I have had many, many clients ask if there is a way to hide the All Site Content on the quick launch bar in SharePoint. And, the answer is of course, yes. The caveat is …. is there an easy way. And, which method you deploy will also dictate where it is hidden, meaning some methods have to be implemented on a page by page basis. That can be a lot of work, and can require constant modification on new pages. There are a variety of options. So, I composed a few resources on all the options for hiding the All Site Content. Good luck, whichever choice you make.

On Anonymous Access pages

http://www.apps4rent.com/support/kb/article/remove-view-all-site-content-sharepoint

Permission Based Hiding

http://thechriskent.com/2012/09/07/hide-all-site-content-link-based-on-permission/

To a Publishing Site Template

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/upload-an-alternate-style-sheet-in-sharepoint-2010.html

Styles

http://erikswenson.blogspot.in/2011/03/sharepoint-2010-basics-on-how-to-apply.html

1 Way to Deploy as a Feature

http://www.myfriedmind.com/2012/07/sharepoint-2010-adding-a-css-stylesheet-automatically-to-pages/

SharePoint 2010 CSS Reset (just in case)

http://kyleschaeffer.com/sharepoint/css-reset/

Creating a Solution

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vssharepointtoolsblog/archive/2009/11/23/how-to-deploy-a-style-sheet-into-content-library-using-visual-studio-2010-beta-2.aspx

Another Way to Deploying as a Feature

http://tommdaly.wordpress.com/2011/10/22/deploying-master-pages-themes-via-a-feature-using-visual-studio-2010/

And Yet Another Way to Deploying as a Site Feature

http://sharepointerz.blogspot.com/2012/02/deploy-master-page-programmatically.html

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sharepointdevelopmentprevious/thread/c0c501a8-39c8-4b8a-81ed-376a25131e97

http://fitandfinish.ironworks.com/2010/01/the-best-way-to-add-custom-css-to-sharepoint.html

http://fitandfinish.ironworks.com/2010/01/the-best-way-to-add-custom-javascript-and-jquery-to-sharepoint.html

.s4-specialNavLinkList
{
display:none;
}

Wikis are a terrific feature of SharePoint. There are tons of articles on wikis and how wikis work, so this post is not about the functionality of wikis, but rather one of the shortcomings I discovered and needed to solve. For some reason, a wiki library in SharePoint 2010 does not have Upload Document capability. Recognizing that it is easy to create wiki pages in SharePoint, but what about those wiki pages I already created in my SharePoint 2007 environment that I just want to move to our new SharePoint 2010 environment. It should not be this difficult to simply upload a couple of file.

Every library comes with a few forms that provide the functionality of the library. For example, the upload form is called Upload.aspx and is located in the /Forms/ folder of the library. By simply calling the www.websitename.com/libraryname/Upload.aspx I could access the upload form. However, I uploaded the file and was directed to the properties page (since I had custom metadata in my library), when I would click Save, it would then take me directly to the document view in the browser instead of the library default view. Not a good end user experience. So you can use the upload multiple option to solve this problem, but the upload multiple page has to pass the unique list id (which is 32 characters). In order to find this url you have to change the dialogs setting of the library.

To change the settings, go to the library settings for the library. When you are in library settings, notice the URL. Here is where you will find the List ID. You will need this later, so it is a good idea to copy this value. List=%7B9B3B55A7%2D278E%2D4318%2D85A0%2DED817726E703%7D

Click Advanced Settings. In the Dialogs section, set the Launch forms in a dialog to No.

Once this is disabled, you can simply call the Upload.aspx page, and past in the ListID as well as the MultipleUpload=1 parameter. Your URL should look something like this:

_layouts/Upload.aspx?List=%7B28729948%2D3AAA%2D45B0%2DB4C0%2DCBC38440EC8B%7D&RootFolder=%2FMyWikiLib&Source=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2EMySite%2Ecom%2FMyWikiLib%2FForms%2FDefault%5FView%2Easpx&MultipleUpload=1

The next step was to get that into the library so the user has easy access to upload. To do that I simply edited a Content Editor Web Part to the top of the page. In the Web part I added a link to the Upload Multiple Files url. I called the Web part Administrative Tasks, and in this case set the Audience Target to only a select group of users.

