www.iusesharepoint.com

Ah, driving adoption. We know it can be tough to get a team to change its ways. But you don't have to resort to wearing disguises like our SharePoint champion. Use this handy kit to send the message: life is easier with SharePoint 2010.

Want to get your team using SharePoint?

Here are two ways to download and deploy:

Download the Lunch & Learn SharePoint Adoption Kit.
The Lunch & Learn kit contains all the materials you need to promote SharePoint within your organization. The kit includes instructions, templates, videos, quick reference cards and more to help you deploy an internal SharePoint resource site - a place to access SharePoint information and tools, and connect around the best part of the day: lunch. Download this kit to show your team how SharePoint makes life, and lunch, a little better.
Download this handy Adoption Kit.


Build an Adoption Kit that's right for you.
If your organization already has an established learning center, you can download individual pieces to post to and promote the destination that works best for you. These standalone pieces can be used to add interesting and helpful training content to your organization's site and to drive SharePoint learning and adoption. Choose to download one or more of these resources, like webisodes, Show Me How videos, quick reference cards, poster templates, table tents and more.

Download Tips & Tricks

Download Quick Reference Cards

Launch of www.SharePointSriLanka.org

This was a dream came true. Finally on 12th of January 2011 we were so happy to announce the launch of the Sri Lankan SharePoint Forum. The online forum which can be reached at www.SharePointSriLanka.org or www.SharePointSriLanka.com or www.SharePointSriLanka.net. The offline forum which will take place on second Wednesday of every month.

These forums are the official Microsoft Approved forums dedicated to SharePoint and related products. What you see above is the  logo of SharePoint Sri Lanka Forum. This logo has the meaning of collaboration which is the idea behind the product SharePoint. Its represented by the 4 colored people.

For the launch there were over 130 attendees. And there were two technical sessions held. The first sessions which was a the 1st of a series, on SharePoint branding hosted by Abul Azad a SharePoint UX Expert. The second session was on Claim-based Authentication hosted by me.

I’m so happy to be one of the founders of SharePointSriLanka forum. Also my special thanks goes to Gogula (One of the founders of SQLServer Universe and MVP SQL Server) who came up with the idea and was behind me nagging all times till we launch it. How can I forget, Dinesh Priyankara (One of the founders of SQLServer Universe and MVP SQL Server) the BI Guru for being there for me always (even paid for the soft drinks ) and helping in all matters to make the SharePoint Forum a success.

Also many thanks to Dinusha Kumarasiri and Abul Azad for the sleepless nights spent to bring the www.SharePointSriLanka.org up and running. And not to forget the one and only Wela, Wellington Perera, without your support this wont be a success, you know it well buddy.

Okay, this offline forum is not only for SharePoint Experts. We have planned to have two sessions each day, giving a chance for a newcomer to do a session on any SharePoint related technology or product. And the second session will be hosted by a person with more experience on the product.

Now you know, you have a place to publish your articles, blogs, ask questions on related technologies. So guys get registered soon and help make SharePointSriLanka a better place for you.

PDF in SharePoint 2010

This is a step-by-step guide to setup and configure Adobe PDF file search in SharePoint 2010.

Step 1
Download the Adode iFilter from the following url.
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4025

Step 2
Download the pdf icon file. Download a 16*16 gif or a png file. Or else you can download it from the below url. http://www.adobe.com/misc/linking.html

Step 3
Extract the zip file and install the PDFFilter64installer file which you downloaded in Step 1.

Step 4
Open the “Run” window and open Registry Editor running the regedit command.


In Registry editor browse to location \\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office Server\14.0\Search\Setup\ContentIndexCommon\Filters\Extension

Step 5
Right Click on “Extension” and add a new Key.

Name it as .pdf.

Step 6
Now add the following GUID as the default key.
{E8978DA6-047F-4E3D-9C78-CDBE46041603}

Step 7
Now is the time to set the icon for pdf files.
Copy/Move the pdf icon you downloaded in in Step 2 to the following folder.
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\TEMPLATE\IMAGES
Next open “Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager and Stop the service.

This step is required as you are going to amend a file which is currently in use.

Step 8
Browse to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\TEMPLATE\XML and open the DOCICON.XML file. (use Notepad). And do a search for the <ByExtension> tag.

Add the line <Mapping Key="pdf" Value="pdficon_small.gif" />
(replace pdficon_small.gif with your icon name)

Save the file.
Start IIS Service

Step 9
Open SharePoint Central Administration. Under Application Management select Manage Service Applications. Open Search Service Application.

Step 10
Select File Types on the left menu. Click New File Type. Enter pdf and click OK.

Step 11
Click on Content Sources and do a Full Crawl (not an Incremental Crawl). After completing job, you know what to do. Do a search.

SharePoint Rocks!!

Microsoft MVP in SharePoint

1st of January 2011 was a day I could never forget. I stared the day with a pleasant surprise from Microsoft. I got awarded as a MVP (Most Valuable Professional). MVP in SharePoint.

Thank you God. Thanks Microsoft. Thank you Dinesh Priyankara, Gogula, Wela, Lilian, Susantha, Jinath and all who helped and guided me to come an MVP.

I have done few thing for the community and I have a lot to do.

SharePoint User Permissions

When SharePoint is installed, by default it will create a set of Permissions, which can be viewed by “Central Administration” => “Application Management” => “Manage WebApplications” => Highlight the WebApplication => Click on “User Permission”.



