Chapter 14. Using SharePoint with Outlook and Lync
Chapter at a glance
Sync
Sync your tasks with Outlook, Syncing your tasks with Outlook
View
View SharePoint Calendar list apps in Outlook, Viewing SharePoint calendars in Outlook
Use
Use Lync Presence with documents in libraries, Using Lync Presence with documents in libraries
Create
Create a site mailbox, Creating site mailboxes
IN THIS CHAPTER YOU, WILL LEARN HOW TO
Send an email using a SharePoint Contacts list.
For many years, Microsoft SharePoint Server has integrated with the Microsoft Office Outlook client application to allow you to aggregate and manage all of your tasks in one place, whether you created them within Outlook, in a SharePoint Tasks list, or within Microsoft Office OneNote. Microsoft Office Outlook 2013 and Microsoft SharePoint 2013 provide the same functionality; in addition, similar access is available with Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 and Microsoft Outlook Web App.
With Outlook 2013, like Microsoft Office Outlook 2010, you can keep a local copy of your team’s Calendars, Tasks, and Contacts lists, as well as libraries. You can synchronize information in two directions for items in Contacts lists, calendars, Tasks lists, and discussion boards. A local copy of SharePoint data is available offline when you are not connected to the network, and it can be synchronized with the SharePoint site manually or automatically when you next connect. Outlook also supports Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds so that you can subscribe to and stay updated on the latest news sites and blogs. You can also manage all of your SharePoint alerts from one Outlook dialog box.
Important
In Microsoft SharePoint 2010, you can create a Meeting Workspace site by using the browser or Outlook. A Meeting Workspace is slightly different from a Team site. It has no Quick Launch, and the pages are Web Part pages and not wiki pages. In SharePoint 2013, any of the Meeting Workspace site templates are deprecated, as is the Document Workspace and the Group Work site templates. If you have upgraded from SharePoint 2010, any sites you created from these site templates will continue to function. You should not create any new Meeting Workspaces, Document Workspaces, or Group Work site templates, however. For the Group Calendar and Resource Reservation features added to the traditional calendar, the better long-term replacement is to use Outlook and Exchange Server features.
When Microsoft Lync Server 2013 is installed with Lync Web Access, much of the application’s functionality can also be accessed straight from within Office client applications, Microsoft Office Web Apps, or SharePoint. Similar to the way Lync offered connectivity in the past by providing “presence” information, you can see whether another user is online, offline, or busy. You can start an instant message or a web conference call.
You will also encounter a more unified search experience when SharePoint Server 2013 is used in conjunction with Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 and Microsoft Lync Server 2013. Whether you use the browser to display a SharePoint site or you use Microsoft Outlook Web App, you can find content sitting in your Exchange Server site mailbox, your Exchange Server archive, SharePoint document libraries, SharePoint lists, your Lync instant message conversations, and even content that is stored on a Windows network share. In addition, SharePoint Server 2013 and Exchange Server 2013 provide a suite of features, such as site mailboxes and enterprise Electronic Discovery (eDiscovery).
Note
SEE ALSO Information on search can be found in Chapter 9. Information on records management and compliance, which include eDiscovery, are discussed in Chapter 15.
The Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, and Microsoft Lync Server 2010 products provide much of this functionality; however, with the tight integration of SharePoint Server 2013, Exchange Server 2013, and Lync Server 2013, along with Office Web Apps, you no longer have to think about which device you are on—regardless of whether you use a Windows computer, a Mac laptop, a Windows 8 tablet, an Apple iPad or iPod, an Android tablet, a mobile phone, or whatever system you are configured to for access to documents, and whether or not you have the Lync client installed.
In this chapter, you will learn how to sync your tasks with Outlook, and how to copy and move Outlook contacts to and from a SharePoint Contacts list. You will also learn how to connect SharePoint Calendar lists to Outlook, how to view SharePoint calendars side by side with personal calendars, how to edit SharePoint calendar items offline, how to manage SharePoint alerts in Outlook, and how to subscribe to a SharePoint list RSS feed. You will then create and use a site mailbox.
Although you can complete many of the tasks documented in this chapter by using Microsoft Office Outlook 2010, the steps and screen shots in this chapter were created using Outlook 2013. If you use Outlook 2010, your steps and screen shots will be slightly different. See Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 Step by Step, by Olga Londer and Penelope Coventry (Microsoft Press, 2011), for steps on using Outlook 2010.
