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Section 6.8. Linking and Publishing Custom Properties

6.8. Linking and Publishing Custom Properties

Word documents use two custom properties to enable linking and publishing. First, _SourceUrl is the address of the source library that a document workspace uses when you choose Publish to Source Location. _SharedFileIndex is the site ID Word uses to locate the document workspace when you open a linked file from your computer.

Of the two, _SourceUrl is the most straightforward since it contains a simple web address. The _SharedFileIndex property is a much longer value that identifies the document in the workspace. Figure 6-12 shows both custom properties in Word.

In the previous section, "Linking Documents to Libraries," I instructed you to set the _SourceUrl manually to enable publishing from a linked document. That might seem like a hack, but it's the only way I know. Word doesn't enable both features, even though they are useful when combined.

animal 6-12. Linking and publishing custom properties

For you programmers out there: the value of _SharedFileIndex is a GUID identifying the attachment in the list. You can retrieve that information using the FindDwsDoc method of the DWS web service.

6.9. Discussing a Document

You can discuss a document online by selecting Discuss from the document's context menu, as shown in Figure 6-11. Doing so for a Word document opens the document in the browser and allows you to add comments in the Discussion pane at the bottom of the screen.

Comments entered as a discussion are saved when you navigate away from the document in the browser, but adding and reading items is so confusing, I'd recommend you avoid Discussions when working with Word documents. Instead, open the document in Word and use the Reviewing toolbar to enter comments and revisions.

Discussions seem better-suited for web pages (. html , . aspx ). In those cases, the Discussion tags appear as Post-it? -like notes on the page as it is displayed in the browser, and it is easy to add or reply to comments in the discussion through the browser, as shown in Figure 6-13.

Discussions are maintained separately from the document library. To manage discussions in SharePoint, select Site Settings Go to Site Administration Manage Web Discussions.

animal 6-13. Adding Discussion comments to a SharePoint web page

6.10. Enabling Emailed Submissions

If your company uses Exchange Server, you can create document libraries that automatically add documents emailed to an address. Before you can use this feature, your Exchange Server administrator must:

Create a public folder .
Grant read access to the application pool account used by your SharePoint virtual server in IIS .
Grant an email distribution list permission to post to the public folder .
Create an email address for the public folder and enable the public folder to receive email messages .

Once the public folder is configured, your SharePoint Server administrator must enable the email-enabling feature:

From SharePoint Central Administration, choose Configure virtual server settings the virtual server to enable Virtual server general settings. SharePoint displays the general settings page .
Choose OK to make the change .

animal 6-14. Enabling email to document libraries from SharePoint Central Administration

Once these major administrative steps are complete, you can enable individual libraries to accept documents by email. To do that:

Navigate to the library .
Choose Modify settings and columns Change advanced settings. SharePoint displays the advanced library settings page. If you dont see this link, email submissions have not yet been enabled for the site .
In the E-Mail Settings section, enter the path to the Exchange public folder from which the library should get emailed documents (Figure 6-18) .
The path is relative to the root location shown in Figure 6-14, so if the library's public Exchange folder is http://wombat1/public/SharedDocs, enter /SharedDocs . Each public folder is associated with an email address in Exchange. Members can now submit files to the library by emailing them as attachments to that address .