Efficient Admin with Sharepoint 2010 How-To Guide

Efficient Admin with SharePoint 2010 – How-To Guide

Efficient

Admin

with SharePoint 2010

How-To Guide

This guide accompanies the Efficient Administration with SharePoint 2010 training session. It covers the main points of the training session in a step-by-step “How To” manner. Use this reference guide together with the explanatory PowerPoint slides that accompany the session to gain a full understanding of the course material.

All resources are available on the IT Training website:

A Note on Conventions:

Menus and menu options appear in bold italics.
E.g. Site Actions  Site Settings means choose the Site Actions menu then Site Settings.
SharePoint features appear in bold.
E.g. “Choose Team Site from the list of available templates”.
Hints, tips or asides appear within a box. E.g.

TIP: Hints, tips and asides will appear in boxes like this!

Contents

Site Actions Menu

The Ribbon

Managing Views and Columns

Views

Creating a New View

Applying a View

Modifying a View

Columns

Adding an Existing Site Column

Creating Custom Columns

Creating Site Columns

Lists

Using Default Lists

Adding Extra SharePoint Lists

Creating Custom Lists

Web Parts

Inserting a Web Part

Changing Web Part Settings

Site Actions Menu

Many actions relating to team site administration are initiated via the Site Actions menu. This is located in the top-left corner of most team sites.

The Ribbon

The ribbon appears at the top of a team site and contains commands used to administer team sites (amongst other functions). It behaves in a similar manner to the ribbon found in Office 2007/2010.

The ribbon contains several tabsand is context sensitive, that is the commands will change depending on the situation (e.g. the tabs and commands available whilst in a document library are different to those available whilst in the main area of a team site).

Managing Views and Columns

The Library Settings (for libraries) and ListSettings (for lists) button on the Library/List tab of the ribbon allows you to change settings for a library or list.

This includes adding, modifying and deleting views and columns:

Views

SharePoint Views can be created to customise how the content of a library or list is displayed. Common customisations include: adding columns (such as File Size or Created By), sorting the library or list, filtering for specific values and adjusting the number of items displayed on each page.

Creating a New View

Navigate to the list or library that you would like to create a new view for.
On the Library/Listtab on the ribbon select Create View.

Choose a view format from the list (Standard View is the most commonly used).
Name your view, then choose your view options such as: personal or public, columns displayed, field to sort on or group by and number of items to display per page:

Click OK when done.

Applying a View

Views can be applied via the Manage Views group on the Library or List tab:

They can also be selected by using the drop-down arrow on the Browse tab:

Modifying a View

Navigate to the library you would like to modify the view for.
From the Library tab choose Modify View:

Make any changes required to the view and click OKwhen done.

Columns

Columns can be added to a list or library to provide additional data, known as metadata (also, properties), for documents or lists item. As well as providing extra information to colleagues, they can also be used to sort, group and filter libraries and lists. There are many inbuilt columns available within SharePoint, such as Mobile Number, E-mail, Priority and Report Status, but custom columns can also be created to fulfil specific needs.

Adding an Existing Site Column

Navigate to the library you would like to add a column to.
Click the Library/List Settings button on the Library/List tab.

Use the Add button to select the columns you would like to add. You can use the drop-down arrow to filter by column type, if necessary. Click OK when done.

Creating Custom Columns

Columns can be created at a list/library level, these will only be available to the list or library that they were created in.

Navigate to the library you would like to add a column to.
Choose Create Column from the List/Library tab (or from the List/Library Settings screen):

Choose a name for your new column and select a data type (e.g. Single line of text, Choice, Number, Date and Time, Person or Group).

Once a type is selected, you will have the opportunity to choose additional column settings. These will be specific to the data type chosen, although some settings (e.g. Require that this column contains information) are common to many types.

Click OK when done.

Creating Site Columns

Columns created at a site level are available to all lists/libraries within the site and to all lists/libraries within sub-sites beneath the current site.

Navigate to the site you would like to create site columns in.
Site Actions  Site Settings  Site Columns:

Click the Create button:

Create a custom column in the manner described in the Creating Custom Columnssection (page 8). The only additional setting for site columns is to decide the group used to categorise the column, choose the Custom Columns group:

Lists

SharePoint Lists are a collection of similar pieces of data, each of which has associated properties, or metadata. SharePoint sites include some built-in lists, for example, the Announcements list is a collection of announcements. Each announcement has a set of properties: title (of the announcement), body (of the announcement) and expiry date. Other default lists include Tasks, a collection of tasks to be undertaken (properties include: assigned to, due date and priority) and Links, a collection of hyperlinks (properties: hyperlink and notes).

Using Default Lists

Site Actions  View All Site Content.
Scroll down to the Lists section:

Click on a list title, e.g. Links.
Lists can be used similarly to document libraries. For example, new list items can be created by using the Items tab on the ribbon.

List Settings can be changed by using the Listtab  List Settings.

Adding Extra SharePoint Lists

Additional SharePoint lists can be added to a site to improve communication and collaboration. These lists include Project Tasks (for managing small, informal projects) and Contacts (for sharing contact details). Wikis and Blogs can also be added, although these features combine elements of lists and sites.

Site Actions  More Options.
Choose a List type, and type in a name for your list:

Click the Create button.

Creating Custom Lists

SharePoint lists can be created from scratch. They are useful for simple data storage and management processes.

Site Actions  More Options.
Choose Custom List and give your list a name.
Once the list has been created, columns can be added and modified via the List Settings screen. See the Columns section on page 7 of this guide for more details.

Web Parts

SharePoint Web Parts are small widgets or gadgets that add specific functionality to a SharePoint page. The most widely used Web Parts are List and Library Web Parts, which can be used to embed the contents of a list or library onto a SharePoint page.

Inserting a Web Part

Navigate to the page you wish to embed a Web Part onto.
Use the Site Actions menu to Edit Page.
Position your cursor where you want to insert the web part.
Insert tab Web Part
Choose a category of web parts from the left column, then select your web part from the right column:

Remember to Save & Close the page to commit your changes.

Changing Web Part Settings

Use the Site Actions menu to Edit Page.
Click on the drop-down arrow to the right of a web part and choose Edit Web Part:

The task pane for the web part opens to the right of the screen. This pane allows you to modify the appearance and layout of the web part and the information that is being displayed. The settings available will depend on the web part, but the Appearance, Layout and Advanced groups are common to all web parts.