The Shared Workspace Task Pane


The Shared Workspace task pane connects the Word document to the SharePoint document library. When a document stored in a SharePoint document library is opened, you should see something similar to Figure 13.2. The six tabs are numbered in the figure. Here's a brief description of the contents of these tabs:

  1. Status Provides errors or restrictions about the file. If the file is checked out, Status will show who has checked it out as well as allow the file to be checked in and allow comments on that version to be added.

  2. Members Provides a list of the different members of the site and whether they are online (if instant messaging is enabled on the network). Online status indicates whether the user is available for instant messaging. If network groups have been assigned access to the site, they will show up here as well. Hovering the mouse over a user's name will reveal a drop-down menu that provides a number of tools if Outlook is in use and presence information is configured in SharePoint. These tools include Schedule a meeting, Send Mail, Sign-in to Messenger, and Outlook Properties.

  3. Tasks Displays any tasks assigned from the site. The next section will cover the Task tab in more detail.

  4. Documents Displays any other documents or folders available in the document library and allows the addition of other documents or folders to the workspace. Alerts can also be set from this tab, as discussed in Lesson 12.

  5. Links Displays any URL links available on the site and allows the addition of links. Also, alerts can be configured from this tab.

  6. Document Information Displays basic information about the file, such as who created it and who has edited it. This tab allows viewing of version history. If metadata has been attached to the document in SharePoint (see Lesson 9, "Introduction to Metadata"), this information will be displayed here. This tab will be covered in more depth later in the lesson.

Figure 13.2. Shared Workspace task pane in Word 2003.


The Shared Workspace task pane opens automatically when a document from a SharePoint document library is opened. If you close this task pane and want to find it again, access the View menu in Word 2003 and click on Task Pane, and the task pane will appear. You may need to click the down arrow in the header of the task pane and then click Shared Workspace to properly display it.

TIP

You can create a document workspace from within a document that is not part of a document library. When working in Word 2003, select View, Task Pane. Then, when the pane opens, click the down arrow in the title bar and select Shared Workspace (if it isn't selected already). The Members tab, Tasks tab, Documents tab, or Links tab will prompt you to enter a document workspace name and a location for the new workspace. Then you can create the workspace.


The Options button (number 7 in Figure 13.2) enables you to configure when the Shared Workspace task pane is shown, how often updates to the information are retrieved (such as every 10 minutes), and when to save changes to the workspace. It can be helpful to request frequent updates if the documents stored in the library change frequently or the tasks are constantly being updated and you want to be updated more often.



    Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft SharePoint 2003 in 10 Minutes
    Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft SharePoint 2003 in 10 Minutes
    ISBN: 672327236
    EAN: N/A
    Year: 2004
    Pages: 181

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