Implementing SharePoint Lists and Libraries

SharePoint lists and libraries can be created from the list and library templates provided, or created as custom lists according to your needs. The templates that SharePoint provides include some basic functionality to meet the purpose of the lists. You can customize the columns for both lists that are created from templates and custom lists.

Document libraries are specialized list types where each item is a file that can also have additional columns, or metadata, associated with that file. When using a document library, the primary action opens the file as opposed to the list item to view the metadata and see associated file attachments. Document libraries also have an associated template file that is used as the basis for creating new files to be stored in the document library.

Using the SharePoint list templates

The SharePoint list templates fall into four areas:

• Communications: These list templates focus on connecting site users by providing platforms for sharing contact information, ideas, and announcements.

• Tracking: The tracking list templates focus on helping site users manage schedules and activities.

• Custom: The custom list templates have advanced functionality to help with specific goals such as KPI tracking and language translation.

• Libraries: These lists are designed to provide functionality for file storage and management.

Communication list templates

Use these list templates to create lists that store and share community information.

• Announcements: The announcement list is designed for adding short news articles for consumption on the local site. The list creates a list to support the article title, body, and expiration date. The Web Part created for the announcement list automatically filters based on expiration date so that only unexpired items are presented.

• Contacts: The contacts list template creates a list intended for storing contact information for your external contacts. You can use this list for internal contacts, but you may want to modify extraneous columns that are not applicable for internal contacts such as address fields and Web site.

• Discussion Board: Discussion boards are intended to provide newsgroup-like discussions. The design is centered around threading for discussion topics and allows you to moderate the approved postings.

Tracking list templates

These tracking list templates help manage group activity and action.

• Links: Links lists are simple lists that store the URL, friendly name, and description of sites that you want to link to. The friendly name appears in most views and is configured to link to the URL provided. As with any list that uses the hyperlink style column, you must be in the item’s edit mode to configure the friendly name field; otherwise, you will just be able to edit the URL field if in datasheet edit mode.

• Calendar: Calendar lists are used for storing event, milestone, or other date-based information.

  Note

  You can synchronize events between SharePoint and a WSS-compatible calendar program such as Outlook.

  
  

• Tasks: The Tasks list stores task items that are assigned to site users. This list type allows users to easily view their tasks, task assignments, and overdue tasks, and is a powerful tool for managing action and progress.

• Project Tasks: The project list stores task items assigned to users and is configured to support a Gantt view of the project.

• Issue Tracking: The issue tracking list is designed to log and track support issues as they are recorded, assigned, and resolved by site users. This list type has logic included that allows for e-mail to be sent when issues are assigned. In addition, the issue tracking list provides lookups to other related issues in the list.

  Note

  The issue tracking list has an associated issue tracking workflow to facilitate seamless issue resolution. See Chapter 8 for more information about workflows.

  
  

• Survey: The survey list template creates a framework so that you can create survey questions of different types (ratings, multiple choice, or free text) and allow users to submit one or more responses. The survey functionality also allows you to create branching logic that selects the questions presented based on the answer to a specific question. The survey list template provides a graphical interface to view all submitted responses.

Custom list templates

In addition to providing you the capability for creating the custom lists you need, SharePoint provides two custom list templates to address specific purposes: the KPI list template and the languages and translators custom list template.

• KPI List Template (MOSS only): The KPI list template is designed to create a list that stores key performance indicators created from spreadsheets, Analysis Services databases, SharePoint lists, or manually entered information. This list type supports logic that allows you to set goal and warning values to determine whether each indicator is at a green, yellow, or red level.

  Cross-Ref

  See Chapter 16 for more information about KPIs.

  
  

• Languages and Translators (MOSS only): This list template supports the translation management workflow that manages the translation process. The languages and translators custom list stores the languages and translators for your translation workflow.

Library templates

Library templates provide some functionality based on the type of content that they expect to contain in the library. For example, a picture library has functionality for displaying library contents as thumbnails or as a slide show to assist with management of images because it expects to contain items with image formats. By selecting the appropriate document library template to use for your purposes when creating your libraries, you take advantage of this built-in functionality for your content. The following list describes the library templates SharePoint provides:

• Document Library: The document library template provides a document that can store any type of object that is allowed by the file include list.