SharePoint can be extremely challenging to support, and mainly because there are so many thing that interact with SharePoint. When troubleshooting, you really have to narrow down the cause of the issue as SharePoint or some other application. In this case, a client was needing to move their SQL Server databases from the C: drive to the D: drive as their C: drive was running out of space. This task has little to do with SharePoint, oh, except that virtually everything SharePoint does is stored in SQL Server.

So in this case, the client turned their physical SQL Server into a virtual machine. We reconfigured all the settings so SharePoint would not know the difference and we received the dreaded message . . .

Immediately everyone started thinking it was SharePoint. We had not made any changes to the SQL Server. But as it turns out, somewhere between that computer being a physical machine and a virtual machine, the SharePoint_Config database became corrupt. It happens. It just happened for us during this process. There are several things you can try, but in our case a simple SQL script to ping the database told me it was hung.

Note: you must have sysadmin rights in SQL Server to perform the following functions.

select state_desc from master.sys.databases where name = ‘SharePoint_Config’

This was an indication that at some point SQL Server was trying to repair the database, but it was unable to complete. So next I ran the following scripts.

Once this was complete, which was indicated by a success message I tried to ping the database by running my original script

select state_desc from master.sys.databases where name = ‘SharePoint_Config’

This time the message was ONLINE.

When I opened Central Administration, all was good in SharePoint again. So, this is a perfect example of how troubleshooting SharePoint isn’t always about SharePoint.

I had a client today that was experiencing odd behavior from alerts in SharePoint. The purpose of alerts is simple, send an email when something happens. This can be when a task is assigned to me, when an item is added to a list/library or when something gets updated. There are quite a few choices. While the list of choices is finite and the capability is relatively simple, sometimes they just don’t work as expected. There are several reasons for this. One example has to do with list item permissions. If a particular list is set to allow users to see only their own items, while the ability to subscribe to any changes can be setup, the user would not receive an alert unless the item modified was created by them.

I found a great Web site today that had some great information on it, and while I understand how crazy people get about copying their content, since this site has not been updated in 2 years I’m going to assume it is not heavily used and therefore may go away in the future. That being said, this is the Web site http://www.sharepointalert.info

One of the features I liked best about the site (SharePointAlert.info) is that is had a list of 3rd party tools you can download (for free from CodePlex) or purchase. So, I am referring to the site SharePointAlert.info but am making sure that if that site happens to go away I still have reference to some of the great information. Thanks SharePointAlert.info!

Pentalogic Reminder – Commercial End User, Alert Service/Web part

Bamboo Alert Plus – Commercial End User, Alert Service/Web part

Bamboo Alert Administrator – Commercial Alert Administration Tool

Bamboo My Alerts Organizer – Commercial End User Alerts Administration Tool

SharePointBoost Alert Reminder Boost – Commercial End User Tool

Virto Alerts Customizer – Commercial End User Tool

SharePoint Solutions Alert Manager Plus – Commercial Alert Administration Tool

CodePlex

Advanced Alert for SharePoint

SharePoint Alert Manager – Free

Version history seems to be a popular topic in my circle of clients these days. While the concept of version history is nothing new, and definitely not new to SharePoint, some of the behaviors and requirements the my clients have requested have pushed SharePoint to it’s out-of-the-box limits.

First let’s talk a little about version history from a SharePoint perspective. A list or library has the ability to store multiple versions of an item. There are two types of versions it can keep track of; major and minor. Minor versions are created when an item requires approval or publishing. During it’s modification process, and until it is approved or published, it is considered a minor version. Once you approve or publish an item it becomes a major version. If you are not utilizing the approval or publishing feature, then Major versions are the default.

It is a good idea in your Governance Policy to specify a version history limitation. When you create a library you have the ability to turn on version history at the time the library is created. I do not recommend doing this as it does not limit the number of versions. It is better to access the List/Library Settings and specify the number of versions you want to keep in each list and library separately.

So why is it important to limit versions? Size. Every version maintains information in the database and will increase the size of the database accordingly. As your SharePoint environment continues to grow (and trust me, it will continue to grow) the size of the database is always a concern.

Another thing to note. If you are keeping 3 versions of a document or item, it will actually show 4 items in the list as it looks at version history as “previous” versions and your current version as the “current” version. So whenever you set the version “history” of a document or item the version history window will always display one current version as well.

