Chapter 11. Leveraging Additional Office 2007 Products in a SharePoint 2007 Environment

IN THIS CHAPTER

This chapter covers the use of additional Office 2007 products with SharePoint 2007. The preceding chapter, “Using Word, Excel, and Excel Services with SharePoint 2007,” covered the 2003 versions of Word and Excel and the 2007 versions. Because of space limitations, however, this chapter covers just the use of Outlook 2003, not the 2003 version of the other applications surveyed. The other Office 2007 products are covered in their 2007 iterations only.

All the new features of each 2007 product are not addressed, but the typical uses that SharePoint 2007 users have for each application are discussed, and examples are given for how a power user can “get creative” and leverage some of the connectivity features. Ideally, this connectivity allows the users to be more productive, work more effectively with co-workers on the SharePoint 2007 infrastructure, and share information more effectively.

Using Outlook 2007 with SharePoint 2007

Outlook for many users is their “communications platform,” which is the first application they open in the morning and the last one they close at night. Many users carry it around with them via a Windows mobile operating system device, or receive emails via a BlackBerry or PIM. In fact, Outlook and Exchange offer such a wide range of features—such as logical and flexible organization of emails, posts, contacts, and meetings—that they have become perhaps too invaluable for the IT department’s liking.

Consider, for example, the user who carbon copies himself on every email, retains all sent items, and diligently files emails from his inbox into neatly organized folders. This method generates a considerable amount of data and requires a regular amount of attention, with the downside that only he has access to this information (in most cases), and extreme care must be taken to ensure that this information isn’t lost.

Although SharePoint 2007 won’t, in most cases, cure hardcore users of their “addictions” to Outlook, it does offer some intriguing features that might reduce these users’ reliance on their Outlook microcosms. For example, Outlook aficionados might rely more on email-enabled libraries than their own personal copies (or multiple personal copies) of emails. They also might work more with shared tasks lists and shared calendars, use RSS feeds instead of copying files to their laptops, and link document libraries to their inboxes.

Using Outlook 2003 with SharePoint 2007

Outlook 2003 provides a number of tools and features that make it advantageous to use with SharePoint 2007. Of course, the fact that it presents alerts to the end user and lets her send an email to an email-enabled library makes it handy.

Figure 11.1 shows an example of an Outlook appointment being created, after the Meeting Workspace button was clicked. As indicated by the arrow in Figure 11.1, the settings for the meeting, such as the location, can be changed. With SharePoint 2007, a template language can be selected, if other languages are installed, and a different meeting workspace template can be selected, or an existing meeting workspace can be linked to. When the Create button is clicked, the workspace is created, and a Go to Workspace link is then provided to access the workspace.

Figure 11.1. Creating a meeting workspace from an Outlook appointment.

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A Calendar list in SharePoint 2007 offers a Connect to Outlook tool in the Actions menu that enables the user to Synchronize Items and Make Them Available Offline. If this option is selected, the user is informed: “The following Windows SharePoint Services folder is being added to Outlook.” If the user confirms he wants to add the folder, it appears in the Other Calendars section of the left pane in Outlook 2003. This folder is read-only in Outlook 2003, however, limiting its usefulness.

In a similar fashion, contacts listed in a Contacts list can also be connected to Outlook 2003, in a read-only state, by using the Connect to Outlook tool from the Actions menu. An individual contact can also be exported as a vCard to Outlook 2003, by selecting Export Contact from the Edit menu for the Contacts list item. The user is then asked whether she wants to save the .vcf file or open it. Figure 11.2 shows the results if she chooses Open. When this contact information is finalized, it can be saved and later edited if needed.

Figure 11.2. Exporting a contact from a SharePoint 2007 Contacts list to Outlook 2003.

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Other features that work when Outlook 2003 is used with SharePoint 2007 include the following:

  • A document workspace can be created when an attachment is emailed to another user.
  • The Send To tool from the Actions menu in a picture library will provide the option of selecting Microsoft Office Outlook message so that the image can be emailed to a co-worker.
  • The Send To link in an Edit menu in a document library gives the option to E-mail a Link, which will open an Outlook email containing a link to the document.

A limiting factor of using Outlook 2003 with SharePoint 2007 is that the Connect to Outlook tool is not available from within a Tasks list, Calendar list, Team Discussion list, or library as it is if Outlook 2007 is installed on the client.

Using Outlook 2007 with SharePoint 2007

As this section shows, Outlook 2007 builds on the integration features of Outlook 2003 covered in the previous section by reviewing the integration points between Outlook 2007 and SharePoint 2007. These include the ability to “connect” to Outlook, which establishes synchronization between the Outlook 2007 folder and the SharePoint 2007 document library. Subscribing to RSS feeds from SharePoint 2007 lists and libraries is also covered, as are the Send/Receive settings in Outlook, which will affect the process and timing of send/receive activities with SharePoint 2007 lists and libraries.

Standard day-to-day activities such as receiving alerts from SharePoint 2007 or receiving documents forwarded from a document library aren’t covered in this section because they are fairly self-explanatory, and users should be able to easily understand the information provided to them in these emails. Sending emails to email-enabled libraries is affected by the configuration of the list or library, and this is covered in Chapter 8, “Managing Libraries and Lists in SharePoint 2007.”

