Thursday, August 23, 2018

Welcome to SharePoint Server 2019, a modern platform for choice and flexibility

“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.”
  • Benjamin Franklin

This morning at SharePoint Conference North America we broadly announced our vision, strategy, timeline, and investment areas for SharePoint Server 2019.

Welcome to SharePoint Server 2019. Reimagined to focus on you, SharePoint Server 2019 has a new, modern design that works perfectly across screens—whether you’re working with tablets and phones, laptops, or desktops – it’s beautiful and fast, familiar, and yet intuitive. SharePoint Server 2019 gives you instant access to the people, content, and apps you work with the most. You’ll spend less time searching for information and more time working with it.

SharePoint Server 2019 helps ensure that you have access to the information they need, regardless of the screen you choose to access it on.

User experience improvements

SharePoint Server 2019 delivers innovations in user experience from SharePoint Online, with improvements to document libraries and navigation constructs that are consistent with Office 365.
These updates have proven successful in driving adoption in Office 365, and will now benefit SharePoint Server.   Using the cloud as a baseline, we’re bringing the most compelling communications and collaborative experiences to customers of SharePoint 2019.  These investments include the introduction of Communications Sites, Team News, and modern Team Sites to include Lists and Libraries and in support of broader data mobility the Next Generation Sync Client (NGSC) support for reliable access to your documents – anywhere, anytime.

2019Hero.pngCaption: Screenshot of a SharePoint Server 2019 Team Site on a PC and mobile device side-by-side.

Platform enhancements

As with SharePoint Server 2016, for SharePoint Server 2019 we continue to derive our on-premises server from our platform investments in SharePoint Online with new native support for hybrid scenarios that can be configured during your deployment.

Business process improvements

We know that customers worldwide use SharePoint to support collaboration, search, business process automation, and custom business applications; and we know that many customers rely on SharePoint Server for mission-critical workloads. We know it’s not always easy to move your business, your workloads, to the cloud so we’re investing in supporting the use of process automation and forms technologies such as Microsoft PowerApps and Flow to connect with your on-premises data with 2019.

Key Features

  • Modern Sites, Pages, Lists, and Libraries
  • Team News
  • SharePoint Home
  • Communication Sites
  • OneDrive Sync Client
  • Improved hybrid support and scenarios
  • New developer options
  • Improved support for the business process with PowerApps and Flow
SharePoint Server 2019 has been optimized for the way you work, with a familiar, consistent view of information, collaboration, and process. At the same time, IT will benefit from a comprehensive, easily managed and integrated platform that meets the needs of the business today and tomorrow.

Software innovation, like almost every other kind of innovation, requires the ability to collaborate and share ideas with other people, and to sit down and talk with customers and get their feedback and understand their needs.
– Bill Gates

SharePoint Server 2019 has been developed applying these principles – listening to our customers’ feedback and understanding their needs…  Later this Summer we’ll invite you to experience SharePoint Server 2019 as part of our Preview release – look for details soon!

Timeline
SharePoint Server 2019 will be generally available to customers in H2 CY18.  SharePoint Server 2019 Preview will be available to customers in Summer 2018.

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Customize a SharePoint List Form with a Web Part

Customize a list form by adding a web part


The forms are contained in web part pages, and you cannot customize the existing web parts at all. What you can do is add another web part, and Peter recommends the Content Editor web part. You can embed code and add tables, links, pictures, videos or another web part to the Content Editor web part. 

  • Click on the button Form Web Parts under the LIST tab in the ribbon.
  • Select one of the options, depending on which form you wish to customize.
  • Click on Add a Web Part.
  • Add the Content Editor web part in the Media & Content category.
  • Click on "Click here to add content" and add the content you wish to add from the options under the ribbon tabs.
  • Edit the web part and set the Chrome Type to None to avoid having the Content Editor caption on the web part.
  • Click on the Stop Editing button.
  • Customize list forms

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Modern SharePoint Web Parts – Part 1

Microsoft released the “Modern” page experience for team sites in SharePoint Online in the Fall of 2016. This included the ability to add web parts directly within the page user interface, but there weren’t very many Modern Web Parts available at that point. 

There are 22 web parts available to add to a modern SharePoint page. You can see an overview of the Modern Web Parts on this Microsoft page, which includes links for further information on each web part.

Bing Maps Web Part

The Bing Maps Web Part allows you to display a map of any address or point of interest you enter. By default when it’s added to a page, it displays the “road” view of your current location, but then you can type in the location you wish the map to display to users, and you can switch to Aerial (satellite) view or Streetside view (which is not available for all locations).

