Understanding SharePoint Library Templates

So far this chapter has generically referred to libraries as document libraries. However, SharePoint actually has various library types, just as it has various list types. Library variations are generally defined by what you place in them. Once you create your library from the appropriate template, other users can access the library and add content to it. Chapter 4 shows how to create new lists and libraries. In this section, you learn about the features and functions of each so that you can select the proper library for your team. The SharePoint library templates are shown in the following list.

Important 

Up to this point, the chapter examples have used the default document library. However, SharePoint includes other templates for different usage scenarios, such as a picture library that holds image files and the slide library for presentation slides. Although you can store images and presentations in any library, each library has features specific to its content. For example, the picture and slide libraries enable you to view slide shows.

• Document library:   This library stores the majority of documents and files in a SharePoint site and is the most common type of document library created.

• Form library:   You use this template to create libraries that store InfoPath form data and templates. You may use this library to store submitted forms such as purchase requests or status reports created using the Microsoft InfoPath client application or Forms Services.

  Tip 

  For more on forms and InfoPath, see Chapter 10.

• Wiki page library:   You use this kind of library for wiki pages, which are collaborative web pages that teams use to share information in a highly interactive and less structured environment. This is perfect for storing a Knowledge Base or an FAQ section.

• Picture library:   This library is for sharing photos and images in a collaborative environment. This library uses columns and properties to define images, and has special thumbnail views of the stored files. It’s ideal for storing team member photos or your company’s logos.

• Translation management document library:   For teams that are creating content for multiple languages, this library helps manage the translation process. This library includes a special workflow process that assigns content to translators.

  Tip 

  You use this template with Variations, which controls the translation process. For more information, see Chapter 13.

• Slide library:   You use this library to share PowerPoint presentation slides. Users can upload slides to the library so other users can browse for slides and use them in new presentations. This template works well for teams that are responsible for creating presentations and want a central gallery from which to select the latest slides and information.

• Data connection library:   This library stores trusted data connection information that link SharePoint with documents created using InfoPath or Excel.

• Report library:   This specialized template creates a library that stores spreadsheets and dash-boards as part of Excel Services. You use this template to create a location for reporting that would allow business managers to publish spreadsheets to others that could be viewed via the browser and that would hide any protected information from users. This type of library is discussed in Chapter 11 along with Excel Services, because this template type is specific to that feature of SharePoint.

  Tip 

  For more on data connections as they relate to InfoPath and Excel, see Chapters 10 and 11.

Document Libraries

Document libraries can store just about any kind of file and are at the center of SharePoint’s file sharing and collaboration features. The anatomy of a document library is very similar to a list and includes the following elements:

• File Item:   From Chapter 2, you know that the primary element of a list is an item. Likewise, the primary element of a document library is a file. Most organizations collaborate using Microsoft Office documents (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) or other common file formats, such as PDF, HTML, or JPEG. Document libraries support just about any file type assuming that an administrator has not explicitly blocked it.

• Columns:   The column types available for lists are also available for document libraries. Depending on what template you select, certain columns may already be created for you. Most libraries share a common set of columns; however, special templates, such as the picture library, contain additional columns such as keywords and image size. You can create additional columns at any time if you have the appropriate rights to the site.

  Tip 

  You can find out how to add new columns to a library in Chapter 4.

• Default Views: Document libraries display their items using two default views.

• All Documents view: Shows all documents stored within the library in groups of 100 in the following columns:

  • Document Type: Displays an icon representing the document’s file type

  • Name: The file name of the document

  • Modified: The date and time the document was last modified

  • Modified By: The name of the user that last modified the document linked directly to the user profile or MySite

• The Explorer view: Shown in Figure 3-17, this displays documents very much like Windows displays files, and is therefore ideal for users familiar with file shares and Windows folders. Users can right-click documents and folders to interact with the system.

• User Defined views: A user can also create views at any time with the appropriate rights to the site.

  Tip 

  For more about creating new views, see Chapter 4.

  
  Figure 3-17

Try It Out-Open a Document Library in Windows Explorer

In addition to the Explorer view, you can open a document library in Windows Explorer via the Action menu. This allows you to interact with your library with the usual Windows behaviors, including dragging and dropping content. In the following example, you open a Shared Documents library in Windows Explorer and create a new folder within it called “Product Documentation.” Instead of creating a new folder and uploading the documents via the SharePoint browser interface, you open the document library in Windows Explorer and create a new folder. You then copy the files using Copy and Paste commands.