Note
PRACTICE FILES Before you can complete the exercises in this chapter, you need to copy the book’s practice files to your computer. The practice files that you’ll use in this chapter are in the Chapter14 practice file folder. A complete list of practice files is provided in Using the practice files at the beginning of this book.
Important
Remember to use your SharePoint site location in place of http://wideworldmporters in the following exercises.
Syncing your tasks with Outlook
You can sync your tasks with Outlook from your My Tasks page or from any Tasks list. A Sync Tasks with Microsoft Outlook dialog appears, where you must select the Sync Tasks check box if you want to view your tasks within the Outlook client application or the Outlook Web App.
This functionality relies on the installation of Exchange Server 2013 within your organization. If you try to complete the Sync to Outlook activity, but Exchange Server 2013 is not installed, when you click OK on the Sync Tasks with Microsoft Outlook dialog, an error message appears, stating that you are not able to sync your tasks because your mailbox is on an Exchange Server that isn’t supported.
In the following exercise, you will sync your tasks from your My Tasks page with Outlook.
Note
SEE ALSO The My Tasks page is available from the Newsfeed hub. The My Tasks page and the Newsfeed hub are discussed in Chapter 7.
Important
Verify that your organization has set up social features and that your My Site is created. If your organization has customized the social features, then you may not be able to complete the exercise.
In the global navigation bar, click Newsfeed, and then on the Quick Launch, click Tasks.
On the Tasks tab, in the Settings group, click Sync to Outlook.
On the Sync Tasks with Microsoft Outlook dialog that appears, select Sync tasks, and then click OK.
Open Outlook Web App or the Outlook client, and at the bottom of the Navigation pane, click Tasks.
Complete a task; for example, in Outlook Web App. Hover over the task that you wish to complete so that icons appear to the right, and then click the Mark Complete icon.
The task that you completed is no longer displayed in Outlook.
In the browser, go to your My Tasks page, and note that the task that you completed in Outlook is now displayed in the Completed view and not in the Active view.
Connecting a SharePoint Contacts list app to Outlook
To initiate the integration between SharePoint lists and libraries and Outlook, you need to connect the list or library. You can connect most SharePoint lists, as well as all SharePoint library types, to Outlook. The following list and library types are not supported for connection to Outlook:
Survey
Issue Tracking
Announcements
Links
Custom Lists
Solutions Gallery
List Templates Gallery
Web Part Gallery
When you connect a list or library to Outlook, the list or library appears in the respective areas of the Outlook Navigation pane. Calendars appear in the Calendar pane under Other Calendars, tasks appear in the Tasks pane under Other Tasks, and contacts appear in the Contacts pane under Other Contacts.
Tip
Outlook contains built-in technology (Exchange ActiveSync Support and Social Connector) that allows you to receive emails, appointments, and contacts from Outlook.com and Hotmail, as well as updates from social networks; therefore, the default view in Outlook 2013 for contacts is not the Business Card view, as it is in Outlook 2010. The People view is the new default view for contacts. The Business Card view now aggregates information about the same person from multiple contacts sources.
Discussion lists and libraries appear in a folder in the Mail pane, under SharePoint Lists. When you connect external lists to Outlook, they are created in the SharePoint External Lists folder.
Once a list is connected to Outlook, you can modify that list within Outlook at any time, whether you are online or offline. When you connect to a library to modify a file, double-click the file to open it in the appropriate program. You can also share the connection with others by right-clicking the list or library name in Outlook, and then clicking Share This Folder.
SharePoint permissions carry over when using SharePoint resources in Outlook. For example, if you have permission to edit a document or list item on the SharePoint site, you can also edit the document or list item within Outlook.
When you modify a document from a library that you have connected to Outlook, you will be modifying an offline copy of that document, known as a cached copy, by default. You can choose to send the document to the SharePoint library when you have completed your modification. During your offline editing, another user could modify the same document, so it is recommended to always check out your document before you edit it. You can turn off offline editing by using Options in the Microsoft Office Word backstage view.
Note
SEE ALSO More information on document management and coauthoring can be found in Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Inside Out, by Darvish Shadravan, Penelope Coventry, Thomas Resing, and Christina Wheeler (Microsoft Press, 2013).