Bing Maps Web Part

Embed Web Part

When you select the Embed Web Part, the editing panel immediately appears, allowing you to paste a website address or embed code. For example, you could embed a YouTube video on your page, allowing users to play the video directly from there. Note that this is different from the Link Web Part, which will only display a preview of a video and require the user to actually follow the link to play it.

Embed Web Part

File Viewer Web Part

This is the new version of what had been called the Document Web Part. According to announcements at Ignite, this web part will allow previews of 270 types of files, so it’s no longer just for documents. However, as of this writing (just after Ignite), while the web part’s name has been changed, it currently still only displays an Office document (i.e. Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
Document sources

Hero Web Part

This web part was added with the rollout of Communication sites in the summer of 2017. It’s a visually attractive web part which allows you to add visual links to pages, images, or documents in various layouts. Microsoft has quite a detailed page about this web part, as it’s a big part of a Communication site.
Hero Web Part - tile layout options
After adding a link by clicking Select Link in one of the Hero content areas, an image from the link will be displayed automatically; for example, this might be an image from a document you’ve linked to. When you hover over the tile or layer, you’ll now see a small edit icon in the lower right, which you can use to edit the link text, the image, and some other options – the sections are described below. In the lower left is a Move icon, to move the tiles/layers around within the Hero Web Part.

Image Web Part

Image sourcesThis web part allows you to choose an image from recently uploaded images or from the current SharePoint site, from a link to OneDrive or another SharePoint site, or to upload an image from your computer.


Image Gallery Web Part

Image Gallery editThis web part gives you a way to display a collection of images rather than a single image. You can add a title for the collection at the top of the web part. Editing the web part allows you to select the layout (Tiles or Carousel), and if you’re using the Tiles layout you can also select the aspect ratio (1:1 square – the default, 16:9 wide, or 4:3 standard).
To add images, you can either browse to select them from SharePoint or from your computer as you can with other web parts, or you can drag images directly onto the web part while the page is in Edit mode. After an image is uploaded, click the Edit icon to edit its properties: Title, Caption, and Alternative Text. The Title and Caption will be visible to the user when they view the full-size image by clicking on it from the Tiles layout, and the Title (only) will appear below the image when you use the Carousel layout. You can rearrange the images by dragging them within the web part when you’re in the Tiles layout.

Link Web Part

This web part allows you to enter a single link to a URL, and displays a preview of the page, video, or image. You can choose to remove the display of either the URL or the preview by clicking the x next to it. There are no options available via the Edit icon.

Link Web Part

Office 365 Video Web Part

Here, you can select one video to display from your O365 Video portal. Note, however, that Office 365 Video is being replaced by Microsoft Stream, which has its own Modern web part
[described in the Dynamic Web Parts section of this article], so I won’t go into detail on the O365 
Video Web Part.


In Part 2 of this article, we’ll explore Modern Web Parts which display varying content, depending 
upon the criteria set in the web part.

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

SharePoint mobile app—your intranet in your pocket

The intranet is the nerve center of many organizations. It provides content-centric collaborative spaces that give teams the resources they need to work together. It lets users consume and contribute news and information within their teams and across the organization. It manages knowledge and connects users to content through navigation and search. It hosts applications that support and automate business processes.
SharePoint is now making your intranet more accessible on the go, more intelligent, and more personalized, based on your activities across sites, the people you work with, the content you work on and the business processes you drive.
We’re thrilled to announce the SharePoint mobile app, designed for Windows, iOS and Android, to put your intranet in your pocket, with full-fidelity access to company news and announcements, people, sites, content and apps—no matter where you are. And the app will incorporate your on-premises SharePoint sites, as well.
The new SharePoint mobile app helps you keep your work moving forward by providing quick access to your team sites, organization portals and resources, and even a view into what the people you work with are working on. And this new app is infused with the intelligence of the Microsoft Graph, which applies machine learning to activity in Office 365 to connect you to the relevant documents and people around you. The SharePoint mobile app works with SharePoint Online in Office 365, SharePoint Server (2013 and 2016) on-premises and your hybrid environment. Once you launch the app on your iPhone, you’ll be prompted to sign in with your SharePoint credentials. The SharePoint mobile app lets you easily switch between accounts.
The Sites tab takes you to a list of the sites you visit frequently and sites you’re following. Click on a site to see recent activity, recent files and the site’s assets (documents, lists, subsites, pages and more). You can also share the site. When you click to a team site, you immediately see how the SharePoint mobile app natively renders the site elements quickly and beautifully.
The SharePoint mobile app also links to other Office apps. For example, when you click an Office document in the Recent files pivot, it will take you directly into the corresponding Office mobile app. Similarly, when you access a SharePoint document library within a team site, you will be taken into the OneDrive mobile app for iOS to view, share, discover and manage files stored across Office 365. Learn more how the two apps work together.