1. From the main page of your team site, click the Shared Documents link from the Quick Launch navigation bar.

2. Select Actions Open with Windows Explorer from the document library toolbar, as was seen in Figure 3-6.

3. Windows Explorer opens listing the entire contents of your Shared Documents library, as shown in Figure 3-18. Right-click the window and create a new folder called Product Documentation.

   
   Figure 3-18

4. Copy the contents of the Product Documents folder from the materials for this chapter (go to www.wrox.com). You can copy documents by selecting them, right-clicking, and selecting Copy, or by pressing Ctrl+C.

5. Double-click your newly created folder called “Product Documentation” from within the Windows Explorer view of your document library.

6. Paste the copied documents from Step 4 into the folder by either right-clicking the window and selecting Paste or by pressing Ctrl+V.

   Tip 

   When you uploaded multiple documents earlier in the chapter, you had to go back and update the metadata afterward. The same recommendation applies in this situation as well. It is always important to keep the metadata associated with each file up-to-date so that users can easily find the documents either through the available views or search interface.

Form Libraries

Form libraries are special types of libraries that store InfoPath forms. Microsoft InfoPath is an application that allows you to collect and share data via highly customizable electronic forms. You can use this application to create form templates that reflect their data collection needs without requiring code or special development skills. The application makes it very easy for business users to craft an electronic form that suits their needs by dragging and dropping form elements onto a page. Users can complete InfoPath forms using either the InfoPath application or via the browser using InfoPath Forms Services, a component of SharePoint 2007 Enterprise Edition. This allows for more advanced reporting on the data contained in multiple forms.

Tip 

For more on InfoPath and Form Services, see Chapter 10.

Depending on the needs of your organization, you may choose to create either a simple or complex InfoPath form. You can see an example of an InfoPath form in Figure 3-19.

Figure 3-19

You can promote data stored in InfoPath forms to the library so you display the data in views. This gives you more advanced reporting options on the data contained in multiple forms. You might find it advantageous, for example, to create an InfoPath form to collect data from your portal users instead of using standard list functionality because with InfoPath, you can do the following:

• Connect to external data sources such as databases, SharePoint lists, or web services to either retrieve or submit data.

• Customize the interface in ways not possible using standard lists. This includes performing conditional formatting and filtering value lists based on a user’s selection.

• Use code to extend forms to provide additional functionality and enhancements related to more complex data calculations or routing.

Traditionally, in order to design or complete an InfoPath form, a user was required to have the InfoPath application installed on her computer. With SharePoint 2007, you can create form templates that users can complete directly using InfoPath Forms Services. In fact, the SharePoint interface takes advantage of InfoPath Forms Services to render forms that users complete to specify workflow rules and approval routing. This is not something that is evident to users of the system but does demonstrate how web-based electronic forms can be embedded within applications to provide better integration within business processes.

Try It Out-Create a Form Library Based on a Form Template

Although Chapter 10 is dedicated to InfoPath and InfoPath Forms Services and it is there that you can learn how to utilize form libraries, you can start with this simple example. Here, you create a simple InfoPath form based on a Microsoft template (a Status Report) and publish it to create a form library. To publish the template to your SharePoint site, you first save the template to your computer or network. This allows you to make edits later from one central location and then publish to sites as required.

1. Open Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007. The Getting Started window appears, as shown in Figure 3-20.

   
   Figure 3-20

2. Click the Customize a Sample link from the Design a Form menu.

3. Select the Sample – Status Report template from the list of sample templates and click the Design This Form link. Your form template opens in Design mode. Typically you perform additional customizations, such as add your company logo and add any extra fields or data sources that you require.

4. Select File Publish. A message window appears asking you to save the form. Click the OK button.

5. Save the form to your computer. You can edit this form later, and if necessary, publish it to other locations. When you save the form template locally, the publishing wizard opens.

6. Select the option to publish to a SharePoint Server with or without InfoPath Forms Services, as shown in Figure 3-21, and click Next.

