TUTORIAL FOR WORKING WITH SHARE POINT

Create a site

Follow the steps in the sections below to create a site.

Create a site under the current Web site

Create a top-level Web site by using Self-Service Site Creation

Create a top-level Web site from SharePoint Central Administration

Create a site from the command line

			stsadm.exe -o createsite -url http://myserver/sites/site1 
 -ownerlogin <DOMAIN\user> -owneremail <someone@example.com> 
 -ownername <full name>
		

			stsadm.exe -o createweb -url http://myse

This article introduces Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and describes how you can use it to gain better control over your content, streamline your business processes, and share information with others in your organization. The availability of the features described in this article depends on how the Office SharePoint Server 2007 environment is customized in your organization. For example, whether you can create sites and subsites depends on how your organization set up its sites and the permissions to create them.

 Note   This article does not describe features that are intended for IT professionals or developers. Find links to detailed information about administering SharePoint sites and extending their functionality in the See Also section.

• Overview

• Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services

• Collaboration

• People and personalization

• Search

• Content management

• Business processes and forms

• Business intelligence

Overview

Office SharePoint Server 2007 is a new server program that is part of the 2007 Microsoft Office system. Your organization can use Office SharePoint Server 2007 to facilitate collaboration, provide content management features, implement business processes, and supply access to information that is essential to organizational goals and processes.

You can quickly create SharePoint sites that support specific content publishing, content management, records management, or business intelligence needs. You can also conduct effective searches for people, documents, and data, participate in forms-driven business processes, and access and analyze large amounts of business data.

In addition, Office SharePoint Server 2007 is designed to work effectively with other programs, servers, and technologies in the 2007 Office release. For example, in many 2007 Office release programs, you can initiate or participate in workflows, which are the automated movements of documents or items through specific sequences of actions or tasks that are related to a business process, such as the approval process for an expense report.

The following list offers examples of how specific 2007 Office release programs work with Office SharePoint Server 2007:

• Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007  Create a library of PowerPoint slides that can be shared with other users on an Office SharePoint Server 2007 site.
• Microsoft Office Access 2007  Take a SharePoint list offline and use the reporting features in Office Access 2007 to view the data and create reports while travelling. Forms and reports that use the SharePoint list are fully interactive — and Office Access 2007 can later synchronize the local list with the online list when you bring your laptop back online.
• Microsoft Office Outlook 2007  Take document libraries offline. SharePoint folders are displayed just as other Outlook folders are.
• Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007  Design browser-compatible form templates, publish them to an Office SharePoint Server 2007 site, and enable them for use in a Web browser.
• Microsoft Office Excel 2007  Save worksheets on a SharePoint site so that users can access them by using a browser. You can use these worksheets to maintain and efficiently share one central, up-to-date version, while helping to protect any proprietary information, such as financial models, that is embedded in the worksheet.
• Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007  Create and customize Office SharePoint Server 2007 sites and workflows. Create your own master pages and content pages, so that your site has a consistent look and feel, or customize sites by using the latest ASP.NET technology, established Web standards such as Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML) code, and cascading style sheets.

A list is a collection of information that you share with team members. For example, you can create a sign-up sheet for an event or track team events on a calendar.

• Overview

• Ways to work with lists

• Types of lists

Overview

When you create a Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 site, several types of lists are created for you. These default lists range from a discussion board to a calendar list.

You can customize and add items to these lists, create additional lists from the list templates that are already available, and create custom lists with just the settings and columns that you choose.

You can view a list in several different ways. For example, you can provide a view on one page of all tasks and a view on another page of just the tasks that are due today. You can also use folders to organize your list items. For example, you can view just the current events from a calendar on a home page and create a visual view — similar to a wall calendar — on another page.

Do you have data in a spreadsheet that you want to use in a list on a SharePoint site? You can create a new list, including the columns and data, by importing a spreadsheet.

If you have database programs installed, such as Microsoft Office Access 2007, and your browser supports Microsoft ActiveX Controls, you can integrate your list data with database tools such as queries, joins, and reports.

Lists can also be displayed in Web Parts (Web Part: A modular unit of information that consists of a title bar, a frame, and content. Web Parts are the basic building blocks of a Web Part Page.) on pages on your site. Web Parts are the building blocks of a Web site, and you can use them to add items directly from a list to a Web Part Page. You can also open a list directly and work with it. For example, the default Announcements list appears in a Web Part on a new Team site home page, but you can also click the title of the list to open and work with it on its own page.

Ways to work with lists

The following are some ways you can work with lists to help you to manage information for your group.

• Track versions and detailed history   You can track versions of list items, so that you can see which items have changed from version to version, as well as who changed the list items. If mistakes are made in a newer version, you can restore a previous version of an item. Tracking the history of a list is especially important if your organization needs to monitor a list as it evolves.

   

• Require approval   You can specify that approval for a list item is required before it can be viewed by everyone. Items remain in a pending state until they are approved or rejected by someone who has permission to approve them. You can control which groups of users can view a list item before it is approved.
• Integrate e-mail with a list   If incoming or outgoing e-mail messages have been enabled on your site, lists can take advantage of e-mail features. Some lists, such as calendars, can be set up so that people can add content to them by sending messages. Other lists, such as a task list, can be set up to send messages to people when items are assigned to them. Your organization can customize other types of lists to receive messages.
• Customize permissions   You can specify whether participants for your list can read and edit only the items they created or all items in the list. People who have permission to manage lists can read and edit all list items. You can also apply specific permission levels to a single list item, for example, if the issue contains confidential information.
• Create and manage views   Your group can create different views of the same list. The contents of the actual list don't change, but the items are organized or filtered so that people can find the most important or interesting information, depending on their needs.
• Use formulas and calculated values   You can use formulas and calculated values to dynamically generate information in the columns of a list. The operations can include information from one or more other columns in a list as well as system functions such as [today] to indicate the current date. For example, you can specify a default due date that is seven days from the current date.
• Keep informed about changes   Lists and views in Office SharePoint Server 2007 now use RSS, so that members of your workgroup can automatically receive updates. RSS is a technology that enables people to receive and view updates or RSS feeds of news and information in a consolidated location. You can also create e-mail alerts to notify you when the lists are changed or when new items are added. Alerts are a convenient way to keep track of the changes that are important to you.
• Share list information with a database program   If you have a database program installed, such as Microsoft Office Access 2007, you can export and import data to and from your site, as well as link a table from the database to a SharePoint list. When you work with your list data in a database, you can analyze it as you analyze any data, such as by using queries, joins, and reports.
• Use lists consistently across sites  If your group works with several types of lists, you can add consistency across multiple lists with content types (content type: A reusable group of settings for a category of content. Use content types to manage the metadata, templates, and behaviors of items and documents consistently. Content types are defined at the site level and used on lists and libraries.), site columns, and templates. These features enable you to reuse the settings and list structure in an efficient way. For example, you can create a content type for a customer service issue that specifies certain columns (such as customer contact) and business processes for the content type. Another example is creating a site column for department names that has a drop-down list of departments. You can reuse the column in multiple lists to ensure that the names always appear the same way in each list.

  Find links to more information about content types, site columns, and list templates in the See Also section.

• Work on list items from an e-mail program   By using an e-mail program that is compatible with Office SharePoint Server 2007, you can take important list information with you. For example, with Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, you can view and update tasks, contacts, and discussion boards on your site from Outlook.
• Set content targeting   Items in a Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 list can be published to appear only to people who are members of a particular group or audience. This is accomplished by using Web Parts, such as the Content Query Web Part, that uses audience-targeting data to filter the list contents based on the user's context. Before the items in a list can be enabled for a particular audience, the list itself must be set up with the Audience Targeting column.

Types of lists

The type of list that you use depends on the kind of information that you are sharing.

Announcements   Use an announcements list to share news and status and to provide reminders. Announcements support enhanced formatting with images, hyperlinks, and formatted text.

Contacts    Use a contacts list to store information about people or groups that you work with. If you are using an e-mail or contact management program that is compatible with Office SharePoint Server 2007, you can view and update your contacts from your SharePoint site in the other program. For example, you can update a list of all your organization's suppliers from Office Outlook 2007. A contacts list doesn't actually manage the members of your site, but it can be used to store and share contacts for your organization, such as a list of external vendors.

Discussion boards   Use a discussion board to provide a central place to record and store team discussions that is similar to the format of newsgroups. If your administrator has enabled lists on your site to receive e-mail messages, discussion boards can store e-mail discussions from most common e-mail programs. For example, you can create a discussion board for your organization's new product release. If you are using an e-mail program that is compatible with Office SharePoint Server 2007, you can view and update your discussion board while working in the other program.

Links   Use a links list as a central location for links to the Internet, your company's intranet, and other resources. For example, you might create a list of links to your customers' Web sites.

Calendar   Use a calendar for all of your team's events or for specific situations, such as company holidays. A calendar provides visual views, similar to a desk or wall calendar, of your team events, including meetings, social events, and all-day events. You can also track team milestones, such as deadlines or product release dates, that are not related to a specific time interval. If you are using an e-mail or calendar program that is compatible with Office SharePoint Server 2007, you can view and update your calendar from your SharePoint site while working in the other program. For example, you can compare and update your calendar on the SharePoint site with dates from your Office Outlook 2007 calendar, by viewing both calendars side-by-side or overlaid with each other in Office Outlook 2007.

Tasks   Use a task list to track information about projects and other to-do events for your group. You can assign tasks to people, as well as track the status and percentage complete as the task moves toward completion. If you are using an e-mail or task management program that is compatible with Office SharePoint Server 2007, you can view and update your tasks from your SharePoint site in your other program. For example, you can create a task list for your organization's budget process and then view and update it in Office Outlook 2007 along with your other tasks.

Project tasks   To store task information with a visual or Gantt view with progress bars, use a project task list. You can track the status and percentage complete as the task moves toward completion. If you are using an e-mail or task management program that is compatible with Office SharePoint Server 2007, you can view and update your project tasks from your SharePoint site in your other program. For example, you can create a task list on your SharePoint site to identify and assign the work to create a training manual, and then you can track your organization's progress from Office Outlook 2007.

Issue tracking   Use an issue-tracking list to store information about specific issues, such as support issues, and track their progress. You can assign issues, categorize them, and relate issues to each other. For example, you can create an issue-tracking list to manage customer service problems and solutions. You can also comment on issues each time you edit them, creating a history of comments without altering the original description of the issue. For example, a customer service representative can record each step taken to resolve a problem and the results. You can also use an Issue Tracking list with a Three-state workflow to help your organization manage issue or project tracking.

Survey   To collect and compile feedback, such as an employee satisfaction survey or a quiz, use a survey. You can design your questions and answers in several different ways and see an overview of your feedback. If you have a spreadsheet or database program installed that is compatible with Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services (version 3) or Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 2.0, you can export your results to further analyze them.

Custom   Although you can customize any list, you can start with a custom list and then customize just the settings that you specify. You can also create a list that is based on a spreadsheet, if you have a spreadsheet program that is compatible with Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services (version 3) or Windows SharePoint Services 2.0, and Microsoft Internet Explorer and Microsoft Windows. For example, you can import a list from Microsoft Office Excel 2007 that you created to store and manage contracts with vendors.

Additionally, you can easily integrate and incorporate information from business applications such as SAP, Siebel, and Microsoft SQL Server into an Office SharePoint Server 2007 site by adding the business data column type to an Office SharePoint Server 2007 list. By adding the business data column type to a list, you can have a list of items that uses a combination of columns from Office SharePoint Server 2007 and from an external business application.

Languages and Translators   You can create a Languages and Translators list to use with a Translation Management workflow in a Translation Management Library. The workflow uses the list to assign translation tasks to the translator specified in the list for each language. You can create this list manually, or you can choose to have this list automatically when you add a Translation Management Workflow to a Translation Management library.

KPI List   Key Performance Indicators allow you to quickly evaluate the progress made against measurable goals. You can set up KPI lists to track performance by using one of four data sources: manually entered data, data in a SharePoint list, data in Microsoft Office Excel workbooks, or data from Analysis Services — a component of Microsoft SQL Server 2005. After the KPI list is created, anyone who has permissions on the list can use it to display the status of the indicator on a dashboard page.

A project task list in Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 displays a collection of tasks that are part of a project. Used in this sense, a task is a discrete work item that a single person can be assigned to (although you may decide not to assign anybody to any tasks). A project is typically a series of activities that has a beginning, middle, and end, and which produces a product or service, such as producing a product demonstration for a trade show, creating a product proposal for stakeholders, or even putting together a corporate morale event.

After you create a project task list, you can add tasks, assign resources to tasks, update the progress on tasks, and view the task information on bars that are displayed along a timeline.

Although some of the settings for the project task lists differ from those of other lists (such as for contact lists, announcements, and other task lists), you use the same basic procedure for creating a project task list as you do for other types of lists, such as adding columns, exporting to a spreadsheet, or organizing the task list.

 Note   If you have worked with project management software and are familiar with managing task relationships within a project, keep in mind that project task lists won't allow you to create dependencies between tasks by linking them, nor can you create hierarchical relationships between tasks by using outlining.

• Create a project task list

• Add tasks to a project task list

• View a project task list

• Edit or delete items in a project task list

Create a project task list

1. Click View All Site Content, and then click Create on the All Site Content page.

    Tip   In most cases, you can use the Site Actions menu instead to complete this step.

2. Under Tracking, click Project Tasks.
3. In the Name and Description section, type a name for the list in the Name box. The list name is required.
4. In the Description box, type a description of how this list can be used. The description is optional.
5. In the Navigation section, click Yes if you want to create a link to this list on the Quick Launch.
6. If an E-Mail Notification section appears, you can set up your task list so that a notification is sent to someone when they are assigned a task.

    Note   A server administrator must first enable e-mail settings for this option to appear.

7. Click Create.

Add tasks to a project task list

1. If the project task list is not open, click its name on the Quick Launch.

    Tip   If the name of your list does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your list.

2. On the New menu click New Item.

   To edit a task, click the task name in the Title column.

3. In the Title section, type a name for the task.
4. In the Priority section, click High, Normal, or Low to indicate the relative importance of this task compared with other tasks in your project task list.
5. In the Task Status section, click the status of the task.
6. In the % Complete section, type a number as a percentage value that indicates the extent to which the task is complete.
7. In the Assigned To section, type the name of the person who will complete the task. Only one person can be assigned to a task.

   Click Check Names to determine if the person's name is found in the membership provider service that is used for authentication. See your server administrator if the name is not found in the membership provider service.

    Tip   To find people whom you want to work on the task, click Browse to use the membership provider service.

8. In the Description section, type a description of the task.
9. In the Start Date and Due Date sections, enter the start date and finish date for the work that is performed on the task. Use the date picker to quickly enter a date.
10. To attach a file to the task, click Attach File. Click Browse to locate the file, and then click OK.

     Note   Depending on how your project task list is set up, you may not be able to attach a file to a task.

11. Click OK to add the task to your project task list.

View a project task list

After you create a project task list and add tasks to it, you can see the project task list in a number of different ways by using views.

 Note   See Add tasks to a project task list to learn more about the kind of information you can apply to tasks.

• On the View menu, which is available when you are viewing your project task list, click one of the following views:
  • Project Tasks   This is the default view that appears when you create a project task list. A bar chart with task names appears at the top of the view, and a list of tasks appears in the bottom half of the view. The list of tasks in the bottom half corresponds to the same tasks in the upper half.

    The bar chart displays each task graphically, most often as a task bar.

    Graphic	Description
    	If you enter a start date and a due date, the task bar shows the task's duration.
    	If you type a percentage in the % Complete box (for example 15%), the task bar shows a progress bar to indicate what percentage of the task is complete.
    	If you enter a start date without an end date, a milestone marker is displayed on the bar chart. By default, if you don't enter a start date, the current date is used.

     Tip   To quickly change the start date of a task, drag the task horizontally by using the mouse.

     

  • Active Tasks   This view displays tasks that have a status other than Completed.
  • All Tasks This view displays all tasks regardless of their status.
  • By Assigned To   This view displays all tasks grouped by the people who are assigned to the tasks.
  • Due Today   This view displays tasks that are due today.
  • My Tasks   This view displays tasks that are assigned to you.

Edit or delete items in a project task list

1. If the project task list is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch.

   If the name of your project task list does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your project task list.

2. In the lower part of the page, point to the task, click the arrow, and then click Edit Item.
3. Make the changes that you want.
4. Click OK.

To delete an item, point to the task, click the arrow, and then click Delete Item.

You can use views to see the items in a list or library that are most important to you or that best fit a purpose. For example, you can create views of the files that were created most recently, of the list items that apply to a specific department, or of the files created by one person. After you create a view, it is always available when you look at a list or library.

• Overview

• Types of views

• Create a view

• Work with mobile views

• Add columns

• Change the settings for a column

• Delete a column

• Select another view or change a view

Overview

Each list or library has at least one view, based on its type and which settings have been applied. Some lists and libraries have other built-in views, and you can create custom views. For example, a task list has several views, such as just the tasks due today, just the tasks assigned to you, all tasks, and so on.

You can create personal views and public views. A personal view is available only to you when you look at a list or library. A public view is available when anyone looks at a list or library. To create a public view, you must have permission to change the design of the list or library. You can make a public view the default view for a list or library.

Additionally, when you or someone else designs a site, you can link to different views, or you can design pages with Web Parts (Web Part: A modular unit of information that consists of a title bar, a frame, and content. Web Parts are the basic building blocks of a Web Part Page.) that make use of the different views.

To make your lists or libraries more versatile, you can add extra columns. You can create multiple views that show or hide the columns, depending on the purpose of the view. For example, people may want to see just the files that apply to their department, or the files sorted by their project number.

