Creating a Document Workspace

There are two ways to create a document library. The first method is to create it through the SharePoint Web interface, and the second method is to create it using a 2007 Microsoft Office suite application. Both methods are covered in this chapter. When using either method, the resulting Document Workspace is the same, and only the procedure you use to create it differs.

A Document Workspace centers around one particular document. It is important to stress this fact. You want only one document per Document Workspace because Document Workspaces are linked back to the original document when they are created from an existing document in an existing library. This enables you to easily copy the document from the Document Workspace back to its original source location. This unique feature of Document Workspaces is not found in any other type of SharePoint site. In this way, you and your team members can work on the document without interfering with the main site or allowing others to read the document before it is complete.

In the following exercise, you will create a Document Workspace from an existing document by using the SharePoint Web interface.

OPEN the SharePoint site in which you’d like to create a Document Workspace. If prompted, type your user name and password, and then click OK.

BE SURE TO complete the Adding Documents exercise in Chapter 5, “Creating and Managing Libraries.”

1. On the Quick Launch, click Oak Furniture. You are taken to the Oak Furniture document library.

2. Move your mouse over  OakWood.docx. When an arrow appears to the right of the document name, click the arrow.

3. Point to Send To, and then click Create Document Workspace. The Create Document Workspace page appears.

4. Click OK.

A new Document Workspace is created for you and populates with information from the  OakWood.docx document.

CLOSE the browser.

Tip 

You can also create a Document Workspace manually by using the Create link on the home page of the site. However, this method does not provide the same integration with an existing document as does the process outlined in the previous exercise. To obtain the full benefits of a Document Workspace, you should create it from an existing document or from a 2007 Microsoft Office suite application, which is explained in the next section.