The People tab
 gives you visibility into what the people you work with are working on. Find and browse colleagues in your network. Tap on an individual to see their contact card and discover what they are working on and who they are working with based on intelligence powered by Office 365.
The Links tab takes you to sites and portals programmed for everyone in your company to see. These are curated by your SharePoint admin(s) from the SharePoint home in Office 365. And if you have invested in responsive, mobile-designed portals, they will shine through in the app. Microsoft, too, is investing in responsive design as a top priority to ensure all new experiences (like the SharePoint home in Office 365, Microsoft Delve and Office 365 Video) are mobile and responsive by default.

SearchThe SharePoint mobile app provides search throughout with clean results—filtered by sites, files and people. When you perform a search in the SharePoint mobile app, you are connecting through full enterprise search, so you can find content and people from across your intranet, SharePoint team sites, company portals and the OneDrive for Business folders you have access to, including content recommendations powered by the Microsoft Graph.

What’s next

The SharePoint mobile app for iOS is just a first step on the SharePoint mobile journey, and we are excited to continue to build on what we’ve started. We’ll continue delivering enhancements to the app, such as support of cross-company news and announcements, coming later this year. We are also working on Android and Windows Universal versions, which we expect to release before the end of this year.

Monday, December 11, 2017

Outlook not responding, stuck at "Processing," stopped working, freezes, or hangs

Start Outlook in safe mode to fix "Processing" screen

If Outlook stops responding at a screen that says "Processing," you can close Outlook, start it in safe mode, then close it and open it normally to fix the problem.

- Close Outlook.

- Launch Outlook in safe mode by choosing one of the following options.

- In Windows 10, choose Start, type Outlook.exe /safe, and press Enter.

- In Windows 7, choose Start, and in the Search programs and files box, type Outlook /safe, and then press Enter.

- In Windows 8, on the Apps menu, choose Run, type Outlook /safe, and then choose OK.

- Close Outlook, and then open it normally.


Friday, November 10, 2017

What’s New in SharePoint 2016

As an IT consultant, the last thing you need on your mind is training customers to use a complicated program. There’s no point going through all that when you can just bank on Office 365.
The Office 365 subscription plan makes things much simpler, saving you time and energy that you can then invest in other aspects of your business—a huge win for productivity!
SharePoint streamlines access to data and the storage, sharing, and management of documents through the use of a centralized, password-protected space.
Microsoft released SharePoint 2016 to enhance the hybrid infrastructure (merging SharePoint On-Premises sites with SharePoint Online) and to take advantage of recent innovations in cloud technology.
 
Are you managing multiple Office 365 tenants? If yes, read our guide, 15 Tricks to Succeed in Managing Multiple Office 365 Tenants to help you save time. Click here to learn how.

What’s New in SharePoint 2016

1) Hybrid

Microsoft has worked hard to bridge the gap between SharePoint Online and SharePoint On-Premises. Some businesses trust the cloud, while others, for privacy concerns, would rather keep their data on-premises, since they can’t always trust servers to host all their sensitive information.
SharePoint 2016 offers a hybrid feature that allows for the storage of data both on the cloud and on premises. The hybrid installations are now simplified and automated.
Hybrid

2) Hybrid Search

This is possibly the biggest new addition to SharePoint 2016.
The hybrid search offers a unified search experience that runs across SharePoint Online and SharePoint On-Premises for your end users.
Previously, the hybrid setup showed different result lists for SharePoint On-Premises and SharePoint Online on one page, but the results were never organized. Now, you can index all your data and specify what kind of content you would like to search for.
Hybrid Search

3) Media Preview

SharePoint 2016 also allows you to preview videos and images while hovering over them with your mouse, so you no longer have to click on content to view it.

4) Large Files

Older versions of SharePoint do not support large files; any file larger than 2047 MB will not be uploaded. With the release of SharePoint 2016, the permitted file size has been increased to 10 GB.
However, it’s generally best to avoid storing very large files in SharePoint, as you may get disconnected while uploading them.

5) Complete Privacy

Hacking is a big issue nowadays for companies with sensitive information. With this in mind, Microsoft decided to focus on improving its encryption connections in SharePoint 2016.
SharePoint now supports Transport Layer Security (TLS 1.2), which ensures a greater degree of privacy and data encryption between two communicating apps.

6) Mobile Experience

Accessing SharePoint on a mobile device used to be a nightmare for many due to its lack of responsive design. Fortunately, SharePoint 2016 comes with a user-friendly mobile version featuring excellent design and navigation. Now, you can access SharePoint from anywhere and speak with your team remotely to get work done more easily.