Deleting a connected SharePoint list folder from Outlook does not delete the SharePoint list or its data from the SharePoint server; however, the data in that list is no longer available offline from within Outlook. An alternative method of managing connected SharePoint lists or libraries is to click the File tab to switch to the backstage view of Outlook. Then, under Account Information, click Account Settings, and then click Account Settings in the drop-down list to display the Account Settings dialog box. Click the SharePoint Lists tab, click the SharePoint list or library that you want to manage, and then click Remove or Change.
In the following exercise, you will connect to Outlook from a Contacts list on a SharePoint site. You can use the same technique to connect to other SharePoint lists or libraries.
Set Up
Open a SharePoint site, such as one created from the practice .wsp file for this chapter. If you have not created a site based on this chapter’s .wsp file, then you will need a Contacts list to complete this exercise. You can create a Contacts list by following the steps in the exercise in Chapter 3, which explains how to create a list.
Important
Verify that you have sufficient rights to read the items in the Contacts list. If in doubt, see Appendix A.
On the Quick Launch, under the Lists section, click Contacts.
On the List tab in the List Tools contextual tab set, within the Connect & Export group, click Connect to Outlook.
Note
TROUBLESHOOTING If the Connect to Outlook command is inactive, press F5 to reload the page. Many of the collaboration sites in SharePoint 2013 use a new technology, known as Minimal Download Strategy, so that pages can load faster; however, the Connect to Outlook command is dimmed when the page is first loaded.
If an Internet Explorer - Security Warning dialog box appears, asking “Do you want to allow this website to open a program on your computer?,” click Allow.
If another Internet Explorer - Security Warning dialog box appears, stating that, “A website wants to open web content using this program on your computer,” click Allow. A Microsoft Outlook dialog box appears, stating that, “You should only connect lists from sources you know and trust.”
Click Advanced to open a SharePoint Lists Options dialog box, and in the Folder Name text box, type WideWorldImporters - Contacts.
Click OK, and in the Microsoft Outlook dialog box, click Yes to display the Contacts list in Outlook.
Moving an Outlook contact to a SharePoint Contacts list app
By connecting a SharePoint Contacts list to Outlook, you are creating an Outlook Contacts folder. You can copy the contact information in your Outlook Contacts folder back into the SharePoint Contacts list. The new contacts within the Outlook Contacts folder are added to the SharePoint Contacts list the next time Outlook synchronizes with SharePoint, and you can then share the contact information with users who visit your SharePoint site. Any other users who also connected the SharePoint Contacts list to their copy of Outlook will observe the new contacts within their Outlook Contacts folder when they next synchronize with SharePoint. Also, a Microsoft Outlook dialog box will appear, stating that any incompatible content will be removed during the next synchronization, and that the original version of each affected item will be preserved in the Local Failures folder.
In this exercise, you will move contact information from your Outlook Address Book to a Contacts list on a SharePoint site. You can use the same technique to move calendar items from a SharePoint Calendar list to your Calendar folder, as well as to move task and event items into their respective Outlook folders.
Note
TROUBLESHOOTING You cannot move a recurring series of events by using the steps detailed in this exercise. Instead, open the recurring series or the individual occurrence from a recurring series within Outlook. Click the File tab to display the backstage, and then click Move to Folder.
Set Up
Open Outlook, if it is not already open. You can use the Contacts list that you connected to Outlook in the previous exercise, or you can use another Contacts list.
Important
Verify that you have sufficient rights to create new list items in the Contacts list. If in doubt, see Appendix A.
In the Outlook Navigation pane, under My Contacts, select Contacts.
Select two or more users that you want to move by holding down the Shift key or the Ctrl key while clicking the left mouse button.
On the Home tab, in the Actions group, click Move, and then click Other Folder.
Scroll down the Move Items dialog box. To the left of the SharePoint Lists folder, click the arrow icon, and then select WideWorldImporters - Contacts.
Click OK to display the Contacts folder, under My Contacts, without the contacts that you selected.
Tip
To move a single contact, select the contact, and then press Ctrl+Shift+V to open the Move Items dialog box. Alternatively, while holding down the mouse button, drag the contact to WideWorldImporters - Contacts in the Outlook Navigation pane. You can also use these techniques to move more than one contact.
