a common unsupported feature • Information bar with the list of unsupported features does not display when the file is loaded from a Web Part • List originated for SP2007 • • List updated for SP2013 • https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ff595319.aspx https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms496823.aspx
  • 20. Import a Spreadsheet • Use a Table or Named Range to simplify data selection
  • 21. Unlock a Locked File (maybe) • Checked-in file may remain locked for up to 10 minutes • Reasons files get locked • An attempt by another user to open the file within 10 minutes System crashes while file is open • File is closed unexpectedly • Check in was not successful • Network connection is lost while file is open • Possible Solutions • Wait 24 hours • Clear your browser cache and restart your browser • Clear your cache in credential manager • Close all instances of file type • Kill the file type service in Task Manager Sources listed in the Notes section
  • 22. Calendar Overlay • Assigns a different color to each calendar view • Can display up to 10 calendar views on a single calendar
  • 23. Connect a SharePoint Calendar to Outlook Separate Calendars both viewable in Outlook
  • 24. Green Asterisk • Indicates item or file was added within the last 24 hours *
  • 25. Color Block Indicator • Indicates Skype for Business status Available Away Busy Do Not Disturb
  • 26. Document Preview • Hover over a Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or PDF file in the Search results to see a preview of the document • Browse through the document without opening it
  • 27. Co-Authoring Documents • Automatically enabled if Check Out is not required Up to 10 people can simultaneously edit a file
  • 29. Prepare for the List View Threshold Possible GOOD Solutions • Prior to hitting 5,000 items or within the exemption window • Index columns that should be searchable • Create views that keep the displayed number of items/files below 5,000 • Import data from another source, such as SQL Possible TEMPORARY Solutions • Disable throttling for the list or library • Requires PowerShell • Increase the limit • Increases the risk of locking a table and losing data
  • 30. Changing Views in Web Parts (1 of 2) Web Part View (Default Style) Modify the View (Shaded Style) Web Part View (Still Default Style)
  • 31. Changing Views in Web Parts (2 of 2) • Edit the Web Part and select Standard • Click OK at the warning about changing the view • To see the changed view, click OK to close the List Views window and Save the page
  • 32. Drag & Drop up to 100 Files
  • 33. Windows Explorer Good Uses • Drag and drop files into a library • Move and copy files Bad Uses • Create folders • Folders are not your friend! • Delete multiple files at once Files are PERMANENTLY deleted in Windows Explorer
  • 34. Recycle Bin Site Level Site Collection Level • After site level retention is met, deleted items move into the site collection recycle bin • Default retention is half of the site level retention • E.g., 30 days at site level, then 15 days at site collection level • Can be restored by site collection administrator • Almost anything deleted goes into the recycle bin • List • List Item • Document Library • File • SharePoint Site (SP2013+) • Can be restored by site owner • Default retention is 30 days
  • 35. Proximity Operator: NEAR • Searches for expressions (words or phrases) within close proximity to each other • Default is 8 expressions • Order of the expressions is ignored • NEAR must be in all capital letters • SharePoint NEAR Training • SharePoint NEAR(2) Training • Searches for “SharePoint” within 2 expressions (words) of “Training”
  • 36. Proximity Operator: ONEAR • Searches for expressions in the order specified • SharePoint ONEAR Training • ONEAR must be in all capital letters • SharePoint ONEAR(2) Training • Searches for “Training” no more than 2 expressions after “SharePoint”
  • 38. About Me & Ask Me About are Searchable • In the About me section, enter your bio • In Ask Me About, enter topics with which you can help people • These keywords will be searchable
  • 39. View All Your Tasks on MySite • Under your photo, click Tasks • Tasks from all SharePoint sites will appear here • Tasks may take up to 4 hours to appear on MySite
  • 41. Software Boundaries & Limits • Site Collections • 500,000 personal • 250,000 other • Sites & Subsites • 250,000 per site collection • Web Parts • 25 per wiki or Web Part page • Documents • 30,000,000 per library • Items • 30,000,000 per list • Versions • 400,000 major • 511 minor • File Size • 2GB (up to SP2013) • 10GB (SP 2016) https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262787.aspx
  • 42. Questions? Theresa Eller | sharepointmadam@gmail.com | @SharePointMadam sharepointmadam.blogspot.com | www.slideshare.net/sharepointmadam