Section 2.5. Adding Content


2.5. Adding Content

There are many ways to add content to a SharePoint site depending on the type of content you want to add. The following sections describe different ways to add lists, libraries, pages, and workspaces to a SharePoint site and explain when to use each approach.

2.5.1. Adding Lists

At the simplest level, you can add content to the home page by clicking Add new announcement, Add new event, or Add new link. Clicking on any of these displays a form view for adding items to the SharePoint list, as shown in Figure 2-8. When you click Save and Close, SharePoint adds the announcement to the list which appears on the home page in the Announcements web part.

To create your own lists from the browser:

  1. Click Documents and Lists Create Custom List. SharePoint displays the New List page.


  2. Click Modify settings and columns Add new column to add columns to the list. SharePoint displays Figure 2-9.

  3. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for each column in the list.

animal 2-9. Adding columns to a new list

To display the new list on the home page:

  1. From the home page, click Modify Shared Page Add Web Parts Browse. SharePoint displays the page in edit mode and shows the new list as a web part in the task pane.

  2. Click Modify Shared Page Modify Shared Web Parts list name to change the properties of the displayed list. For example, select Toolbar Type Summary toolbar and click OK.


  3. To close a web part on the home page:

    1. Choose Modify Shared Page Modify Shared Web Parts web part name. SharePoint selects the list and places a dashed border around it (Figure 2-11).

      1. Choose Modify Shared Page Modify Shared Web Parts web part name or choose Modify Shared Page Add Web Parts Browse.


      2. 2.5.2. Building Libraries

        A library is a type of list that includes documents and version histories. Team sites include one built-in library named Shared Documents. To add documents to that library:

        1. From the home page, click Shared Documents Upload document.

        2. Click Save and Close. SharePoint uploads the documents and adds them to the library as shown in Figure 2-12.

        animal 2-12. Adding documents to a library

        The Shared Documents library doesn't keep track of version history by default. You can change that by clicking Modify settings and columns Change general settings Create a version each time you edit a file in this document library? Yes. You can also require approval before documents are accepted to the list, as shown in Figure 2-13.

        animal 2-13. Changing the library's general settings to require approval and keep version history

        Once documents are uploaded to a library, you can perform a variety of tasks by clicking the down arrow next to the document name, as shown in Figure 2-14.

        animal 2-14. Using the context menu to perform document tasks

        To create a new library in a SharePoint site:

        1. Click Create Document Library. SharePoint displays the New Library Page.


        2. Use views, not folders, to organize content in a document library. Folders are best used for supporting files, such as images. If you want to categorize documents, add Category or Product columns to the library, then create a custom view that filters or groups the library based on those columns. See Chapter 7 for details on adding fields and filtering/grouping items.


          2.5.3. Constructing New Pages

          As you just saw, you can create new web pages on a site using document libraries. It's pretty easy to create a library for web pages, manage folders, and add other content to create a web site, as shown in Figure 2-16.

          animal 2-16. Creating a web page library in Explorer View

          Libraries are stored as folders within the site. To navigate to a particular web page, use the address where that page is stored. For example, enter http://myoreillydemosite.sharepoint.apptix.net/Demo%20library/SampleSite1/default.aspx into the address bar. (You can even omit default.aspx since IIS automatically looks for a default page if you omit the file name.)

          There are a couple of things you can't include in a library, however:

          • Executable components (. exe , . dll , . com , etc.) are rejected as a security precaution.

          • ASP.NET pages containing server-side scripts. These are allowed in a library, butagain as a security precautionthe scripts aren't allowed to run.

          Libraries provide a browser-based interface for adding and editing web pages. In some cases, you may want to add the pages directly to the site rather than going through a library. To add web pages directly to the site:

          1. Open the SharePoint site in FrontPage.

          2. Click File New. FrontPage displays the New page task pane, as shown in Figure 2-17.


          3. FrontPage is the most flexible way to add or edit pages in the site; however, pages won't have a revision history unless they are part of a document library.

            2.5.4. Creating Workspaces

            A workspace is a type of subsite within a team site. You create a workspace to give multiple members input into one or more related documents. You can create a workspace from within a document library, an Office application, or the home page of a site. To create a workspace from Word, Excel, or PowerPoint:

            1. Open the document.

            2. Choose Tools Shared Workspace. The application displays the Shared Workspace task pane.

              1. Select the document and choose Create Document Workspace from the context menu shown in Figure 2-14.

              2. SharePoint displays a confirmation page. Click OK to create the workspace.

              Creating a workspace from a library allows members to publish the document back to the library when they have completed their changes. To create a workspace from the home page:

              1. Click Create Sites and Workspaces. SharePoint displays the New SharePoint Site page.

              2. Choose Document Workspace and click OK. SharePoint creates an empty workspace and displays its home page.

              Creating workspaces from a home page is handy if your site restricts who can create new workspaces. In that case, members may need to ask an Administrator or Web Designer to set up a workspace for them.

              If you open a document from a workspace and save it to your local computer, you will be asked if you want to be able to update the workspace copy. Choose Yes if you want to link your local copy to the workspace copy.


              It might seem strange that workspaces created from an Office application or from a library contain only a single document. Why create a whole web site for a single Word or Excel file? I'm not sure I know the answer to that, but you can add documents to the workspace from an Office application fairly easily by doing the following:

              1. Open a document that is part of the workspace.

              2. From the Shared Workspace task pane, click the Documents icon and click Add new document.

              To add documents from the workspace home page, just click Add new document.

              2.5.5. Workspaces Versus Libraries

              Document workspaces and libraries may seem similar. That's because a document workspace actually contains a Shared Documents list, which is a library. Since workspaces are a type of subsite, however, they let you restrict who has access. Table 2-5 may help you understand the differences.

              Table 2-5. Workspace features compared with Library features

              Feature

              Workspaces

              Libraries

              Boundaries

              Establish new site boundaries.

              Do not establish new site boundaries.

              Membership

              May have a unique set of members, or they may inherit members from the parent site.

              Do not have their own sets of members, although a library may be restricted so that only some members can view or change it.

              Searching

              Not included in searches on the parent site.

              Included in searches on the parent site.

              Best used for

              Documents under development or with a restricted audience.

              Documents available to everyone.


              Workspaces also enable certain features not available from libraries in team sites. For example, workspace documents can be saved as local files linked to the SharePoint workspace.



Essential SharePoint
Essential SharePoint 2007: A Practical Guide for Users, Administrators and Developers
ISBN: 0596514077
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 153
Authors: Jeff Webb

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