Copying SharePoint contacts into Outlook
You can copy any single contact or event item from a SharePoint list to Outlook. Once the contact item is copied into the Contacts folder, the contact item in the Contacts folder and the contact item on the SharePoint Contacts list are independent of each other—that is, there is no link between them. Therefore, amendments made to the contact in the Outlook Contacts folder are completed on the contact item in the SharePoint Contacts list. To ensure that your contact information does not become outdated, you should assign a definitive location for a specific contact by maintaining it as a contact item on either a SharePoint Contacts list or in your Outlook Contacts folder, but not both. If contact information is to be shared among a team, then a SharePoint Contacts list is the preferred location.
An alternative method to copy contacts is to select one or more contacts, and while holding down the Ctrl key and the mouse button, drag the contacts to the Contacts folder in the Outlook Navigation pane.
Note
TROUBLESHOOTING You cannot copy a recurring series of events by using the steps detailed in the following exercise. Instead, copy a recurring series or an individual occurrence from a recurring series by opening it within Outlook. On the Appointment Series tab, in the Actions group, click Copy to My Calendar.
In the following exercise, you will copy contacts from a Contacts list in a SharePoint site into Outlook. You can also copy a calendar, an event, or task items by using the same technique.
Set Up
Open Outlook, if it is not already open. You can use the Contacts list that you connected to Outlook in a previous exercise, or you can use another Contacts list. Ensure that there are contact items added to the list.
Important
Verify that you have sufficient rights to read the items in the Contacts list. If in doubt, see Appendix A.
In the Outlook Navigation pane, under Other Contacts, select WideWorldImporters - Contacts.
Select the users that you want to copy by holding down the Shift key or the Ctrl key when selecting the users.
Right-click one of the contacts that you selected, click Move, and then click Copy to Folder.
Scroll to the top of the Copy Items dialog box that appears. Select Contacts, and then click OK to add the contacts to your Outlook Contacts folder.
Viewing SharePoint calendars in Outlook
You can work with multiple calendars when using Outlook, thereby enabling you to create calendars for specific purposes, such as having one for work and one for your personal life. By using Outlook, you can view several calendars at the same time. When you view and scroll multiple calendars, they all display the same date or time frame. This feature is particularly useful if you have connected a SharePoint Calendar list to Outlook. By doing so, you are creating an Outlook Calendar folder in which a copy of the data from the SharePoint list is stored locally. In this way, you can keep track of any calendar items in a SharePoint list from the Outlook Calendar folder, even if you are not connected to the network.
Your personal Outlook calendar appears side by side with the connected SharePoint Calendar list. The background color of the Calendar folder name matches the color on the displayed calendar, so that you can discern between the two calendars. You can use overlay mode, where the two (or more) calendars are merged; however, the two calendars remain color-coordinated, as do the appointments in both calendars.
In the following exercise, you will connect to a SharePoint Calendar list to view your personal Outlook calendar and a connected SharePoint Calendar list, side by side in overlay mode.
Important
Verify that you have sufficient rights to read the items in the Contacts list. If in doubt, see Appendix A.
On the Quick Launch, under the Lists section, click Calendar, and then, on the Calendar tab, in the Connect & Export group, click Connect to Outlook.
If an Internet Explorer – Security Warning dialog box opens, asking, “Do you want to allow this website to open a program on your computer?,” click Allow.
Outlook opens. In the Outlook dialog box, click Advanced to open a SharePoint Lists Options dialog box.
In the Folder Name text box, type WideWorldImporters - Calendar, and then click OK. Then, in the Microsoft Outlook dialog box, click Yes. You might be asked to supply your user name and password.
Click the arrow on the WideWorldImporters - Calendar tab to view the two calendars in overlay mode.
Tip
Once a Calendar list is connected to Outlook, use the check box to the left of the calendar name to control the number of calendars that you want to view side by side. Also, information on how to change the calendar Weather Bar forecast city can be found at office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/change-the-calendar-weather-bar-forecast-city-HA102749748.aspx.
Taking SharePoint content offline
Connecting lists to Outlook enables you to aggregate all of your list items in one place. For example, you can view all the calendar events in the Calendar window or all of your tasks in the Tasks windows, or you can view tasks assigned only to you on the To-Do bar. When you connect a SharePoint list or library, including external lists to Outlook, a local copy of the SharePoint content is stored locally on your computer.