• Form Library: The form library is designed to store XML-based forms such as InfoPath forms. You can upload other document types to a form library, but users that start a new form are presented with the default form that you have configured for that library. In addition, the form library can be configured to extract fields from forms that are saved to the form library, which is an effective and flexible way to extract information that can be aggregated and reported.

  Users who are filling out and saving forms to a form library are required to have a WSS-compatible XML editor such as InfoPath. Only one form template can be identified per form library.

• Wiki Page Library: The wiki page library is intended to store wiki pages. You can customize the wiki page library to add additional columns, but only wiki pages can be stored in the library.

• Picture Library: The picture library is intended to store graphics items. The picture library has built-in functionality to display items as thumbnails and to enable slide shows for all items in the library. In addition, the picture library has a picture editor selector for uploading multiple pictures so that you can link to your most commonly used picture locations and preview the items you are selecting. This library accepts non-picture file types but can display preview images only for graphic extensions that it recognizes, such as .jpg, .bmp, .tif, and .gif.

• Translation Management Library (MOSS only): A translation library supports the process of creating a document in multiple languages and managing translation tasks. A workflow is included for the translation process.

• Report Library (MOSS only): Report libraries are designed for publishing and storing reports that SQL Server Reporting Services publishes.

  Cross-Ref

  See Chapter 15 for more information on reports and the report center functionality included in SharePoint.

  
  

• Data Connection Library (MOSS only): Data connection libraries are designed to store ODC (Office Data Connection) and UDC (Universal Data Connection) files that enable definition and sharing of common data sources.

  Cross-Ref

  See Chapter 16 on Key Performance Indicators for information on creating and sharing ODC files.

  
  

• Slide Library (MOSS only): The slide library is designed to store presentation slides so that they can be sorted, managed, and reused. Each slide is available as a thumbnail and can be selected for inclusion in a new presentation directly from the slide library.

Creating a list using a template

To create a list using any of the templates previously discussed in this chapter, follow these steps:

1.	Select Create from the Site Actions menu in the top-right corner of any page on the site on which you would like to create the list.
2.	Select the list template that you would like to use.
3.	Enter the name and description (optional) for your list and select whether you would like the list displayed on the Quick Launch.
4.	Click Create.

Creating custom SharePoint lists

If none of the list templates are designed to meet your purposes, you can create custom lists that contain the columns you need. You can create these lists in the standard Web view or in Data view, or by importing a spreadsheet that has columns already defined.

Creating custom lists in a Web page

If you choose to create a custom list in a Web page, SharePoint creates a list with a title column, and you can add additional columns to suit your design. To create a custom list in standard view, follow these steps:

1.	Select Create from the Site Actions menu in the top-right corner of any page on the site on which you would like to create the custom list.
2.	Select Custom List from the Custom Lists section.
3.	Enter the name and description (optional) for your list and select whether you would like the list displayed on the Quick Launch.
4.	Click Create.

To add additional columns to your custom list, follow these steps:

1.	Open your list and select Create Column from the Settings menu in the top navigation bar.
2.	Provide a name for your column and choose the column type. Cross-Ref For details on available column types, see the “Implementing Custom Columns” section in this chapter.
3.	Select whether you want this column to require information and enter a default value if appropriate.
4.	Click OK.
5.	Repeat for any additional columns that you want to add.

Creating custom lists in Datasheet view

Creating a list in Datasheet view creates a list with the title column and configures the default view (All Items) as a datasheet view. You can then use the settings menu to add the additional columns that you need.

To create a custom list in datasheet view, follow these steps:

1.	Select Create from the Site Actions menu in the top right corner of any page on the site on which you would like to create the custom list.
2.	Select Custom List in Datasheet View from the Custom Lists section.
3.	Enter the name and description (optional) for your list and select whether you would like the list to appear on the Quick Launch.
4.	Click Create.

To add additional columns to your custom list, follow these steps:

1.	Open your list and select Create Column from the Settings menu in the top navigation bar.
2.	Provide a name for your column and choose the column type.
3.	Select whether you want this column to require information and enter a default value if appropriate.
4.	Click OK.
5.	Repeat for any additional columns that you want to add.

Importing spreadsheets to create custom lists

By importing a spreadsheet to create a custom list, you can leverage the existing column definition of the spreadsheet as well as quickly import the data. You must have Excel 2003 or later on the client machine from which you are importing the spreadsheet.

