Using My Network Places


Another tool that's useful for the SharePoint user to become familiar with is My Network Places. This is quite simple to use and makes it very easy to save files to a favorite SharePoint site from within a standard application, because My Network Places will be presented as an option. For more adventurous users, navigating within My Network Places provides a unique view of the files that SharePoint contains and manages.

Assuming that you have Windows XP, to add a new network place, follow these steps:

1.

Double-click the My Network Places icon.

2.

Select the Add a network place icon.

3.

When the Add Network Place Wizard opens, click Next.

4.

Select Choose another network connection and then click Next.

5.

Type in a URL (such as http://sp/sites/sitename) or click the Browse button to locate the SharePoint site you want to connect to. Click the View some examples hyperlink to see acceptable formats if needed. Click Next.

6.

Type in a name for the new network place. Try to make the name as specific as possible because it can be difficult to find the right network place if your list gets lengthy. Click Next.

7.

The final screen of the wizard will ask you to confirm your work. If you want to now open the network place, leave the box checked next to Open this network place when I click Finish. Click Finish.

At this point you will see a display similar to the one in Figure 2.4, which shows the contents of the site (in this case, ProServices). Because this site is a template and hasn't had any additional lists or libraries created in it, the structure is fairly simple and contains the _private, images, Lists, and Shared Documents folders. You can double-click any of these folders to see the contents. Depending on your rights within the document library folder, you can add or delete documents at this point, or you can create a new folder.

Figure 2.4. View of a SharePoint network place.


A common question that many new users ask is, Where do these files live? The documents and data files are actually stored by the SQL 2000 database (or the MSDE database, which is SQL 2000 "lite"), so you won't be able to find the actual files by browsing directories on the server that houses SharePoint.

CAUTION

Be careful not to delete files in a SharePoint folder if you have Administrative rights on the site because this can damage the site and stop it from functioning properly.




    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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