Section 5.2. Sharing Workbooks


5.2. Sharing Workbooks

To share a workbook through SharePoint:

  1. Open the workbook in Excel and select Tools Shared Workspace. Excel displays the Shared Workspace task pane, as shown in Figure 5-2 .

  2. The SharePoint site may ask you to sign in. Enter your user name and password and click OK .

  3. Once the workbook is shared, Excel changes the task pane. You can click on Open site in browser to view the new shared workspace .

Don't confuse Tools Shared Workspace with File Save Workspace. The latter creates an . xlw file that stores your Excel windows and open documents. Also don't confuse it with Tools Share Workbook. Share Workbook is the old way of allowing multiple authors to edit a workbook at the same time.


animal 5-2. Sharing a workbook using the Excel task pane

Excel connects to the SharePoint site and creates a new document workspace for each workbook you share from Excel. The workbook stored locally on your computer is now linked to the workbook stored on SharePoint. If you save the workbook, changes are saved locally and then sent to the server. If you close and then reopen the local workbook, Excel connects to SharePoint to get any changes from others as shown in Figure 5-3. See the section "Reconciling Changes and Viewing History" later in the chapter for an explanation of how to manage changes made by others.

animal 5-3. Sharing a workbook links it to the SharePoint site

Sharing the workbook is really only the first step for using SharePoint from Excel. After you share a workbook you can:

  • Add other documents to the workspace. New workspaces contain only one document, but you will probably want to add others.

  • Add members . By default, SharePoint includes only you in the workspace, and you must grant others access before they can edit documents in the workspace.

  • Send alerts. SharePoint automatically notifies new members when you add them to a workspace. Alerts are typically used to notify members of changes or approaching deadlines.

  • Assign tasks. Workspaces help track tasks assigned to team members.

  • Check files in and out. Checking a file out prevents others from changing it.

  • Reconcile changes. If a file is not checked out, members must reconcile their changes with the changes of others.

  • View document history.

The following sections describe how to accomplish those tasks from Excel through the Shared Workspace task pane.

5.2.1. Using the Task Pane

The Shared Workspace task pane gives you access to the SharePoint site from within Excel. Each of the icons at the top of the task pane maps to an equivalent task that you can perform from the SharePoint site itself. Table 5-1 describes the icons and lists the tasks you can perform with them.

Table 5-1. Shared Workspace task pane buttons

Button

Name

Use to

Status

Check whether the open document is up to date.

Members

View or add team members to the workspace.

Tasks

View or assign tasks for workspace team members.

Documents

Add documents to the workspace or open other documents from the workspace.

Links

Add or view links to related information.

Document Information

View the document's revision history.


The Shared Workspace task pane is the same in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.

Because it's hard to include icons throughout a book like this, I instead use the names in Table 5-1 when referring to task pane buttons.


5.2.2. Adding Documents

Each new workspace has its own folder on the site. To add other documents to the workspace:

  1. In the task pane, click Documents Add new document. SharePoint displays Figure 5-4 .

  2. Click OK to copy the file to SharePoint and add it to the document workspace. The new document appears in the task pane .

animal 5-4. Adding other documents to the workspace

5.2.3. Adding Members

When you create a new workspace, only you are added to the list of members. For others to be able to view or edit files from the workspace, you'll need to add them as members. To add members to a workspace:

  1. In the task pane, click Members Add new members. Excel displays Figure 5-5 .

  2. Click Finish to add the members. Excel displays a dialog telling you that the members were added and asking if you want to send them an email message .

  3. Click OK to complete the task. If you left Send an email selected, Outlook displays the message so you can edit it before sending (Figure 5-7) .

animal 5-5. Adding new members to a workspace

The site groups in Figure 5-5 determine the privileges granted to the new members. You can assign different levels of access, as described in Table 5-2.

Table 5-2. Site groups used to assign permissions to a workspace

Setting

Permission

Reader

Read-only access to the site.

Contributor

Add content to existing document libraries and lists.

Web Designer

Create lists and document libraries and customize pages in the workspace.

Administrator

Full control of the workspace.

Custom

You can define custom groups. Ask your site administrator about other levels of access if you need them.


SharePoint checks the email addresses of the members you entered in Figure 5-5. If it can't match the address with a valid account on the SharePoint server, the account information is left blank as shown in Figure 5-6. Typically, everyone on your network will have an account on the SharePoint server, but members outside your network will need to have an account set up by your SharePoint administrator.

animal 5-6. Identifying members SharePoint doesn't recognize

Excel can only send the email if you have Outlook 2003 installed as your default mail application. If you get an error at step 4, do this: from the Windows Start menu, choose All Programs Microsoft Office Microsoft Office Outlook 2003. If Outlook isnt your default mail application, you should see a dialog box asking if you want to make it the default. Click OK to make the change.

5.2.4. Sending and Receiving Alerts

Figure 5-7 shows the email sent when you add new members to a workspace. To send an email to members at any time, go to the Office SharePoint task pane and choose Members Send e-mail to all members. Outlook displays a new message window with all the members in the To address.

animal 5-7. Editing the notification before sending

You can also create automated emails to notify you when a document changes. To receive this type of alert:

  1. From the task pane, choose Document Information Alert me about this document. Excel displays the page shown in Figure 5-8 .