7) Server Roles

The release of SharePoint 2016 came with server role configuration, a feature that allows a SharePoint administrator to assign the role of their choice to a specific SharePoint 2016 server. This enables only the functionalities that you need and ensures that all servers belonging to each role are cooperative. You can also convert servers to serve new roles if needed.
Server Roles
Server Farm

8) Faster Site Creation

SharePoint 2013 used to take over 40 seconds to create a site. With PowerShell configurations, you can now use templates to create site collections within a few seconds, generally improving site performance.

9) Compliance Centre

This feature is essential for controlling the flow of data exposed to the cloud. SharePoint allows you to create your own policies and apply them as needed to your environment.
For example, it offers a feature similar to a retention policy; after a certain number of years, you can delete information from OneDrive for Business sites.
Compliance Centre

10) App Launcher and Sites in One Place

SharePoint 2016 allows you to view both On-Premises and Office 365 in one location via the App Launcher under the “Sites” app.
The App Launcher provides easy access to Office 365 apps such as Delve, OneDrive, OneNote, and more.
App Launcher

11) Durable Links

Lastly, the links you distribute will remain intact even after a document moves to another location or is renamed.
You can achieve this by using a Resource-ID-based link for documents hosted in SharePoint. You no longer have to search files by name and can just use the resource ID containing the document stored in the database.
Durable Links

These are just a few of the great features Microsoft introduced in SharePoint 2016. Do you have any others you’d like to add? Let us know in the comments.

Saturday, October 28, 2017

Different Ways To Add Item In SharePoint 2013 List

Out-of-box- Add an item to a list:

  1. Navigate to the site containing the list for which you want to add an item.
  2. Select Settings > Site contents and then in the appropriate list section, select the name of the list.
  3. Select the Items tab, and then in the New group select New Item.
  4. Select Save.
Using C#(server object model): Add Item programmatically to SharePoint List using C#.
  1. //Step to Add new list item programmatically to SharePoint List using C#  
  2. using(SPSite site = new SPSite(SPContext.Current.Site.Url))  
  3. {  
  4.     Using(SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb())  
  5.     {  
  6.         SPList list = web.Lists["DemoList"];  
  7.         SPListItem item = list.Items.Add();  
  8.         item["Title"] = "using C# :Add new list item programmatically";  
  9.         item.Update();  
  10.     }  
  11. }  
Using C#(Client object model): Add Item Programmatically to SharePoint List using CSOM.
  1. using System;  
  2. using System.Collections.Generic;  
  3. using System.Linq;  
  4. using System.Text;  
  5. using Microsoft.SharePoint;  
  6. using Microsoft.SharePoint.Client;  
  7. namespace CreateListItem  
  8. {  
  9.     class Program  
  10.     {  
  11.         static void Main(string[] args)  
  12.         {  
  13.             string siteUrl = "http://servername:2525/";  
  14.             ClientContext clientContext = new ClientContext(siteUrl);  
  15.             List oList = clientContext.Web.Lists.GetByTitle("DemoList");  
  16.             ListItemCreationInformation listCreationInformation = new ListItemCreationInformation();  
  17.             ListItem oListItem = oList.AddItem(listCreationInformation);  
  18.             oListItem["Title"] = "Add item in SharePoint List using CSOM";  
  19.             oListItem.Update();  
  20.             clientContext.ExecuteQuery();  
  21.         }  
  22.     }  
  23. }  
SharePoint Web Services (jQuery): Add a new item list. The jQuery Ajax function is used to POST the data to the Lists.asmx web service.
  1.   
SharePoint REST API: SharePoint REST API and JQuery to Create SharePoint list item.

Reference to latest jquery.min.js.

  1.   
SharePoint PowerShell: Adding list items using PowerShell SharePoint.
  1. #Add SharePoint PowerShell Snapin which adds SharePoint specific cmdlets  
  2. Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell -EA SilentlyContinue  
  3.  
  4. #Variables that we are going to use for list editing  
  5. $webURL = "http://yoursiteName"  
  6. $listName = "Demo List"  
  7.  
  8. #Get the SPWeb object and save it to a variable  
  9. $web = Get-SPWeb $webURL  
  10.  
  11. #Get the SPList object to retrieve the "Demo List"  
  12. $list = $web.Lists[$listName]  
  13. #Create a new item  
  14. $newItem = $list.Items.Add()  
  15.  
  16. #Add properties to this list item  
  17. $newItem["Title"] = "Add item in sharepoint List Using SharePoint PowerShell"  
  18.  
  19. #Update the object so it gets saved to the list  
  20. $newItem.Update()  
Final result shows all the Added Items:

Demolist

Welcome to SharePoint Server 2019, a modern platform for choice and flexibility

“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” Benjamin Franklin Thi...