To create a custom list by importing a spreadsheet, follow these steps:

1.	Select Create from the Site Actions menu in the top right corner of any page on the site on which you would like to create the custom list.
2.	Select Import Spreadsheet from the Custom Lists section.
3.	Enter the name and description (optional) for your list and enter or browse to the location of your spreadsheet.
4.	Click Import.
5.	Select Range of Cells in the Range Type field and then click the – symbol to the right of the Select Range field, as shown in Figure 4.1. Figure 4.1. Using the Range Selector to define your spreadsheet import [View full size image]
6.	Drag the selector circle around the data that you would like to include in your spreadsheet import and click the icon with the red down arrow to the right of your named range, as shown in Figure 4.2. Figure 4.2. Selecting the cells to import [View full size image]
7.	Click Import.

After your spreadsheet has been imported, you can change the column types. For example, in our sample import, you might want the State column to be a Choice column. You can follow these steps to change the column type:

1.	Select List Settings from the Settings menu.
2.	Select the column that you want to change.
3.	Change the selection in the Type of information in this column field as shown in Figure 4.3. Changing to a Choice type of column populates the choices from the values that exist in your current data. Figure 4.3. Changing the column type for an imported list [View full size image]
4.	Click OK.

Configuring list and library settings

After you have created your list, you can modify the general list settings to configure the name, content approval, and versioning. By modifying the permissions and management settings, you configure the permissions, workflow, and information management policy settings. Finally, you can configure the RSS settings for your list or library by configuring the communications settings.

Configuring general settings

The general settings for a list allow you to configure the name, description, content approval, versioning, audience targeting, high-level permissions, and availability for search for your list. These settings help to tune the general behavior for your list, such as whether items are available for reading and editing by the owner only or by all readers (configured in Advanced Settings).

To configure the Title, Description, and Quick Launch settings for a list or library, follow these steps:

1.	Select List Settings or Document Library Settings from the Settings menu in the top navigation bar of the list that you would like to configure.
2.	Select Title, description, and navigation in the General Settings section.
3.	Edit the name, description, and Quick Launch selection as desired and click Save.

To configure the versioning settings for a list or library, follow these steps:

1.	Select List Settings or Document Library Settings from the Settings menu in the top navigation bar of the list that you would like to configure.
2.	Select Versioning settings in the General Settings section.
3.	Select whether or not items in the list require content approval in the Content Approval section. Items that have not yet been approved will appear only to the item creator and users who have the right to view draft items as configured in step 5 of this procedure.
4.	Select whether you would like to keep versions. You can keep an infinite number of versions or specify how many versions that you would like to keep and how many drafts you would like to keep for each version. This setting helps manage the size of your list or library. If your list is a document library, it can track both major and minor versions. Using major and minor versions is useful if you will be collaborating and developing many versions of the document. The minor versions represent work in progress, whereas the major versions represent milestones such as distributed version for review. SharePoint supports up to 511 minor versions for each major version, but you can tune the settings if you want to limit the number of minor versions to less that 511. The content approval feature creates draft items that are similar to minor versions for both lists and document libraries. For lists that require content approval, the versions that are submitted for approval are considered draft versions. Minor versions are also considered draft items and do not require content approval if that feature is enabled.
5.	Select which users should be allowed to see draft items in your list or library. These users will be able to see the items before they are approved, and this option is available only if you require content approval or are creating minor versions.
6.	If your list is a document library, select whether or not you would like to require check out for documents before they are edited. By enabling this option, you can ensure that multiple users are not editing the same document at the same time. If an item is checked out, other users cannot edit or upload updated versions of that document.
7.	Click OK.

The advanced settings for a list are fairly different from those of a document library. Advanced settings for a list allow you to configure whether users can see and/or edit all or only their items, which is not an option with document libraries. Advanced settings for a document library allow you to configure the template for that library as well as the behavior for opening documents and locations to which documents can be sent.