If your list or library is large or complex — for example, your group works on multiple projects or multiple groups are working on the same project — views can help contributors to see the data that is most meaningful for their situation.

You can select how many items are displayed at one time in each view. For example, people can browse a list in sets of 25 or 100 list items per page, depending on their preferences and the speed of their connection.

Views can also help manage how your lists and libraries are viewed on mobile devices. Some devices may restrict the number of characters displayed in a column.

Views provide several ways to make your lists and libraries more effective. Here are some ways you can use views:

• Filter by a set of criteria, such as a department or person's name.
• Sort in a particular order, for example, to show the files modified most recently.
• Hide or show columns, for example, to see a more focused view.
• Group information that is based upon list data, such as grouped by department.
• Display subtotals of columns, such as the number of contract documents.
• See a calendar view of a list that has start dates and end dates.
• View a list in a database program that enables data analysis.
• See all items at the same level in a flat view without folders.

Types of views

When you create a custom view in Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, you start by basing it on a type of view, which determines how the list items are displayed. For example, you can display list items in a linear list, similar to lines on paper, or you can display your information more visually, such as displaying dates in a monthly calendar. You can also base a new view on an existing view, which saves time if you want to use an existing view as a starting point.

• Standard  This view displays list items or files like a traditional list on a Web page. Standard view is the default for most types of lists and libraries, and you can customize it in several different ways.
• Calendar  This view displays your calendar items in a visual format that is similar to a desk or wall calendar. You can apply daily, weekly, or monthly views in this format. For example, you can create a calendar to track your team's deadlines for a project or holidays for your organization.

  

   

   Calendars have different views.
   All-day events appear at the top of a calendar according to date; other events appear according to date and time.
• Datasheet  This view provides data in a format that you can edit, such as a table in a database or spreadsheet. This view can be helpful if you need to perform large editing tasks or customization, or export your data to a spreadsheet or database program. Datasheet view requires a control or program that is compatible with Windows SharePoint Services, such as Office Access 2007, and ActiveX control (ActiveX control: A control, such as a check box or button that offers options to users or runs macros or scripts that automate a task. You can write macros for the control in Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications or scripts in Microsoft Script Editor.) support.
• Gantt  This view provides a visual view of data, with bars that track progress, if your data is based on a time interval. A Gantt view can help you manage projects and see a quick overview of your data. You can use this view, for example, to see which tasks overlap each other and to visualize overall progress.

  

 Note   Other types of views may be available for your list or library.

Create a view

When you view a list or library, you can temporarily sort or filter the files by pointing to the name of a column and then clicking the arrow beside the name. This is helpful if you need to see the files in a certain way once in while, but you have to repeat the steps the next time that you view the list or library.

If you expect to view information in a certain way frequently, you can create a view. You can use this view any time that you work with the list or library. When you create a view, it is added to the View menu of a list or library. The View menu groups the views in sections, including the default view, any personal views, any additional public views, views related to content approval (such as Approve/reject), in addition to commands for modifying and creating views.

Before you begin

Before creating a view, you may want to add more columns to enable more flexibility for sorting, grouping, and filtering. For more information about creating columns, see Add columns in this article.

If you are creating a view for a mobile device, you should consider the limits of your group's mobile devices. For help on determining these limits, see Work with mobile views later in this article.

Create a view

1. If the list or library is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch.

   If the name of your list or library does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your list or library.

2. On the View menu , click Create View.
3. Under Choose a view format, click the type of view that you want to create. For most situations in libraries, you can click Standard View, but you can choose other views for specific situations.
4. In the View Name box, type a name for your view, such as Sorted by Last Name.
5. If you want to make this the default view, select the Make this the default view check box.

   You can make this the default view only if it is a public view and if you have permission to change the design of a list.

6. In the Audience section, under View Audience, select whether you want to create a personal view that only you can use or a public view that others can use.
7. In the Columns section, you can show or hide columns by selecting the appropriate check boxes. Next to the column name, enter the number for the order of your column in the view.
8. In the Sort section, choose whether and how you want the information to be sorted. You can use two columns for the sort, such as first by author, and then by file name for each author.
9. In the Filter section, choose whether and how you want to filter the files. A filtered view shows you a smaller selection, such as items created by a specific department or with an Approved status.
10. In the Group By section, you can group items with the same value in their own section, such as an expandable section for documents by a specific author.
11. In the Totals section, you can count the number of items in a column, such as the total number of issues. In some cases, you can summarize or distill additional information, such as averages.
12. In the Style section, select the style that you want for the view, such as a shaded list in which every other row is shaded.
13. If your list or library has folders, you can create a view that doesn't include the folders — this is sometimes called a flat view. To view of all your list items at the same level, click Show all items without folders.
14. If your list or library is large, you can limit how many files can be viewed in the list or library, or how many files can be viewed on the same page. In the Item Limit section, select the options that you want.
15. If you plan to view the list or library on a mobile device, select the options that you want in the Mobile section.
16. Click OK.

Work with mobile views

In Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, you can view and even update some lists and libraries from a mobile device, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA) or cell phone.

The length and size of some parts of a list or library are limited on mobile devices, because of screen width and possible performance issues. You can create views for your mobile device that are based on the limits.

Some types of lists, such as discussion boards, are not available in mobile views. Some column types are also not available in mobile views, including Currency, Yes/No, and Person or Group. If a limit is reached, the content that isn't displayed is indicated with an ellipsis (…) in the mobile view.

If people in your group are viewing lists or libraries on both types of mobile devices, you should take the mobile list limits into consideration when you design a mobile view.

The following are the limits for views of lists and libraries on mobile devices.

Add columns

Columns help your group categorize and track information, such as the department name or project number. You have several options for the type of column that you create, including a single line of text, a drop-down list of options, a number that is calculated from other columns, or even the name and picture of a person on your site.

 Note   The following procedure begins from the list or library page to which you want to add the column. If the list or library is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch. If the name of your list or library does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your list or library.

1. On the Settings menu , click Create Column.
2. In the Name and Type section, type the name that you want in the Column name box.
3. Under The type of information in this column is, select the type of information that you want to appear in the column.
4. In the Additional Column Settings section, type a description in the Description box to help people understand the purpose of the column and what data it should contain. This description is optional.
5. Depending on the type of column that you selected, more options may appear in the Additional Column Settings section. Select the additional settings that you want.
6. To add the column to the default view, which people on your site automatically see when they first open a list or library, click Add to default view.
7. Click OK.

Change the settings for a column

You can change the settings for a column, such as the name of the column. Depending on the type of column and the type of list, you can make additional changes. For example, you can change the type of data that some columns contain, or restrict the number of characters they contain. When you change the settings, ensure that the existing data matches the new settings that you are applying.

1. If the list or library is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch.

   If the name of your list or library does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your list or library.

2. Do one of the following:
   • On the Settings menu , click List Settings or the settings option that you want.
   • On a blog site, under Admin Links, click Manage Posts to display the posts list. On the Settings menu, click List Settings.
3. Under Columns, click the name of the column that you want to change.
4. Change the settings that you want, and then click OK.

 Note   You can specify that a column is indexed, which can make it faster to switch views of lists or libraries that span multiple folders. To view the settings for a list or library, click Indexed Columns. Select the column that you want to index, and then click OK.

Delete a column

 Important   This procedure deletes the column and any data in the column.

1. If the list or library is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch.

   If the name of your list or library does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your list or library.

2. Do one of the following:
   • On the Settings menu , click List Settings or the settings option that you want.
   • On a blog site, under Admin Links, click Manage Posts to display the posts list. On the Settings menu, click List Settings.
3. Under Columns, click the name of the column that you want to delete.
4. Click Delete.

   You may need to scroll to the bottom of the page to see the Delete button.

5. When you are prompted with a warning and if you are sure that you want to delete the column, click OK.

 Note   Lists and libraries contain certain required columns that can't be deleted, such as the Title or Name column. If the column cannot be deleted, the Delete button is not available. If you cannot delete a column, but you do not want the column to appear in a view, you can hide it. Find links to more information about hiding columns in the See Also section.

Select another view or change a view

The views that are available depend upon the settings for your list or library, and whether someone has created additional views. Many lists and libraries have more than one default view. For example, a task list has views for the tasks that are assigned only to you and for all the tasks that are due today.

1. If the list or library is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch.

   If the name of your list or library does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your list or library.

2. Do one of the following:
   • To select a different view, on the View menu , click the view that you want.
   • To make changes to a view, click the View menu, and then click Modify this View.

You can use columns in lists and libraries to collect and display more information, such as department name, author, or project number. Show more columns (column: A named selection of data in a list, library, or content type, such as Title or Due Date. Columns are displayed vertically in most views and are displayed as fields in forms.) when you want to see more information about a list or library, or to sort and filter the list or library by using the information in a column. Hide a column when you want to see less information about a list or library. For example, you can hide columns if you don't need to see information or you don't want to scroll to see other columns that are more important. Hiding a column does not delete it from your list or library.

To change which columns are displayed, you need to manage the view (view: A set of columns on a Web page that displays items in a list or document library. The view can display sorted or filtered items, a selection of columns, or a custom layout.) in which they appear. Views enable you to see your lists and libraries in different ways, such as organized alphabetically by author or filtered so just your department's files appear. If you need to see different columns at different times, create multiple views.

• Show a column

• Hide a column

Show a column

1. If the list or library is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch.

   If the name of your list or library does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your list or library.

2. On the View menu , click Modify this View. The View menu displays the name of the current view, such as All Documents or Subject.
3. In the Columns section, under Display, select the check box for the column that you want to show.
4. Click OK.

 Tip   You can also change the order of columns. In the Columns section, under Position from Left, click the arrow next to the number of the column's current position, and then select the new position that you want.

Hide a column

1. If the list or library is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch.

   If the name of your list or library does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your list or library.

2. On the View menu , click Modify this View. The View menu displays the name of the current view, such as All Documents or Subject.
3. In the Columns section, under Display, clear the check box for the column that you want to hide.
4. Click OK.

You can use views to see the items in a list or library that are most important to you or that best fit a purpose. For example, you can create views of the files that were created most recently, of the list items that apply to a specific department, or of the files created by one person. After you create a view, it is always available when you look at a list or library.

• Overview

• Types of views

• Create a view

• Work with mobile views

• Add columns

• Change the settings for a column

• Delete a column

• Select another view or change a view

Overview

Each list or library has at least one view, based on its type and which settings have been applied. Some lists and libraries have other built-in views, and you can create custom views. For example, a task list has several views, such as just the tasks due today, just the tasks assigned to you, all tasks, and so on.

You can create personal views and public views. A personal view is available only to you when you look at a list or library. A public view is available when anyone looks at a list or library. To create a public view, you must have permission to change the design of the list or library. You can make a public view the default view for a list or library.

To make your lists or libraries more versatile, you can add extra columns. You can create multiple views that show or hide the columns, depending on the purpose of the view. For example, people may want to see just the files that apply to their department, or the files sorted by their project number.

If your list or library is large or complex — for example, your group works on multiple projects or multiple groups are working on the same project — views can help contributors to see the data that is most meaningful for their situation.

You can select how many items are displayed at one time in each view. For example, people can browse a list in sets of 25 or 100 list items per page, depending on their preferences and the speed of their connection.

Views can also help manage how your lists and libraries are viewed on mobile devices. Some devices may restrict the number of characters displayed in a column.

Views provide several ways to make your lists and libraries more effective. Here are some ways you can use views:

• Filter by a set of criteria, such as a department or person's name.
• Sort in a particular order, for example, to show the files modified most recently.
• Hide or show columns, for example, to see a more focused view.
• Group information that is based upon list data, such as grouped by department.
• Display subtotals of columns, such as the number of contract documents.
• See a calendar view of a list that has start dates and end dates.
• View a list in a database program that enables data analysis.
• See all items at the same level in a flat view without folders.

Types of views

When you create a custom view in Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, you start by basing it on a type of view, which determines how the list items are displayed. For example, you can display list items in a linear list, similar to lines on paper, or you can display your information more visually, such as displaying dates in a monthly calendar. You can also base a new view on an existing view, which saves time if you want to use an existing view as a starting point.

• Standard  This view displays list items or files like a traditional list on a Web page. Standard view is the default for most types of lists and libraries, and you can customize it in several different ways.
• Calendar  This view displays your calendar items in a visual format that is similar to a desk or wall calendar. You can apply daily, weekly, or monthly views in this format. For example, you can create a calendar to track your team's deadlines for a project or holidays for your organization.

  

   

   Calendars have different views.

   

   All-day events appear at the top of a calendar according to date; other events appear according to date and time.
• Datasheet  This view provides data in a format that you can edit, such as a table in a database or spreadsheet. This view can be helpful if you need to perform large editing tasks or customization, or export your data to a spreadsheet or database program. Datasheet view requires a control or program that is compatible with Windows SharePoint Services, such as Office Access 2007, and ActiveX control (ActiveX control: A control, such as a check box or button that offers options to users or runs macros or scripts that automate a task. You can write macros for the control in Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications or scripts in Microsoft Script Editor.) support.
• Gantt  This view provides a visual view of data, with bars that track progress, if your data is based on a time interval. A Gantt view can help you manage projects and see a quick overview of your data. You can use this view, for example, to see which tasks overlap each other and to visualize overall progress.

  

 Note   Other types of views may be available for your list or library.

Create a view

When you view a list or library, you can temporarily sort or filter the files by pointing to the name of a column and then clicking the arrow beside the name. This is helpful if you need to see the files in a certain way once in while, but you have to repeat the steps the next time that you view the list or library.

If you expect to view information in a certain way frequently, you can create a view. You can use this view any time that you work with the list or library. When you create a view, it is added to the View menu of a list or library. The View menu groups the views in sections, including the default view, any personal views, any additional public views, views related to content approval (such as Approve/reject), in addition to commands for modifying and creating views.

Before you begin

Before creating a view, you may want to add more columns to enable more flexibility for sorting, grouping, and filtering. For more information about creating columns, see Add columns in this article.

If you are creating a view for a mobile device, you should consider the limits of your group's mobile devices. For help on determining these limits, see Work with mobile views later in this article.

Create a view

1. If the list or library is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch.

   If the name of your list or library does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your list or library.

2. On the View menu , click Create View.
3. Under Choose a view format, click the type of view that you want to create. For most situations in libraries, you can click Standard View, but you can choose other views for specific situations.
4. In the View Name box, type a name for your view, such as Sorted by Last Name.
5. If you want to make this the default view, select the Make this the default view check box.

   You can make this the default view only if it is a public view and if you have permission to change the design of a list.

6. In the Audience section, under View Audience, select whether you want to create a personal view that only you can use or a public view that others can use.
7. In the Columns section, you can show or hide columns by selecting the appropriate check boxes. Next to the column name, enter the number for the order of your column in the view.
8. In the Sort section, choose whether and how you want the information to be sorted. You can use two columns for the sort, such as first by author, and then by file name for each author.
9. In the Filter section, choose whether and how you want to filter the files. A filtered view shows you a smaller selection, such as items created by a specific department or with an Approved status.
10. In the Group By section, you can group items with the same value in their own section, such as an expandable section for documents by a specific author.
11. In the Totals section, you can count the number of items in a column, such as the total number of issues. In some cases, you can summarize or distill additional information, such as averages.
12. In the Style section, select the style that you want for the view, such as a shaded list in which every other row is shaded.
13. If your list or library has folders, you can create a view that doesn't include the folders — this is sometimes called a flat view. To view of all your list items at the same level, click Show all items without folders.
14. If your list or library is large, you can limit how many files can be viewed in the list or library, or how many files can be viewed on the same page. In the Item Limit section, select the options that you want.
15. If you plan to view the list or library on a mobile device, select the options that you want in the Mobile section.
16. Click OK.

Work with mobile views

In Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, you can view and even update some lists and libraries from a mobile device, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA) or cell phone.

The length and size of some parts of a list or library are limited on mobile devices, because of screen width and possible performance issues. You can create views for your mobile device that are based on the limits.

Some types of lists, such as discussion boards, are not available in mobile views. Some column types are also not available in mobile views, including Currency, Yes/No, and Person or Group. If a limit is reached, the content that isn't displayed is indicated with an ellipsis (…) in the mobile view.

If people in your group are viewing lists or libraries on both types of mobile devices, you should take the mobile list limits into consideration when you design a mobile view.

The following are the limits for views of lists and libraries on mobile devices.

Add columns

Columns help your group categorize and track information, such as the department name or project number. You have several options for the type of column that you create, including a single line of text, a drop-down list of options, a number that is calculated from other columns, or even the name and picture of a person on your site.

 Note   The following procedure begins from the list or library page to which you want to add the column. If the list or library is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch. If the name of your list or library does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your list or library.

1. On the Settings menu , click Create Column.
2. In the Name and Type section, type the name that you want in the Column name box.
3. Under The type of information in this column is, select the type of information that you want to appear in the column.
4. In the Additional Column Settings section, type a description in the Description box to help people understand the purpose of the column and what data it should contain. This description is optional.
5. Depending on the type of column that you selected, more options may appear in the Additional Column Settings section. Select the additional settings that you want.
6. To add the column to the default view, which people on your site automatically see when they first open a list or library, click Add to default view.
7. Click OK.

Change the settings for a column

You can change the settings for a column, such as the name of the column. Depending on the type of column and the type of list, you can make additional changes. For example, you can change the type of data that some columns contain, or restrict the number of characters they contain. When you change the settings, ensure that the existing data matches the new settings that you are applying.

1. If the list or library is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch.

   If the name of your list or library does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your list or library.

2. Do one of the following:
   • On the Settings menu , click List Settings or the settings option that you want.
   • On a blog site, under Admin Links, click Manage Posts to display the posts list. On the Settings menu, click List Settings.
3. Under Columns, click the name of the column that you want to change.
4. Change the settings that you want, and then click OK.