To secure the contents at various levels within SharePoint sites, it is these permissions that has to be enabled by the administrators. Each permission has a level of it’s own which can be; List, Site or Personal.

These Permissions are grouped/combined to create the Permission Levels. 

List level Permissions…

Permission	Description	Type	Permission Level
Manage Lists	Create and delete lists, add or remove columns in a list, and add or remove public views of a list.	List	Full Control, Design, Manage Hierarchy
Override Check Out	Discard or check in a document that is checked out to another user.	List	Full Control, Design, Approve, Manage Hierarchy
Add Items	Add items to lists, and add documents to document libraries.	List	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Approve, Manage Hierarchy
Edit Items	Edit items in lists, edit documents in document libraries, and customize Web Part pages in document libraries.	List	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Approve, Manage Hierarchy
Delete Items	Delete items from a list, and documents from a document library.	List	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Approve, Manage Hierarchy
View Items	View items in lists, and documents in document libraries.	List	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Read, Approve, Manage Hierarchy, Restricted Read
Approve Items	Approve a minor version of a list item or document.	List	Full Control, Design, Approve
Open Items	View the source of documents with server-side file handlers.	List	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Read, Approve, Manage Hierarchy, Restricted Read
View Versions	View past versions of a list item or document	List	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Read, Approve, Manage Hierarchy
Delete Versions	Delete past versions of a list item or document.	List	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Approve, Manage Hierarchy
Create Alerts	Create alerts	List	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Read, Approve, Manage Hierarchy
View Application Pages	View forms, views, and application pages; enumerate lists.	List	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Read, Approve, Manage Hierarchy

Site level Permissions…

Permission	Description	Type	Permission Level
Manage Permissions	Create and change permission levels on the website and assign permissions to users and groups.	Site	Full Control, Manage Hierarchy
View Web Analytics Data	View reports on website usage.	Site	Full Control, Manage Hierarchy
Create Subsites	Create subsites such as Team sites, Meeting Workspace sites, and Document Workspace sites.	Site	Full Control, Manage Hierarchy
Manage Web Site	Grant the ability to perform all administrative tasks for the website, as well as manage content.	Site	Full Control, Manage Hierarchy
Add and Customize Pages	Add, change, or delete HTML pages or Web Part pages, and edit the website using a Microsoft SharePoint Foundation compatible editor.	Site	Full Control, Design, Manage Hierarchy
Apply Themes and Borders	Apply a theme or borders to the entire website	Site	Full Control, Design
Apply Style Sheets	Apply a style sheet (.CSS file) to the website.	Site	Full Control, Design
Create Groups	Create a group of users that can be used anywhere within the site collection.	Site	Full Control
Browse Directories	Enumerate files and folders in a website using SharePoint Designer and WebDAV interfaces.	Site	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Approve, Manage Hierarchy
Use Self- Service Site Creation	Create a website using Self- Service Site Creation	Site	Read, Contribute, Design, Full Control
View Pages	View pages in a website.	Site	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Read, Approve, Manage Hierarchy, Restricted Read
Enumerate Permissions	Enumerate permissions on the website, list, folder, document, or list item.	Site	Full Control, Manage Hierarchy
Browse User Information	View information about users of the website.	Site	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Read, Limited Access, Approve, Manage Hierarchy
Manage Alerts	Manage alerts for all users of the website.	Site	Full Control, Manage Hierarchy
Use Remote Interfaces	Use SOAP, Web DAV, the Client Object Model, or SharePoint Designer interfaces to access the website.	Site	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Read, Approve, Manage Hierarch
Use Client Integration Features	Use features that launch client applications. Without this permission, users must work on documents locally and upload their changes.	Site	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Read, Limited Access, Approve, Manage Hierarchy
Open	Allow users to open a website, list, or folder in order to access items inside that container.	Site	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Read, Limited Access, Approve, Manage Hierarchy, Restricted Read
Edit Personal User Information	Allow a user to change his own user information, such as adding a picture.	Site	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Approve, Manage Hierarchy

Personal level Permissions…

Permission	Description	Type	Permission Level
Manage Personal Views	Manage Personal Views	Personal	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Approve, Manage Hierarchy
Add/Remove Personal Views	Add or remove personal Web Parts on a Web Part page.	Personal	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Approve, Manage Hierarchy
Update Personal Web Parts	Update Web Parts to display personalized information	Personal	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Approve, Manage Hierarchy

A blog post on Permission levels soon to be released.

Manage SharePoint Farm Administrators

To Manage SharePoint 2010 Farm Administrators, follow the steps given below.

Go to “Central Administration”, select “Security” and go to “Manage the Farm Administrators Group”. Within this screen we can manage the Farm Administrators.

To remove a user, select the user by clicking on the checkbox on the leftmost column, go to “Actions” and click on “Remove Users from Group”.

(The reason why I wrote this simple blog post is, in one of the popular SharePoint 2010 Administration books I read recently, they have guided the reader in a wrong path)

Corporate portal with classic authentication or with claims-based authentication

These design samples illustrate a typical corporate deployment, with the most common types of SharePoint sites represented. The two samples differ only in the mode of authentication that is implemented -- one uses classic authentication and one uses claims-based authentication.

You can download it in PDF, Visio or in XPS formats from here.