Connect to Outlook from the Actions Menu

If Connect to Outlook is chosen from the Actions menu, the user is prompted with a confirmation window, asking whether she really wants to connect the SharePoint document library to Outlook. This Microsoft Office Outlook window also gives access to an Advanced button where the user can change the folder name from the default (site name – library name). Opt to Don’t Display This List on Other Computers I Use. In addition, another option is given: Update This Subscription with the Publisher’s Recommendation. Send/Receive Groups Do Not Update More Frequently Than the Recommended Limit to Prevent Your Subscription from Possibly Being Cancelled by the Content Provider. When Yes is selected, Outlook shows the new folder, and the Send/Receive process starts to download the documents. Figure 11.3 shows the results when the Unleashed1 – Shared Documents document library has been “connected” to Outlook 2007. In this case, the reading pane is at the bottom of the screen and gives a view of the document contents.

Figure 11.3. SharePoint document library connected to Outlook 2003.

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Note

The reading pane is actually very powerful when Office documents are used. For example, if a PowerPoint document is synchronized from a SharePoint 2007 document library, the whole presentation can be paged through using the slider bar in the reading pane. This feature is not available in SharePoint 2007 itself, so this is an area where Outlook 2007 adds significant value in the area of document access. Note, however, that there is not currently a viewer for .pdf files.

The Trust Center in Outlook 2007 enables the user to see which viewers are currently installed. Click Tools, Trust Center, and the Attachment Handling link. Then select Attachment and Document Previewers. The defaults are Excel Previewer, Outlook Image Previewer, Outlook Message and Item Previewer, Outlook Text Document Previewer, Outlook vCard Previewer, PowerPoint Previewer, Visio Previewer, and Word Previewer. Attachment previewing can be turned off, or a specific previewer can be turned off if needed. If previewing isn’t working, this is a good place to check.

The metadata that comes across with the documents includes Name, Changed By, Checked Out To, Modified, and Size. The field chooser shows other standard Outlook 2007 fields to select from, but does not include other metadata fields from the document library. It would be helpful to see whether a document is checked out to someone and when the document was last modified and by whom. So, although it would be nice to be able to synchronize additional metadata, the included fields are helpful.

Caution

If there are one or more folders in the SharePoint 2007 document library and the Connect to Outlook command is selected, the folder(s) will not show up in Outlook 2007. At the time of this writing, if a folder contained in a document library that has been synchronized with Outlook 2007 is opened, and the Connect to Outlook command is then selected, the items in the folder will appear in Outlook 2007, but the items from the top-level folder will no longer appear in Outlook 2007. Hopefully, this error will be fixed in the near future.

Right-clicking the document in the Outlook 2007 folder provides several options:

  • Open—Opens the document in the associated application in Read-Only mode. After the document has opened, an option is given in a message bar to Edit Offline with the message “To modify this document, edit it offline and save it to the server later.” If Edit Offline is clicked, the Edit Offline window appears telling users they can store the document in SharePoint Drafts (a hyperlink that opens the SharePoint Drafts folder) and that they can turn off offline editing or change the settings in Offline Editing Options. If Offline Editing Options is clicked, the Word Options window opens and users can modify their Offline Editing options for document management server files. Figure 11.4 shows an Excel document that has been opened from Outlook 2007, and Edit Offline was selected. Note, as circled in Figure 11.4, that a column specific to the document library appears, even though this is a copy of the document opened from the Outlook 2007 folder.

Figure 11.4. Excel document in Edit mode.

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If changes are made to this copy, and saved to the offline copy, the option becomes available, as indicated by the arrow in Figure 11.4, to Update Server Copy in the Status tab of the Document Management pane. If Update Server Copy is clicked, the version of the document stored in SharePoint 2007 can be updated.

  • Print—The Print command opens the document in the appropriate program and then automatically starts a print job to the default printer.
  • Reply—The Reply command opens an email to the individual or system account listed in the Changed By column. The name of the document is referenced in the subject line.
  • Forward—The Forward command opens an email that will forward the document to one or more other email users.
  • Copy Shortcut—The Copy Shortcut command actually copies the location of the document in the SharePoint 2007 document library so that it can be referenced. For example, User1 might choose to send the shortcut of the document to another user in an email instead of forwarding the whole document to ensure that the other user was constrained by the security of the parent document library.
  • Mark as Unread—The Mark as Unread command resets the font to bold to indicate that the document hasn’t been previewed in the reading pane or opened for viewing or editing purposes.
  • Find All (with the options Related Messages and Messages from Sender)—Related Messages is designed to work with email threads on the same topic, and so won’t typically work for contents of a SharePoint folder in Outlook 2007. Messages from Sender shows all the items in the folder with the same Changed By metadata.
  • Remove from Offline Copy—Remove from Offline copy removes the document from the Outlook 2007 folder; but next time the folder is synchronized, the document is downloaded again, and so this is really a temporary state.
  • Message Options—These items (which include Importance Levels, Expires After Settings, Contacts, and Categories) cannot be changed because Outlook treats this as a read-only folder.

In the case of deletions, by right-clicking the folder name in the Mail pane on the left and choosing Delete Folder Name the user is informed that “Deleting this folder removes the related SharePoint list from all computers that you use. Any changes made since the last Send/Receive will be lost. The contents of this SharePoint list will remain on the server.”

