Benefiting from Alerts

Creating an alert to be notified of changes to a list item or on any item within a list can be advantageous if used intelligently. In many situations, it is helpful to know when something has changed. For example, on a tasks list, you might want to know when an item has been updated if you are the project manager, because it could affect the timely completion of the project. However, having too many alerts configured can cause confusion to the point where the user loses track of the purpose of the alert.

When you want to receive notification when the item changes, follow these steps:

1.	From within the list, click on Alert Me in the Actions area, or hover over the item, click the down arrow, and then select Alert Me from the drop-down menu. The New Alert page appears as shown in Figure 12.14. Figure 12.14. The New Alert page.
2.	The Send Alerts To section displays the email address for the current user, which is where the alert will be sent. To change this to a different address, click on Change My E-mail Address (identified by an arrow in Figure 12.14). This brings up the User Information page where the username, email address, and any notes about the user can be modified. TIP You can enter a different email address if you are setting an alert on someone else's behalf or a distribution list in Exchange 2003. This is a way for a manager to make sure that certain employees are notified when certain changes occur in a list or library. A best practice is to send out daily summaries so that the individual(s) aren't barraged with dozens of emails a day from an active list or library. The Change Type section lists the type of changes that can trigger an alert to be sent. For most list items, the only option is Changed Items. This means that any time the item is modified, an alert will be sent to the email address specified. When setting an alert on an entire list, the options generally include All Changes, Added Items, Changed Items, and Deleted Items.
3.	In the Alert Frequency box, indicate how often the alert should be sent. The options are to Send e-mail Immediately, Send a Daily Summary, or Send a Weekly Summary.

Using Alerts Outside Lists

Alerts can also be set up from the Site Settings options for a site. To access this functionality, do the following:

1.	Select Site Settings from the top menu. The Site Settings menu page is displayed.
2.	Under Manage My Information, click on My Alerts on This Site. The My Alerts on This Site page is displayed.
3.	To add an alert, click on Add Alert. The New Alert page is displayed as shown in Figure 12.15. Figure 12.15. Team Web Site New Alert page.
4.	Select the list or library that you want to set the alert for. The list can also be viewed by clicking on View This List. Click Next, and a page is then displayed where options can be figured for the alert.

See the description in the previous section "Benefiting from Alerts" for the remaining steps.

Setting Alerts on the Portal

Alerts can also be set on the portal and can connect to your personal site, which provides a central location to access any alerts you may have. SharePoint Portal Server 2003 supports the following alerts:

• Search queries

• Documents and listings

• Areas

• News listings

• Sites added to the Site Directory

• SharePoint lists and libraries

• List items

• Portal site users

• Backward-compatible document library folders

Figure 12.16 shows the Add Site Directory Alert page that appears when a user chooses the Alert Me feature from the Actions area in the Sites area on the Portal. The Advanced Options link was clicked in the Add Site Directory Alert page to reveal some additional options: Alert Results and Filter. The filter can be set to only send an alert if the list item contains or does not contain certain keywords. This type of an alert is handy for a user to know when a new site has been added to the portal.

Figure 12.16. Add Site Directory Alert page.

Figure 12.17 shows an alert being created from the Search Results page on the portal after a search was done on "Exchange." Note that there is an additional option for alerting, that of when items are changed (circled in Figure 12.17), which was not offered in the alert for sites.

Figure 12.17. Add Search Alert page.