Tip
The Archive feature in Outlook cannot be used with the SharePoint List folder, or with any connected lists or libraries.
Connected SharePoint content can be used online or offline; however, it is important to understand the following synchronization processes:
Online Once a list or library is connected, edits made in Outlook are synchronized automatically with the master content on the SharePoint site, depending on the Send/Receive settings.
The default—Send/Receive Group, All Accounts—is configured for your mail items, and it also controls the updates to subscribed RSS feeds and SharePoint lists. The All Accounts group schedules an update to occur every 30 minutes. You can force synchronization to all Outlook connections immediately by clicking the Send/Receive All Folders command on the Send/Receive tab or by pressing F9 on the keyboard. You can create new Send/Receive groups, which contain all or only a subset of your SharePoint connected lists or libraries, with their own synchronization schedules.
Once the SharePoint list or library is updated, your changes are synchronized with other users who are connected to them in Outlook when they click the SharePoint list or library in the Outlook Navigation pane. If those users have the list or library open in the Outlook details pane, then they will not see the updates until the next synchronization schedule.
Offline When you are offline, the Outlook status bar displays a red circle with a white X, and the message “Working Offline” appears. You can view and edit cached copies of the SharePoint content, but your modifications are not synchronized with the master content on the SharePoint site. To synchronize the content, you must go online.
When connected to Outlook, External Lists (meaning that the data is external to SharePoint) are created in the SharePoint External Lists folder, which is not controlled by the Send/Receive settings. External Lists are synchronized by default every 6 hours. When you right-click an External List in Outlook, you can learn the synchronization status and the time that the data was last refreshed from the external system. You can then force synchronization. Data that is presented in an External List may or may not be available offline, depending on how the External Content Type for that External List is configured.
Note
SEE ALSO Information on External Lists and External Content Types can be found in Chapter 22, “Working with external content,” in Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Inside Out.
In this exercise, you will make Calendar list content available offline, and then edit an appointment offline.
Set Up
Open Outlook, if it is not already open, and show the Calendar list that you connected to Outlook in a previous exercise.
Important
Verify that you have sufficient rights to modify the items in the Calendar list. If in doubt, see Appendix A.
On the Send/Receive tab, in the Preferences group, click Work Offline.
Note
TROUBLESHOOTING If the Work Offline command does not appear in the Preference group, verify that your account is configured for Cached Exchange Mode. This can be configured in the backstage view by clicking Account Settings, and then, from the drop-down list, clicking Account Settings. On the E-mail tab, select the relevant account, and then click Change. Select the Use Cached Exchange Mode option. You will need to close Outlook and reopen it for the changes to take effect.
Click the WideWorldImporters - Calendar tab, and then, on the Home tab, click New Appointment to open a new, untitled appointment form.
On the form status bar, hover over the icon, or hover over the link to the right of In Shared Folder so that a tooltip appears with the date that the Calendar list was last updated.
In the Subject box, type SharePoint team meeting, and then, on the Appointment tab, click Save & Close to display the new appointment in the details pane. If a Reminder dialog box appears, click Dismiss.
In the Navigation pane, under Other Calendars, right-click WideWorldImporters - Calendar, and click Open in Web Browser.
In the browser, notice that the appointment that you added in Outlook does not appear in the SharePoint Calendar list, and then close the browser.
In Outlook, on the Send/Receive tab, in the Preferences group, click Work Offline so that the Offline icon disappears from the Outlook status bar.
Press F9 to force an immediate synchronization.
In the Navigation pane, under Other Calendars, right-click WideWorldImporters - Calendar, and then click Open in Web Browser to confirm that the appointment that you added in Outlook appears in the SharePoint Calendar list.
Managing SharePoint alerts in Outlook
When you create an alert for an item, such as a document, list item, document library, list, survey, or search result, you immediately receive a confirmation email message notifying you that the alert was created successfully. This message indicates that the alert process is working. The confirmation message also contains information about the alert and provides links to the SharePoint site where the item is located. When someone makes a change to the item, you receive an email message alert that indicates what was changed, who made the change, and when the change was made. You should create an alert when content has changed and you need (or want) to take notice of it.
To avoid alerts swamping your inbox, you should carefully choose the SharePoint content about which you wish to be alerted. Ideally, you should select only important content that you want to monitor. Consider subscribing to RSS feeds to monitor other SharePoint content that is not as important and that does not need your close supervision.