Subscribing to RSS Feeds from SharePoint 2007 Lists and Libraries

SharePoint 2007 RSS feeds are an excellent tool to use to ensure that subscribers are updated when new items are posted. Outlook 2007 enables users to add RSS feeds to their managed folders and receive regular updates from these sources. If a SharePoint 2007 list or library is RSS enabled (which is activated on the Modify RSS Settings page (_layouts/listsyndication.aspx page)) users can subscribe to the feed if they have Read privileges to the list or library.

Upon first use of Outlook 2007, Internet Explorer 7 users are asked, “Do you want your RSS Feeds in Outlook to be synchronized with the Common Feed list?” The Common Feed list is managed by the Windows RSS Platform, which is available with Windows Internet Explorer 7 on Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), Windows Server 2003, and Windows Vista.

There are two basic methods of subscribing to RSS feeds from SharePoint 2007: using the Internet Explorer 7 favorites or through Outlook 2007, as covered in the next two sections.

Subscribing to a SharePoint 2007 RSS Feed from Internet Explorer 7 Favorites

SharePoint 2007 makes it easy for Internet Explorer 7 users to add feeds when browsing through a SharePoint 2007 environment. For example, if the user sees the RSS feed icon (circled in Figure 11.5), he can simply click it to view the feed URL, and then click the Add to Favorites button (indicated with the arrow in Figure 11.5), give it a name, and identify the folder to use. This feed will then be accessible from Outlook 2007.

Figure 11.5. Adding a SharePoint 2007 RSS feed option in Internet Explorer 7.

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To access the feed settings in Internet Explorer 7, access the Tools menu, then Internet Options, and then the Content tab. The settings offered are Automatically Check Feeds for Updates (if selected, choose a value from every 15 minutes to every week), Automatically Mark Feed as Read When Reading a Feed, Turn On Feed Reading View, and Play a Sound When a Feed Is Found for a Webpage. The feeds can then be viewed in the Favorites menu.

Caution

Users might want to connect to RSS sources outside of the organization and to SharePoint 2007 lists and libraries, but this tool might not offer the level of features that veteran feed reader users are accustomed to. For example, the Outlook 2007 feed reader component does not currently allow the user to provide username and password settings when accessing external (or internal) RSS sites.

Subscribing to a SharePoint 2007 RSS Feed from Outlook 2007

A slightly more involved process is required to add the feed from within Outlook 2007. This might be required if Internet Explorer 7 is not the standard browser used by the individual, or if he wants access to some of the additional settings provided in Outlook 2007. To add an RSS feed in Outlook 2007, follow these steps.

1. The first step is to copy the URL for the RSS feed. For a SharePoint 2007 list, this can be located by clicking the Actions menu in an RSS-enabled list or library and selecting View RSS Feed and then copying the URL of the resulting page.

2. From Outlook 2007, access the Tools menu and click Account Settings.

3. On the RSS Feeds tab, click New.

4. In the New RSS Feed dialog box, press Ctrl+V to paste the URL of the RSS feed copied (for example, for a document library in a top-level Document Center: http://abcmoss01/Docs/_layouts/listfeed.aspx?List=%7BB390918D%2D34B1%2D48B0%2D939A%2DB7DB2F53C440%7D). Click Add.

5. The RSS Feed Options page then displays as shown in Figure 11.6. On this page, the feed name can be changed, and the delivery location can be changed by clicking the Change Folder button (circled in Figure 11.6). This is useful is a user wants all RSS feeds from a specific site or from the same type of list, such as all RSS feeds from announcements lists, to go to the same folder to make monitoring easier. Download settings can be modified. You can select Automatically Download Enclosures for This Feed or you can select Download the Full Article as an .html Attachment to Each Item. Finally, the updated limit can be set to be either Update This Feed with the Publisher’s Recommendation or not. Click OK when the settings are configured.

Figure 11.6. RSS feed options in Outlook 2007.

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Tip

If the Update This Feed with the Publisher’s Recommendation box in the RSS Feed Options window is unchecked (as shown in Figure 11.6), the RSS feed is updated based on the send/receive group settings and not subjected to the standard provide limit (which is once per hour in SharePoint 2007). In other words, if the box is unchecked, the user can manually click Send/Receive more often than one time each hour to check for new postings.

6. Click Close to close the Account Settings window. Figure 11.7 shows a sample RSS feed from an Announcements list. As indicated with the arrow in Figure 11.7, the full article can be viewed in the list by clicking the link. The administrator of this list decided to publish several fields, as circled in Figure 11.7, including a custom column Dept Affected, Created, Created By, Expires, and Body.

Figure 11.7. Announcements RSS feed in Outlook 2007.

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Note

Note that the amount of data that gets published over an RSS feed is controlled at the list or library level by the SharePoint administrator in charge of that site. Chapter 8 covers the different settings available for RSS feeds, and these include the options to Truncate Multi-Line Text Fields to 256 Characters, which columns to include in the feed and in which order, the maximum number of items to include (default is 25), and the maximum number of days to include (default is 7). Therefore, if users aren’t satisfied with the level of information being published, they should check their own settings in Outlook 2007 Account Settings menu and check with the site administrator.