 Note   You can specify that a column is indexed, which can make it faster to switch views of lists or libraries that span multiple folders. To view the settings for a list or library, click Indexed Columns. Select the column that you want to index, and then click OK.

Delete a column

 Important   This procedure deletes the column and any data in the column.

1. If the list or library is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch.

   If the name of your list or library does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your list or library.

2. Do one of the following:
   • On the Settings menu , click List Settings or the settings option that you want.
   • On a blog site, under Admin Links, click Manage Posts to display the posts list. On the Settings menu, click List Settings.
3. Under Columns, click the name of the column that you want to delete.
4. Click Delete.

   You may need to scroll to the bottom of the page to see the Delete button.

5. When you are prompted with a warning and if you are sure that you want to delete the column, click OK.

 Note   Lists and libraries contain certain required columns that can't be deleted, such as the Title or Name column. If the column cannot be deleted, the Delete button is not available. If you cannot delete a column, but you do not want the column to appear in a view, you can hide it. Find links to more information about hiding columns in the See Also section.

Select another view or change a view

The views that are available depend upon the settings for your list or library, and whether someone has created additional views. Many lists and libraries have more than one default view. For example, a task list has views for the tasks that are assigned only to you and for all the tasks that are due today.

1. If the list or library is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch.

   If the name of your list or library does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your list or library.

2. Do one of the following:
   • To select a different view, on the View menu , click the view that you want.

   • To make changes to a view, click the View menu, and then click Modify this View.

Content types (content type: A reusable group of settings for a category of content. Use content types to manage the metadata, templates, and behaviors of items and documents consistently. Content types are defined at the site level and used on lists and libraries.) enable organizations to organize, manage, and handle content in a consistent way across a site collection. By defining content types for specific kinds of documents or information products, an organization can ensure that each of these groups of content is managed in a consistent way.

• What is a content type?

• How content types work at the site level

• How content types work in lists and libraries

What is a content type?

In the course of a single project, a business might produce several different kinds of content, for example, proposals, legal contracts, statements of work, and product design specifications. Although these documents might be stored together because they are related to a single project, they can be created, used, shared, and retained in different ways. A business might want to collect and maintain different kinds of metadata about each kind of content.

Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 enables organizations to define these different sets of documents as content types. A content type is a group of reusable settings that describe the shared behaviors for a specific type of content. Content types can be defined for any item type in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, including documents, list items, or folders. Each content type can specify:

• The columns (metadata) that you want to assign to items of this type.
• The document template on which to base new items of this type (document content types only).
• The custom New, Edit, and Display forms to use with this content type.
• The workflows that are available for items of this content type.
• The custom solutions or features that are associated with items of this content type.

Content types provide organizations with a way to manage and organize content consistently across different lists and libraries in a site collection (site collection: A set of Web sites on a virtual server that have the same owner and share administration settings. Each site collection contains a top-level Web site and can contain one or more subsites.), and they also make it possible for a single list or library to contain multiple item types or document types.

How content types work at the site level

Content types are organized into a hierarchy that allows one content type to inherit its characteristics from another content type. This allows categories of documents to share attributes across an organization, while allowing teams to customize these attributes for particular sites or lists.

Content types are first defined centrally in the Site Content Type Gallery for a site. Content types that are defined at the site level are called site content types. Site content types are available for use in any subsites of the site for which they have been defined. For example, if a site content type is defined in the Site Content Type Gallery for the top-level site in a site collection, it is available for use in lists and libraries in all of the sites in that site collection. Site content types can be added individually to lists or libraries and customized for use in those lists or libraries. When an instance of a site content type is added to a list or library, it is called a list content type. List content types are children of the site content types from which they are created.

How inheritance works for site content types

When you define a new custom site content type in the Site Content Type Gallery for a site, you start by choosing an existing parent site content type in the Site Content Type Gallery as your starting point. The new site content type that you create inherits all of the attributes of its parent site content type, such as its document template, read-only setting, workflows, and columns. After you create this new site content type, you can make changes to any of these attributes.

Whenever you make changes to site content types, you can specify whether you want these specific changes to be applied to any other child site content types or list content types that inherit their attributes from these site content types. Only the attributes that the child site content types or list content types share with a parent site content type can be updated. If a child site content type has been customized with additional attributes that the parent site content type does not have (for example, extra columns), these customizations are not overwritten when the child site content type is updated. The changes that you make to a site content type do not affect the parent site content type from which the site content type was created.

How site content types support content management

By defining site content types, you can ensure that entire categories of documents are handled consistently across your organization. For example, all customer deliverable documents in an organization may require a specific set of metadata, such as account number, project number, and project manager. You can help ensure that account numbers and project numbers are associated with all of the customer deliverable documents in your organization by creating a Customer Deliverable site content type that has required columns for each of these items of metadata. All customer deliverable document types in the site collection that inherit from this site content type then require users to specify information for these columns. If you need to track additional metadata that is related to these customer deliverable documents, you can add another required column to the Customer Deliverable site content type. Then you can update all child list content types that inherit from this site content type, adding the new column to all customer deliverable documents.

How content types work in lists and libraries

If you have a list or library that is set up to allow multiple content types, you can add content types to this list or library from the group of site content types that are available for your site.

When you add a content type to a list or library, you make it possible for that list or library to contain items of that type. The New command in that list or library lets users create new items of that type. One of the key advantages of content types for lists and libraries is that they make it possible for a single list or library to contain multiple item types or document types, each of which may have unique metadata, policies, or behaviors.

How inheritance works for list content types

When an instance of a site content type is added to a list or library, it is a child of the site content type from which it was created. This list content type inherits all of the attributes of its parent site content type, such as its document template, read-only setting, workflows, and columns. A list content type can be customized for the specific list or library to which it has been added. These customizations are not applied to the parent site content type. If the parent site content type for a list content type is updated, the child list content type can inherit these changes (if the person who maintains the site content type chooses to apply the updates to all child content types). If any of the attributes that the child list content type shares with the parent site content type were customized for the list content type, these customizations can be overwritten when the list content type inherits the changes from the parent site content type. If the list content type has been customized with additional attributes that the parent content type does not have (for example, extra columns), these customizations are not overwritten when the child list content type inherits changes from the parent site content type.

Add an existing content type to a list or library

Content types (content type: A reusable group of settings for a category of content. Use content types to manage the metadata, templates, and behaviors of items and documents consistently. Content types are defined at the site level and used on lists and libraries.) enable organizations to organize, manage, and handle content more effectively across a site collection. By defining content types for specific kinds of documents or information products, an organization can ensure that each of these groups of content is managed more effectively. You can set up a list or library to contain items of multiple item types or document types by adding content types to the list or library.

• How content types work in lists and libraries

• Add a content type to a list or library

• Change the New button order or default content type

How content types work in lists and libraries

If you have a list or library that is set up to allow multiple content types, you can add content types to this list or library from the group of site content types that are available for your site.

When you add a content type to a list or library, you make it possible for that list or library to contain items of that type. The New command in that list or library lets users create new items of that type. One of the key advantages of content types for lists and libraries is that they make it possible for a single list or library to contain multiple item or document types, each of which may have unique metadata, policies, or behaviors.

How inheritance works for list content types

When an instance of a site content type is added to a list or library, it is a child of the site content type from which it was created. This list content type inherits all of the attributes of its parent site content type, such as its document template, read-only setting, workflows, and columns. A list content type can be customized for the specific list or library to which it has been added. These customizations are not applied to the parent site content type. If the parent site content type for a list content type is updated, the child list content type can inherit these changes (if the person who maintains the site content type chooses to apply the updates to all child content types).

If any of the attributes that the child list content type shares with the parent site content type were customized for the list content type, these customizations can be overwritten when the list content type inherits the changes from the parent site content type. If the list content type has been customized with additional attributes that the parent content type does not have (for example, extra columns), these customizations are not overwritten when the child list content type inherits changes from the parent site content type.

Add a content type to a list or library

Before content types can be added to a list or library, first the list or library must be set up to allow multiple content types. For more information about enabling support for multiple content types in a list or library, see Turn on support for multiple content types in a library. To add content types to a list or library, you must have at least the Design permission level (permission level: A set of permissions that can be granted to users or SharePoint groups on an entity such as a site, library, list, folder, item, or document.) for that list or library.

1. If the list or library is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch.

   If the name of your list or library does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your list or library.

2. On the Settings menu , click List Settings, or click the settings for the type of library that you are opening.

   For example, in a document library, click Document Library Settings.

3. Under Content Types, click Add from existing site content types.

    Note   If the list or library is not set up to allow multiple content types, the Content Types section does not appear on the Customize page for the list or library.

4. In the Select Content Types section, in the Select Site content types from list, click the arrow to select the group of site content types from which you want to select.
5. In the Available Site Content Types list, click the content type that you want, and then click Add to move the selected content type to the Content types to add list.
6. To add additional content types, repeat steps 4 and 5.
7. When you finish selecting all of the content types that you want to add, click OK.

Change the New button order or default content type

You can specify the order in which content types are displayed on the New button for a list or library. By default, the first content type that is displayed on the New button becomes the default content type for the list or library. To change the default content type for the list or library, change the content type that is displayed first on the New button. You can also specify whether you want content types that have been added to a list or library to be visible on the New button.

1. If the list or library for which you want to change a content type is not already open, click its name under Lists or Documents on the Quick Launch.
2. On the Settings menu , do one of the following:
   • If you are working in a list, click List Settings.
   • If you are working in a document library, click Document Library Settings.
3. Under Content Types, click Change new button order and default content type.

    Note   If the list or library is not set up to allow multiple content types, the Content Types section does not appear on the Customize page for the list or library.

4. In the Content Type Order section, do either of the following:
   • To remove a content type from the New button for the list or library, clear the Visible check box (this check box is selected by default).
   • To change the order in which a content type appears on the New button, click the arrow next to that content type in the Position from Top column, and then select the order number that you want.

• About site content types

• Content type considerations

• Create a site content type

As a site owner, you can create new site content types (content type: A reusable group of settings for a category of content. Use content types to manage the metadata, templates, and behaviors of items and documents consistently. Content types are defined at the site level and used on lists and libraries.). You can then add these content types to lists and libraries at the site level on which you created them, in addition to lower-level sites. For example, a site content type that you create at the top-level site is available to lists and libraries on all sites in the site collection. Content types that are created at a lower-level site are not available to higher-level sites.

After you have defined a site content type, you can reuse it in multiple document libraries in the current site or in other sites. This enables you to organize your content in a meaningful way and associate the same capabilities to your content across your document management solution. For example, if your organization uses a particular type of contract, you can create a content type that defines the metadata for that contract, the template to use for the contract, and workflows required to review and complete the contract. Any document library to which you add the Contract content type will include all of the metadata definitions and workflows of the content type, and authors can use the template you specify to create new contracts.

About site content types

A site content type describes the attributes of a document, folder, or list item. Each site content type can specify the following:

• A set of properties.
• Forms to edit the properties and display them.
• Workflows you want to make available for the document or list item.

 Tip   Site content types can also be extended by using custom features.

By adding a site content type to a list or library, you are specifying that the list or library can contain list items, folders, or documents of that content type. An instance of a site content type that is associated with a list is referred to as a list content type.

Content type considerations

Consider the following when you create a new site content type:

Content types are organized into a hierarchy  The content type hierarchy enables a content type to inherit its characteristics from another content type. In this way, classes of documents can share characteristics across an organization but these characteristics can be tailored for particular sites or lists.

For example, all customer deliverable documents in an enterprise might require a set of metadata such as account number and project number. By creating a top-level Customer Deliverable content type, from which all other customer deliverable document types inherit, you ensure that account numbers and project numbers will be associated with all variants of customer deliverable documents in your organization. If you add another required column to the top-level Customer Deliverable content type, you can choose to update all content types that inherit from it, which will add the new column to all customer deliverable documents.

New site content types are based on a parent content type  When you create a new site content type, you must choose an existing (parent) site content type on which to create your new site content type. The new site content type that you create inherits the attributes of the parent. After you create a new site content type, you can make changes to it, such as adding or removing columns. Note that changes made directly to a child content type do not affect the parent content type on which it is based. When you update a parent content type, you can also choose whether those changes are updated in the list and site content types that inherit from that parent content type.

Child site content types inherit from the parent  Content types that you create are based on a parent content type and thus inherit the attributes of the parent. When you update a parent content type, you can choose whether you want the child site content types to inherit those changes. The attributes that can be inherited from a parent content type are:

• Document template.
• Read-only setting.
• Workflows.
• Columns.
• Extensible attributes added by other applications.

On all content type settings pages, you have the option to update list content types and child site content types. When you choose to update all content types that inherit from their parent content types, all settings on that page are also updated on all list content types and child site content types that are children of the content type that you are changing. This overwrites any previous settings on the list and site content types that inherit from this parent.

For example, if you change only the document template on the Advanced Settings page and choose to update list content types and child site content types, the document template and read-only setting are updated on all child content types because both of these settings are on the same page. Likewise, all changes made on the Workflow Settings page will be updated together on child content types. Each column has its own Change Site Content Type Column page, so the settings for each column must be updated separately.

Note that all attributes of a content type that appear on the parent content type — other than Name, Description, and Group — can be updated on child types. Columns or settings that do not appear on the parent type cannot be updated. To ensure that changes you make to the parent content type do not overwrite settings on child content types, you can mark the child content type as read-only. Although this is desirable in some situations, it will also reduce your ability to centrally manage your content type hierarchy.

 Caution   If you do mark a content type as read-only, the parent’s settings can still override the child's settings if you explicitly set the parent to be not read-only and then update changes on child content types.

Site content types are stored in groups  When you create a new site content type, you must choose whether to store it in an existing group or to store it in a new group that you create. If you do not want your new site column to be used by others, you can create a group named _Hidden and store your site column in it.

Create a site content type

1. Go to the site on which you want to create a new site content type.
2. On the Site Actions menu , click Site Settings.

    Note   On a site for which the Site Actions menu is customized, point to Site Settings, and then click the settings that you want to view.

3. In the Galleries column, click Site content types.

   The Site Content Type Gallery page appears. Note that your new site content type will appear on this page after you have created it.

4. On the Site Content Type Gallery page, click Create.

   The New Site Content Type page appears.

5. In the Name and Description section, type a name and optionally a description for the new site content type.
6. In the Select parent content type from list, select the group on which you want to base this new content type. Note that the Special content types group contains content types that change the behavior of your list or library when added.
7. In the Parent Content Type list, select the parent content type that you want to base your content type on.

    Note   The list of parent content types differs depending on the option that you selected in the previous step.

8. In the Group section, choose whether to store this new site content type in an existing group or a new group.
9. Click OK.

   The Site Content Type: Your new content type name page appears. You can choose options on this page to further define your new content type.

• About adding multiple content types to a list or library

• Multiple content type considerations

• Turn on multiple content types in a library

• Turn on multiple content types in a list

A content type (content type: A reusable group of settings for a category of content. Use content types to manage the metadata, templates, and behaviors of items and documents consistently. Content types are defined at the site level and used on lists and libraries.) describes the attributes of a document, folder, or list item. Each content type can specify a set of properties, forms to edit and display properties, workflows to be available for the document or list item, and a document template (Document content types only). Content types can also be extended with custom features. When you add a content type to a library or list, you specify that the library or list can contain objects of that content type.

Content types provide organizations with a way to consistently manage and organize content across different lists and libraries in a Web application, and they also make it possible for a single list or library to contain different types of items or documents. Before list managers can add different content types to a particular list or library, you must turn on support for multiple content types on that particular list or library.

About adding multiple content types to a list or library

Most libraries and lists can contain multiple content types. By defining multiple content types for a list or library, you can make it easy to build libraries or lists that store different types of documents together in one place. For example, a library can contain both the documents and the graphics related to a project. In the library, the graphic files are listed with the columns of information assigned to the graphics content type and the documents are listed with the columns assigned to the document content type. By using the document library New command, authors can create new items of either content type.

Multiple content type considerations

Before adding content types on a library or list, it is helpful to understand the following:

• Content types can be configured to require certain fields, also known as columns. When uploading or creating a document, the content provider must provide information in the required columns. The required columns are configured on and enforced by the content type, not by the list or library.
• The fields that appear on a form are determined by the content type associated with that form, not by the list or library.
• The document template that is used when creating a new document is specified by the content type, not the list or library.
• Workflows and events can be bound to content types.
• Content types that you specify for your list or library that have a parent/child relationship with a higher level site can be affected by actions that occur when the parent content type is updated.

Turn on multiple content types in a library

1. Open the library for which you want to enable multiple content types.

    Note   You cannot enable multiple content types on a Wiki library.

2. On the Settings menu, click Document Library Settings, Form Library Settings, or Picture Library Settings.
3. Under General Settings, click Advanced settings.
4. In the Content Types section, select Yes to allow multiple content types.
5. Change any other settings that you want, and then click OK.

Turn on multiple content types in a list

1. Open the list or dicsussion board for which you want to enable multiple content types.
2. On the Settings menu, click List Settings.
3. Under General Settings, click Advanced settings.
4. In the Content Types section, select Yes to allow multiple content types.
5. Change any other settings that you want, and then click OK.

• About site content types

• Content type considerations

• Create a site content type

As a site owner, you can create new site content types (content type: A reusable group of settings for a category of content. Use content types to manage the metadata, templates, and behaviors of items and documents consistently. Content types are defined at the site level and used on lists and libraries.). You can then add these content types to lists and libraries at the site level on which you created them, in addition to lower-level sites. For example, a site content type that you create at the top-level site is available to lists and libraries on all sites in the site collection. Content types that are created at a lower-level site are not available to higher-level sites.

