Working on Presentations in Document Workspaces

A document workspace is a Microsoft Windows SharePoint Web site that contains one or more documents. This site lets a group of people work together on a presentation, share files, and hold discussions. When you collaborate on a presentation, you can work on the document workspace copy or work on your own copy (as long as you periodically save your changes to the document workspace copy).

NOTE

A SharePoint Web site provides access to documents throughout your organization. You can find and use documents regardless of location and format.

To use document workspaces and SharePoint Web sites, you and your collaborators must be connected to a Microsoft Windows SharePoint server. You are most likely to find a SharePoint server in a corporate environment. Check with your company's network administrators to see whether a SharePoint server is available.

You interact with the document workspace using the Shared Workspace task pane, which Figure 7.1 shows. To open this task pane, choose Tools, Shared Workspace.

Figure 7.1. Use the Shared Workspace task pane to interact with document workspaces.

To create a new document workspace, type a name for it in the Document Workspace name field. Then in the Location for New Workspace field, choose the SharePoint server from the drop-down list or type its URL. Click the Create button to make the document workspace.

After you create the workspace, use this task pane's tabs to manage it:

• Status ” This tab tells you whether the open presentation is in sync with other members ' copies and whether you "checked it out" to work on it. It also tells you the document's Information Rights Management settings, which control access to the document.

• Members ” This tab lists the users who are part of this shared workspace. You can also use this tab to invite others to join you.

• Tasks ” This tab lists any to-dos that you share with other members of this shared workspace. You can also assign tasks to other members.

• Documents ” This tab lists any documents you share with other members that relate to this presentation.

• Links ” This tab lists references, either files or Web sites, helpful to the presentation.

• Document Information ” This tab lists document properties.