By default, Microsoft SharePoint Foundation does not provide an alert aggregation capability for all of your alerts across every SharePoint site. To manage your alerts by using the browser, you would have to visit each site that has an alert set. To help manage your alerts, you could save the email notifying you that an alert was created successfully. You could then use the email to go to those sites on which the alerts are set.
In an environment where many SharePoint sites exist, managing your alerts could be a daunting task if they are monitored and organized merely by the links in your email alert messages and by memory. With the Outlook Rules and Alerts dialog box, you can manage email alerts received from all SharePoint intranet sites and trusted websites, including any or all of the following options:
Alter the properties of an alert. The Alert Properties dialog box provides a link to the SharePoint site, a Modify Alert button and a View Item button, and a link to the Alerts management page on the SharePoint site.
Select multiple alerts by using the Shift key or Ctrl key when you click an alert. You can then click Delete to delete all the alerts that you selected. Click Yes on the Microsoft Outlook warning dialog box that appears, asking whether you want to delete the selected rows.
Use Outlook E-mail Rules to manage your alerts. You can create E-mail Rules so that a notification window pops up, a sound is played, the alert email message is moved to a specified folder, or some other action is performed on receipt of an alert message.
In the following exercise, you will use Outlook to create a new alert.
Set Up
Open Outlook, if it is not already open. The exercise will use the SharePoint Contacts list that you used earlier in this chapter, but you can use another Contacts list if you want.
Important
Verify that you have sufficient rights to create an alert on the Contacts list. If in doubt, see Appendix A.
Click the File tab to display the backstage, and then click Manage Rules & Alerts at the bottom of the middle pane. You may need to scroll down.
In the Rules and Alerts dialog box that appears, click the Manage Alerts tab.
Click New Alert to display the New Alert dialog box, and in the Web site Address box, type the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of a SharePoint site that contains a Contacts list.
Click Open to display the New Alert page in the browser, and then select Contacts.
Scroll down and click Next to display the second New Alert page.
In the Send Alerts To section, type your email address, if it doesn’t already appear, and then review the other settings.
Click OK to display the My Alerts On This Site page, where under the Frequency: Immediate area, the alert named Contacts is listed.
Close all browser windows and switch to Outlook, where the Rules and Alerts dialog box should still be visible. A new alert, Contacts: All items (All Changes), should be listed.
Configuring an RSS feed
In the previous section, you learned how to manage alerts, which are notifications received via email that notify you when content has changed in a SharePoint list or library. Alerts are a “push” method of notification. SharePoint pushes content automatically to you based on specific criteria at predefined intervals, which you select.
Outlook supports RSS (this acronym previously meant Rich Site Summary), which is another method of notifying you when something has changed or new content is published within a SharePoint site. RSS is a “pull” method of notification. You decide when to use an RSS reader to read content exposed as RSS feeds. You will not be automatically notified when there is any new content or changed content; therefore, most people will use RSS to stay updated on the latest news on websites and blogs, but it can also be used by sites to distribute pictures or audio or video content.
Sites that expose their content via RSS are said to have an RSS feed. Outlook allows you to syndicate this content, and such programs are called RSS readers. You can manage your RSS feeds in Outlook just like other mail by flagging them for follow-up, assigning them a specific color, or automating any process by using E-mail Rules.
You can create an RSS feed on content stored in a SharePoint list. Therefore, very simple business processes can be handled by alerts. RSS suits ad hoc queries or processes. More complex business processes can be managed using the built-in workflows or by using Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2013 or Microsoft Visual Studio 2012.
Note
SEE ALSO More information on built-in workflows can be found in Chapter 11.
In this exercise, you will add an RSS feed to Outlook.
Set Up
Open the browser and display the SharePoint list or library with which you would like to subscribe to the RSS feed. The exercise will use the http://wideworldimporters site and the Documents library, but you can use whatever site and list or library you want.
Important
Verify that you have sufficient rights to the list or library. If in doubt, see Appendix A.
On the Library or List tab, in the Share & Track group, click RSS Feed to display information about files in the Documents page as an RSS feed.
Right-click Subscribe to this feed, and then click Copy Shortcut.
Open Outlook, if it is not already open. On the navigation bar, under your mail folders, right-click RSS Feeds, and then click Add a New RSS Feed.
