Standard Actions That Apply to Most Lists

Standard actions appear in the left-side bar of the page. Some types of lists have additional actions available that appear in the action bar for the list, and these are described later in the chapter in the section that pertains to the specific list. The common actions that pertain to the majority of the lists are as follows and are described in the following sections:

• Add to My Links

• Alert Me

• Export to Spreadsheet

• Modify Settings and Columns

The Add to My Links Action

If SharePoint Portal Server 2003 is installed, users can create their own personal sites with content of the user's choosing (unless management has decided not to allow the use of personal sites). The personal site contains a "My Links" list by default that is used to store links to other websites or places of interest. The Add to My Links action is used with SharePoint Portal Server 2003 to add a link for the list in My Links as follows:

1.	Click on Add to My Links. This brings up the Add Link page for My Site (the user's personal site) as shown in Figure 12.7. Figure 12.7. Add Link to My Site page.
2.	Enter a title for the link in the Title box.
3.	Links can be grouped for easier access. To create a new group, select the New Group option and then enter a name for the new group. Or, select an existing group from the drop-down menu.
4.	If the link is to be displayed on the public's view of the personal site, click on the box next to Share on Public View of My Site option.
5.	Click OK.

The Alert Me Action

The Alert Me action for the list enables the user to be notified when any items are added to, removed from, or changed in the list. This is different from the Alert Me option for an individual item (available from the drop-down menu when you hover over a list item) that notifies the user only when there are changes to that specific item. Alerts are discussed in more detail later in the chapter.

The Export to Spreadsheet Action

List items can be exported to a Microsoft Excel 2003 spreadsheet. Updates then made in Excel can be synchronized with the SharePoint list later. To export a spreadsheet, follow these steps:

1.	Click on the Export to Spreadsheet action. This brings up a File Download dialog box that prompts for opening the query file, saving it, or canceling the operation. You can also deselect the box next to Always Ask Before Opening This Type of File, and this prompt won't show next time.
2.	Selecting the Save option creates a saved Microsoft Office Excel Web Query File that queries the SharePoint list data from Excel.
3.	Selecting the Open option opens the query file directly into Microsoft Excel 2003, and you are prompted by the Opening Query window to Open or Cancel. If you click Open, the list is then displayed in Microsoft Excel 2003 in "list" format, with each column formatted for sorting and filtering as shown in Figure 12.8. Note that if the down arrow is clicked at the top of the column, sorting options are available, such as ascending or descending, Top 10, or custom (circled in Figure 12.8). This file now needs to be saved. Figure 12.8. SharePoint list exported to Excel 2003 spreadsheet.
4.	Clicking the Save option prompts you for a name and save location prior to opening the query. You then have the option to Open the File, Open the Folder, or Close.

If the spreadsheet is then edited at a later date, the changes can be synchronized with the SharePoint list by choosing Data, List, Synchronize List from the Excel menu.

Enhancing the Basic Properties of a List with the Modify Settings and Columns Page

Many aspects of the list can be changed by accessing the Modify Settings and Columns link in a list (assuming that you have rights to make these changes). The name and description of the list can be modified, along with the type of access various groups have to the list to adding, removing, and changing the properties of the list columns (metadata). To access this action from within the list (such as from the All Items view) click on the Modify Settings and Columns action. This brings up the Customize list page as shown in Figure 12.9.

Figure 12.9. The Customize list page.

The options available from the Customize page are discussed in the following sections.

Change General Settings

Clicking on the Change General Settings option displays the List Settings page, as shown in Figure 12.10.

Figure 12.10. Changing the general settings of a list.

This page is used to change the name and description of the list, navigation settings, approval process, attachment settings, and item-level permissions. Items can be changed as follows:

• Name and Description The name of the list is used in links and headings in various places on the site; therefore, it should be descriptive but not too long.

• Navigation This setting is used for specifying whether there should be a link to the list on the Quick Launch bar on the home page for the site (not applicable for lists in Portal areas).

• Content Approval Requiring content approval means that when an item is added to the list, it will not be visible to other users until it has been approved by a user who has the Manage Lists right or by a site administrator.

• Attachments This option specifies whether users can attach documents or files to a list item. For example, an organization may use a Contacts list for storing information about employees and attach a picture of the employee to the employee's list item.

• Item-Level Permissions This section provides the ability to restrict or enable which individual list items a user has access to for viewing and changing. The options are as follows:

  • Users can read (view) all list items. Because SharePoint is designed to promote information sharing and collaboration, enabling users to view any item is a more typical setting.

  • Users can read (view) only list items they have created. This option might be used on a list where many users are creating items, but the user is interested only in her own items. For example, if a list was created to manage inside sales calls, the sales manager would want to see all calls, but an individual sales rep might be restricted to seeing only her own list of calls.

  • Users can edit any list item. This option might be set on a list used to report project status where multiple team members might update list items depending on the phase of the project.

  • Users can edit only their own items. This is a typical setting for many lists where users may need to change their items but shouldn't be allowed to change items added by others.

  • Users cannot edit any list items. This setting is used to prevent users from changing previously submitted entries in a list.

Save List As Template

The second option on the Customize list page (listedit.aspx) is Save List As Template. The template can be used when creating another list that has similar characteristics.