   
   Figure 3-21

7. Enter the URL of your SharePoint Team Site and click Next.

8. Make sure that the options that allow users to fill out the form via the browser are selected. Click Next.

9. Make sure that the options to create a new document library are selected, and click Next.

10. Enter a name and description for your library. In this example, for the name enter Team Status Reports and for the description, enter:

    Important  

    This is the shared location for all team status reports that will be completed on a weekly basis by each team member.

11. Click Next.

12. Select which form fields you want to promote as columns to the form library. Click Add.

13. Select emailAddress from the list of fields and click OK.

14. Click Next.

15. Click Publish. A message displays confirming that the form template has been successfully published.

16. Select the check box to open the document library, and click the Close button.

How It Works

SharePoint Server offers many choices when you publish a form template, including publishing directly to a document library, creating a content type, or creating a form to be uploaded by a server administrator. Chapter 11 discusses the last two options. This example creates a document library that will host your form template. The wizard helps you complete document library details including name and description, the columns you want to create as well as the location of the site to which you are publishing. Once you publish the form template in a newly created library called “Team Status Reports,” users can go to the library, click the New button, and complete a status report based on your template. This status report can be saved back to the library. If the form template is configured to promote certain fields to library columns upon saving, the information entered into the InfoPath form for those fields are visible when looking at a view of the library.

Tip 

Familiarize yourself with all the built-in samples as well as the ones on Microsoft Office Online. They provide a great starting point when you want to customize a form for your team.

Wiki Page Libraries

With wikis, a very popular collaborative tool for group sharing and editing content, you can add, edit, or remove web page content in an open and informal manner without following a restrictive editing or approval process. Users can edit wikis using SharePoint’s built-in content editor without knowing a special language. Because of the informality and lack of restriction, wiki pages are more inviting for team members to add their experiences and goals.

What’s a Wiki?

A wiki article or website, is a site where users can freely expand or change the published content, often without registration requirements. Wiki, named for a Hawaiian term meaning “fast,” is a popular method for sharing information in a quick and easy-to-use format.

A good example of a wiki is the Wikipedia project (see www.wikipedia.org), which formerly began in January 2001. Wikipedia delivers a free content encyclopedia to which anyone can contribute. The website has grown to become one of the largest content libraries in existence, serving up more than 1.5 million articles, if you’re just counting the English ones.

SharePoint 2007 has an option for creating either an entire site to act as a wiki or just a wiki document library within a site:

• A wiki site:   Useful for a technical support team’s Knowledge Base or a training department’s tips and tricks documentation.

• A wiki document library:   Provides a collaboration tool for planning and sharing ideas around specific operational events. This is illustrated in the next Try It Out.

The next two Try It Outs show how to create a wiki document library as well as how to create a new wiki page.

Try It Out-Create a Wiki Document Library

In this example, you create a wiki document library in your site to brainstorm for ideas for an upcoming project. The wiki page library has special features that allow you to share and publish wiki content pages within a single location. Team members can create these pages around a specific topic or set of topics.

1. From the main page of your team site, select Actions Create. The Create window appears as shown in Figure 3-22.

   
   Figure 3-22

2. Select Wiki Page Library from the list of Library types, as shown in Figure 3-22.

3. Enter a name and description for the library. For this example, enter Project Wiki for the name and the following for the description:

   Important  

   This wiki will be used to track information related to initial planning around scope, milestones, and timelines related to upcoming projects.

4. Select the Yes option to display the library on the site’s Quick Launch navigation bar.

5. Click the Create button.

   Figure 3-23 shows an example of a wiki page in the newly created wiki page library. Users can edit the page directly by clicking the Edit button at the top right of the page.

   
   Figure 3-23

Try It Out-Create a New Wiki Page

In addition to editing existing content, users can create new pages. The following example demonstrates how easily you can create new wiki pages within a wiki library so that team members can share information about what they have learned regarding a common topic, such as a new technology (SharePoint). In addition, members can leave notes on topics they would like to learn more about as an invitation for others to provide content.

1. From the main page of your team site, select Project Wiki from the Quick Launch navigation bar.

2. Select Recent Changes View All Pages.

3. Click the New button.

4. Enter a page name. For this example, enter SharePoint Learning Project.

5. For the wiki page content, enter the following to get people started:

   Important  

   This is a wiki page to describe new things you have learned related to using SharePoint as well as highlighting new things that you would like to learn.