In the New RSS Feed dialog box, in the Enter the location of the RSS Feed box, press Ctrl+V to paste the shortcut that you copied in step 2.
Click Add to close the New RSS Feed dialog box. A Microsoft Outlook dialog box appears.
In the General section, in the Feed Name box, type WideWorldImporters: Documents.
Click OK to close the RSS Feed Options dialog box, and then click Yes to close the Microsoft Outlook dialog box.
The RSS feed, WideWorldImporters: Documents, appears as a folder. The details pane displays an entry for each document in the Documents library.
Tip
You can change the properties of the RSS Feed as follows: Click the File tab to display the backstage, and then click Account Settings. From the drop-down list, click Account Settings to display the Account Settings dialog box. Click the RSS Feeds tab, and then select the RSS Feed whose properties you wish to modify. Click Change to display the RSS Feed Options dialog box, where you can change the RSS Feed properties.
Using Lync Presence with documents in libraries
With Lync Server 2013 installed, you can see a user’s presence. You can click a user’s name in many applications to start an instant message, a web conference, a persistent chat, or an audio or video conversation, as well as content sharing. Or, when you look at a document stored in SharePoint (on-premises or SharePoint within Microsoft Office 365) or SkyDrive, and you click the name of the author of the document, you can initiate communication with that person. This method of collaboration is also available when you open an office document using one of the Office client applications, including Microsoft Visio 2013.
Tip
With the Lync Server 2013 Persistent Chat Server, you can organize or participate in real-time discussions in virtual rooms. These discussions are searchable and persist. Persistent Chat is not available in Microsoft Lync Online.
The Lync Server 2013 client user interface has been redesigned to be intuitive and touch-friendly, which provides availability across a large number of devices. You can start communication with other users, whether you or they are using, for example, a mobile phone, and if the phone has video capabilities, a video call can be made. The Microsoft Lync Web App allows PC and Mac users to join a Lync meeting from within an HTML5-capable browser, and delivers a full Lync meeting experience, including high-definition video, voice over IP, instant messaging, and the integration with desktop applications, such as with Microsoft Office PowerPoint sharing.
Other improvements include the use of high-definition pictures, with its integration with Exchange Server, and enhanced contact cards, which you see consistently through all Office client applications, Office Web Apps, and SharePoint.
A presence status is provided by Lync, even when telecommuting. Presence shows your availability and that of other members of your team, and your willingness to communicate. You can manually change your presence status, but it can also be changed based on device activity, an integrated calendar, your mobile status, and your call or meeting status. The presence states are as you would imagine: with text and a color image; for example, Available is a green square, Away is an orange square, and Busy is a red square.
You can optionally share your location, or it can be set automatically to your organization’s network elements, which are mapped to a physical address or manually entered, thereby keeping you and other users informed. When privacy or confidentiality is a concern, you can modify your settings to show presence updates only to those contacts on your buddy list.
Your presence can be federated with other public networks, such as Skype, AOL, and Google Talk, and between other organizations using Lync Server, Lync Online, or Microsoft Office Communication Server.
The use of Lync enhances the collaboration functionality of SharePoint. This is very useful if you are taking advantage of coauthoring functionality, which enables multiple users to work on a file at any time, without interfering with each other’s changes. Coauthoring can only be used in libraries where versioning is enabled and checkout is not used. You can coauthor Microsoft Office application files, such as those created in Word 2010 and Word 2013, Excel 2010 and Excel 2013, PowerPoint 2010 and PowerPoint 2013, OneNote 2010 and OneNote 2013, and Visio 2013 using one of the Office client applications or one of the Office Web Apps.
For example, when more than one user is editing a Visio file, and that file is stored in SharePoint, the Visio client application displays an icon on the status bar that indicates the number of users editing the file. When the icon is clicked, the list of authors appears. By hovering over the author names, a callout displays contact information, along with the options to start an instant message, a call, or a video call, or to send an email.
You can see similar information in the backstage view, on the Info tab.
In this exercise, you will initiate an instant message using a contact card from a file in a library.
Set Up
Open a SharePoint site, and go to a library that contains a document uploaded by another user who is available for you to start an instant message.
Hover over the person’s name in the Modified By column to display the callout.
Click the down arrow in the bottom-right corner to display the contact card.