To configure the advanced settings for document library, follow these steps:

1.	Select Document Library Settings from the Settings menu in the top navigation bar of the list that you would like to configure.
2.	Select Advanced settings in the General Settings section.
3.	Select whether or not you will allow the management of content types in the Content Types section. Cross-Ref See Chapter 18 for more information about content types.
4.	Provide the URL for the document library template. This template will be used if a user selects to create a new document in the document library. If you have enabled management of content types, the content type manages the template setting.
5.	Select how you would like documents to open for items that can be opened in both a client application and Web page. Opening in a client application provides the user with the familiar application interface and menus while leaving the browser open on the team site in another window. Opening in a Web page still enables editing but can be frustrating because if a user closes the document by closing the browser, they also close the team site as well.
6.	Enter a Destination name and URL in the Custom Send To Destination section if you want to provide the capability for users to send copies of documents to other locations. This feature is typically used in records management scenarios. Cross-Ref See Chapter 12 for more information about records management and configuring send to locations.
7.	Select whether you will allow folders for your list. Folders provide excellent ways to organize items in sub-categories for your list and are commonly used in document libraries. However, items can only be in one folder or another, so folders cannot be used to assign multiple attributes to an item; using metadata is a better option for multiple attributes.
8.	Select whether you will allow list contents to appear in search results.
9.	Click OK.

To configure the advanced settings for a list, follow these steps:

1.	Select List Settings from the Settings menu in the top navigation bar of the list that you would like to configure.
2.	Select Advanced settings in the General Settings section.
3.	Select whether you will allow the management of content types in the Content Types section.
4.	Configure the item-level security by selecting whether users can read only their own items or all items, and whether users can edit only their own items, all items, or no items. For users to be able to edit all items, they must also be contributors to the list.
5.	Select whether you would like to enable attachments for the list. If attachments are enabled, users can attach one or more files to each list item.
6.	Select whether you will allow folders for your list. Folders provide excellent ways to organize items in sub-categories for your list and are commonly used in document libraries. However, items can only be in one folder or another, so folders cannot be used to assign multiple attributes to an item; using metadata is a better option for multiple attributes.
7.	Select whether or not you will allow list contents to appear in search results.
8.	Click OK.

To configure the audience targeting settings, follow these steps:

1.	Select List Settings or Document Library Settings from the Settings menu in the top navigation bar of the list that you would like to configure.
2.	Select Audience targeting settings in the General Settings section.
3.	Select to enable audience targeting if you want Web Parts to provide conditional display of your list data based on the audience membership of the user. The audience configuration settings are on the Web Part itself.
4.	Click OK.

Managing lists and configuring list permissions

The Permissions and Management configuration options for lists and libraries allow you to tune the permissions for your list as well as configure some advanced functionality, such as workflow and information rights management. In addition, you can save your list or library as a template or delete your list or library.

To delete a list or library, follow these steps:

1.	Select List Settings or Document Library Settings from the Settings menu in the top navigation bar of the list that you want to configure.
2.	Select Delete this list (or Delete this document library) in the Permissions and Management section.
3.	Confirm that you want to send the list to the Recycle Bin.

To save a list or library as a template, follow these steps:

1.	Select List Settings or Document Library Settings from the Settings menu in the top navigation bar of the list that you want to configure.
2.	Select Save list as template (or Save document library as a template if you have a document library) in the Permissions and Management section.
3.	Enter the File name, Template name, and Template description and whether you want to include the list content or not. The template name is the name that will appear on the Create page. The filename and template description appear in the list template gallery. If you choose to include content, a list created from the list template will include your list items.
4.	Click OK.

To configure permissions for a list or library, follow these steps:

1.	Select List Settings or Document Library Settings from the Settings menu in the top navigation bar of the list that you want to configure.
2.	Select Permissions for this list (or Permissions for this document library) in the Permissions and Management section.
3.	From the Actions menu, select whether you want to manage the permissions of the parent or edit permissions. When a list is created initially, the list inherits permissions from the site in which it is located. If you want to modify the permissions for the list, you can copy the permissions from the parent and discontinue the inheritance. You can then modify the list permissions separately from the site. If you choose to discontinue the inheritance of permissions, you still have the option to inherit from the parent site if you want to revert to that model.

Files that are checked out in a document library that do not have a checked-in version can block productivity of that file, especially if the document owner is not available to check the document back in. The management settings for document libraries allow you to take control of these documents so that they can be checked in and used. To manage checked-out files for a document library, follow these steps:

1.	Select Document Library Settings from the Settings menu in the top navigation bar of the list that you want to configure.
2.	Select Manage checked out files in the Permissions and Management section.
3.	Select the document that you want to manage and select Take Ownership of Selection from the top navigation bar.