After you have defined a site content type, you can reuse it in multiple document libraries in the current site or in other sites. This enables you to organize your content in a meaningful way and associate the same capabilities to your content across your document management solution. For example, if your organization uses a particular type of contract, you can create a content type that defines the metadata for that contract, the template to use for the contract, and workflows required to review and complete the contract. Any document library to which you add the Contract content type will include all of the metadata definitions and workflows of the content type, and authors can use the template you specify to create new contracts.

About site content types

A site content type describes the attributes of a document, folder, or list item. Each site content type can specify the following:

• A set of properties.
• Forms to edit the properties and display them.
• Workflows you want to make available for the document or list item.

 Tip   Site content types can also be extended by using custom features.

By adding a site content type to a list or library, you are specifying that the list or library can contain list items, folders, or documents of that content type. An instance of a site content type that is associated with a list is referred to as a list content type.

Content type considerations

Consider the following when you create a new site content type:

Content types are organized into a hierarchy  The content type hierarchy enables a content type to inherit its characteristics from another content type. In this way, classes of documents can share characteristics across an organization but these characteristics can be tailored for particular sites or lists.

For example, all customer deliverable documents in an enterprise might require a set of metadata such as account number and project number. By creating a top-level Customer Deliverable content type, from which all other customer deliverable document types inherit, you ensure that account numbers and project numbers will be associated with all variants of customer deliverable documents in your organization. If you add another required column to the top-level Customer Deliverable content type, you can choose to update all content types that inherit from it, which will add the new column to all customer deliverable documents.

New site content types are based on a parent content type  When you create a new site content type, you must choose an existing (parent) site content type on which to create your new site content type. The new site content type that you create inherits the attributes of the parent. After you create a new site content type, you can make changes to it, such as adding or removing columns. Note that changes made directly to a child content type do not affect the parent content type on which it is based. When you update a parent content type, you can also choose whether those changes are updated in the list and site content types that inherit from that parent content type.

Child site content types inherit from the parent  Content types that you create are based on a parent content type and thus inherit the attributes of the parent. When you update a parent content type, you can choose whether you want the child site content types to inherit those changes. The attributes that can be inherited from a parent content type are:

• Document template.
• Read-only setting.
• Workflows.
• Columns.
• Extensible attributes added by other applications.

On all content type settings pages, you have the option to update list content types and child site content types. When you choose to update all content types that inherit from their parent content types, all settings on that page are also updated on all list content types and child site content types that are children of the content type that you are changing. This overwrites any previous settings on the list and site content types that inherit from this parent.

For example, if you change only the document template on the Advanced Settings page and choose to update list content types and child site content types, the document template and read-only setting are updated on all child content types because both of these settings are on the same page. Likewise, all changes made on the Workflow Settings page will be updated together on child content types. Each column has its own Change Site Content Type Column page, so the settings for each column must be updated separately.

Note that all attributes of a content type that appear on the parent content type — other than Name, Description, and Group — can be updated on child types. Columns or settings that do not appear on the parent type cannot be updated. To ensure that changes you make to the parent content type do not overwrite settings on child content types, you can mark the child content type as read-only. Although this is desirable in some situations, it will also reduce your ability to centrally manage your content type hierarchy.

 Caution   If you do mark a content type as read-only, the parent’s settings can still override the child's settings if you explicitly set the parent to be not read-only and then update changes on child content types.

Site content types are stored in groups  When you create a new site content type, you must choose whether to store it in an existing group or to store it in a new group that you create. If you do not want your new site column to be used by others, you can create a group named _Hidden and store your site column in it.

Create a site content type

1. Go to the site on which you want to create a new site content type.
2. On the Site Actions menu , click Site Settings.

    Note   On a site for which the Site Actions menu is customized, point to Site Settings, and then click the settings that you want to view.

3. In the Galleries column, click Site content types.

   The Site Content Type Gallery page appears. Note that your new site content type will appear on this page after you have created it.

4. On the Site Content Type Gallery page, click Create.

   The New Site Content Type page appears.

5. In the Name and Description section, type a name and optionally a description for the new site content type.
6. In the Select parent content type from list, select the group on which you want to base this new content type. Note that the Special content types group contains content types that change the behavior of your list or library when added.
7. In the Parent Content Type list, select the parent content type that you want to base your content type on.

    Note   The list of parent content types differs depending on the option that you selected in the previous step.

8. In the Group section, choose whether to store this new site content type in an existing group or a new group.
9. Click OK.

Versioning enables you to store, track, and restore items in a list and files in a library as they are changed.

• Overview

• When versions are created

• Working with major and minor versions

• Version numbering

• How versioning works with content approval

• How versioning works with file check-out

Overview

When versions are tracked for lists or libraries, revisions to the items or files and their properties are stored. This enables you to better manage content as it is revised and even to restore a previous version — for example, if you make a mistake in the current version. Versioning is especially helpful when several people work together on projects, or when information goes through several stages of development and review.

Versioning is available for list items in all default list types — including calendars, issue tracking lists, and custom lists — and for all file types that can be stored in libraries — including Web Part Pages.

You can use versioning to do the following:

• Record a version history  When versioning is enabled, you can see when an item or file was changed and who changed it. You can also see when properties, or information about the file, were changed. For example, if someone changes the due date of a list item, that information appears in the version history. For files, you also see comments that people include about their changes.
• Restore a previous version as your current version  Did you make a mistake in a current version? Or perhaps you need to restore part of a document that you deleted. You can easily replace your current version with a previous version. Your current version then becomes part of the version history.
• View a previous version  You can view a previous version — for example, to refer to a previous guideline  — without overwriting your current version. For .aspx files, you can view only details about the changes that were made to the files, and not the actual pages that the files create.

Libraries can track both major versions, such as those to which a new section was added, and minor versions, such as those in which a spelling error was corrected. Lists can track only major versions. Lists and libraries can also limit the number of versions that people can store.

To enable versioning, you must have permission to design a list or library.

When versions are created

When versioning is enabled, versions are created in the following situations:

• When a list item or file is first created or when a file is uploaded.

   Note   If file check-out is required, the file must first be checked in, in order to create its first version.

• When a file is uploaded that has the same name as an existing file and the Add as a new version to existing files check box is selected.
• When the properties of a list item or file are changed.
• When a file is opened, edited, and saved. A version is created when you first click Save. This version is updated with the latest changes that you make to the file before closing it.

   Note   A version is not created every time that you or another user clicks Save, because this would create too many versions.

• When a file is checked out, changed, and then checked back in.

   Note   If you or another user discards the checked-out version, no version is created.

You can choose to delete a single version of a file — for example, if you know that you made a mistake in that version — which removes that version from the version history. However, if you delete the actual file, all of its versions are deleted with it. By default, when you delete a version, the version is sent to the Recycle Bin, where it can be recovered until it is permanently deleted. Your organization may handle deletions differently, however.

 Important   If your organization limits the number of versions that it stores, the oldest versions are permanently deleted when the limit is reached. They are not sent to the Recycle Bin.

Working with major and minor versions

Depending on the needs of your organization, your library may be set up with simple versioning, which tracks only major versions, or it may track both major and minor versions. If people in your group don't often work on several revisions, your organization may only need simple versioning. If many people work on files together and usually create several versions, your organization may want to track both major and minor versions.

Providing two types of versions can help your team to better manage its content. People who work with the content can better understand the current status of a file. For example, a major version is usually one that is ready for a larger group to see and review, whereas a minor version is a draft that someone is still working on.

Tracking both kinds of versions also helps to make the version history more meaningful. A major version is more likely to represent a milestone in the file's development, such as when a file is submitted for review or distributed to others. A minor version is typically used as a routine increment, such as a version that you save or check in while you are still writing the content, or a version in which you correct some minor errors. When you want to view the version history of a file, the major versions may help you to identify the stages of the file's development and make the history easier to browse through.

When major and minor versions are tracked, a version is stored by default as a minor version, unless you designate the version as a major version. When you save a file and close it, the version is tracked as a minor version. You must first publish the file in order for it to become a major version. You can publish the file by using drop-down commands in a library. In some programs that are compatible with Microsoft Window SharePoint Services, you can also use commands in the program. By default, each major version can have up to 511 drafts (minor versions), but the site administrator or owner can further limit the number of versions.

If you have permission to delete versions, you can overwrite a minor version with another minor version. For example, you may want to overwrite a version if you know that the previous version contains an error and you don't need to keep it. If you publish a major version and then realize that you made a mistake, you can turn the version into a minor version again by unpublishing it.

If you check out files before working on them, you can designate which type of version you are checking in. You do not have to publish a file if you designate it as a major version when you check it in.

Version numbering

Versions are numbered as you create them. In a list or in a library with simple versioning enabled, version 1 is the first version that you create or upload, and the version number increases by increments of whole numbers, as in version 2, version 3, and so on.

When you track major and minor versions, the major versions are whole numbers, and the minor versions are decimals. For example, 0.1 is the first minor version of a file, 1.3 is the third minor version of a file that was published once, and 2.0 is the second major version of a published file.

 The current published major version is highlighted, and the version number is a whole number.

 A version is created when properties or metadata changes.

 The first version of a file is always minor version number 0.1.

In a list or library, you can display a Version column that displays the version number of files or list items, which can be helpful if your team frequently revises information. Find links to more information about working with views in the See Also section.

How versioning works with content approval

Major and minor versioning integrates with content approval for lists and libraries.

When content approval is required, a list item or file remains in a draft or pending state until it is approved or rejected by someone who has permission to approve it. If the item or file is approved, it is assigned an Approved status in the list or library, and it is displayed to anyone with permission to view the list or library. If the item or file is rejected, it remains in a pending state and is visible only to the people with permission to view drafts.

When you enable major and minor versioning in a library that requires content approval, you can also add a workflow, if you or someone in your organization has created one. A workflow controls how your files move through business processes, such as review or approval. You can use a workflow to manage the approval process when major versions are checked in.

By default, in a library that tracks both major and minor versions, you must first publish a major version of a file before it can be approved. Minor versions are considered drafts that are still being developed, so they don't appear as pending items that are waiting for approval.

For example, a travel agency might use a document library to manage files. While team members develop a new sales proposal, they track minor versions of the file. If they make a mistake in one version, they can restore it to a previous version. When they finish the proposal, they can create a major version and then publish it for approval by their legal department and their manager. When the file is approved, other employees in the company can view the file.

By default, a pending item or file is visible only to its creator and to the people with permission to approve items, but you can specify whether other groups of users can view the item or file.

When content approval is required, the people who have permission to read content but who do not have permission to see draft items will see the last approved or major version of the list item or file. If major and minor versions are tracked in a library and no one has published a major version yet, the file will not be visible for the people who do not have permission to see draft items.

How versioning works with file check-out

Checking out files make the most of versioning. When you check out a file, a version is created only when you check the file back in, so that you can specifically designate when a version is created. When check-out is not required, a version is created when you first save a file, and then this version is updated when you close it. If you open and save the file again, another version is created. Depending on the situation, you might not intend for multiple versions to be created, for example, if you have to close a file to attend a meeting before you finish making changes to the file.

When check-out is required, you cannot add a file, change a file, or change the file's properties without first checking out the file. When you check in the file, you are prompted to provide comments about the changes that you made, which helps to create a more meaningful version history.

• View users and SharePoint groups associated with a list or library

• View users and SharePoint groups associated with a folder, document, or list item

• Add users to a list or library

• Add users to a folder, document, or list item

• Create a new SharePoint group from a list or library

• Create a new SharePoint group from a folder, document, or list item

• Edit permission assignments on permission levels on a list or library

• Edit permission assignments on permission levels on a folder, document, or list item

• Break permission inheritance on a list or library

• Break permission inheritance on a folder, document, or list item

• Inherit permissions for a list or library

• Inherit permissions for a folder, document, or list item

• Remove user permissions from a list or library

• Remove user permissions from a folder, document, or list item

Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 provides the ability to manage permissions (permission: Authorization to perform specific actions such as viewing pages, opening items, and creating subsites.) on individual lists and libraries, and on individual folders, documents, and list items within those lists and libraries. If you have sensitive information stored in a particular securable object and you do not want to expose the information to all members of a site, you can add or remove users and SharePoint groups with the permission levels (permission level: A set of permissions that can be granted to users or SharePoint groups on an entity such as a site, library, list, folder, item, or document.) you want them to have on a particular securable object.

Any users with the Manage Permissions permission on a particular securable object, such as a list, library, folder within a list or library, document, or list item can manage permissions on that particular securable object.

By default, Site Owners have the Manage Permissions permission. Any user with the Full Control permission level on a particular securable object can also manage permissions on that securable object.

View users and SharePoint groups associated with a list or library

1. Open the list or library in which you want to view users and SharePoint groups.
2. On the Settings menu, click Document Library Settings or List Settings.
3. On the Customize page, in the Permissions and Management column, click Permissions for this document library or Permissions for this list.

   The Permissions: Securable object name page displays all users and SharePoint groups (and their assigned permission levels) that are applied on this securable object.

    Note   The page description describes the inheritance status for this securable object. Also, check boxes appear next to the Users/Groups column if unique permissions are being used for this securable object.

View users and SharePoint groups associated with a folder, document, or list item

1. Open the list or library which contains the folders, document, or list item for which you want to view users and SharePoint groups.
2. Rest the pointer on the folder, document, or list item for which you want to view permissions, click the arrow that appears, and then click Manage Permissions.

   The Permissions : Securable object name page displays all users and SharePoint groups and their assigned permission levels that are applied on this securable object.

    Note   The page description describes the inheritance status for this securable object. Also, check boxes appear next to the Users/Groups column if unique permissions are being used for this securable object.

Add users to a list or library

Use the following steps to add users to an existing SharePoint group that is currently associated with a particular list or library. If the securable object you are configuring is using unique permissions, you can also add users directly to this securable object with the permissions you want, or add existing SharePoint groups to this list with the permissions you want.

 Note   If permissions are being inherited from the parent securable object, you cannot add users or SharePoint groups directly to the securable object. In this case, you can only add users to existing SharePoint groups. However, if you create unique permissions for the securable object, you can then add users.

1. Open the list or library in which you want to add users or SharePoint groups.
2. On the Settings menu, click Document Library Settings or List Settings.
3. On the Customize page, in the Permissions and Management column, click Permissions for this document library or Permissions for this list.

   The Permissions page displays all users and SharePoint groups associated with this list or library and their assigned permission levels.

    Note   If check boxes do not appear next to the user and group names on the Permissions page, permissions are being inherited from a parent securable object. In this case, users and SharePoint groups that you add are also added to the parent (which this securable object inherits those permissions from). If unique permissions are being used (not inheriting from the parent), users and SharePoint groups you add to this securable object only affect this securable object and any other entities that inherit permissions from this securable object.

4. On the New menu, click Add Users.

    Note   The New menu does not appear if the list or library inherits permissions from its parent site. In this case, on the Actions menu, click Edit Permissions, and then click OK to confirm that you want to create unique permissions.

5. In the Add Users section, specify the users and SharePoint groups you want to add to this securable object.
6. In the Give Permission section, either add the users to an existing SharePoint group or give them permission directly to the securable object and select one or more of the check boxes to give these users the permissions you want on this securable object.

    Notes 

   • If permissions are being inherited from the parent securable object, you cannot add users or SharePoint groups directly to this securable object. Rather, you can only add users to an existing SharePoint group.
   • You cannot add a SharePoint group to another SharePoint group. If you added a SharePoint group in step 5, you must select Give users permission directly.
7. Click OK.

Add users to a folder, document, or list item

Use the following steps to add users to an existing SharePoint group that is currently associated with a particular folder, document, or list item. If the securable object you are configuring is using unique permissions, you can also add users directly to this securable object with the permissions you want, or add existing SharePoint groups to this list with the permissions you want.

 Note   If permissions are being inherited from the parent securable object, you cannot add users or SharePoint groups directly to the securable object. In this case, you can only add users to existing SharePoint groups that are currently associated with this securable object. However, if you create unique permissions for the securable object, you can then add users.

1. Open the list or library which contains the folder, document, or list item on which you want to add users or SharePoint groups.
2. Rest the pointer on the folder, document, or list item on which you want to add users or SharePoint groups, click the arrow that appears, and then click Manage Permissions.

   The Permissions page displays all users and SharePoint groups and their assigned permissions levels that are applied on this securable object.

    Note   The page description describes the inheritance status for this securable object. Also, check boxes appear next to the Users/Groups column if unique permissions are being used for this securable object. If check boxes do not appear next to the user and group names on the Permissions page, permissions are being inherited from a parent securable object. In this case, users and SharePoint groups that you add are also added to the parent (which this securable object inherits those permissions from). If unique permissions are being used (not inheriting from the parent), users and SharePoint groups you add to this securable object only affect this securable object and any other entities inheriting from this securable object.

3. On the New menu, click Add Users.

    Note   The New menu does not appear if the list or library inherits permissions from its parent site. In this case, on the Actions menu, click Edit Permissions, and then click OK to confirm that you want to create unique permissions.

4. In the Add Users section, specify the users and SharePoint groups you want to add to this securable object.
5. In the Give Permission section, either add the users to an existing SharePoint group or give them permission directly on the securable object and select one or more of the check boxes to give these users the permissions you want on this securable object.

    Notes 

   • If permissions are being inherited from the parent securable object, you cannot add users or SharePoint groups directly to this securable object. Instead, you can only add users to an existing SharePoint group.
   • You cannot add a SharePoint group to another SharePoint group. If you added a SharePoint group in step 5, you must select Give users permission directly.
6. Click OK.

Create a new SharePoint group from a list or library

This procedure can only be performed from a list or library that is inheriting permissions from its parent site.

 Note   Regardless of your starting point, all SharePoint groups are created on the site collection level. This means that all SharePoint groups are available to all sites within the site collection.