When creating a list template, content can be included in the template in addition to the structure and settings of the list. Unless a specific need warrants saving content, this is not recommended because it increases the size of the template, and any security that has been applied to the items within the list is lost. That means that anyone with access to the list would also have access to all the items brought in from the template.

When "Save List As Template" is selected, the Save As Template page is displayed (see Figure 12.11). Fill in the items on this page as follows:

1.	Enter the name of the file for the new list template. The default filename suffix is ".stp." NOTE The template file is actually a .cab file. After it is renamed to ".cab," it can be opened in Windows Explorer.
2.	Enter a title and description for the template.
3.	Indicate whether to include content in the template.

Figure 12.11. The Save As Template page.

Change Permissions for This List

The next option on the Customize List page (refer to Figure 12.9) is to Change Permissions for This List as shown in Figure 12.12. Permission can be set for an individual user, a group, or a site group. To set or control these permissions, a user must have the Manage Lists right to the list. This right is granted by default to the Administrator and Web Designer site groups. By default, all members of a site group, with the exception of members of the Guests group, have at least View (read) access to all lists on the site.

Figure 12.12. The Change Permissions page.

The general permissions that can be granted or removed are view, edit, delete, and insert list items, and change list settings. The advanced permissions that can be granted include the ability to manage the list (basically do anything with it), manage permissions, and manage personal views. The default permission groupings for lists are as follows:

• Reader View items.

• Contributor View, insert, edit, delete items.

• Web Designer View, insert, edit, delete items; change list settings.

• Administrator View, insert, edit, delete items; change list settings; change list security. The permissions of the Administrator group cannot be changed.

Selecting Change Permissions for This List brings up the Change Permissions page as shown in Figure 12.12. This page is used as follows:

1.	To change the permissions of a site group or user, select the group or user by clicking in the box next to the name and then clicking on Edit Permissions of Selected Users. The current permissions for the group or user are displayed. Click on the radio button next to the permissions to be granted or removed. Click on Advanced Permissions to select individual permissions.
2.	To remove access for a user or an entire group of users, select the user or group from the Change Permissions page and then click on the Remove Selected Users button.

In addition to modifying the permissions of users, the Actions section of the Change Permissions page (refer to Figure 12.12) can be used to Change Anonymous Access to specify the permissions for anonymous users (if anonymous access is allowed to the site), and to Manage Request Access to specify whether access can be requested by users who do not have access to the list. There is also a link to the Modify Item-Level Security section of the General Settings page for the list to specify which items users can read and edit (all, only their own, or none).

NOTE

A common question is whether item-level security can vary by item, and this is not currently supported in SharePoint 2003.

Delete List

Clicking Delete This List (refer to Figure 12.9) removes the list from the SharePoint site permanently. When selected, a confirmation dialog box appears. Clicking OK deletes the list; clicking Cancel does not delete the list. If a List View Web Part is being used for displaying the list on a page (typically the site home page or a Web Parts page), the Web Part is removed from the page.

Select a Portal Area for This List

Clicking Select a Portal Area for This List (refer to Figure 12.9) makes a list accessible from the portal by adding a listing for the list to a specified area. This provides users with an easy way to access a list that may be buried several levels deep in the site collection. It also provides a way to showcase or draw attention to an important list.

NOTE

The Select a Portal Area for This List option is available only if the site is associated with a SharePoint Portal Server 2003 portal site.

After clicking on Select a Portal Area for This List from the General Settings section of the Customize List page, you see the Add Listing page (SPNewListing.aspx) as shown in Figure 12.13. Follow these steps to create a listing for the list in a SharePoint area:

1.	Enter the title and description for the listing.
2.	In the Content section, the web address of the list just viewed comes up as the default in the Existing Listing section. In general, this should not be changed. The Add a Listing by Entering Text option would generally not be used in this case. This is used when a listing is being added from the portal that will contain text, such as an announcement.
3.	In the Group section, select a group for the list from the drop-down list. For example, if the list is important and needs to stand out, click on the Highlight option. The groups are set by the portal administrator(s) based on the perceived needs of the organization.
4.	If an image is to be associated with this list, it can be incorporated by entering the name and location of the file in the Images section. CAUTION See the note in Chapter 11 in the "Picture Properties" section concerning the "tricky" method that needs to be used to get the URL of the actual file. It is easy to point to a .jpg snapshot version of the file that SharePoint creates by accident.
5.	In the Location section, there is a place for specifying which area the list belongs to. Clicking on Change Location brings up the Change Location page with the area hierarchy from which you can choose where the discussion board will be listed.
6.	The Audience section is used to target a list to a specific group of users. Select the group that will be able to access the list and click Add. The Find function provided in this section can be used to find the names of the audiences. The default value for this field is All Portal Users. Once again, the portal administrator(s) create the audiences based on the needs of the organization.
7.	After the information for the listing has been entered, click OK.

Figure 12.13. The Add Portal Listing page.

Using Columns to Store Information in the List

The Columns section of the Customize page displays the columns, or fields, defined for the list. Each column stores a piece of information for the list item. Columns can be added, removed, or changed based on the specific requirements of the list users. Chapter 11 covers this topic in more detail; refer to the section "Identifying Documents with Metadata" for more information.