  2. SharePoint sends email confirming the creation of the alert, then sends email alerts as requested .

SharePoint sends email alerts directly from the server, so it doesn't require that you be running Outlook. The messages are sent through the SMTP server configured for SharePoint by the administrator. When you receive an alert, the From address is the SharePoint workspace address, and the message body include links to the workspace and document, as shown in Figure 5-9. To remove alerts:

  1. Click the My Alerts link illustrated in Figure 5-9. You'll see a list of your alerts in a browser window .

  2. Select the alerts to remove and click Delete Selected Alerts .

You can also see your alerts by choosing Site Settings My alerts on this site.


Alerts are member-oriented, so you can add alerts for yourself but not for others. In order to add alerts for someone else, you must actually sign in as that member and then add the alert, pretending to be them.

animal 5-8. Requesting alerts when a document changes

animal 5-9. Receiving an alert

Members continue to receive alerts even if they are removed from a workspace. Therefore, it's important for the administrator to check alerts before removing a member. To check alerts set for a member:

  1. Sign on as the administrator .

  2. Choose Site Settings Go to Site Administration Manage user alerts .

  3. Select the alerts to remove and click Delete Selected Alerts .

5.2.5. Assigning Tasks

You can track jobs assigned to members by assigning them as tasks within the workspace. To assign a task:

  1. From the task pane, choose Tasks Add new task. Excel displays Figure 5-10 .


  2. Once assigned, the task appears in the task pane. You can edit, delete, or set alerts on the task from the task pane, as shown in Figure 5-11.

    When you complete the task, select the checkbox next to the task title. Selecting the checkbox notifies SharePoint that the task is complete and changes the status of the task in the workspace.

    animal 5-11. Changing a task

    5.2.6. Controlling Updates

    To control how the workbook displays the Shared Workspace task pane and how updates are handled, choose Options at the bottom of the task pane. Figure 5-12 shows the workspace options.

    5.2.7. Opening a Shared Workbook

    If the local file is linked to a shared workspace, opening that file automatically connects to the SharePoint site and updates the local file. You may have to sign on to the SharePoint site, and Excel displays the update status as shown in Figure 5-13.

    If the workbook is not linked, or if the workbook is not stored locally, you can open the workbook from the SharePoint site. If you double-click on a workbook in the SharePoint site, Excel opens the workbook as Read-Only. To open the workbook for editing, select Edit from the pop-up menu on the site as shown in Figure 5-14.

    animal 5-12. Controlling how updates, alerts, and the task pane are handled

    animal 5-13. Opening a workbook linked to a shared workspace

    animal 5-14. Opening a shared workbook from the SharePoint site

    5.2.8. Checking Files In and Out

    More than one member can have a shared workbook open at the same time. To prevent conflicts among edits, you can check a document out to prevent others from making changes. You can't check documents in or out from the task pane, however. To check a document out:

    1. Open the SharePoint site by clicking Open site in browser on the task pane .

    2. From the workspace site, right-click the document and select Check Out from the context menu shown in Figure 5-14 .

    While the document is checked out, others can't open the document for editing from the workspace. Once you have completed your changes, check the document back in:

    1. Save your changes and close the workbook .

    2. From the SharePoint site, right-click the document and select Check In from the context menu. SharePoint displays Figure 5-15 .

    3. Add a comment describing the changes and click OK. Comments appear in the document history and are useful for tracking revisions .

    animal 5-15. Checking a document in

    5.2.9. Reconciling Changes and Viewing History

    SharePoint doesn't require that you check files in or out before making changes, though it is a good idea to do so. The advantage of checking files in and out is that others can't edit the document while you have it checked out.

    The same thing is true if you open the document directly from the SharePoint site. While you have a file open for editing from the site, others can open that file only in read-only mode. However, that doesn't happen when working with local copies of a document that are linked to the SharePoint site. In that case, members must resolve conflicting changes using the Document Updates task pane.

    Whenever you open a document linked to a workspace, Excel checks whether your version is up-to-date. If others have made changes, Excel notifies you that your changes conflict with others. To reconcile your changes with those of others:

    1. In the Document Updates task pane, click Open Workspace Copy .

    2. Choose Window Compare Side by Side. Excel displays the two versions for comparison, as shown in Figure 5-16 .

    animal 5-16. Reconciling changes using side-by-side comparison

    SharePoint can track changes to documents in the workspace, but that feature is turned off by default. To turn on version-tracking:

    1. From the workspace site's home page, select Shared Documents Modify columns and settings Change general settings .

    2. Version history. Excel displays Figure 5-17.

      You can also view version history from the workspace home page by right-clicking the document and selecting Version History from the context menu.


      You can view, restore, or delete previous versions of the document. Versions that were checked in or out usually have comments that were entered when the document was checked in. Changes made without checking in or out don't include comments.

      animal 5-17. Viewing version history



Essential SharePoint
Essential SharePoint 2007: A Practical Guide for Users, Administrators and Developers
ISBN: 0596514077
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 153
Authors: Jeff Webb

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net