So you want to move content pages from one site collection to another?
Easy! Just open the pages library in explorer view copy the page/s you want to move and paste them to the destination pages library once again using explorer view.
Nope.
Invalid page layout errors!
Why?
SharePoint hard codes the page layout location URL within the .aspx page.
How do I fix this?
A) You could write some powershell using the SP object model to copy files.
or
B) You could download the ASPX page locally, manually edit the Page Layout URL and then upload the page to the new pages library.
The problem I had was not having any access to central admin so....no powershell. So with great apprehension chose option B.
BUT...
I had about 175 pages to move and to open, edit and save 175 pages individually was just not feasible. So I went old school. How many of you remember Windows GREP? What this small utility does is it allows you to search and replace strings within an entire folder.
Result!
PS option B works!
Thursday, 21 March 2013
Monday, 28 January 2013
Meetings about meetings?
I can't say I ever recall seeing people jump for joy when realising they have a meeting to attend. Personally, I find them generally unproductive and time wasting, we seem to have entered into a professional culture of having meetings for the sake of having meetings.
Here are a few steps to making your meetings more effective and less a waste of productive time;
5. Don't accept meeting requests that are frivolous or have no defined outcome, or if your contribution is going to be nil.
Here are a few steps to making your meetings more effective and less a waste of productive time;
- All meetings must have a stated purpose or agenda. Without an agenda, meetings very quickly turn into aimless social gatherings rather than productive working sessions.
- Attendees should always walk away with actionable tasks. In fact if there are no tasks that are derived from a meeting the meeting should be seen as time wastage.
- Stick to your end time and be strict about it, no meetings should ever overrun.
- Slightly more extreme: remove chairs from boardrooms and meeting rooms, people will get to the point if they are not completely comfortable.
Craig Vallis said...
Thursday, 13 December 2012
XMind markers for SharePoint
For those of you using the XMind mind mapping tool, here are some useful SharePoint markers that you can import for use with your mind maps.
To import the markers once downloaded, simply open XMind and click on File > Import and select marker package. Now browse for the downloaded package and click Finish.
The new markers will be available under the My markers section in the markers window.
Thursday, 29 November 2012
SharePoint 2013: eDiscovery
Another new feature in SharePoint 2013 that impressed me at SPC12 was the introduction of the eDiscovery centre. Microsoft seem to have heeded our calls and made great progress on regulation and governance functions within SharePoint 2013.
For those that haven't come across the term eDiscovery, or have heard it mentioned before but are unsure of what exactly it is, here's my very high level explanation:
eDiscovery refers to information or content searched for and packaged in a litigation. So for example company A is taken to court by company B and needs to gather all information / discussions / emails referring to the business deal that has gone wrong to present it in court. The process of searching for and packaging the content is eDiscovery. (in a nutshell!)
This is a feature sorely lacking in previous versions of SharePoint - however we have gotten around it historically by building custom solutions involving search etc. to get by and satisfy the legal fraternities.
eDiscovery allows for the creation of cases and within these cases to create custom queries and holds to ensure we gather all the content we need. The really impressive bit is that in SP2013 the sources of these searches can include Lync conversations, eMails, documents and other general Share|Point content as well.
To start off we create a eDiscovery center (much like we would a records or document centre).
There's more to the eDiscovery features, you can create in place holds so that even if staff change or delete items these mails/conversations/documents/etc are kept in tact and on record for presentation.
In short, well done Microsoft!
For those that haven't come across the term eDiscovery, or have heard it mentioned before but are unsure of what exactly it is, here's my very high level explanation:
eDiscovery refers to information or content searched for and packaged in a litigation. So for example company A is taken to court by company B and needs to gather all information / discussions / emails referring to the business deal that has gone wrong to present it in court. The process of searching for and packaging the content is eDiscovery. (in a nutshell!)
This is a feature sorely lacking in previous versions of SharePoint - however we have gotten around it historically by building custom solutions involving search etc. to get by and satisfy the legal fraternities.
eDiscovery allows for the creation of cases and within these cases to create custom queries and holds to ensure we gather all the content we need. The really impressive bit is that in SP2013 the sources of these searches can include Lync conversations, eMails, documents and other general Share|Point content as well.
To start off we create a eDiscovery center (much like we would a records or document centre).
From this point we can create cases, in this case I've followed Microsoft's suit and created a case for Contoso Ltd.
