13 November, 2009

Uploading Spreadsheets into SharePoint Lists

By having the data from the spreadsheet in a SharePoint list it makes it easier to filter the data, display the data to the right audiences, search the data, add new records to the list and most importantly it is easier for people to have access to the data. so what is the right process to upload spreadsheets into sharepoint list ????

1. Open up the SharePoint site where you want to create the new SharePoint list that will contain the data from your spreadsheet.

2.Click Site Actions – Create.

3.Then from the column Custom List you will find Import Spreadsheet .

4.Enter a ‘Name’ for the List and a Description.

5.Then in the ‘Import from Spreadsheet’ section browse to your spreadsheet.

6.Next click the ‘Import’ button.

7.You will now get the ‘Import Windows SharePoint List’ screen as well as your Excel spreadsheet.

8.Cell A1 is highlighted but you can’t select all the cells until you change the dropdown ‘Range of Cells’ and then click in the bottom box ‘Select Range’.

9.Now you can click on cell A1 hold the mouse button down and drag to the last cell in your spreadsheet so that all cells including the column titles are selected.

10.Now click the ‘Import’ button and after a few seconds you will have a neatly presented SharePoint list with all the columns and data from your spreadsheet now displaying.

09 October, 2009

Risk-List Uniqueness !!

This is regarding with one of the unique Sharepoint issues that we successfully resolved today. By using out-of-settings, it is not possible to resolve this issue and anybody can consider that it a SharePoint By-Default behaviour.

ISSUE:

-In a Project Tracking Workspace Template, there is one list which comes by default named "Risk List".

-If we want to create one more same list then you will not find the option under View All Site Content->Create-> Custom List

-If we try to save the Risk List as Template then it will successfully saved in the List Gallery but you will not find that list under the Create List Section (Path mentioned above)

STEPS TAKEN FOR RESOLUTION:

-Taken backup of all the folders for the below mentioned steps in which i have made modification !!

-Checked C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\TEMPLATE\FEATURES

-Inside the Features Folders->PWSRISKS Folder(Which is part of Project Tracking Workspace Template)

-Inside the PWSRISKS Folder->List Templates->pwsrisk.xml

-Opened the XML file in notepad->Made Modification as -> DontSaveInTemplate="FALSE" (It was True before)

-Opened Feature.XML for the Risk List-> made Modification as -> Hidden="FALSE" (It was true Before)

-That's it..Issue resolved !!

03 October, 2009

SharePoint Designer Cache

Clearing SharePoint Desinger Web Part Cache:
After deploy the new assembly to the server you might see that new properties are not reflected in SharePoint Designer. You can correct the issue by clearing the C:\Documents and Settings\[User]\Local Settings\Application Data\Local\Microsoft\WebsiteCache

Clearing the Assembly Cache for SharePoint Designer:
There might be issue with loading workflow with custom activities that you have deployed for SPD workflows, which will result in "Failed to load the workflow" !!
Getting rid of cached file from:C:\Documents and Settings\[user]\Application Data\Microsoft\SharePoint Designer\ProxyAssemblyCache\. Then delete the folder (12.x.x.xxxx)

How to disable Contributor Settings in SharePoint Designer

When you install Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007), By Default the Contributor Settings will be enabled on your site(s). You will notice this in the SharePoint Designer task pane.

This is because your account is present in the Content Authors group, wich may “restrict the use of some features” as the task pane mentions.This behavior can be modified if you turn off the "Contributor Settings" in SPD.

How to get this above window:
1. Open The site in SharePoint Designer
2. Site Menu
3.choose Contributor Settings.
4.Click on Disbale Contributor settings
5. Refresh the page and U will not see that message again !!!!

25 July, 2009

An error has occured in Approval

I think, Workflow is the easiest part of SharePoint for anybody to use and especially the out-of-box workflows. Yesterday, One of the user in my project reported an error regarding workflow. The scenario was he set an approval workflow for himself and when he tried to approve it then he got an error message as follows:




When we set up an workflow for the document library and list, We usually follow these process :

-Go to Settings->Workflow Settings->Add Workflow
-Choose the Approval workflow from the list, make it start on item creation go to the second workflow page.
-Select the approvers asper your requirement and check "Update the approval status (use this workflow to control content approval)"
-Finish and the workflow has been set !!

And now the mystery begins and you will get an error as mentioned above. and now You will ask,why? So the keyword is "Approval" !!

This is an approval workflow which should among getting the approvals update the approval status of the document so, if you missed one tiny little step like setting the approval for the document library this simple task will fail at the end.

Resolution:-
-Just go to the document Library Settings
-Versioning Settings Page
-Set "Require content approval for submitted items to?" to yes and everything should be fine.

I hope the above information will helps you to overcome the above mentioned error message!!
Thanks!!!