Section 2.2.Create a Shared Workspace

2.2. Create a Shared Workspace

Excel calls workbooks shared through SharePoint shared workspaces or sometimes shared lists. The Excel documentation isn't always careful about it, but there is a difference:

• Shared workspaces are entire documents stored on SharePoint.

• Shared lists are parts of documents stored on SharePoint.

How you share those two things is different, so, first-things-first, let's talk about shared workspaces.

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Note: Shared workspaces are a big improvement over shared workbooksExcel's earlier feature that allowed multiple users to share edits. For one thing, workspaces provide tools to manage a workbook's users or send out notices to those users.

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2.2.1. How to do it

Once you've signed up for a trial SharePoint site or installed SharePoint on your own server, you'll have an address (also know as a URL) for your site. Write that down. My SharePoint URLs are:

//excelnotebook.sharepointsite.com

For my trial site from Apptix. This is available to me over the Web from anywhere.

//wombat1

For my local site on my local server. This is the URL I use for accessing the server from my local, home network.

//65.11.195.07 (not my real IP address for security reasons)

For my local server over the Web. This is the IP address my Internet provider assigned me, and I haven't bothered to associate it with a domain name since I don't expose that server to the public very often.

I can use any of those URLs to share a workbook, though //wombat1/ is the quickest since it goes over a very fast local network connection. To share a workbook through your SharePoint site:

1. If this is the first time you are using your SharePoint site, add its URL to your Trusted Sites list. From within Internet Explorer, select Tools Internet Options Security tab and add the URL to the Trusted Sites zone. You have to close and restart Excel for Excel to recognize new trusted sites.

2. Shared Workspace. Excel displays the Shared Workspace task pane.

3. The SharePoint site may ask you to sign in. If it's a trial site, sign in using the username and password provided by your provider. If it's your own server, use your Windows username and password for the server.

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

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Note: Don't confuse Tools Share Workspace with File Save Workspace. Save Workspace 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 access.

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Figures 2-4 through 2-7 illustrate these steps.

Figure 2-4. Step 1-you'll see this if you haven't added the SharePoint URL to your Trusted Sites in Internet Explorer

2.2.2. How it works

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.

Each new workspace has its own folder on the site. This relationship, one file per folder, may seem a little strange, but it has to do with the way ASP.NET controls access for other users. You'll learn more about that later. You can put additional documents in the workspace folder by clicking Add new document on the workspace page (Figure 2-7).

Figure 2-5. Steps 2 and 3Create the shared workspace

Figure 2-6. Step 4Sign on to the SharePoint site

You can control how the workbook displays the Shared Workspace task pane and how updates are handled by clicking Options on the task pane (Figure 2-8.)

Figure 2-7. Finito!The workbook is shared

Figure 2-8. Shared Workspace options set how updates, alerts, and the task pane are handled