With the ability to “connect” an Outlook 2007 folder with a SharePoint 2007 list as well as the ability to subscribe to a SharePoint 2007 RSS feed, the user has the choice of deciding which method is better suited to her needs. RSS feeds are typically better suited for list information, whereas “connecting” to SharePoint 2007 is generally a better choice for document libraries, where having the content offline can be advantageous.

For organizations that haven’t adopted Outlook 2007 but are moving ahead with a SharePoint 2007 implementation, they might want to find a third-party RSS feed reader and look into options for being able to take files offline. Many third-party feed readers are available, so no specific product is recommended here; each company should determine which product best meets their needs. The same is true for offline products that are compatible with SharePoint 2007. However, products that are easy to use and feature rich are the Reader and Contributor products from Colligo. Figure 11.8 shows the Colligo Contributor (version 1.9) Product view of a document library from SharePoint 2007. A solution such as this allows individuals to synchronize with SharePoint 2007 sites and determine which lists and libraries should be copied locally. Users can then work with documents they have rights to edit and then save changes at a later date. The SharePoint user interface is not replicated, but for most “road warriors” it is far more important just to have their documents available when they are offline. For more information, visit Colligo’s website at www.colligo.com.

Figure 11.8. Colligo Contributor 1.9 product.

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Connecting Tasks to Outlook 2007

When using a Tasks list in SharePoint 2007, the option to Connect to Outlook is available. A new Tasks folder will be created in Outlook 2007. Chapter 7, “Using Libraries and Lists in SharePoint 2007,” gives an example of this process.

Connecting Calendars to Outlook 2007

Also covered in Chapter 7, a user can connect a Calendar list to Outlook by clicking Connect to Outlook in the Actions menu. A new calendar is then created containing the events in the SharePoint 2007 Calendar list.

Send/Receive Settings in Outlook 2007

A user should become familiar with the Send/Receive settings in Outlook 2007 if he is connecting to SharePoint 2007 lists and libraries.

To access these settings, follow these steps:

  1. From within Outlook 2007, access the Tools menu, then Send/Receive, and Send/Receive Settings, and finally Define Send/Receive Groups (Ctrl+Alt+S as a shortcut).
  2. Highlight the group name, typically All Accounts. A number of options can be configured, as circled in Figure 11.9. In general, the default options are fine, but the interval between automatic send/receives can be changed if needed. If the Edit button is then clicked, the Send/Receive Settings window opens, also shown in Figure 11.9 with the SharePoint account selected. Users may choose to remove accounts from the default group name and create a new one, in case their needs for automatic send/receives are different from that of their inbox.

Figure 11.9. Send/receive groups settings in Outlook 2007.

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Using Access 2007 with SharePoint 2007

Access has historically provided a powerful and easy database development environment that is easily installed on the desktop. In Access 2003, Microsoft introduced drivers that connect to data stored in Windows SharePoint Services. By enabling users to link to SharePoint lists, Access 2003 allowed queries, forms, and reports to treat SharePoint lists as if they were standard relational tables. In Access 2007, a new database engine is introduced that is “100%” compatible with the previous Jet database and adds new features to enhance compatibility with Windows SharePoint Services.

Data can now be taken offline in a local Access database, allowing users to work with the data when not connected to their SharePoint 2007 environment and later synchronize changes. Data from a SharePoint 2007 list can be “linked” to an Access 2007 database or exported to Access 2007 database, and the following sections discuss the different methods for accomplishing this, including the pros and cons of each. Because Access 2007 offers an excellent array of reporting features, this is an great way to create professional-looking reports.

Access 2007 can also create certain standard lists in SharePoint 2007 and offers form creation tools and can even gather input through Outlook 2007 emails. The following sections discuss these capabilities.

Linking List Information to an Access 2007 Database

Linking list information to an Access 2007 database SharePoint 2007 can be valuable for a number of reasons. In some situations, complex queries and analysis are required, and these can be performed with Access 2007 tools but not within the SharePoint 2007 list. Or, if reports need to be created that are nicely formatted with a customized look and feel, logos, and color schemes, Access 2007 provides an intuitive set of tools for reporting.

Note

In Access 2007, you cannot export surveys or discussions, and you cannot link to surveys or discussions.

This process of linking is fairly straightforward, as follows:

1. From within a list in SharePoint 2007, use the Open with Access tool from the Actions menu. (This option is not available if the user doesn’t have Access 2007 installed.)

2. After this is selected, the user has the option of changing the location of the database. The default location is in My Documents on the local hard drive, but a network share or a SharePoint document library can be used. For this example, a SharePoint 2007 document library is used. The user then has the option to either Link to Data on the SharePoint Site or the option to Export a Copy of the Data. For this example, choose Link to Data on the SharePoint Site. Click OK.

3. Figure 11.10 shows an example of the results when a small list of sales numbers was used. Note that 2006 Sales Data List needed to be double-clicked in the All Tables pane when the new Access database was opened (circled in Figure 11.10). An additional list, the User Information List was also brought into Access 2007, and it contains SharePoint 2007 profile information on users with access to the list. This information cannot be edited from this table and then synchronized with the SharePoint 2007 list, but it does allow a user of the Access 2007 table to know who has rights to the table.