6. Click the Create button.

Users of your site can access the page from the Recent Changes menu as shown in Figure 3-24.

Figure 3-24

Picture Libraries

Although document libraries can store just about any file type, in some cases it’s better to have a library that caters to a specific file format. Such is the case with the picture library template, which more efficiently displays pictures and images because it includes a thumbnail preview feature. This is an invaluable feature for locating the correct image in a large collection of images.

This next series of Try It Outs demonstrates the features that make the picture library unique. In the first Try It Out, you create a picture library using the picture library template. In the second Try It Out, you upload pictures into the newly created library to simulate a person sharing images with his or her team. In doing so, you see firsthand the unique commands it offers in its menu. These commands are listed in the following table.

Open table as spreadsheet

Menu Item	Description
Edit	Edits the selected images in a compatible editing tool
Delete	Deletes the selected images from the picture library
Download	Downloads all selected images to the user’s computer
Send To	Inserts pictures into an email or document
View Slide Show	Opens a new window to display a slide show of images within library

In the third Try It Out, you act as someone taking images from the library. You download files, and see the picture library’s unique options. When you download, you can change the size of your image. You can also change its format to one of the following:

• Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG)

• Tagged Image Format (TIF)

• Windows Bitmap (BMP)

• Graphics Interchange Format (GIF)

• Portable Network Graphics (PNG)

You can also apply one of three sub views to a primary view. These sub views are as follows:

• Details:   This updates metadata associated with a file stored in a picture library.

• Thumbnails:   This previews images in a thumbnail type view.

• Filmstrip:   This previews a larger version of the image within the browser window.

Try It Out-Create a Picture Library

In this Try It Out, you create a picture library. This template is unique because it supports image editing, downloading, and previewing. To create a picture library, follow these steps:

1. From the main page of your team site, select Site Actions Create. The Create window appears (see Figure 3-22).

2. Select Picture Library from the list of Library types. The New window appears, as shown in Figure 3-25.

   
   Figure 3-25

3. Enter a name for your library. For this example, enter Company Photos.

4. Enter the following information for a description:

   Important  

   All company images to be utilized for advertising campaigns, brochures, and website communications will be stored in this library.

5. Select the Yes option to have the library displayed on the Quick Launch, as shown in Figure 3-25.

6. Select the Yes option to create a version of the file every time you edit it in this library.

7. Click the Create button.

Try It Out-Upload Multiple Images to a Picture Library

When you uploaded in the Try It Out “Upload Multiple Documents to a Document Library,” you used the browser interface. The interface in this Try It Out has unique functionality for managing images. You can either upload web-optimized versions of the images or upload the files in their original format. Once the files are uploaded, you can return to your library to view the images.

To identify the differences between the picture template and the standard document library, the following steps have you upload some images into the newly created library:

1. From the main page of your team site, click the link for your Company Photos library from the Quick Launch navigation bar.

2. Select Upload Select Upload Multiple Pictures. The Microsoft Office Picture Manager opens, as shown in Figure 3-26.

   
   Figure 3-26

3. Click the Add Picture Shortcut link and browse to the Corporate Images folder you downloaded as part of this chapter’s resource materials.

4. Select all the images from the folder. You can select multiple items by holding the Ctrl button while you select items.

5. Click the Upload and Close button, as shown in Figure 3-27.

   
   Figure 3-27

6. The Microsoft Office Picture Manager application will close. Select the Go Back to “Corporate Photos” link to return to your picture library.

How It Works

Although this library may look like all other document libraries you’ve created so far in this chapter, take a close look at the Actions menu shown in Figure 3-28. This menu contains several new items that cater to images.

Figure 3-28

Try It Out-Download Files from a Picture Library

To demonstrate how the various picture library menu items work, this example shows you how to select multiple images from a picture library for downloading. In the previous Try It Out, files in the SharePoint library were in the JPEG format. However, when you select the advanced download options in this Try It Out, you can change the format of the downloaded images. You can keep the file in its original format or select another format. The various formats were discussed in the introduction to this section. In addition, you can select a different size for the files and send them to a document instead of downloading them directly as files to your computer. Finally, you can apply sub views to the primary view of your download.