Finally, when a version does drop off due to reaching the limit of the version history, that version does not go in the recycle bin. It is deleted permanently. I would like to emphasize there is no getting it back, however, being a SharePoint geek I know that while I may be able to get it back, to do so may be at a higher price than I am willing to pay. For example, I may have to restore the entire database back from yesterday, hence loosing all the work everyone did in SharePoint today. Probably not worth the cost, so let’s just assume that it is indeed permanently deleted.

Since I live, eat, sleep, and manage my entire life in SharePoint, sometimes it is difficult to take a step back and see all the amazing features of SharePoint in order of importance. It is all important to me, but it turns out that a recent poll taken on LinkedIn generated a decent discussion on the most used features. Keeping in mind, most people who responded are using SharePoint for their corporate intranet. I wrote a blog some time back on Design Ideas for your Intranet, which is a great list to start your development, but if you don’t know what is most important to users you really cannot have a successful site. The results did not surprise me, but it is evident that social media is making its way into the corporate world more and more every day.

• Status Updates (Microblogging, Project Management)
• File Sharing (Collaboration)
• Employee Forum (Discussion Board)
• Search
• Calendar Sharing

In addition, The WorldWide Intranet Challenge discussed the types of content that users find most useful

• Corporate Directory
• HR Policies, Corporate Policies
• How To (Performing specific business tasks)
• Forms
• Templates
• Reports
• Records

Some things to think about as you are tackling your intranet design.

When starting a SharePoint project there are many little details, as with any project, that you need to keep track of. Microsoft has provided a sample project plan to help get you started. I have updated it (somewhat) for the 2010 version of SharePoint. In general it shows an estimated work effort of 150+ weeks or 6,000+ hours (obviously not consecutive).

SharePoint_Project_Plan_2010

Today could have been one of those days that started off on the wrong foot and continued to go down hill. You know, where you come home at the end of the day and think I should have stayed in bed. My day started off with a great breakfast at Starbucks, great conversation with my girlfriend, and a great work day ahead. I arrived at my client site, tummy full, hot tea in hand, and my purse. Wait, where’s my purse?! Where is my purse? Hmmm, in that instant I realized I had left my purse at Starbucks. No big deal, dropped off my girlfriend and headed back to Starbucks. I was enjoying the beautiful weather, realizing how far the Starbucks was, noticing all the buildings, homes, stores, and how far is this Starbucks. I wasn’t really worried about my purse being there, I knew it would be. I parked, left the car running, walked into Starbucks, looked at my chair – no purse. Went to the front counter and asked if they had a purse turned in, and Pam (the Starbucks Barista) said yes. Took my purse and went back to the client site. It was then I realized that in my purse was my MiFi card and my iPad, both of which were still in my purse. I would say that my faith in humanity was restored, but I already had faith someone would turn it in. So I guess my faith in people was simply solidified. It is a good day. For all of you who would have turned in my purse, I thank you.

Over the last few months I have had the desire, maybe even the NEED, to detach from people, technology, email, everything. And while it is possible to take my ATV’s out to the Tahoe mountains and spend a day connecting with nature, by the time I get back home I have dozens of emails and voice mails that are taunting me, clamoring for my attention. So I wondered . . . is it possible in this society to actually be unplugged for an extended period of time. I can tell you from my brief experience, while the overall answer may be yes, there is some planning that needs to take place.

The first thing is to determine your timeframe. For example, the week between Christmas and New Years seems to be a world wide time to check out. It seems to be more socially acceptable to not responding to email for a few days as people just assume you are out of the office. So far, I seem to be successful with this technology break only if I leave the country. My goal in 2012 is to see how well I can find this balance, staying in the US, riding AVT’s and connecting to technology when necessary. Owning an iPad makes this last goal even that much more challenging.

In my quest for being unplugged I have come across a few articles that I thought I would share as some ideas on how to find the balance.

The Case for a 4 day work week – Inc Magazine
How to Implement a 4 day work week – Inc Magazine
Successful people who wake up early – Business Insider Magazine
Limiting Email after hours – CNET
Pulling the Plug – Inc Magazine

Personally I am going to start by making a portion of each day technology free. For a techie, this is not an easy task so I will update you on my progress. Today is day 1. I will not check my phone, email, or surf the web during my lunch hour. I will not play on my iPad and will not visit the Apple store. Wish me luck!

The finalists for each of the European SharePoint Community Award categories have been announced! The program team had a very hard task to narrow it down to the top three in each category. But after long deliberations and discussions the program team have made their selections for the award finals. Check out the finalists or vote for your favorite.