Typical Web Discussions Configurations

The following sections describe typical user configurations and the interaction between SharePoint Portal Server, Office, and the Web browser. Depending on your deployment, you can use Web discussions from the dashboard site by using a Web browser or from Office.

If Office is not installed on your computer, clicking the Discuss link under a document title on the dashboard site activates the Web Discussions toolbar, a custom SharePoint Portal Server ASP toolbar. If you are using Office XP, clicking the Discuss link activates the Online Collaboration toolbar. If you are using Office 2000, clicking the Discuss link activates the Web Discussions toolbar.

Using Web Discussions with Office 2000 and Internet Explorer

In Office 2000, you have the option of using either the Online Collaboration toolbar that is included with Office and added to Internet Explorer, or the Web Discussions toolbar that is included with SharePoint Portal Server.

To enable the Online Collaboration toolbar, use either of the following methods:

• On the Internet Explorer toolbar, click the Web Discussion button.
• On the View menu, point to Explorer Bar, and then click Discussion.

To enable the Web Discussions toolbar:

• Click the Discuss link under a document title on the dashboard site.

The Online Collaboration toolbar and the Web Discussions toolbar may use different Web discussions servers, resulting in multiple discussions. For more information about how to prevent this behavior from happening, see Strategies for Web Discussions Configurations.

If you enabled the Online Collaboration toolbar the last time you used Internet Explorer, both the Web Discussions toolbar and Online Collaboration toolbar may be open simultaneously. This may be confusing, but in general, you can view and modify Web discussions that you create with either version of the toolbar.

Adding Discussion Items

This section describes the variety of ways you can add discussion items to a document by using Office 2000 and Internet Explorer.

• If you open the document from the dashboard site and then choose to add discussion items in Internet Explorer, clicking the Web Discussion button on the toolbar opens the Online Collaboration toolbar. You can then insert Web discussions items inline or insert Web discussions items about the document.

  In Internet Explorer, you can only insert inline discussion items for HTML files.

• If you click the Discuss link under a document title on the dashboard site or the link from a discussion item subscription, the Web Discussions toolbar opens with the SharePoint Portal Server computer assigned as the Web discussions server.
• You can add a discussion item directly from Office or Windows Explorer.

To add a discussion item from the Online Collaboration toolbar in an Office application:

• On the Tools menu, point to Online Collaboration, and then click Web Discussions.

Using Web Discussions with Office XP Installed

In Office XP, you can use the Web Discussion button from Internet Explorer or any Office application to open the Online Collaboration toolbar. When you click the Discuss link under the document title in the dashboard site, the Online Collaboration toolbar opens. Regardless of how you choose to access the Web discussion, Office XP automatically specifies the active document's server as the Web discussion server if it can identify that server as a valid Web discussions server. In the case of a document that is stored on a SharePoint Portal Server computer, the associated computer depends on the combination of Web discussions settings on the server in addition to the location of the document. If Office determines that the server on which the document is located is not a valid Web discussions server, you are prompted to provide the name of a valid Web discussions server when you attempt to add a new discussion item. For more information about Web discussions settings, see Variables Affecting Web Discussions earlier in this chapter.

Office XP uses the designated server for all subsequent Web discussions items, regardless of the document locations, without displaying a prompt to you. This behavior continues for the current and future Office and Internet Explorer sessions. After you choose a Web discussions server, Office XP continues to specify this server until you manually choose a different server. It does not choose the active document's server for the next document.

Adding Discussion Items

This section describes a variety of ways that you can add discussion items to a document using Office XP and Internet Explorer.

To add discussion items to a document, use any of the following methods:

• Open a document from the dashboard site, and then choose to add discussion items in Internet Explorer. On the Internet Explorer toolbar, click the Web Discussion button to open the Online Collaboration toolbar. You can then insert Web discussions items inline or about the document, depending on the file type.
• Under a document title on the dashboard site or from a discussion item subscription, click the Discuss link to open the Online Collaboration toolbar. You can then insert Web discussions items inline or about the document, depending on the file type.
• On the Tools menu in Office, point to Online Collaboration, and then click Web Discussions.

Using Web Discussions Only from a Web Browser

If Office is not installed on your computer or if you use Netscape as your Web browser, you can click the Discuss link under a document on the dashboard site to open the Web Discussions toolbar. By using this toolbar, you can insert comments about a document, but you cannot insert inline discussion items.

To use Web discussions from a computer without Office installed, you must enable Web discussions in this workspace. For more information, see Variables Affecting Web Discussions earlier in this chapter.

In Internet Explorer, you can insert Web discussions items for HTML documents directly in the browser window. For other file types (such as .BMP files), you are prompted to open or save the file. If you choose to open the file, it is opened in a separate discussion window by using the associated application. You can then discuss the file in your browser using the Web Discussions toolbar while viewing the file in the separate window.

In Netscape, you are prompted to open or save the file. If you choose to open the file, it is opened in a separate window by using the associated application. You can then discuss the file in your browser using the Web Discussions toolbar while viewing the file in the separate window.