1. From the main page of your team site, click the View All Site Content link from the Quick Launch navigation bar.

2. Select the Corporate Images library from the Pictures group.

3. Select the first two images in the list.

4. Select Actions Download, as shown in Figure 3-28 in the last Try It Out.

5. Click the Set Advanced Download Options link.

6. Select Graphics Interchange Format (*.gif) from the file format drop-down menu.

7. For the picture size, select custom width and height and specify 640×480.

8. Click the Download button. The Download Pictures window, shown in Figure 3-29, appears prompting you for a location for the images.

   
   Figure 3-29

9. Select a folder on your computer to store the files in.

10. Select the check box to rename the pictures in the new location and enter a name for the picture. For this example, enter Corporate Images for the name.

11. Click the Save button.

12. To apply sub views to a primary view, hover your cursor over the All Pictures view from the View Selection box and click Details to update the metadata associated with the image; click Thumbnails to see a preview of the image, as shown in Figure 3-30; or click Filmstrip to preview a larger version of the image in the browser window, as shown in Figure 3-31.

    
    Figure 3-30

    
    Figure 3-31

Translation Management Libraries

Many organizations span multiple geographic regions or must communicate with colleagues using multiple languages. SharePoint addresses this need with its translation management library. Although the system does not translate content directly, it lets you customize a workflow to aid in the content translation process.

When you create a translation management library, you have an option for associating the translation management workflow with the document library. This requires you to fill in the workflow process and create a list of languages and translators. When you create a new entry in the translators list (shown in Figure 3-32), you enter the original language, the language into which you want content to be translated, and the user who will act as translator. The translators become the individuals responsible for creating the content in the appropriate languages.

Figure 3-32

Tip 

Chapter 13 covers web content management and support for multiple languages, and goes into translation management document library in greater detail.

Data Connection Libraries

Microsoft Office applications, such as Excel and InfoPath, have great built-in support for data connectivity to external sources such as databases, web services, and even SharePoint sites. Traditionally, this meant that you managed data connections on an individual usage basis. Therefore, every time you connected to the data source, you needed to define the connection within the file or settings. This often made it very cumbersome to embed external data into files and subsequently make changes to the data source or file. For example, it might seem logical to use a SharePoint customer list in your InfoPath forms any time that you wanted to display a listing of customer names. But to do this, you would need to create a data connection within your form template each time you wanted to include customer information.

If you later decided to move your SharePoint list to another location or add new columns, in order to have the changes updated within your InfoPath form, you would have to go back into each form template and update the settings.

The Microsoft Office 2007 release solves the cumbersome connection dilemma of past versions by allowing you to create data connection files. These Universal Data Connection (UDC) files contain all the connection settings applicable to the data source and usage scenario. Therefore, instead of specifying the connection settings in each of your form templates, you save the connection settings as a file and have your form templates point directly to this file, as shown in Figure 3-33. When you do this, making changes to a single file updates multiple templates.

Figure 3-33

Tip 

In Chapters 10 and 11, you work in greater detail with data connections. These chapters have specific examples of how beneficial data connection files can be and how you can store them centrally in a data connection library.

Slide Libraries

Because PowerPoint presentations are a common way for members of an organization to communicate, companies generally produce, deliver, and store presentations in large quantities. Unfortunately, the sheer quantity can cause the following issues:

• Duplicated work:   Because individuals are seldom aware of a fellow colleague’s work, there is very little reuse of information.

• Outdated material:   Duplicated material across many locations means that an individual is more likely to grab an outdated presentation or present the wrong version of a presentation. This can lead to miscommunication of objectives or performance.

• Inconsistent presentation:   Depending on who creates a presentation and what their interpretation of the content is, an organization may encounter company-wide inconsistencies in how data is presented to customers, partners, and other important stakeholders.

For these reasons, many organizations try to standardize how information is presented. SharePoint 2007 offers a unique method for consolidating presentation information that encourages users to share slide content.

The slide library template in SharePoint allows authors to upload slides to a library where other team members can view them. The following Try It Outs show you how to address these issues and by doing so help reduce duplicate efforts while protecting the quality and integrity of your organization’s presentations. First, you learn how to upload a presentation to a slide library. You then create a new presentation in the library, and then update a presentation based on corrections to a source slide.