1. Open the list or library from which you want to create a new SharePoint group.
2. On the Settings menu, click Document Library Settings or List Settings.
3. In the Permissions and Management column, click Permissions for this document library or Permissions for this list.

   The Permissions page displays all users and SharePoint groups assigned to this list or library and their assigned permission levels.

    Note   The page description describes the inheritance status for this securable object. Also, check boxes appear next to the Users/Groups column if unique permissions are being used for this securable object. If check boxes do not appear next to the user and group names on the Permissions page, permissions are being inherited from a parent securable object.

4. If the list or library is inheriting permissions from the parent, on the Actions menu, click Manage Permissions of Parent. Otherwise, you cannot create a SharePoint group from this list or library.
5. On the New menu, click New Group.
6. On the New Group page, specify the settings for your new SharePoint group, including the permission levels you want to assign to it, and then click Create.

    Note   After creating the new SharePoint group, you go to the People and Groups page, where you can add users to your new SharePoint group.

Create a new SharePoint group from a folder, document, or list item

Use the following steps to create a new SharePoint group and assign it to a folder, document, or list item. This procedure can only be performed from a folder, document, or list item that is inheriting permissions from its parent site.

 Note   Regardless of your starting point, all SharePoint groups are created on the site collection level. This means that all SharePoint groups are available to all sites within the site collection.

1. Open the list or library in which you want to create a new SharePoint group.
2. Rest the pointer on the folder, document, or list item on which you want to create a new SharePoint group, click the arrow that appears, and then click Manage Permissions.

   The Permissions page displays all users and SharePoint groups (and their assigned permission levels) that are applied on this securable object.

    Note   The page description describes the inheritance status for this securable object. Also, check boxes appear next to the Users/Groups column if unique permissions are being used for this securable object. If check boxes do not appear next to the user and group names on the Permissions page, permissions are being inherited from a parent securable object.

3. If the list or library is inheriting permissions from the parent, on the Actions menu, click Manage Permissions of Parent. Otherwise, you cannot create a SharePoint group from this list or library.
4. On the New menu, click New Group.
5. On the New Group page, specify the settings for your new SharePoint group, including the permission levels you want to assign to it and then click Create.

    Note   After creating the new SharePoint group, you go to the People and Groups page, where you can add users to your new SharePoint group.

Edit permission assignments on permission levels on a list or library

Use the following steps to edit the permission assignments for permission levels of selected users and SharePoint groups associated with a list or library. Note that if the securable object on which you are editing permission levels is inheriting permissions from a parent securable object, performing the following steps breaks this inheritance.

 Caution   At a later time, you can choose to re-inherit permissions from the parent securable object. Note that inheriting permissions from the parent discards any unique permissions that may have been created for this securable object, such as unique SharePoint groups or permission level assignments that was created at this securable object while using unique permissions.

1. Open the list or library on which you want to edit permission levels.
2. On the Settings menu, click List Settings or Document Library Settings.
3. On the Customize page, in the Permissions and Management column, click Permissions for this list or Permissions for this document library.

   The Permissions page displays all users and SharePoint groups associated with this library and their assigned permission levels.

    Note   The page description describes the inheritance status for this securable object. Also, check boxes appear next to the Users/Groups column if unique permissions are being used for this securable object. If check boxes do not appear next to the user and group names on the Permissions page, permissions are being inherited from a parent securable object.

4. If your list or library is inheriting permissions, you must first stop inheriting permissions to edit permission levels on this securable object. To do this, on the Actions menu, click Edit Permissions, and then click OK to confirm.
5. Select the check boxes for the users and SharePoint groups on which you want to edit permission levels on this securable object.
6. On the Actions menu, click Edit User Permissions.
7. In the Choose Permissions section, select the permission levels you want, clear those you do not want, and then click OK.

Edit permission assignments on permission levels on a folder, document, or list item

Use the following steps to edit the permission levels of selected users and SharePoint groups associated with a folder, document, or list item. Note that if the securable object on which you are editing permission levels is inheriting permissions from a parent securable object, performing the following steps breaks this inheritance.

 Caution   At a later time, you can choose to re-inherit permissions from the parent securable object. Note that inheriting permissions from the parent discards any unique permissions that may have been created for this securable object, such as unique SharePoint groups or permission level assignments that was created at this securable object while using unique permissions.

1. Open the list or library that contains the folder, document, or list item, on which you want to edit permission levels.
2. Click the drop-down menu to the right of the folder, document, or list item on which you want to edit permission levels, and then click Manage Permissions.

   The Permissions : Securable object name page displays all users and SharePoint groups at this securable object and their assigned permission levels.

    Note   The page description describes the inheritance status for this securable object. Also, check boxes appear next to the Users/Groups column if unique permissions are being used for this securable object. If check boxes do not appear next to the user and group names on the Permissions page, permissions are being inherited from a parent securable object.

3. If your list or library is inheriting permissions, you must first stop inheriting permissions to edit permission levels on this securable object. To do this, on the Actions menu, click Edit Permissions, and then click OK to confirm.
4. Select the check boxes for the users and SharePoint groups on which you want to edit permission levels on this securable object.
5. On the Actions menu, click Edit User Permissions.
6. In the Choose Permissions section, select the permission levels you want, clear those you do not want, and then click OK.

Break permission inheritance on a list or library

By default, lists and libraries inherit permissions from the parent site. Use the following steps if you want to break this inheritance and create unique permissions on a particular list or library.

 Caution   At a later time, you can choose to re-inherit permissions from the parent securable object. Note that inheriting permissions from the parent discards any unique permissions that may have been created for this securable object, such as unique SharePoint groups or permission level assignments that was created at this securable object while using unique permissions. Note that all unique permission level assignments are also discarded from folders in lists and libraries, list items, and documents within the list or library when you choose to re-inherit permissions.

1. Open the list or library in which you want to break inheritance from the parent securable object.
2. On the Settings menu, click List Settings or Document Library Settings.
3. In the Permissions and Management column, click Permissions for this list or Permissions for this document library.

   The Permissions : Securable object name page displays all users and SharePoint groups for this securable object and their assigned permission levels.

    Note   The page description describes the inheritance status for this securable object. Also, check boxes appear next to the Users/Groups column if unique permissions are being used for this securable object. If check boxes do not appear next to the user and group names on the Permissions page, permissions are being inherited from a parent securable object.

4. On the Actions menu, click Edit Permissions, and then click OK to confirm the action.

    Note   The Edit Permissions option is not available on the Actions menu if this securable object has unique permissions that are not being inherited from the parent securable object.

Break permission inheritance on a folder, document, or list item

By default, folders, documents, and list items inherit permissions from their parent securable object. In most cases, this means that they inherit their permissions from the list or library that contains them. In the case where folders, documents, and list items are contained by other folders, they would, by default, inherit permissions from the folder that contains them. Use the following steps if you want to break this inheritance and create unique permissions on a particular folder, document, or list item.

 Caution   At a later time, you can choose to re-inherit permissions from the parent securable object. Note that inheriting permissions from the parent discards any unique permissions that may have been created for this securable object, such as unique SharePoint groups or permission level assignments that were created at this securable object while using unique permissions.

1. Open the list or library that contains the folder, document, or list item on which you want to break inheritance from the parent securable object.
2. Rest the pointer on the folder, document, or list item on which you want to break inheritance, click the arrow that appears, and then click Manage Permissions.

   The Permissions page displays all users and SharePoint groups on this securable object and their assigned permission levels.

    Note   The page description describes the inheritance status for this securable object. Also, check boxes appear next to the Users/Groups column if unique permissions are being used for this securable object. If check boxes do not appear next to the user and group names on the Permissions page, permissions are being inherited from a parent securable object.

3. On the Actions menu, click Edit Permissions, and then click OK to confirm the action.

    Note   The Edit Permissions option is not available on the Actions menu if this securable object has unique permissions that are not being inherited from the parent securable object.

Inherit permissions for a list or library

By default, lists and libraries inherit permissions from the parent site. However, this inheritance can be broken to create unique permissions on a particular securable object. You can re-inherit permissions at any time. Use the following steps to re-inherit permissions from the parent securable object for a list or library that is currently using unique permissions that are not inherited from the parent.

 Caution   Inheriting permissions from the parent discards any unique permissions that may have been created for this securable object, such as unique SharePoint groups or permission level assignments that were created at this securable object while using unique permissions.

1. Open the list or library on which you want to re-inherit permissions.
2. On the Settings menu, click List Settings or Document Library Settings.
3. On the Customize page, in the Permissions and Management column, click Permissions for this list or Permissions for this document library.

   The Permissions page displays all users and SharePoint groups associated with this library and their assigned permission levels.

    Note   The page description describes the inheritance status for this securable object. Also, check boxes appear next to the Users/Groups column if unique permissions are being used for this securable object. If check boxes do not appear next to the user and group names on the Permissions page, permissions are already being inherited from a parent securable object.

4. On the Actions menu, click Inherit Permissions and then click OK to confirm the action.

    Note   The Inherit Permissions option is not available on the Actions menu if permissions are already being inherited from the parent securable object.

Inherit permissions for a folder, document, or list item

By default, folders, documents, and list items inherit permissions from their parent securable object. In most cases, this means that they inherit their permissions from the list or library that contains them. In the case where folders, documents, and list items are contained by other folders, they would, by default, inherit permissions from the folder that contains them. Use the following steps to re-inherit permissions from the parent securable object for a folder, document, or list item that is currently using unique permissions that are not inherited from the parent.

 Caution   Inheriting permissions from the parent discards any unique permissions that may have been created for this securable object, such as unique SharePoint groups or permission level assignments that were created at this securable object while using unique permissions.

1. Open the list or library that contains the folder, document, or list item on which you want to re-inherit permissions.
2. Rest the pointer on the folder, document, or list item on which you want to re-inherit permissions, click the arrow that appears, and then click Manage Permissions.

   The Permissions page displays all users and SharePoint groups at this securable object and their assigned permission levels.

    Note   The page description describes the inheritance status for this securable object. Also, check boxes appear next to the Users/Groups column if unique permissions are being used for this securable object. If check boxes do not appear next to the user and group names on the Permissions page, permissions are already being inherited from a parent securable object.

3. On the Actions menu, click Inherit Permissions and then click OK to confirm the action.

    Note   The Inherit Permissions option is not available on the Actions menu if permissions are already being inherited from the parent securable object.

Remove user permissions from a list or library

Use the following steps to remove users or SharePoint groups from a list or library.

1. Open the list or library on which you want to remove user permissions.
2. On the Settings menu, click List Settings or Document Library Settings.
3. On the Customize page, in the Permissions and Management column, click Permissions for this list or Permissions for this document library.

   The Permissions page displays all users and SharePoint groups associated with this library and their assigned permission levels.

    Notes 

   • The page description describes the inheritance status for this securable object. Also, check boxes appear next to the Users/Groups column if unique permissions are being used for this securable object. If check boxes do not appear next to the user and group names on the Permissions page, permissions are being inherited from a parent securable object.
   • If permissions are being inherited from the parent, you cannot remove users at this securable object. If you want to delete users and SharePoint groups from the parent securable object (which this securable object inherits those permissions from), you must manage the permissions of the parent.
4. Perform one of the following:
   • To manage the permissions of the parent, on the Actions menu, click Manage Permissions of Parent.
   • If you are currently inheriting permissions from the parent and want to break this inheritance and create unique permissions for this securable object, on the Actions menu, click Edit Permissions, and then click OK to confirm the action.
   • If the list or library is already using unique permissions that are not inherited from the parent, proceed to the next step.
5. Select the check boxes for the users and SharePoint groups you want to remove from this list or library.
6. On the Actions menu, click Remove User Permissions, and then click OK to confirm the action.

Remove user permissions from a folder, document, or list item

Use the following steps to remove users or SharePoint groups from a folder, document, or list item.

1. Open the list or library that contains the folder, document, or list item on which you want to remove user permissions.
2. Rest the pointer on the folder, document, or list item on which you want to remove user permissions, click the arrow that appears, and then click Manage Permissions.

   The Permissions page displays all users and SharePoint groups on this securable object and their assigned permission levels.

    Notes 

   • The page description describes the inheritance status for this securable object. Also, check boxes appear next to the Users/Groups column if unique permissions are being used for this securable object. If check boxes do not appear next to the user and group names on the Permissions page, permissions are being inherited from a parent securable object.
   • If permissions are being inherited from the parent, you cannot remove users on this securable object. If you want to delete users and SharePoint groups from the parent securable object (which this securable object inherits those permissions from), you must manage the permissions of the parent.
3. Perform one of the following:
   • To manage the permissions of the parent, on the Actions menu, click Manage Permissions of Parent.
   • If you are currently inheriting permissions from the parent and want to break this inheritance and create unique permissions for this securable object, on the Actions menu, click Edit Permissions, and then click OK to confirm the action.
   • If this securable object is already using unique permissions that are not inherited from the parent, proceed to the next step.
4. Select the check boxes for the users and SharePoint groups you want to remove from this securable object.
5. On the Actions menu, click Remove User Permissions, and then click OK to confirm the action.

• Ways to organize lists

• Add a column to a list

• Create a view

• Select another view

• Add a folder to a list

Ways to organize lists

The following are some of the ways that you can organize lists and list items:

• Add columns  To help your group pinpoint the items that are most important, you can add columns to your list. You may also want to add more columns if you want to collect additional information for each list item, such as the name of the department or the name of an employee.

  If you have multiple items in a list, you may consider indexing certain columns to improve the performance when viewing several items or switching views. This feature doesn't change the way the items are organized, but it may enable organizations to more easily store a large number of items in a list. Indexing can take up more database space, however. For more information, see your administrator.

• Create views  You can use views if the people in your group frequently need to see data in a certain way. Views use columns to sort, group, filter, and display the data. You can also select how many items are displayed at one time in each view. For example, people can browse a list in sets of 25 or 100 list items per page, depending on their preferences and the speed of their connection.

  Views give you the flexibility to store a large number of items in a list, but to see only the subsets that you want at a particular time, such as only the issues that were posted this year, or only the current events in a calendar. You can create personal views that are available only to you, and if you have permission to modify a list, you can create public views that are available to everyone.

• Create folders  You can add folders to most types of lists, if your list owner has allowed folders to be created. This is especially helpful if your list items can be divided in a particular way, such as by project or by group. Folders help people to more easily scan and manage the list items. Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 provides a tree view that enables people to navigate their sites and folders similar to the way that they work with the folders on their hard disk. For example, each department can have its own folder.
• Use lists consistently across sites  If your group works with several types of lists, you can add consistency across multiple lists with content types (content type: A reusable group of settings for a category of content. Use content types to manage the metadata, templates, and behaviors of items and documents consistently. Content types are defined at the site level and used on lists and libraries.), site columns, and templates. These features enable you to reuse the settings and list structure in an efficient way. For example, you can create a content type for a customer service issue that specifies certain columns (such as customer contact) and business processes for the content type. Another example is creating a site column for department names that has a drop-down list of departments. You can reuse the column in multiple lists to ensure that the names always appear the same way in each list.

  Find links to more information about content types, site columns, and list templates in the See Also section.

Although you can use the features of lists in a variety of ways, how you use them depends on the size and number of lists you have and the needs of your organization.

Storing many items in one list

You may want one large list to serve diverse needs. For example, you might have a large number of technical issues to track across your organization, and the issues may apply to multiple projects and groups.

Use a single list when:

• Your group needs to see summary information about the list items or different views of the same set of items. For example, a manager may want to see the progress on all technical issues for an organization or see all the issues that were filed within the same time period.
• People want to browse or search for the issues in the same location on a site.
• You want to apply the same settings to the list items, such as tracking versions (versioning: The process of creating a numbered copy of a file or an item whenever a revision is saved to the library or list.) or requiring approval.
• The groups working on the list share similar characteristics, such as the same levels of permission. Unique permission can be applied to specific list items, but if the levels of permission vary greatly, consider multiple lists.
• You want to analyze information about the list or receive consolidated updates for the list. You can receive alerts when the list items are changed or see the changes to a list by using RSS technology. RSS feeds enable members of your workgroup to see a consolidated list of information that has changed.

Creating multiple lists

You may want multiple lists when there are distinct differences between the items that you want to manage or between the groups of people who work with them.

Use multiple lists when:

• You don't expect people to need summaries of the items together.
• The groups of people working with the information are distinct and have different permission levels.
• You need to apply different settings, such as versioning or approval, to multiple sets of items.
• You do not need to analyze the items together or receive consolidated updates about the list.

Add a column to a list

Information in lists is stored in columns, such as Title, Last Name, or Company. If you need to store additional information about list items, you can add columns to help you sort, group, and create multiple views of your list. For example, you can sort a list by due date or group the items by department name.

You have several options for the type of column that you create, including a single line of text, a drop-down list of options, a number that is calculated from other columns, or even the name and picture of a person on your site.

 Note   The following procedure begins from the list page for the list that you want to add the column to. If the list is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch. If the name of your list does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your list.

1. On the Settings menu , click Create Column.
2. In the Name and Type section, type the name that you want in the Column name box.
3. Under The type of information in this column is, select the type of information that you want to appear in the column.
4. In the Additional Column Settings section, type a description in the Description box to help people understand the purpose of the column and what data it should contain. This description is optional.
5. Depending on the type of column that you selected, more options may appear in the Additional Column Settings section. Select the additional settings that you want.
6. To add the column to the default view, which people on your site automatically see when they first open a list or library, click Add to default view.
7. Click OK.

Create a view

You can use views to see the items in a list that are most important to you or that best fit a purpose. For example, you can create views of the items that were created most recently, items that apply to a specific department, or items that were created by the same person.