Figure 11.10. SharePoint list opened in Access 2007.

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4. If the message Online with SharePoint is clicked in the bottom status bar (indicated by the arrow in Figure 11.10), the options to Cache List Data and Work Offline are provided. If Cache List Data is selected, it increases the size of the database; and if the database is shared, users who do not have permissions to view the list data may be able to see it in the Access 2007 database. Working offline can prove useful when users don’t have access to the SharePoint 2007 sites; but data will be cached when working offline, so if the database is then shared, the permissions issue comes up (once again).

5. If the list name is right-clicked in the All Tables pane (circled in Figure 11.10), a number of tools become available, including additional Export options (such as Excel, SharePoint List, Word RTF File, XML File, or HTML Document) and SharePoint List Options. The SharePoint List Options include Modify Columns and Settings, Alert Me, and Change Permissions for This List, Relink Lists, Refresh List, and Delete List.

Exporting List Information to an Access 2007 Database

The other option offered when a user selects Open with Access from the Actions menu is Export a Copy of the Data. If this option is selected, the user will export a copy of the data in the current view to a database.

Another option is to create a blank database in Access 2007 and then import the SharePoint 2007 list. To do so, follow these steps:

1. From a new blank database in Access 2007, select the SharePoint List option from the Import section of the menu.

2. Then enter the URL for the site that contains the list, and select the option Import the Source Data into a New Table in the Current Database and click Next.

3. Select the list(s) to import. If multiple views are displayed, choose the appropriate one. If fields in this list look up values stored in another list, and the user wants to import display values, check the box next to Import Display Values Instead of IDs for Fields That Look Up Values Stored in Another List. Click OK when ready.

4. An option to Save Import Steps is then given. Check this box if this process will be repeated at a later date. For this example, check the box and enter a title for the import steps, and check the box next to Create Outlook Task. Click Save Import.

5. Because the Create Outlook Task option was selected, an Outlook 2007 task is created, as shown in Figure 11.11. Note that the task has a Run Import button in the Microsoft Office Access area of the ribbon. Clicking the Recurrence button can turn this into a recurring event. Note also that this task can be assigned to someone else by clicking the Assign Task button and then forwarding the task to the appropriate individual.

Figure 11.11. Outlook 2007 task automatically created for the Access 2007 import process.

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This database is now a separate entity from the SharePoint 2007 list that spawned it, but it can later be moved or exported to SharePoint 2007 if needed. The steps used during the import process can be saved (as suggested in the preceding example) and repeated on a regular basis if needed.

Creating Email from Access 2007 Requesting Input

A new feature in Access 2007 that many managers will find extremely useful is the ability to automatically generate a form that includes specified fields from the database and request input from other users. For example, with the Sales Numbers data that has been used as an example in this chapter, a manager might want estimates on new sales numbers from certain managers. Not only can Access 2007 generate the emails through an easy-to-use wizard, the input can be automatically processed and added to the database if needed. Or, the manager can simply review the responses and add them to the database herself.

Let’s use the sample exported list in the previous section. The following steps are required to send an email:

1. From the External Data tab, click on Create E-mail in the Collect Data section. The Collect Data Through E-mail Messages window will open, which summarizes the five main steps involved. Click Next.

2. Choose between HTML Form or Microsoft Office InfoPath Form (which will not be available if InfoPath is not installed). For this example, click HTML Form, and then click Next.

3. Select the fields to include in the form, as shown in Figure 11.12. Each field will appear with an entry box next to it. In this example, the fields Month, Western US, Central US, Easter US, Canada, and Europe were selected. Therefore, the individual receiving the email can simply fill in the month field and then information in one or more of the fields for the region. For each field, the label can be changed, as shown with the arrow, and each field can be marked as read-only if needed. Click Next.

Figure 11.12. Collect data through email messages data field specification in Access 2007.

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4. The next page allows the option to Automatically Process Replies and Add Date to Databasename. For this example, leave the box unchecked and click Next. If automatic processing of replies was enabled, a link on this page provides access to additional settings, such as Accept Multiple Replies from Each Recipient, Allow Multiple Rows per Reply, and Only Allow Updates to Existing Data.

5. Select either Enter the E-mail Address in Microsoft Office Outlook or Use the E-mail Addresses Stored in a Field in the Database. For this example, choose the former. Click Next. If there is a field in the database that contains email addresses, it can be used. In this example, the list was exported to Access 2007 and can then be easily changed, and an email field can be added. If the list were still linked to the SharePoint list, the change would need to be made in the SharePoint list.

6. The subject line and introduction text of the email can be updated in the next screen. Make changes here as desired. Click Next.

7. The email message is now ready to be created, and it can be previewed in the External Data tab in Access 2007. Click Create. The email should open from Outlook 2003, as shown in Figure 11.13, and it can then be sent to appropriate recipients. When a user responds to the email, she can fill in the fields that haven’t been tagged as read-only.

Figure 11.13. Email generated for collecting data by Access 2007.

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Linking Lists

When to link a list to SharePoint 2007 and when to import/export? If you link to a SharePoint list, Access creates a new table that reflects the content of the list that is linked to. Data can be changed either from Access 2007 or from the SharePoint 2007 list. However, adding or removing a column needs to take place in SharePoint 2007, not from within Access 2007. The Access 2007 user has access to SharePoint-specific commands, such as Modify Columns and Settings, Alert Me, and Change Permissions for This List.