Once in the case we can create custom queries or holds, in the example below I have a custom query that I have created that uses a custom search query for a number of terms and the content sources include email, contacts, meetings, tasks, notes, documents and Lync between a specified date range:
Once these queries and searches and holds have been run and you have gathered all the content required, you will need to present the findings to your legal team / lawyers, and (as is often the case) your lawyers are external to your organisation and need to present the content in the form of a DVD, what Microsoft have provided you with is the option to now export all case content to a standard folder structure which can then be burnt to a DVD / or dumped onto an external hard drive and presented to the legal team;
There's more to the eDiscovery features, you can create in place holds so that even if staff change or delete items these mails/conversations/documents/etc are kept in tact and on record for presentation.
In short, well done Microsoft!
Monday, 26 November 2012
SP 2013 Access services
I never thought I'd be able to say this about MS Access, but
WOW!
Amongst some of the new features in SP2013, I'm really impressed by what MS have done in terms of bringing Access into SP2013.
Access tables = SQL tables, etc. Firstly when you bring access into SharePoint it will no longer be a standalone MDB file, the tables / queries and triggers are written to SQL, so you are now dealing with SQL triggers, tables and queries with a nice client side app that even business users understand and find easy to use.
Business forms
I personally see the new integration replacing many of those custom lists we find scattered around team sites in collaboration environment. Why? because business has been using access for years - just think back to all your client engagements, personally I've come across loads of departments that rely heavily on access databases created by one of their staff members. Also, access forms are easy to work with and are easily tailored to individual and departmental needs.
BI potential
So now we're talking SQL tables as opposed to lists, this means reporting and ultimately BI can be simplified, manipulating SQL tables directly will make it easier to draw reports.
Access apps
Remember this is 2013, they're now referred to as access apps and no longer access databases, and they're dead simple to create too. From site contents simply click "add an app" and from the list of apps available select "Access app" and start designing.
MS have also provided a number of pre designed templates, which include the tables and some sample reports which you can go on to modify to your hearts content.
Amongst some of the new features in SP2013, I'm really impressed by what MS have done in terms of bringing Access into SP2013.
Access tables = SQL tables, etc. Firstly when you bring access into SharePoint it will no longer be a standalone MDB file, the tables / queries and triggers are written to SQL, so you are now dealing with SQL triggers, tables and queries with a nice client side app that even business users understand and find easy to use.
Business forms
I personally see the new integration replacing many of those custom lists we find scattered around team sites in collaboration environment. Why? because business has been using access for years - just think back to all your client engagements, personally I've come across loads of departments that rely heavily on access databases created by one of their staff members. Also, access forms are easy to work with and are easily tailored to individual and departmental needs.
BI potential
So now we're talking SQL tables as opposed to lists, this means reporting and ultimately BI can be simplified, manipulating SQL tables directly will make it easier to draw reports.
Access apps
Remember this is 2013, they're now referred to as access apps and no longer access databases, and they're dead simple to create too. From site contents simply click "add an app" and from the list of apps available select "Access app" and start designing.
MS have also provided a number of pre designed templates, which include the tables and some sample reports which you can go on to modify to your hearts content.
Monday, 16 July 2012
Office 15 is here!
Download the preview here
and lets not forget SharePoint 2013........
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/search.aspx?q=SharePoint%202013
and lets not forget SharePoint 2013........
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/search.aspx?q=SharePoint%202013
Thursday, 7 June 2012
Search best bets
This is a quick win, and something most of my clients request or ask about when discussions around search begin: "How can I have an article appear at the top of a search result when a user searches for x". Quite simple really, SharePoint 2010 has an easy to use and easy to configure solution aptly named Best Bets.
This is all good and well, but "how do I configure it?" I hear you ask, well here's how:
1. Navigate to Site Actions > Site settings
2. Click on the "Search keywords" link (found under the Site Collection Administration section.
3. You will now be presented with the following screen.
4. Press the Add Keyword button as circled (with much artistic skill may I add) above.
5. Now fill in the form provided (see the image below)
This is all good and well, but "how do I configure it?" I hear you ask, well here's how:
1. Navigate to Site Actions > Site settings
2. Click on the "Search keywords" link (found under the Site Collection Administration section.
3. You will now be presented with the following screen.
4. Press the Add Keyword button as circled (with much artistic skill may I add) above.
5. Now fill in the form provided (see the image below)
4. Once you have added the necessary fields click ok and your best bet has been set up. Testing the search will reveal the following - notice the top two results with the stars (those would be your best bet results):
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