When you view most lists, you can temporarily sort or filter the items by pointing to the name of a column and then clicking the arrow beside the column name. This is helpful if you need to see list items in a certain way just once in while, but you have to repeat the steps the next time you view the list.

If you expect to view the list in a certain way frequently, you can create a view. You can use this view any time that you work with the list. When you create a view, it is added to the View menu of a list.

Lists can have personal views and public views. Anyone can create a personal view to see the lists in a certain way or to filter for only the list items that they want to see. If you have permission to design a site, you can create a public view, which anyone viewing the list can use. You can also make a public view the default view, so that people automatically see the list in that view.

Additionally, when you design a site, you can link to different views or design pages with Web Parts (Web Part: A modular unit of information that consists of a title bar, a frame, and content. Web Parts are the basic building blocks of a Web Part Page.) that use the different views. For example, a team might want to link to a view of a list that shows only the documents that were created by their team members.

If members of your group will view a list on a mobile device, you can create mobile views that provide limits, such as number of items displayed in a view, that are optimal for the bandwidth and limitations of the devices. Find links to more information about creating views in the See Also section.

1. If the list is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch.

   If the name of your list does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your list.

2. On the Settings menu , click Create View.
3. Under Choose a view format, click the type of view that you want to create. For many situations, you will want to create a Standard View, but you can choose other views for specific situations, such as when you want to create a calendar or a Gantt view.
4. In the View Name box, type a name for your view, such as Sorted by Last Name.
5. If you want to make this the default view, select the Make this the default view check box.You can make this the default view only if it is a public view and if you have permission to change the design of a list.
6. In the Audience section, under View Audience, select whether you want to create a personal view that only you can use or a public view that others can use.
7. In the Columns section, you can show or hide columns by selecting the appropriate check boxes. Next to the column name, enter the number for the order of your column in the view.
8. In the Sort section, choose whether and how you want the list items to be sorted. You can use two columns for the sort, such as first by last name and then by first name.
9. In the Filter section, choose whether and how you want to filter the list items. A filtered view shows you a smaller selection of the list, such as only items that were created by a specific department or with an approved status.
10. In the Group By section, you can group items with the same value in their own section, such as an expandable section for documents by a specific author.
11. In the Totals section, you can count the number of items in a column, such as the total number of issues. In some cases, you can summarize or distill additional information, such as averages.
12. In the Style section, select the style that you want for the view, such as a shaded list in which every other row is shaded.
13. If your list has folders, you can create a view that doesn't include the folders — this is sometimes called a flat view. To view all of your list items at the same level, click Show all items without folders.
14. You can limit how many items can be viewed in the list, or how many items can be viewed on the same page. These settings are particularly important if you are creating a view for a mobile device. In the Item Limit section, select the options that you want.
15. If you plan to view the list on a mobile device, select the options that you want in the Mobile section.
16. Click OK.

Select another view

Some lists come with more than one view, and you can create additional views. If different views are available, you can switch views by using the View menu.

1. If the list is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch.

   If the name of your list does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your list.

2. On the View menu , click the view that you want.

    Tip   To make changes to the existing view, click the View menu, and then click Modify this View.

Add a folder to a list

If you have several types of list items, you can add folders to help you organize your list.

1. If the list is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch.

   If the name of your list does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your list.

2. On the New menu , click New Folder.

   The New Folder command is not available if the person who created your list specified that folders cannot be created in the list.

3. Type a name for the folder, and then click OK.

 Tip   If you have multiple lists with folders, or if the people in your group like to browse a list as they

A site column is a reusable column definition, or template, that you can assign to multiple lists across multiple SharePoint sites. Site columns are useful if your organization wants to establish some consistent settings across lists and libraries. You can share the settings across multiple lists and libraries so that you don't have to recreate the settings each time. For example, suppose you define a site column named Customer. Users can add that column to their content types or list. This ensures that the column has the same attributes, at least to start with, wherever it appears.

When you add an item to the list or library, you fill out a form in which each column is represented by a field. Each field is labeled with the name of the column. If you provide a description for the column, the description appears below the field. You can use the description to help team members fill out the form by explaining what kind of information goes in the field.

1. On the Site Actions menu , click Site Settings.

    Note   On a site for which the Site Actions menu is customized, point to Site Settings, and then click the settings that you want to view.

2. On the Site Settings page, under Galleries, click Site columns.
3. On the Site Column Gallery page, click Create.
4. In the Name and Type section, type the name that you want in the Column name box.
5. Select the type of information you want to store in the column.

   The following table describes the types of columns that are available, by default.

   Select this	To display this
   Single line of text	Columns that collect and display small amounts of text in a single line, including text only, combinations of text and numbers, and numbers that are not used in calculations (such as phone numbers).
   Multiple lines of text	Columns that collect and display one or more sentences of text or formatted text.
   Choice (menu to choose from)	Columns that display a list of options.
   Number (1, 1.0, 100)	Columns that provide a box in which you can type a numerical value.
   Currency ($,¥, €)	Columns that provide a box in which you can type a monetary value.
   Date and Time	Columns that store calendar or time-of-day information.
   Lookup (information already on this site)	Columns that make it easy for you to select information that's already stored on a site.
   Yes/No (check box)	Columns that store true/false information.
   Person or Group	Columns that display the name of users or SharePoint groups.
   Hyperlink or Picture	Columns that display a hyperlink to a Web page or display an image from the Web.
   Calculated (calculation based on other columns)	Columns that display information that is based on the result of a formula. The formula can use information from other lists and columns, dates, or numbers. You can use standard mathematical operators.

    

6. In the Group section, select the existing group in which to store the new site column or create a new group to store the column.

   The following table describes the groups that are available, by default.

   Select this	To display this
   Base Columns	Columns that are useful in many types of lists or libraries.
   Core Contact and Calendar Columns	Columns that are useful in contact and calendar lists. These columns are typically used to synchronize metadata from client contact and calendar programs that are compatible with Windows SharePoint Services, such as Microsoft Office Outlook.
   Core Document Columns	Standard document columns from the Dublin Core Metadata Set.
   Core Task and Issue Columns	Columns that are useful in task and issues lists. These columns are typically used to synchronize metadata from client task and issue programs that are compatible with Windows SharePoint Services, such as Office Outlook.
   Custom Columns	Columns that you add to suit the purpose of your list or library.
   Extended Columns	A set of special-purpose columns.

7. In the Additional Column Settings section, select the additional column settings you want. The options available in this section differ depending upon the type of column that you select in the Name and Type section.

You can use views to see the items in a list or library that are most important to you or that best fit a purpose. For example, you can create views of the files that were created most recently, of the list items that apply to a specific department, or of the files created by one person. After you create a view, it is always available when you look at a list or library.

• Overview

• Types of views

• Create a view

• Work with mobile views

• Add columns

• Change the settings for a column

• Delete a column

• Select another view or change a view

Overview

Each list or library has at least one view, based on its type and which settings have been applied. Some lists and libraries have other built-in views, and you can create custom views. For example, a task list has several views, such as just the tasks due today, just the tasks assigned to you, all tasks, and so on.

You can create personal views and public views. A personal view is available only to you when you look at a list or library. A public view is available when anyone looks at a list or library. To create a public view, you must have permission to change the design of the list or library. You can make a public view the default view for a list or library.

Additionally, when you or someone else designs a site, you can link to different views, or you can design pages with Web Parts (Web Part: A modular unit of information that consists of a title bar, a frame, and content. Web Parts are the basic building blocks of a Web Part Page.) that make use of the different views.

To make your lists or libraries more versatile, you can add extra columns. You can create multiple views that show or hide the columns, depending on the purpose of the view. For example, people may want to see just the files that apply to their department, or the files sorted by their project number.

If your list or library is large or complex — for example, your group works on multiple projects or multiple groups are working on the same project — views can help contributors to see the data that is most meaningful for their situation.

You can select how many items are displayed at one time in each view. For example, people can browse a list in sets of 25 or 100 list items per page, depending on their preferences and the speed of their connection.

Views can also help manage how your lists and libraries are viewed on mobile devices. Some devices may restrict the number of characters displayed in a column.

Views provide several ways to make your lists and libraries more effective. Here are some ways you can use views:

• Filter by a set of criteria, such as a department or person's name.
• Sort in a particular order, for example, to show the files modified most recently.
• Hide or show columns, for example, to see a more focused view.
• Group information that is based upon list data, such as grouped by department.
• Display subtotals of columns, such as the number of contract documents.
• See a calendar view of a list that has start dates and end dates.
• View a list in a database program that enables data analysis.
• See all items at the same level in a flat view without folders.

Types of views

When you create a custom view in Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, you start by basing it on a type of view, which determines how the list items are displayed. For example, you can display list items in a linear list, similar to lines on paper, or you can display your information more visually, such as displaying dates in a monthly calendar. You can also base a new view on an existing view, which saves time if you want to use an existing view as a starting point.

• Standard  This view displays list items or files like a traditional list on a Web page. Standard view is the default for most types of lists and libraries, and you can customize it in several different ways.
• Calendar  This view displays your calendar items in a visual format that is similar to a desk or wall calendar. You can apply daily, weekly, or monthly views in this format. For example, you can create a calendar to track your team's deadlines for a project or holidays for your organization.

  

   

   Calendars have different views.
   All-day events appear at the top of a calendar according to date; other events appear according to date and time.
• Datasheet  This view provides data in a format that you can edit, such as a table in a database or spreadsheet. This view can be helpful if you need to perform large editing tasks or customization, or export your data to a spreadsheet or database program. Datasheet view requires a control or program that is compatible with Windows SharePoint Services, such as Office Access 2007, and ActiveX control (ActiveX control: A control, such as a check box or button that offers options to users or runs macros or scripts that automate a task. You can write macros for the control in Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications or scripts in Microsoft Script Editor.) support.
• Gantt  This view provides a visual view of data, with bars that track progress, if your data is based on a time interval. A Gantt view can help you manage projects and see a quick overview of your data. You can use this view, for example, to see which tasks overlap each other and to visualize overall progress.

  

 Note   Other types of views may be available for your list or library.

Create a view

When you view a list or library, you can temporarily sort or filter the files by pointing to the name of a column and then clicking the arrow beside the name. This is helpful if you need to see the files in a certain way once in while, but you have to repeat the steps the next time that you view the list or library.

If you expect to view information in a certain way frequently, you can create a view. You can use this view any time that you work with the list or library. When you create a view, it is added to the View menu of a list or library. The View menu groups the views in sections, including the default view, any personal views, any additional public views, views related to content approval (such as Approve/reject), in addition to commands for modifying and creating views.

Before you begin

Before creating a view, you may want to add more columns to enable more flexibility for sorting, grouping, and filtering. For more information about creating columns, see Add columns in this article.

If you are creating a view for a mobile device, you should consider the limits of your group's mobile devices. For help on determining these limits, see Work with mobile views later in this article.

Create a view

1. If the list or library is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch.

   If the name of your list or library does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your list or library.

2. On the View menu , click Create View.
3. Under Choose a view format, click the type of view that you want to create. For most situations in libraries, you can click Standard View, but you can choose other views for specific situations.
4. In the View Name box, type a name for your view, such as Sorted by Last Name.
5. If you want to make this the default view, select the Make this the default view check box.

   You can make this the default view only if it is a public view and if you have permission to change the design of a list.

6. In the Audience section, under View Audience, select whether you want to create a personal view that only you can use or a public view that others can use.
7. In the Columns section, you can show or hide columns by selecting the appropriate check boxes. Next to the column name, enter the number for the order of your column in the view.
8. In the Sort section, choose whether and how you want the information to be sorted. You can use two columns for the sort, such as first by author, and then by file name for each author.
9. In the Filter section, choose whether and how you want to filter the files. A filtered view shows you a smaller selection, such as items created by a specific department or with an Approved status.
10. In the Group By section, you can group items with the same value in their own section, such as an expandable section for documents by a specific author.
11. In the Totals section, you can count the number of items in a column, such as the total number of issues. In some cases, you can summarize or distill additional information, such as averages.
12. In the Style section, select the style that you want for the view, such as a shaded list in which every other row is shaded.
13. If your list or library has folders, you can create a view that doesn't include the folders — this is sometimes called a flat view. To view of all your list items at the same level, click Show all items without folders.
14. If your list or library is large, you can limit how many files can be viewed in the list or library, or how many files can be viewed on the same page. In the Item Limit section, select the options that you want.
15. If you plan to view the list or library on a mobile device, select the options that you want in the Mobile section.
16. Click OK.

Work with mobile views

In Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, you can view and even update some lists and libraries from a mobile device, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA) or cell phone.

The length and size of some parts of a list or library are limited on mobile devices, because of screen width and possible performance issues. You can create views for your mobile device that are based on the limits.

Some types of lists, such as discussion boards, are not available in mobile views. Some column types are also not available in mobile views, including Currency, Yes/No, and Person or Group. If a limit is reached, the content that isn't displayed is indicated with an ellipsis (…) in the mobile view.

If people in your group are viewing lists or libraries on both types of mobile devices, you should take the mobile list limits into consideration when you design a mobile view.

The following are the limits for views of lists and libraries on mobile devices.

Add columns

Columns help your group categorize and track information, such as the department name or project number. You have several options for the type of column that you create, including a single line of text, a drop-down list of options, a number that is calculated from other columns, or even the name and picture of a person on your site.

 Note   The following procedure begins from the list or library page to which you want to add the column. If the list or library is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch. If the name of your list or library does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your list or library.

1. On the Settings menu , click Create Column.
2. In the Name and Type section, type the name that you want in the Column name box.
3. Under The type of information in this column is, select the type of information that you want to appear in the column.
4. In the Additional Column Settings section, type a description in the Description box to help people understand the purpose of the column and what data it should contain. This description is optional.
5. Depending on the type of column that you selected, more options may appear in the Additional Column Settings section. Select the additional settings that you want.
6. To add the column to the default view, which people on your site automatically see when they first open a list or library, click Add to default view.
7. Click OK.

Change the settings for a column

You can change the settings for a column, such as the name of the column. Depending on the type of column and the type of list, you can make additional changes. For example, you can change the type of data that some columns contain, or restrict the number of characters they contain. When you change the settings, ensure that the existing data matches the new settings that you are applying.

1. If the list or library is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch.

   If the name of your list or library does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your list or library.

2. Do one of the following:
   • On the Settings menu , click List Settings or the settings option that you want.
   • On a blog site, under Admin Links, click Manage Posts to display the posts list. On the Settings menu, click List Settings.
3. Under Columns, click the name of the column that you want to change.
4. Change the settings that you want, and then click OK.

 Note   You can specify that a column is indexed, which can make it faster to switch views of lists or libraries that span multiple folders. To view the settings for a list or library, click Indexed Columns. Select the column that you want to index, and then click OK.

Delete a column

 Important   This procedure deletes the column and any data in the column.

1. If the list or library is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch.

   If the name of your list or library does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your list or library.

2. Do one of the following:
   • On the Settings menu , click List Settings or the settings option that you want.
   • On a blog site, under Admin Links, click Manage Posts to display the posts list. On the Settings menu, click List Settings.
3. Under Columns, click the name of the column that you want to delete.
4. Click Delete.

   You may need to scroll to the bottom of the page to see the Delete button.

5. When you are prompted with a warning and if you are sure that you want to delete the column, click OK.

 Note   Lists and libraries contain certain required columns that can't be deleted, such as the Title or Name column. If the column cannot be deleted, the Delete button is not available. If you cannot delete a column, but you do not want the column to appear in a view, you can hide it. Find links to more information about hiding columns in the See Also section.

Select another view or change a view

The views that are available depend upon the settings for your list or library, and whether someone has created additional views. Many lists and libraries have more than one default view. For example, a task list has views for the tasks that are assigned only to you and for all the tasks that are due today.

1. If the list or library is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch.

   If the name of your list or library does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your list or library.

2. Do one of the following:
   • To select a different view, on the View menu , click the view that you want.
   • To make changes to a view, click the View menu, and then click Modify this View.

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 provides a list column type called Business Data, which is available to SharePoint lists in Office SharePoint Server 2007. The business data column type enables users to add data from business applications that are registered in the Business Data Catalog to lists. You can integrate information from business applications such as SAP, Siebel, and Microsoft SQL Server into the collaborative environment of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 by adding the business data column type to a list. This way, you have a list of items that use a combination of columns from a SharePoint site and from an external business application.

• Ways to use business data in lists

• Shortcuts to business data actions

• Add a column of business data to a SharePoint list

• Add business data items to a SharePoint list

• Update the data in the business data column with business application data

• View the profile of a list item

• Delete a business data column from a SharePoint list

Ways to use business data in lists

There are several advantages to using business data in lists. For example, Contoso, Ltd., a consulting company that uses a customer relationship management (CRM) system, uses business data in lists in the following ways:

• To associate documents with customer records  Documents such as proposals, contracts, and presentations can be stored in SharePoint lists and associated with the appropriate customer in the CRM database. This helps keep all of the customer documentation in one place and lets page viewers easily navigate to the customer's record in the business application.
• To easily augment information from external data sources  Adding custom fields to a large database, such as a CRM system, can be costly and complex. By using a SharePoint list, Contoso employees can create custom columns for any type of data, such as an annotation, and then associate that column with the customer record in the CRM system. Not only is this type of column easy to add, it also helps prevent changes to the original data.
• To select data from a list of consistent values  To create a new column in a SharePoint list that displays a list of values, such as postal codes, authors can use the preapproved master list of values from the CRM database. This saves time and reduces inconsistency and errors during data entry.

 Important   Your administrator must first register your external business application with Office SharePoint Server 2007 before the business data column type is available. The type of information that you can add from your business application depends on the fields that your administrator registers with Office SharePoint Server 2007.