Under IM, click the person’s email address to display a Pop Out Conversation dialog box.
Type, Can we have a chat about this document?, and then press Enter.
Creating site mailboxes
Site mailboxes allow you to work with content from both Exchange Server and SharePoint Server. The contents of site mailboxes remain in their original locations—that is, email remains on the Exchange Server, and documents remain within their SharePoint sites; however, you can see and work with them from either Outlook or SharePoint.
When SharePoint Server and Exchange Server are configured by your server administrator to use site mailboxes, and the Site Mailbox site feature is activated, a site mailbox can be created for a site through SharePoint. To create a site mailbox, add a Site Mailbox app to your site, and then on the Site Content page, click Site Mailbox, which creates the site mailbox. It may take a while for the site mailbox creation process to complete. When the site mailbox is fully configured, an email message is sent to everyone in the site’s Owners and Members groups. You can use your SharePoint site while the site mailbox is created.
Note
TROUBLESHOOTING If your SharePoint Server and Exchange Server environment has not been configured to use site mailboxes, when you click Site Mailbox on the Site Contents page, a page appears, stating that your SharePoint Server configuration is not supported. If this is the case, you will not be able to complete the following exercise. The Site Mailbox feature at the site level must also be activated.
The first time you open the site mailbox, you will be prompted to set up the language and time zone options.
Once created, users who belong to either the site’s Members group or Owners group can see and work with the content in the site mailbox. If you do not have sufficient permissions to view the content in a site mailbox, or you have only recently been given access to a site mailbox, then an Almost there! page appears.
Once a site mailbox is created for your site, a new email account is created, which uses the name of your site. For example, if your site has the title, “Wide World Importers,” spaces will be removed and the email address for that site mailbox will be [email protected]. This email address cannot be changed; therefore, when you create a site, you should choose a name that works well as an email address.
Site mailboxes improve collaboration and user productivity by allowing access to both SharePoint Server and Exchange Server using the same interface. They help team members keep relevant information in a single place. New team members can use the site mailbox as an easy way to learn about a new project.
Note
SEE ALSO More information on using site mailboxes can be found at blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2012/08/22/site-mailboxes-in-the-new-office.aspx.
In this exercise, you will add the Site Mailbox app to a SharePoint site. You will review the site mailbox in Outlook.
Important
Verify that you have sufficient rights to create a Site Mailbox app. If in doubt, see Appendix A.
From the Settings gear icon, click add an app, and then on the Your Apps page, click Site Mailbox.
On the Site Contents page, click Site Mailbox.
The Outlook Web App opens. Select the language and time zone for your site’s mailbox, and then wait for the site mailbox setup to complete.
On The site mailbox has been created page, click Go back to the SharePoint site now to return to your SharePoint site, and then wait for the site mailbox to be created. It may take several minutes to several hours.
Open Outlook 2013, if it is not already open. You should have received an email stating that your site has a new mailbox.
In the folder pane, expand your site mailbox and review the folders.
In the folder pane, click Documents and review the list of documents already in the document library on your SharePoint site.
Key points
You can copy contacts listed in your personal Outlook Contacts folder both to and from a SharePoint Contacts list.
You can copy and move SharePoint list items both to and from Outlook.
You can connect any SharePoint Contacts list, Calendar, Tasks list, and discussion board to Outlook. This action creates a folder in Outlook that you can synchronize with the SharePoint list or that synchronizes automatically every 20 minutes.
In Outlook, you can view multiple calendars side by side. These calendars can be connected to SharePoint Calendar lists.
You can aggregate and manage all of your tasks in one place whether you created them within Outlook, in a SharePoint Tasks list, or within OneNote.
You can manage all of your SharePoint alerts from the Rules and Alerts dialog box in Outlook.
You can manage your RSS feeds in Outlook, just like your other mail, by flagging them for follow-up, assigning them a specific color, or by automating any process through E-mail Rules.
The use of Lync enhances the collaboration functionality of SharePoint.
With site mailboxes, you can work with content from both Exchange Server and SharePoint Server.
The contents of site mailboxes remain in their original locations—that is, email remains on the Exchange server and documents remain within their SharePoint sites; however, you can see and work with them from either Outlook or SharePoint.
Users must be added to the site’s Members group or Owners group to see and work with the content in the site mailbox.