Although you cannot link to a specific view, and will therefore see all the information in the list, you can import/export a specific view. This is well suited for situations where the SharePoint list has a number of columns and many entries, and views have been created to filter out a certain subset of data. For example, a list that tracks help desk tickets might have a view of open items, and a manager wants to export just this view to Access 2007 for analysis and reporting.

In addition, export processes can be saved and exported to Outlook 2007 as tasks, which include a button to Run Import, which will automatically kick off the import process from Access 2007.

Reporting Tools in Access 2007

A report is easily created by following these steps:

1. In the Navigation pane, click the table to base the report on.

2. On the Create tab, in the Reports group, click Report. Access 2007 will automatically create a report based on the contents of the table, as shown in Figure 11.14. The AutoFormat menu in the menu ribbon provides a variety of color and formatting options to give a customized look and feel to the report. Graphics are also easily added, as circled in Figure 11.14. Column widths are easily adjusted manually by clicking a cell and dragging the dotted line, or the Format tab can be accessed in the Property Sheet pane for more precise changes. Alignment and other formatting options are also available that should give a design-oriented individual every opportunity to fine-tune the report.

Figure 11.14. Access 2007 report based on SharePoint 2007 list information.

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3. Right-click the tab for the report, and select Save to save the report. Now the report is attached to the database and can be easily modified in the future, which is a great advantage to the process required in Excel to create a report.

Creating SharePoint 2007 Lists in Access 2007

An interesting new feature in Access 2007 is the ability to actually create a list and then export it to SharePoint 2007. The Create tab offers the option SharePoint List and the selection of Contacts, Tasks, Issues, Events, Custom, and Existing SharePoint List. Although typically an administrator would use the SharePoint 2007 interface for this process, there are situations where it could be a timesaver to create the list from Access 2007. For example, if the administrator knows in advance that he wants to link with Access 2007 for the list, he might choose just to create it from Access 2007. However, after it has been created, he must review the site settings to make sure they meet his requirements. It is likely that this feature won’t be used that often.

Using Project 2007 with SharePoint 2007

Although Project 2007 has a number of enhancements in the 2007 version of the product, it still retains the look and feel of the 2003 product. SharePoint integration has not changed dramatically either with this product. Users and organizations looking for tighter integration between Project and SharePoint generally explore the features offered by Project Server 2007, which creates an extremely tight integration between the two products.

With Project Server 2003, each project can be linked to a project workspace site. If created using a Project Server site template, the site contains specific web parts ideally suited for project management. Another feature of Project Server 2007 is the Project Web Access component that allows users to access Windows SharePoint Services sites to view project information, such as tasks assigned to them, issues and risks, and update their information online without the full Project client on their desktop.

Although configuration options are flexible, Project Server 2007 shares the same administration infrastructure as SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services version 3 to facilitate management. Project Server 2007 middle-tier services are contained inside a Shared Services Provider in SharePoint Server 2007.

As discussed briefly in Chapter 7, there is a new list called the Project Tasks list that offers some Gantt-like features, but there is no specific connectivity provided between this list and Project 2007.

A recurring need has been to allow Project users to better share information with end users who don’t typically have Project installed on their desktops, and this has been a notoriously difficult task to accomplish. The .pdf file format was generally the best way to share the highly graphical output from Project 2003, and with the new utility for Office 2007 products that enables printing to .pdf files, this would have posed a solution. Unfortunately, this plug-in (SaveAsPDF.exe) does not support Project 2007, so this is not an easily available solution. Adobe Acrobat Professional can still be used to create this output if the need justifies the cost.

Using Visio 2007 with SharePoint 2007

Although Visio is generally only used by a small subset of users, its output can be very valuable. Visio 2007 can link to SharePoint 2007 lists to integrate SharePoint data with the shapes contained in the document. This opens up some interesting new possibilities for uses for Visio.

Microsoft offers a Visio 2007 Viewer (visioviewer.exe) that enables anyone to view Visio drawings and diagrams (created with Visio 5.0, 2000, 2002, 2003, or 2007) inside their Internet Explorer version 5.0 or later web browser.

Link SharePoint List Data to Shapes

Visio 2007 has enhanced its connectivity to SharePoint 2007 by providing the Link Data to Shapes tool in the Data menu. This enable shapes in a Visio 2007 document to be linked to data contained in a SharePoint 2007 list. An example is given in the following steps:

1. Create a Visio 2007 diagram and populate it with several servers. Also, create a SharePoint 2007 list with information about those servers, such as name, hardware type, RAM, hard drive storage, operating system, and other software installed.

2. From the Visio 2007 diagram, select Link Data to Shapes tool in the Data menu.

3. Select Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services list, and click Next.

4. Enter the URL for the Windows SharePoint Services site that contains the list, and then click Next.

5. Select the name of the list containing the data, and then select Link to a List in the Link Options area. Click Next.

6. Click Finish to complete the wizard. The data will be imported and display in an External Data pane.

7. Drag the appropriate entry in the External Data pane to the server shape. The data, or a subset of it, should display next to the server, as shown in Figure 11.15.

Figure 11.15. SharePoint 2007 list linked to Visio 2007 shapes.