To configure workflow settings for a list or library, follow these steps:

1.	Select List Settings or Document Library Settings from the Settings menu in the top navigation bar of the list that you want to configure.
2.	Select Workflow settings in the Permissions and Management section.
3.	Select the workflow template that you want to use for your list. The description to the right of the Select a workflow template field provides details of the intended use of the workflow.
4.	Type a name for the workflow in the Type a unique name for this workflow field.
5.	Select an existing or create a new task list for storing the workflow items in the Task List section.
6.	Select an existing (if already created) or create a new history list for the workflow.
7.	Select whether you want the workflow to be initiated when an item is created or edited, or manually launched by a user. If you have turned on versioning, you can also initiate the workflow when a major version is published.
8.	Click Next to fill in workflow-specific information if appropriate for your workflow (this is necessary for the out-of-the-box Approval or Collect Feedback workflows) or OK to finish.

Information management policies allow you to set policies for your list. These policies are used to enforce organizational requirements such as who can access the information, how long list items are retained and to audit the adherence to the policy. Information rights management policies apply even after documents have been downloaded and protect that information. Information management policies can also be applied to content types.

You can select to either apply a site collection information management policy or a create a new information policy to apply to your list. To configure information management policies for a list, follow these steps:

1.	Select List Settings or Document Library Settings from the Settings menu in the top navigation bar of the list that you would like to configure.
2.	Select Information management policy settings in the Permissions and Management section.
3.	Select a site collection policy or the option to define a policy.
4.	Click OK.

Configuring communication settings for a list

SharePoint provides the capability for users to subscribe to a Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed for a list and displays RSS items in a Web page format. This allows users to consume new list items in any RSS reader or to view them in an RSS Web Part on a SharePoint Web Part page.

To configure RSS for a list or library, follow these steps:

1.	Select List Settings or Document Library Settings from the Settings menu in the top navigation bar of the list that you would like to configure.
2.	Select RSS settings in the Communications section.
3.	Select whether you would like to enable RSS for the list or not in the List RSS section.
4.	Provide the Title for the RSS feed, Description of the RSS feed, and the URL to the image for the RSS feed in the RSS Channel Information. Additionally, configure whether or not the RSS feed should truncate multi-line text fields to 256 characters or not. If you are configuring the RSS settings for a document library, configure the Document Options section to select whether to include file enclosures for items in the feed or to link RSS items directly to their files.
5.	Select what fields you would like to include in the RSS feed in the Columns section. If you include fields that are marked with an asterisk, they will be matched to standard RSS tags such as Modified to Publish Date and Modified By to Author.
6.	Configure the maximum items to include and the maximum days to include in an RSS feed in the Item Limit section.
7.	Click OK.

To view the RSS feed for your list or library, follow these steps:

1.	Select View RSS Feed from the Actions menu in the top navigation bar of the list that you would like to view.
2.	In the RSS feed view you can subscribe to the feed by clicking on the link as shown in Figure 4.4, or you can use the URL that is generated to configure a RSS Web Part. Figure 4.4. Viewing an RSS feed for your list [View full size image]

Organizing content using folders

For any list or library, you can create folders in which to organize your items if the folder option is enabled in the advanced settings for your list or library. This feature is most commonly used in document libraries to provide organization for large number of documents. Folders are URL addressable so that you can provide a link to a specific folder in your list or library.

Items can only be stored in one folder, so creating a folder structure that takes that into account is important. However, you can create views that show items across all folders which provides some flexibility for providing additional ways to find items in addition to the folder structure. See the “Creating Views” section in this chapter for more information about views.

To create a folder in your list or library, select New Folder from the New menu in the top navigation bar of the list or library that you would like to create your folder. If you have created your folder in a document library, you can then view your library in Explorer view by selecting Open with Windows Explorer from the Actions menu.

Once the library is open in Explorer view, you can drag and drop or copy and paste documents into the folder. Alternatively, you can upload documents to your folder by using a Web browser by navigating to the folder and then selecting Upload from the top navigation bar while in that folder. The breadcrumb of your site will show that you are in the folder as shown in Figure 4.5.