Shortcuts to business data actions

Business data actions are links that appear beside business objects. These links can, for example, open Web pages, display the user interfaces of business applications, or open Microsoft Office InfoPath forms. Business data actions menus also appear in SharePoint lists and search results. By using these links, you can easily update an item or see related data.

The types of business data actions that are available from a SharePoint list depend on the permissions that your administrator sets on the item and the type of list item itself. For example, if the item is an entity in an SAP database, you can access and edit items in the database directly from the SharePoint list.

To view the actions list, point to the item that you want to view, click the arrow that appears, and then click one of the actions on the menu.

Add a column of business data to a SharePoint list

Depending on the type of business data that you are working with and the values associated with the data, you need to first designate one primary column for which you can then select optional related columns for each value. Examples of business data values are class, color, name, price, and so on.

 Note   To complete this task, you must have permission to the data source and the Contribute permission level on the site.

1. If the list is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch.

   If the name of your list does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your list.

2. On the Settings menu , click Create Column.
3. In the Name and Type section, type the name that you want in the Column name box.
4. Under The type of information in this column is, select Business data.

   The Additional Column Settings section is updated with the settings that apply to business data columns.

5. In the Additional Column Settings section, in the Type box, type the name of the business data type from which you want to add columns. To browse for a business data type, click Browse.
6. In the Display this field of the selected type list, select the field that you want to display in the primary business data column.
7. Under Add a column to show each of these additional fields, select as many additional fields as you want. These columns are automatically populated when you select a value in the primary business data column.
8. Click OK to save your changes and return to the list.

 Note   You can sort and filter the additional columns, but you cannot change their order in the list.

Add business data items to a SharePoint list

Before you can add business data items to a list, you must add a column of business data, as described earlier in this article.

1. On the New menu click the arrow, and then click New item type, such as New Item.

   If additional content types have been added to the list, other choices appear, such as New Support Issue or New Vendor.

2. In the Title box, type a name for this item in your list.
3. To search for data in a business data column, do one of the following.

   If you	Do this
   Know the name of the item	Type as much of the value as you can, and then press CTRL+K. If there is more than one result, select one from the list, and then click OK.
   Want to search for an item	Click Browse . Click the arrow, and then select the name of the filter that you want to search for. Type the value in the box to the right, and then click Search . Select the data from the search results box, and then click OK.

4. To add the item to the list, click OK.

Update the data in the business data column with business application data

To ensure that business data columns in your SharePoint list stay current with the dynamic data in your business application, you need to update your SharePoint list columns frequently. You update only the primary business data column. Any additional related business data columns are updated when the primary column is updated.

1. Locate the primary business data column in the list by finding the column with the Update symbol next to it .
2. Click the Update symbol.
3. The Update Confirmation page appears. To continue with the update, click OK.
4. The Update Status page shows how many records were updated and whether any errors occurred. To return to the list, click OK.

View the profile of a list item

Each business data item in a SharePoint list has a profile that contains additional details from the business application. For example, the column may contain only the product name, but the profile can show details such as product description, color, list price, or cost.

To view the profile of an item, click the arrow next to the item, and then click View Profile.

Delete a business data column from a SharePoint list

When you add more than one business data column from the same external database to a list, you designate one primary column and then select additional related columns. When you delete the primary column, all of its related columns are deleted. Related columns cannot be deleted independently of the primary column.

1. On the Settings menu , click List Settings.
2. Under Columns, select the name of the column that you want to delete.

    Note   Only primary column names are displayed in the list.

3. On the Change Column page, click Delete.

You can use a calendar to store team events, including meetings, social events, and all-day events. You can also track team milestones, such as deadlines or product release dates, that are not specific to a time interval.

• Overview

• Customize the default calendar

• Create a new calendar

• Add an event from a site

• Add an event by sending e-mail

Overview

Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 comes with a default calendar that you can customize and update. You can create additional calendars if you need them.

 Calendars have different views.

 All-day events appear at the top of a calendar according to date; other events appear according to date and time.

You can add events to a calendar on a Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 site, or even add meeting requests and attachments to a calendar by sending e-mail messages. If you use a calendar program that is compatible with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, such as Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, you can view and update the calendar on your site from your calendar program.

Calendars help you manage and view your schedule by day, week, and month. You can make any of these views your default view for the site, or you can create custom views. You can navigate forward and back within the view, for example, to see the next month.

You can also use a grid to easily browse your calendar. For example, if you are viewing a conference event in May 2008 and then want to view a possible date for the following year's conference, you can quickly browse to May 2009.

You can manage the process for updating your calendar just as you manage the updates to any list. You can require approval for items that are submitted to a calendar and manage which groups of people can see events before they are approved. You can also track versions of calendar items, so you can see what has changed and restore previous versions.

Customize the default calendar

A calendar is created for you when Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 creates a new site. If you don't want to customize the calendar, you and your team can start adding events to it by following the steps later in this article. You can also customize the calendar by changing its name or other settings. To do this, you must have permission to change the design of the lists on your site.

1. On the Quick Launch, click Calendar.

   If Calendar does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click Calendar.

2. To change the settings for this calendar, on the Settings menu , click List Settings.
3. To change the title and description, under General Settings, click Title, description and navigation, and then type a different title and description.
4. Change any other settings that you want, and then click Save.
5. Return to your calendar by clicking its name in the Top Navigation bar.

Create a new calendar

1. Click View All Site Content, and then click Create on the All Site Content page.

    Tip   In most cases, you can use the Site Actions menu instead to complete this step.

2. Under Tracking, click Calendar.
3. In the Name box, type a name for the calendar. The calendar name is required.

   The name appears at the top of the calendar page, becomes part of the Web address for the calendar page, and appears in navigational elements that help the user to find and open the calendar.

4. In the Description box, type a description of the purpose of the calendar. The description is optional.

   The description appears at the top of the calendar page in most views, underneath the name of the calendar. If you plan to enable the list to receive content by e-mail, you can add the e-mail address of the calendar to its description, so that people can easily find the e-mail address.

5. To add a link to the calendar on the Quick Launch, click Yes in the Navigation section.
6. If an E-mail section is available on the New page, your administrator has enabled your site to receive content by e-mail. If you want people to add events to the calendar by sending e-mail, click Yes. Then, in the E-mail address box, type the first part of the address that you want people to use for the calendar.
7. Click Create.

Add an event from a site

Follow this procedure to add an event to a calendar that you are viewing on a SharePoint site.

1. If the calendar is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch.

   If the name of your calendar does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of the calendar.

2. On the New menu , click New Item.
3. To make the item an all-day event, so that it doesn't appear at a specific time slot on a calendar, select the Make this an all-day activity that doesn't start or end at a specific hour check box in the All Day Event section.
4. To make the event repeat, for example at 11:00 every Wednesday, select the Make this a repeating event check box in the Recurrence section.
5. Enter any other information that you want, and then click OK.

 Tip   You can create a Meeting Workspace site (Meeting Workspace site: A Web site based on a Meeting Workspace site template that is used for planning, posting, and working together on meeting materials, and following up after a meeting or series of meetings.) when you create an event. Find links to more information about Meeting Workspace sites in the See Also section.

Add an event by sending e-mail

Calendars can be set up so that people can add items by sending e-mail, if your site is enabled to receive content by e-mail. You can send calendar items from calendar or e-mail programs that support the iCalendar format.

Before you can send e-mail to a calendar, you need to know whether the calendar is set up to receive e-mail, and then obtain the address.

1. Do one or more of the following to obtain the e-mail address for the calendar:
   • Look in the address book of your e-mail program. If the e-mail address is not there, you need to obtain it from the person who set up the calendar. Then you can add it to the contacts list of your e-mail program, so that you can easily find it later.
   • View the description of your calendar, which appears just under the title of the calendar. Your site owner may have added the e-mail address of the calendar to its description.
   • View the e-mail settings for the list, if the e-mail address of the calendar does not appear in the description and if you have permission to view calendar settings:
     1. If the list is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch.

        If the name of your list does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your list.

     2. On the Settings menu , click List Settings.
     3. If the calendar is enabled to receive e-mail, its address appears under List Information, next to E-mail Address.
   • Use the e-mail address of your SharePoint group to send the calendar item, such as a meeting request or appointment, in e-mail. Your organization may have its own e-mail list, called a SharePoint group, which enables its members to send mail to each other. The SharePoint group address can contain the address of your calendar, so that when you send a meeting request to members of the group, the items are automatically added to your SharePoint calendar.
2. To send a calendar item, send a meeting request or an appointment from your e-mail or calendar program.

   Calendars can be set up to also receive attachments to items by e-mail. To include an attachment with your list item, attach the file to your meeting request as you normally do.

3. In the To or Cc box of the meeting request, enter the address of the calendar. If your SharePoint group already includes the calendar, enter the e-mail address of the SharePoint group instead.
4. Send the message. In most e-mail applications, you click Send to send the message.

 Note   If you send a calendar item to a SharePoint site by using e-mail, you need to let your meeting attendees know if the meeting changes. If you change the meeting details on the SharePoint site, meeting updates and cancellations are not sent automatically from the SharePoint site.

You can set up discussion boards on your Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 site to share information and discuss topics with other people.

• Overview

• Use the default Team Discussion board

• Create a new discussion board

• Set up a discussion board to receive e-mail

• Start a discussion

Overview

The discussion board shows the most recent discussion first, as well as the number of replies for each discussion. That way, you can quickly see which discussions have the most recent activity and which ones are the most popular. Members can also customize their own views of the discussion board.

By default, a new Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 site already has one discussion board set up. This board is called Team Discussion, but you can change its name and other settings or create additional discussion boards.

If your Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 site is set up to receive e-mail, participants can add items to the discussion board from their e-mail application.

Use the default Team Discussion board

The Team Discussion board is created for you when Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 creates a new site.

If you like the name of the discussion board and the way it is set up, you and your team can start creating discussions by opening the discussion board and then following the steps later in this article.

You can also customize the Team Discussion board by changing its name or other settings. To do this, you must have permission to change the design of lists on your site.

1. On the Quick Launch, click Team Discussion.

   If Team Discussion does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click Team Discussion.

2. To change the settings for this discussion board, on the Settings menu , click Discussion Board Settings.
3. To change the title and description, under General Settings, click Title, description and navigation, and then type a different title and description.
4. Change any other settings that you want, and then click Save.
5. Return to your discussion board by clicking its new name in the navigation bar.

Create a new discussion board

You can create a new discussion board if you want to have multiple discussion boards on your site, or if you deleted the Team Discussion board and want to create another one.

If lists on your site are set up to receive e-mail, you can specify an e-mail address for the discussion board as you create it. For more information, see your administrator.

1. Click View All Site Content, and then click Create on the All Site Content page.

    Tip   In most cases, you can use the Site Actions menu instead to complete this step.

2. Under Communications, click Discussion Board.
3. In the Name box, type a name for the discussion board. The name is required.
4. In the Description box, type a description of the discussion board. The description is optional.

   If you plan to enable the discussion board to receive content by e-mail, you could add its e-mail address to the description, so people can readily find it.

5. In the Navigation section, specify whether you want the discussion board to appear on the Quick Launch.
6. To enable the discussion board to receive e-mail, under Enable this list to receive e-mail, click Yes. This option will not be available if your server is not set up to receive e-mail.
7. Under E-mail address, type a unique name to use as part of the e-mail address for the discussion board.
8. Click Create.

Set up a discussion board to receive e-mail

If an administrator has enabled lists on your Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 site to receive e-mail, you can set up a discussion board so that its participants can post messages to it by sending e-mail. The participants create their messages as they would any e-mail message and then include the name of the discussion board in the To or Cc box of the e-mail message.

If the participants belong to a SharePoint group (SharePoint group: A group of users that can be created on a SharePoint site to manage permissions to the site and to provide an e-mail distribution list for site users. A group can be used by many sites in one site collection.) that has an e-mail distribution list, a discussion board can be a part of the e-mail list. Then, when the participants send e-mail to members of the group, their discussions are automatically added to and archived in the discussion board on the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 site.

The following procedure enables an existing discussion board, such as the default Team Discussion board, to receive e-mail. You can also choose this setting when you create a new discussion board.

1. If the discussion board is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch.

   If the name of your discussion board does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your discussion board.

2. To change the settings for this discussion board, on the Settings menu , click Discussion Board Settings.
3. Under Communications, click Incoming e-mail settings.
4. Under Enable this list to receive e-mail, click Yes.
5. In the E-mail address box, type a unique name to use as part of the e-mail address for the discussion board.
6. Choose any other settings that you want, such as whether messages sent in e-mail should keep their attachments (such as pictures or documents) or whether the original e-mail message should be saved in the discussion board as an attachment.
7. Click OK.

 Notes 

• If someone set up your SharePoint group to receive e-mail, your discussion board may already have its own e-mail address. If so, you should make a note of the address and then confirm with your site owner or administrator.
• If you do not see Incoming e-mail settings, your site may not be set up so that lists can receive e-mail. For information, see your administrator.

When you create a Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services site, several types of lists are created for you. These default lists range from a discussion board to a calendar list. You can customize the default lists in many ways, or you can create custom lists with the columns that you choose.

Lists can also take advantage of e-mail features, if incoming or outgoing mail is enabled on your site. Some lists, such as calendars, announcements, blogs, and discussion boards, can be set up so that people can add content to them by sending e-mail. Other lists, such as tasks and issue-tracking lists, can be set up to send e-mail to people when items are assigned to them.

Lists can include many types of data, ranging from dates or pictures to calculations based on other columns.

• Create a list from a list template

• Create a custom list

• Add a column to a list

Create a list from a list template

Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 includes several different types of lists, ranging from a calendar to a contacts list. Although some of the settings vary among the lists, you can use the same basic procedure to create any type of list. The following procedure shows you how to create a list from a list template.

 Note   To create a list, you must have permission to change the site where you want to create the list.

1. Click View All Site Content, and then click Create on the All Site Content page.

    Tip   In most cases, you can use the Site Actions menu instead to complete this step.

2. Under Communications or Tracking, click the type of list that you want, such as Contacts or Calendar.

   Types of lists

   The type of list that you use depends on the kind of information that you are sharing:

   • Announcements  Use an announcements list to share news and status and to provide reminders. Announcements support enhanced formatting with images, hyperlinks, and formatted text.
   • Contacts  Use a contacts list to store information about people or groups that you work with. If you are using an e-mail or contact management program that is compatible with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, you can view and update your contacts from your SharePoint site in the other program. For example, you can update a list of all your organization's suppliers from Office Outlook 2007. A contacts list doesn't actually manage the members of your site, but it can be used to store and share contacts for your organization, such as a list of external vendors.
   • Discussion boards  Use a discussion board to provide a central place to record and store team discussions that is similar to the format of newsgroups. If your administrator has enabled lists on your site to receive e-mail, discussion boards can store e-mail discussions from most common e-mail programs. For example, you can create a discussion board for your organization's new product release. If you are using an e-mail program that is compatible with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, you can view and update your discussion board while working in the other program.
   • Links  Use a links list as a central location for links to the Web, your company's intranet, and other resources. For example, you might create a list of links to your customers' Web sites.
   • Calendar  Use a calendar for all of your team's events or for specific situations, such as company holidays. A calendar provides visual views, similar to a desk or wall calendar, of your team events, including meetings, social events, and all-day events. You can also track team milestones, such as deadlines or product release dates, that are not related to a specific time interval. If you are using an e-mail or calendar program that is compatible with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, you can view and update your calendar from your SharePoint site while working in the other program. For example, you can compare and update your calendar on the SharePoint site with dates from your Office Outlook 2007 calendar, by viewing both calendars side-by-side or overlaid with each other in Office Outlook 2007.
   • Tasks  Use a task list to track information about projects and other to-do events for your group. You can assign tasks to people, as well as track the status and percentage complete as the task moves toward completion. If you are using an e-mail or task management program that is compatible with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, you can view and update your tasks from your SharePoint site in your other program. For example, you can create a task list for your organization's budget process and then view and update it in Office Outlook 2007 along with your other tasks.
   • Project tasks  To store information that is similar to a task list, but also provide a visual or Gantt view with progress bars, use a project task list. You can track the status and percentage complete as the task moves toward completion. If you are using an e-mail or task management program that is compatible with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, you can view and update your project tasks from your SharePoint site in your other program. For example, you can create a task list on your SharePoint site to identify and assign the work to create a training manual. Then you can track your organization's progress from Office Outlook 2007.
   • Issue tracking  Use an issue-tracking list to store information about specific issues, such as support issues, and track their progress. You can assign issues, categorize them, and relate issues to each other. For example, you can create an issue-tracking list to manage customer service problems and solutions. You can also comment on issues each time you edit them, creating a history of comments without altering the original description of the issue. For example, a customer service representative can record each step taken to resolve a problem and the results.
   • Survey  To collect and compile feedback, such as an employee satisfaction survey or a quiz, use a survey. You can design your questions and answers in several different ways and see an overview of your feedback. If you have a spreadsheet or database program installed that is compatible with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 or Windows SharePoint Services 2.0, you can export your results to further analyze them.
   • Custom  Although you can customize any list, you can start with a custom list and then customize just the settings that you specify. You can also create a list that is based on a spreadsheet, if you have a spreadsheet program that is compatible with Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 or Windows SharePoint Services 2.0, and Windows Internet Explorer and Microsoft Windows. For example, you can import a list from Microsoft Office Excel 2007 that you created to store and manage contracts with vendors.
3. In the Name box, type a name for the list. The list name is required.

   The name appears at the top of the list page, becomes part of the Web address for the list page, and appears in navigational elements that help users to find and open the list.

4. In the Description box, type a description of the purpose of the list. The description is optional.

   The description appears at the top of the list in most views, underneath the name of the list. Some types of lists can receive content by e-mail. If you plan to enable the list to receive content by e-mail, you can add the e-mail address of the list to its description, so that people can easily find the e-mail address.