Try It Out-Upload a Presentation to a Slide Library

In the following example, you upload a presentation to a slide library so that it can be converted to individual slides that other team members can use.

1. From the main page of your team site, select Site Actions Create.

2. Select Slide Library from the list of library types.

3. For the name of your slide library, enter Team Presentations and select to have the library display on the Quick Launch navigation bar.

4. Select the options that enable versioning on the slide library.

5. Click the Create button.

6. Select Publish Slides from the Upload menu of the library toolbar, as shown in Figure 3-34. Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 opens and requires you to locate the presentation from which you want to upload slides to the slide library.

   
   Figure 3-34

7. Locate the presentation named “2007-2008 Financial Performance Report” from the downloaded resources for this chapter (these are located on www.wrox.com) and select the Open button. A publishing window, shown in Figure 3-35, lists all the slides available for upload from the selected presentation.

   
   Figure 3-35

8. Click the Select All button, as shown in Figure 3-35, and click the Publish button.

How It Works

This process is noticeably different than uploading a standard document to a document library because slide libraries can accept individual slides rather than a complete presentation. Although this exercise had you upload all the slides in a presentation, the interface that appeared in step 8 during the upload process allows you to select individual slides. Once you click the Publish button in step 8, a status bar indicates where you are in the upload process. Depending on how many slides you’ve selected, this process may take a few minutes. While each slide of the presentation contains a metadata field from the original presentation, you can treat them as individual files.

Try It Out-Create a New Presentation Using a Slide Library

You can create a new presentation using slides from multiple presentations. This example shows how to create a new presentation based on the slides available in a slide library. In addition to creating a new presentation, you can add slides to an existing presentation. This is ideal for a situation where you are creating a new presentation and you want to add a slide to represent content that has been used previously in a presentation or perhaps want to present content from a standardized slide.

1. From the main page of your team site, click the Team Presentations link from the Quick Launch navigation bar.

2. Select the first, second, and third slides from the library’s All Slides view.

3. Click the Copy Slide to Presentation toolbar button.

4. Select Copy to a New Presentation.

5. Select the Tell Me When This Slide Changes option, as shown in Figure 3-36.

   
   Figure 3-36

6. Click the OK button.

How It Works

SharePoint takes the individual slides that you select and turns them into a new presentation after you click OK in step 6. In step 5, you selected the Tell Me When This Slide Changes option, which means that you are notified whenever someone updates the source slides. Keeping slides connected to the library ensures that presentations always contain the most relevant and updated information. However, synchronization is not automatic. This is actually good because you never want to change the content of an important document without first reviewing the changes or considering the impact. Also, for archiving reasons, you may want to view a presentation as it was presented, and you have no need for updated data once a presentation is made. For example, if you plan to give a presentation discussing a team’s performance over a period of time, you may want to know when source slides are updated in the library, but once you deliver the presentation, there is no need to change content.

Try It Out-Update a Presentation Based on Source Slide Updates

This Try It Out assumes that when you created a presentation with slides from the slide library that you selected the Tell Me When This Slide Changes option. As mentioned in the last Try It Out, if someone makes changes to the slides in the library, SharePoint notifies you of the change when you open the presentation. The following steps show you how to update the slide. First, you simulate a slide change, by changing a library slide that you selected for your presentation in the last Try It Out. You then open the presentation and update the slide in your presentation.

1. From the main page of your team site, click the Team Presentations link from the Quick Launch navigation bar.

2. Hover your cursor over the first slide in the library and select the Edit in Microsoft Office PowerPoint menu item.

3. Make a change to the slide by changing the title value to Updated Title.

4. Click the Save button.

5. Click the Close Application button.

6. Open the presentation you created in the previous Try It Out called “Create a New Presentation Using a Slide Library.” A notification window appears advising you that the presentation contains slides that are connected to a slide library.

7. Click the Check button to check for slide changes. Because in step 3 you made a change to a slide in the presentation from the previous example, you receive a notification that one slide has been updated, as shown in Figure 3-37. You have a choice of either replacing the slide completely (Replace) or appending the changes made to the slide to the affected slide (Replace All).

8. Select the Replace button.

   
   Figure 3-37

9. Click the Yes button.