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8. Select the server shape, and then in the Data Graphics task pane click one of the data graphics (in this example, Data—VisioData was selected). Then select the drop-down menu, as shown in Figure 11.15. Select Edit Data Graphic from the menu.

9. In the Edit Data Graphic window, note the fields that are already displayed (in this example, Server Name and Available Drive Space, two fields from the SharePoint list). Select New Item, Text. In the Data Field drop-down menu, select a field that hasn’t been displayed yet, such as RAM in this example. Click OK. Use the up and down arrows to change the order of the fields if needed. Click OK. The window will close, and the Visio diagram should update. With some experimentation and tweaking, the Visio will soon display the appropriate fields from the SharePoint list.

Leveraging SharePoint 2007 to Publish Visio 2007 Files

Let’s use the example drawing of the several servers with data attached to the server shapes from a SharePoint 2007 list. Visio can be used to create an interactive web page that gives users a number of tools to work with in viewing the information.

To publish a Visio 2007 drawing to SharePoint 2007, follow these steps:

  1. From Visio 2007, access the File menu, and select Save as Web Page.
  2. In the Save As window, navigate to a SharePoint document library, click the Change Title button if needed, and then click the Publish button. The Save as Web Page window will open.
  3. The General tab offers a number of options, including which page or pages to publish, which options to include such as the Details (shape data) option, or Go to Page (navigation control), Search Pages, or Pan and Zoom. The Advanced tab offers choices of output formats (VML as a default or SVG, JPG, PNG, GIF), and an alternate format can be selected for browsers that are older than Internet Explorer 5.0. Target Monitor resolution can be set for JPG, GIF, and PNG outputs. A number of style sheets can also be chosen to add a customized look and feel to the output. Click OK when the settings are finalized. Figure 11.16 shows a sample output in a SharePoint 2007 document library. SharePoint 2007 users will see the same interface when they click the web page in the document library. In this example, the search bar was used to find the term SQL, and it returned the SQL server in the diagram (abcsql01) and also provided the information that was pulled out of the SharePoint list for this server.

Figure 11.16. Visio 2007 document saved as a web page to SharePoint 2007.

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Using Visio 2007 for Quick Gantt Charts

Visio 2007 also enables you to create a simple Gantt chart; and with its ability to publish to a SharePoint 2007 site, it offers a simple and elegant solution for creating simple project plans. Just choose File, New, and then Schedule, and select Gantt Chart (US units). The chart will start. Fill in the options in the Gantt Chart Options window, including the number of tasks and the start date, and choose formatting options for the task bars. Click OK and the new Gantt chart opens. In Figure 11.17, the Insert Column window was opened by right-clicking a column and selecting Insert Column, and the options include standard project plan columns such as Resource Names, % Complete, and Actual Start and Actual Finish.

Figure 11.17. Creating a Gantt chart in Visio 2007.

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Although it is an exaggeration to say that this could replace Project for project management, it is certainly fully featured enough to create a detailed project plan to use as a tool in team management and for reporting project status.

Using Visio with SharePoint 2007 Tasks Lists

If the Create Visio Diagram link is selected from the Actions menu in a Tasks list in SharePoint 2007, and Visio 2007 is installed, a useful management tool is automatically created in Visio. Figure 11.18 shows a sample that was created from a Tasks list that contains both workflow tasks and other tasks, one of which was created from Outlook. At first glance, the report might be confusing, but click the Workload Distribution tab, as shown in Figure 11.18, and some revealing information quickly comes forth. The filter on this pivot diagram, as shown in the legend, is set to Status Does Not Equal Completed, so the items that appear on this page reflect tasks that are not set to completed. The second row down reflects the Assigned To values in the list, or actual users. By default, only the number of tasks is shown the next level down; but for this example, the Title category (circled in Figure 11.18) was selected for task indicated by the top arrow, which adds the next row of data, the actual title of the task. This new component, Title, was then selected, and the box Workflow Item ID(sum) was selected (indicated by the lower arrow in Figure 11.18).

Figure 11.18. Visio 2007 diagram created from a SharePoint 2007 Tasks list.

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Although this report might not be a staple at every project management meeting, it does quickly create a detailed report from the SharePoint Tasks list that can be useful in meetings and can be customized based on the metadata that the leader of the meeting wants to examine. Once again, this can be saved as a web page to a SharePoint 2007 site, for review by resources who might not have Visio on their desktops.

Using PowerPoint 2007 with SharePoint 2007

PowerPoint 2007 offers the new and improved Office 2007 interface, and the Office button offers the Prepare, Publish, and Server menus, which offer tools that interact with SharePoint 2007 as outlined in previous sections of this chapter. SharePoint 2007 offers a library specifically designed to handle PowerPoint 2007 slides, as covered in Chapter 7.

The Publish feature deserves a quick summary and example because it offers some new options during the publishing process. If Publish is selected from the Office menu, and then the option Publish Slides is selected, the user will see the interface shown in Figure 11.19. If several of the slides are selected, and Publish is clicked, each slide is published as a separate file. Therefore, it is important to either publish to a slide library or to a folder created in advance to contain the slides. Of course, the file can be saved to a SharePoint document library for others to access normally or it can be saved as a Single File Web Page (Office button, Save As, Other Formats, and select Single File Web Page from the Save As type drop-down menu).