5. To add a link to this list on the Quick Launch, click Yes in the Navigation section.
6. If an E-mail section appears, your administrator has enabled lists on your site to receive content by e-mail. To enable people to add content to the list by sending e-mail, click Yes under Enable this list to receive e-mail. Then, in the Email address box, type the first part of the address that you want people to use for the list.

   This option may not be available for some types of lists.

7. If an E-Mail Notification section appears, your administrator has enabled lists on your site to send e-mail notifications when list items are assigned. To enable the list to send e-mail to people when an item is assigned to them, click Yes under Send e-mail when ownership is assigned?.

   This option may not be available for some types of lists.

8. Click Create.

 Note   By default, you can add content by sending e-mail to discussion boards, announcements, and calendar lists, if incoming e-mail is enabled on your site. Tasks, project tasks, and issue-tracking lists can send e-mail to people when items are assigned to them, if outgoing mail is enabled for the site. Other lists can be enabled by your administrator with a custom solution such as an e-mail handler.

 Tip   You can save time when you create a list by importing a spreadsheet file, if your data is already in a spreadsheet format. To create a list that is based on a spreadsheet, you must be using a spreadsheet program that is compatible with Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services, Microsoft Internet Explorer 5, and Microsoft Windows.

Create a custom list

Creating a custom list is similar to creating a default list, except that the custom list comes with only a few columns, such as Title. After you create a custom list, you can add columns to suit the purpose of your list.

 Note   To create a list, you must have permission to change the site where you want to create the list.

1. Click View All Site Content, and then click Create on the All Site Content page.

    Tip   In most cases, you can use the Site Actions menu instead to complete this step.

2. Under Custom Lists, click Custom List.
3. In the Name box, type a name for the list. The list name is required.

   The name appears at the top of the list page, becomes part of the Web address for the list page, and appears in navigational elements that help users to find and open the list.

4. In the Description box, type a description of the purpose of the list. The description is optional.

   The description appears at the top of the list, underneath the name of the list.

5. To add a link to this list on the Quick Launch, click Yes in the Navigation section.
6. Click Create.

 Tip   You can also create a custom list in datasheet view or from a spreadsheet, which is helpful when you have several items to update at once. Datasheet view requires a program or control that is compatible with Windows SharePoint Services, such as Microsoft Office Professional 2007, and ActiveX control  support.

Add a column to a list

Some lists already have columns set up, but you can add or change them. For custom lists, you add your own columns to the list.

Columns help your group to categorize and track information, such as your department name or project number. You have several options for the type of column that you create, including a single line of text, a drop-down list in which you specify the options, a number that is calculated from other columns, or even the name and picture of a person on your site.

 Note   The following procedure begins from the list page for the list that you want to add the column to. If the list is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch. If the name of your list does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your list.

1. On the Settings menu , click Create Column.
2. In the Name and Type section, type the name that you want in the Column name box.
3. Under The type of information in this column is, select the type of information that you want to appear in the column.
4. In the Additional Column Settings section, type a description in the Description box to help people understand the purpose of the column and what data it should contain. This description is optional.
5. Depending on the type of column that you selected, more options may appear in the Additional Column Settings section. Select the additional settings that you want.
6. To add the column to the default view, which people on your site automatically see when they first open a list or library, click Add to default view.
7. Click OK.

 Note   After you create a column, you can go back and change its settings. For example, you might want to specify that a column contains currency instead of just a number. To view or change the list settings, open the list, and then click List Settings on the Settings menu.

My Site is a personal site that gives you a central location to manage and store your documents, content, links, and contacts. My Site serves as a point of contact for other users in your organization to find information about you and your skills and interests. Content providers can use My Site as a method of customizing the information they present to users.

• Overview

• The site

• Ways to work with My Site

Overview

Your My Site provides:

• A central location for you to view and manage all of your documents, tasks, links, calendar, colleagues, and other personal information.
• A way for other users to learn about you and your areas of expertise, current projects, and colleague relationships.
• A place for content providers to target information to you based on the information that you and your organization provide in your profile, such as your title, department, and interests.
• A place for administrators to present personalized Web sites.

As a dedicated personal site, your My Site provides you with a single location to manage all of the documents, content, and tasks that you have in any site in your organization. You can also present content and documents to other people, create your own workspaces, provide information about yourself to other people, and learn about the status of your colleagues.

My Site presents lists of memberships, such as distribution lists, and shows you how you can share those lists with other people. My Site displays a list of your colleagues and an organization hierarchy diagram to show your position within your immediate team. When other people visit your My Site, they can quickly see what they have in common with you — colleagues whom you both know, memberships that you share, and the first manager whom you both share.

Privacy groups allow you to decide who gets to view some of the information on your public page, such as the list of your colleagues, distribution list memberships, your skills and interests, and other information you may want to display only to your workgroup or your manager. Find links to more information about privacy groups in the See Also section.

The site

By default, your My Site includes two parts: a personal site called My Home and a public profile page called My Profile.

You are the administrator of the personal site, which starts with a private home page. My Site is similar to having your own personal Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 site — you can create document libraries and picture libraries, calendars, surveys, tasks, and other SharePoint lists. You can create other pages on your personal site and provide links to those pages by using your public home page. Any of the documents and lists that you create in your personal site can be shared with other people or viewed by only you.

Your administrator determines how the profile page looks, but you decide whether to add more detail. You can also control how some of the content on the public profile page is shared with various groups of people — similar to a filter. To learn more about content privacy, see Information privacy on My Site.

Other groups in your organization can create sites that contains content that is personalized for you. These sites are called personalization sites, and they are displayed as a separate tab on your My Site to give you easy access to information. For example, Human Resources might create a site that contains your payroll history, vacation balance, and links to benefits information.

Ways to work with My Site

The following are some of the ways you can use your My Site:

• Use and keep track of links

• Keep track of your colleagues

• Set up a document workflow

• Share documents and save to SharePoint sites

• Create Meeting Workspace and Document Workspace sites

• Share information on the My Site public page

• Get better search results when you share information

• Access previous versions of documents

Use and keep track of links

The My Links page allows you to keep track of your favorite Web sites and access them from any computer on your network. When you log on, My Links appears in the upper-right corner on every site. By using the My Links menu, you can easily add new links, reorganize your links, access sites where you are a member, and click links to save them to your My Links list.

Personalization sites, which are provided by administrators or content providers, can be pinned to your My Site. This means that the site appears as an additional tab next to your home page and public page. Sometimes, you can pin and unpin personalization sites by using a menu on the tab. This makes it easy to add and remove the tab from your My Site.

Keep track of your colleagues

The Colleagues Web Part helps you to keep track of events, such as whether your colleagues are in the office, in meetings, or on the telephone. You can also be notified when colleagues change departments or responsibilities, add documents to a SharePoint library, or have an anniversary or birthday. In addition, you can choose who appears on your Colleagues list and organize your Colleagues list by groups.

Find links to more information about using the Colleagues Web Part in the See Also section.

Set up a document workflow

You can set up a workflow in your Shared Documents library to route documents for approval. This allows you to request approval, collect feedback and signatures, set up tasks, and view the history of the workflow.

Find links to more information about using workflows in the See Also section.

Share documents and save to SharePoint sites

The SharePoint Sites Web Part on your home page is useful for listing all of the documents you have created, saved, or modified in any site in your organization. The SharePoint Sites Web Part automatically displays documents for five sites where you are listed in the Site Name Member SharePoint group. The SharePoint Sites Web Part also lists any tasks that you are assigned in any site. You can add as many sites as you want to the SharePoint Sites Web Part.

The Documents Web Part on your public page allows you to share documents with other people. All documents you have saved to every library in your organization, except for your Private Documents Library, automatically appear in the list for other people to access. You can change the permissions on list items and libraries to prevent them from appearing in the Documents Web Part.

You can use the My Site places link in Microsoft Office programs to save files to your My Site. The My Site places folder opens the document libraries, SharePoint sites, and document workspace sites that you have created on your My Site. By default, you have four document libraries to save files to: My Pages, My Pictures, Private Documents, and Shared Documents.

Find links to more information about using the SharePoint Sites Web Part and Documents Web Part in the See Also section.

Create Meeting Workspace and Document Workspace sites

You can use your My Site to create a workspace site for projects, a team site, a wiki site, a new blog, or a records repository. Two of the most common ways to use My Site is for Meeting Workspace sites and Document Workspace sites.

Meeting Workspace site   Use this Web site for gathering all the information and materials for one or more meetings. If your meeting materials, such as agendas, related documents, objectives, and tasks, are often scattered, a Meeting Workspace site can help you keep them all in one place.

A Meeting Workspace site provides a place where your meeting attendees can go for the most up-to-date information about the meeting, whether you are managing a year-long project with recurring meetings or planning a small event.

The following are some ways you can use a Meeting Workspace site:

• Before the meeting, publish the agenda, attendee list, and documents that you plan to discuss.
• During the meeting, add the tasks, record the decisions, and review the related documents.
• After the meeting, publish the minutes, add other follow-up information, and track the status of the tasks.

Document Workspace site   This type of Web site helps you to coordinate the development of one or more related documents with other people. The site provides tools to share and update files and to keep people informed about the status of those files.

You and your colleagues can work together on a Document Workspace site to develop a document in the following ways:

• Work directly on the copy located on the Document Workspace site.
• Work on a local copy and update the copy regularly on the Document Workspace site.

You and other workspace members can also use a Document Workspace site to publish announcements, assign tasks, share relevant links, and receive alerts about changes to site content. You can create a Document Workspace site for a short-term project and delete the site when the project ends or keep the site permanently.

Find links to more information about creating and managing Meeting Workspace sites and Document Workspace sites in the See Also section.

Share information on the My Site public page

The My Site public page allows you to display details about yourself to people who visit your My Site. This information becomes part of your user profile and can include your picture, text that describes you, your projects, and your interests. Your administrator may provide additional details that appear on your public page and are also included in your user profile.

Some of the information you provide can be filtered, so that only certain people can view it. You do this by using privacy groups. For example, you can make your mobile phone number visible to only your workgroup.

Search by using profile details   You can use any detail in a user profile to search for someone in your organization, even when you don't know his or her name. For example, if you wanted to find someone who had knowledge about Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) or Microsoft Office Excel, you could search for those terms and find people who list those words in the Interests or Skills boxes on the Details page of their public profile.

What do you have in common with other people?   When someone visits your public page or you visit another's page, the In Common with You Web Part displays the colleagues whom you both know, the distribution lists and SharePoint sites that you both belong to, and the first manager whom you have in common.

Display your affiliations   The Memberships Web Part automatically displays the Active Directory directory service distribution lists and SharePoint sites of which you are a member. As with other types of information on the page, you can choose who gets to view the memberships or whether the memberships are displayed at all.

Show whom you work with   You can display a list of the people you work with and group them according to project, by whom they report to, or in any type of grouping that makes sense to you. Free/busy information in Microsoft Office Outlook helps keep you up-to-date on people's whereabouts.

Get better search results when you share information

Some of the information on your public page may be displayed automatically by your administrator, who may use sources such as Active Directory or other LDAP-compatible applications. It is likely that this information comes from databases like those that your Human Resources department might use and provides details like your title, department name, and manager relationship.

Most of the information on the public page is optional. However, the more information that you share about your projects, responsibilities, areas of expertise, skills, and interests, the better the collaboration can be within your organization. You can limit who can view the information that you share, but when you share it with everyone, you allow people to find you, your expertise, and links to your colleagues and projects.

Access previous versions of documents

If you set up your My Site lists or libraries to track versions of list items or files, you can view the version history. The version history contains information about when the item or file was changed and who changed it. In libraries, the version history may also contain comments that people made about their changes.

The version history also contains changes to properties, sometimes known as metadata. Examples are when someone changes the name of the person whom the list item is assigned to, or when the file is due to be completed. Libraries can track major versions, like those in which a new section was added to a document, and minor versions, like those in which a spelling error was corrected. Lists can track only major versions. To view the version history, you must have permission to read items in a list or library.

Find links to more information about version history of items or files in the See Also section.

A Meeting Workspace is a Web site for gathering all the information and materials for one or more meetings. If your meeting materials — such as agendas, related documents, objectives, and tasks — are often scattered, a Meeting Workspace site can help you keep them all in one place.

• How can I use a Meeting Workspace site?

• Where can I create a Meeting Workspace site?

• Choose a Meeting Workspace template

• Create or link to a Meeting Workspace site when you create an event

• Create a Meeting Workspace site without creating an event

How can I use a Meeting Workspace site?

A Meeting Workspace site provides a place where your meeting attendees can go for the most up-to-date information about the meeting, whether you are managing a year-long project with recurring meetings or planning a small event.

 Description of the meeting

 Page tabs

 Menu for customizing the Meeting Workspace site

 Attendees list

 Document Library

Here are some ways you can use a Meeting Workspace site:

• Before the meeting, publish the agenda, attendee list, and documents that you plan to discuss.
• During the meeting, add the tasks, record the decisions, and review the related documents.
• After the meeting, publish the minutes, add other follow-up information, and track the status of the tasks.

 Note    In a Meeting Workspace site, your participants cannot add items like announcements, document libraries, and discussions to the lists by sending them in e-mail. The participants need to add the items directly to the list in the Meeting Workspace site.

Where can I create a Meeting Workspace site?

You can create a Meeting Workspace site when you add an event to your calendar in Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, or you can create a new Meeting Workspace site without creating an event.

Depending on the program, you may be able to create a new Meeting Workspace site from an e-mail and calendar application that is compatible with Windows SharePoint Services, such as Microsoft Office Outlook 2007. For more information, see Help in the e-mail and calendar application.

 Notes 

• To create a Meeting Workspace site, you must have permission to create it. For more information, see your site owner or administrator.
• Administrators and site owners have the required permission level to create Meeting Workspace sites. If you are an administrator or site owner and want to enable other team site members to create Meeting Workspace sites, you can grant permission to create sites to the group that the team members belong to.
• If you set up a recurring meeting series from an e-mail and calendar application that is compatible with Windows SharePoint Services, such as Office Outlook 2007, you can't remove a link for only one meeting in the series. You can remove the link only for the entire series. After you remove the link, you can't link that Meeting Workspace site to any meeting request again. However, you can link the original recurring meeting request to a different Meeting Workspace site.

Choose a Meeting Workspace template

When you create a Meeting Workspace site, you select a template. A template provides a basic structure and appearance for your Meeting Workspace site.

A template is just a starting point — you can add or delete items and change the appearance of the site after you create it. The following templates are available:

• Basic Meeting Workspace  This template is designed to plan, organize, and track your meeting. This template includes Objectives, Attendees, Agenda, and Document Library.
• Blank Meeting Workspace  This template creates a blank Meeting Workspace site for you to customize, based on your requirements.
• Decision Meeting Workspace  This template is designed for reviewing documents and recording any decisions that are reached at the meeting. The template includes Objectives, Attendees, Agenda, Document Library, Tasks, and Decisions.
• Social Meeting Workspace  This template helps you to plan social occasions, such as a company picnic or a party for your club. You can give it a serious look, or have fun and make it flashy. This template includes Attendees, Directions, Image/Logo, Things To Bring, Discussions, and Photos (Picture Library).
• Multipage Meeting Workspace  This template provides the basics to plan, organize, and track your meeting with multiple pages. It includes Objectives, Attendees, and Agenda. It also includes two blank pages for you to customize, based on your requirements.

 Tip   Although templates give you a head start, you can add or change features in the Meeting Workspace site by customizing it.

Create or link to a Meeting Workspace site when you create an event

This procedure enables you to create a Meeting Workspace site when you add an event to a calendar.

1. If the calendar is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch.

   If the name of your calendar does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of the calendar.

2. On the New menu , click New Item.
3. Complete the information about the event, such as location and beginning and ending dates.

   To use the Meeting Workspace site for a recurring event, such as one that occurs on the same day each week, select the Make this a repeating event check box next to Recurrence, and then select the options that you want.

4. At the bottom of the page, select the Use a Meeting Workspace to organize attendees, agendas, documents, minutes, and other details for this event check box.
5. Click OK.
6. In the Create or Link section of the New or Existing Meeting Workspace page that appears, do one of the following:
   • If you do not already have a Meeting Workspace site:
     1. Click Create a new Meeting Workspace, and enter the information that you want, including the title and the last part of the Web address for the site.
     2. Click OK, and then on the Template Selection page that appears, select the template that you want.
   • If you already have a Meeting Workspace site that you want to link to, click Link to an existing Meeting Workspace, and then select the Meeting Workspace site in the drop-down list.
7. Click OK.

 Tip   You can customize the Meeting Workspace site if you want, or you can start adding meeting information to the lists, such as Agenda items.

Create a Meeting Workspace site without creating an event

1. Go to the Web site where you want to add the Meeting Workspace site.
2. Click View All Site Content, and then click Create on the All Site Content page.

    Tip   In most cases, you can use the Site Actions menu instead to complete this step.

3. In the Web Pages list, click Sites and Workspaces.
4. Enter the information about the Meeting Workspace site that you want to create, such as the title and the last part of the Web site address.
5. In the Template Selection section, under Select a template, click the Meetings tab.
6. Select the Meeting Workspace template that you want to use.
7. Click Create.

 Tip   You can customize the Meeting Workspace site if you want, or you can start adding meeting information to the lists, such as Agenda items.

A Document Workspace site helps you to coordinate the development of one or more related documents with other people. The site provides tools to share and update files and to keep people informed about the status of those files.

• Overview

• Create a Document Workspace site from a document in a library

• Create an empty Document Workspace site

• Add a document

• Add a user

• Add a task

• Add an announcement

• Add a link to the Links list

• Create an e-mail alert for a task