Chapter 5. Integrating with Office 2003

If you're an Office 2003 user, you can integrate many of your activities with SharePoint Services to add even more functionality to your team sites. For example, by integrating Microsoft Outlook and MSN Messenger with SharePoint Services, you can send emails and instant messages to other team members and schedule meetings without having to leave the team site.

SharePoint Services team sites can also implement shared workspaces. Shared workspaces allow site users to work collaboratively on team documents. Multiple users can work collaboratively to prepare an Excel, Word, or PowerPoint document while ensuring that changes are monitored and versioned.

SharePoint Services team sites also support XML-based forms. By integrating SharePoint Services with any compatible XML editor (such as Microsoft InfoPath) you can import or create forms to retrieve input from site users. By combining all of these integrations, you can greatly increase the abilities of a team site.

In this chapter, you will learn how to:

• Integrate SharePoint Services with Microsoft Office 2003

• Configure an online presence so you and members of your team can send real-time messages to other team members currently logged into the team site

• Create and use shared workspaces

• Create and use meeting workspaces

• Create and use forms in a form library

By the end of this chapter, you should understand the benefits of integrating SharePoint Services with Microsoft Office 2003.