Figure 11.19. Publishing slides from PowerPoint 2007.

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Using OneNote 2007 with SharePoint 2007

OneNote is typically used for creating a “scrapbook” of text, images, and ideas. OneNote 2007 offers additional tools to enhance the connectivity with other Office applications.

In OneNote, you can mark follow-up items from meetings or brainstorming notes as Outlook tasks. Use the Task toolbar button and drop-down, or the Insert menu and then Outlook Task option. Click the drop-down arrow to control the task due date.

Linked notes for Outlook meetings and contacts can be created. In Outlook, right-click a meeting or contact to take notes about, and then click the Meeting Notes option to create the linked notes. Click the button again to open the created notes in the OneNote document. Figure 11.20 shows a sample of a meeting that was exported to OneNote and viewed in OneNote. Information from Outlook shows that there is a meeting workspace also available for this meeting, and the Outlook item can be opened from OneNote at a later date if needed.

Figure 11.20. Opening created notes in OneNote.

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A OneNote 2007 notebook can be shared by storing it in a shared location, such as a file share on a server or SharePoint site. Access the Share menu or the Shared Notebook option in the New Notebook Wizard. Figure 11.21 shows the options available from the File menu to synchronize changes with the shared document in SharePoint.

Figure 11.21. Synchronization options for a shared OneNote notebook.

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Currently, no converter is available to open OneNote 2007 files in an earlier version of OneNote. Likewise, no converter is available to save files in OneNote 2007 as files from an earlier version of OneNote. Some possible workarounds include saving the OneNote file as a .pdf or single-file web page (.mht).

Summary

This chapter provided an overview of many of the common uses that users will have for the following Office 2007 products: Outlook, Access, Project, PowerPoint, and OneNote. Outlook and Access arguably offer the most complete integration, and by understanding the different ways these applications allow users to work with data stored in SharePoint 2007 lists and libraries, the SharePoint administrator can encourage site administrators and power users to leverage the tools more completely. Some of the integration features in Outlook 2007 and Access 2007 might be attractive and valuable enough for the organization to justify a partial or full upgrade to Office 2007. As discussed in Chapter 10, “Using Word, Excel, and Excel Services with SharePoint 2007,” it is important to experiment with the use of multiple versions of Office products in a SharePoint 2007 environment to ensure that the user experience will be a positive one.

Best Practices

  • Outlook 2003 can be used with SharePoint 2007 and will allow the creation of a meeting workspace with the creation of a new appointment, or the creation of a document workspace when a document is sent as an attachment. Other limitations apply, however. Outlook 2003 doesn’t offer the ability to connect a SharePoint document library to a folder in Outlook, whereas Outlook 2007 does. Outlook 2003 doesn’t provide the ability to collect RSS feeds.
  • If connecting SharePoint 2007 document libraries to Outlook 2007, make sure that users know that folders in the document library won’t be connected to Outlook 2007 and so their contents won’t be available if the user is offline and accessing Outlook 2007 SharePoint folders.
  • When a SharePoint 2007 document library is “connected” to Outlook 2007, the Reading pane offers excellent preview capabilities, so a Word document can be paged through, an Excel document can be reviewed, or a PowerPoint presentation can be viewed. This makes Outlook 2007 a powerful offline tool when folders are synchronized with SharePoint 2007 document libraries.
  • The ability of SharePoint lists and libraries to publish RSS feeds and the ability of Outlook 2007 to subscribe to these feeds makes Outlook 2007 an excellent choice of email clients to use with SharePoint 2007. Note that the site administrators must think about the most appropriate settings for the lists and libraries that are RSS enabled, and the end users must also experiment with settings in the RSS Feed Options window.
  • Users should experiment with whether “connecting” to libraries (Connect to Outlook is not an option in lists), using RSS feeds, or Open with Access better meets their needs. In general, RSS feeds are better suited for list information, and the “connecting” process works better with document libraries. Access 2007 offers similar advantages to exporting data to Excel 2007, but has some powerful reporting features built in, and other tools such as gathering input for a spreadsheet via email, as outlined in this chapter.
  • Access 2007 users should become familiar with the differences between importing data from a SharePoint 2007 list, or exporting data to Access 2007, and linking a SharePoint list to an Access 2007 database. A primary difference is that an Access 2007 database linked to a SharePoint 2007 list can be updated, and the changes will synchronize with the SharePoint 2007 list when refreshed. Likewise, if the SharePoint 2007 list changes, the linked Access 2007 database will update when refreshed. Lists exported from SharePoint 2007 are separated from the SharePoint 2007 list, but can have new data imported as needed. Both linked and exported lists can be used offline with conflict-resolution technology to assist with conflicts in linked lists.
  • In PowerPoint 2007, a presentation can be saved to a SharePoint 2007 document library as a single-file web page by accessing the Office button, Save As, Other Formats, select Single File Web Page from the Save As type drop-down menu. This allows users without PowerPoint installed to view the slides.
  • OneNote 2007 offers a feature of sharing notebooks on a SharePoint 2007 server, and multiple users can synchronize changes with the copy on SharePoint. This allows flexible collaboration activities to take place that involve OneNote 2007 information.
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