May 2008 - Posts

• Course 50026A: SharePoint 2007 Hands-On Labs

  Elements of this syllabus are subject to change. This series of 33 hands-on labs allows students to explore the new features of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007, Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, Microsoft Office 2007, including Microsoft Office Groove 2007, and Microsoft Windows PowerShell. Audience This course is intended for IT Professionals. At Course Completion After completing this course, students will be able to: Synchronize data between Microsoft Office Groove and SharePoint products and services. Use content types in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. Personalize SharePoint Server 2007. Administer InfoPath Forms Services and Excel Services in the Enterprise edition of Office SharePoint Server 2007. Deploy and configure Records Management in SharePoint Server 2007. Customize the 2007 Microsoft Office User Interface. Programmatically manipulate documents by using the Office Open XML Formats. Use Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 to design a custom workflow that is triggered on file creation or change. Design content-driven web sites with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. Use Microsoft Windows PowerShell for administration and customization of Windows SharePoint Services and Office SharePoint Server 2007. Prerequisites Before attending this course, students should have: Some familiarity with SharePoint Server administration. HOL 101: What's New in Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Feature Walk Through Course Outline This lab explains the new and enhanced features in Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. Lessons Site Creation and Administration Addition of Web Parts The Security Trimmed User Interface (UI) List Settings, Navigation, and List and Library Security Notifications E-mail Integration HOL 111: What's New in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Feature Walk Through This lab explains the new features in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. Lessons New Features in SharePoint Server 2007 Integration Points with 2007 Microsoft Office Programs HOL 171: Synchronizing Data Between Microsoft Office Groove 2007 and Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies This lab explains how teams can work together in Microsoft Office Groove 2007. Lessons Collaboration Inside Contextual Workspaces Sharing Information in a Central Location Architecture and Design of Groove 2007 Connecting to Enterprise Systems such as Windows SharePoint Services HOL 201: Introducing Content Types for Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 This lab explains how to use content types in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 to define, organize, and manage the metadata and behaviors of a document or item type in a centralized, reusable way. Lessons Defining Columns and Content Types for Reuse Managing and Administering Changes to Columns and Content Types Extending Content Types to Implement Custom Solutions Storing Custom XML data Within the Types HOL 203: Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Backup and Restore This lab explains the enhanced backup and restore options for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. Lessons The Multilevel Recycle Bin The Browser-Based User Interface New Options for the Command Line (stsadm.exe) Interface HOL 211: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 People and Permissions This lab explains new and enhanced people options and permissions options in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. Lessons Importing Permissions from Active Directory Supporting LDAP and Other Authentication Providers Supporting SharePoint Groups, Active Directory Security Groups, and Active Directory Discussion Lists Permissions Inheritance Per-Item Security HOL 212: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Personalization This lab explains new and enhanced features involving personalization in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. Lessons Personalizing User Profiles Targeting Audiences Personalizing Views of Public Pages HOL 214: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Enterprise Features Administration This lab explains the administration of Office SharePoint Server 2007 Enterprise features. Lessons Administering InfoPath Forms Services Administering Excel Services Components of the Enterprise Edition of Office SharePoint Server 2007 HOL 215: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Records Management Deployment and Configuration This lab covers the record management capabilities included in SharePoint Server 2007. Lessons Creating Content Types for Categorizing Documents Configuring a Central Records Repository Setting Up Records Management Policies Options for Automation HOL 217: Getting Started with Search in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 This lab explores search options in SharePoint Server 2007. Lessons New Search Options Available Enhanced Search Options Available HOL 221: Understanding the 2007 Microsoft Office System User Experience and Interface Design The objective of this lab is to become familiar with the new 2007 Microsoft Office Fluent user interface. Lessons Understanding the User Experience Design of the Interface Using the 2007 Microsoft Office Fluent User Interface HOL 222: Customizing the 2007 Microsoft Office System User Interface for Your Solution The objective of this lab is to become familiar with the programming model behind the new Office Fluent user interface features of the 2007 Office system. Lessons The2007 Office System Fluent Ribbon The Custom Task Pane HOL 223: Understanding the Structure and Solution Capabilities of the Microsoft Office Open XML Formats The objective of this hands-on lab is to help you become familiar with the new 2007 Office programs’ file formats. Lessons Examining Sample Documents Implementing the Microsoft Office Open XML Format Editing Document Directly Without Using Microsoft Office Programs Solution Possibilities Using the New Default Office Program File Formats HOL 224: Programmatic Manipulation of the Microsoft Office Open XML Formats The goal of this lab is to show you how you can manipulate Office program documents without using 2007 Office programs. Lessons Programmatically Manipulating Documents Using the Office Open XML Formats HOL 231: Developing Solutions Using Microsoft Office Word 2007 Content Controls This hands-on lab will help you become familiar with the use of content controls in Microsoft Office Word 2007. Lessons Using Content Control to Define Document Structure Managing Content and Introducing Restrictions Performing Client-Side Manipulations Extending Solutions Using Content Controls HOL 232: Exploring the New, Flexible XML Programmability in Microsoft Office Word 2007 The objective of this hands-on lab is to introduce you to the concepts of the XML data store and XML binding features of Word 2007. Lessons Programming Structured Information in Word 2007 Storing Structured Information Independently of the Presentation Surface Capabilities of the New Data Store and XML Binding Creating Document-Based Word 2007 Solutions HOL 241: Using Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Spreadsheets for Web Service–Based Calculations and Browser Rendering This lab introduces you to the ability to publish and work with Microsoft Office Excel 2007 worksheets in Office SharePoint Server 2007. Lessons Creating Complex Web Pages Integrating Public Worksheets with Data Points such as Web Parts HOL 251: New Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 Programmability The objective of this lab is to introduce you to some of the new programmability features that Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 provides. Lessons Programmatically Extending Outlook 2007 to Provide Custom Functionality HOL 261: Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 Forms Development This lab explores some of the new development features of Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007. Lessons Developing Forms Using InfoPath 2007 HOL 262: Building Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 Forms that Run as Both Rich Client and Browser Applications The objective of this lab is to become familiar with browser-based scenarios for InfoPath 2007 forms. Lessons Creating Browser-Based Scenarios for InfoPath 2007 Forms HOL 301: Using Features to Provision Sites in Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 The objective of this lab is to gain an understanding of the new Features framework in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. Lessons Creating and Provisioning a Custom Document Library Content Types Related to the Custom Document Library Associating Custom Actions to an Existing Announcements List HOL 302: ASP.NET 2.0 Interoperability with Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 - Web Parts and Master Pages This lab explains the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Web Part and Master Pages framework, designed and built on the Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0 Web Part and Master Pages infrastructure. Lessons The Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Web Part Framework Controls The ASP.NET 2.0 Web Part Control Set Inheritance from Base Classes HOL 303: Creating Workflows for Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 In this lab, you will use Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 to design a custom workflow that is triggered on file creation or change. Lessons Assigning a Task Within Workflow Designer Building a Custom Workflow by Using the Windows Workflow Foundation plug-in to Microsoft Visual Studio 2005. Deploying a Workflow to Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Integrating Workflow Functionality with the 2007 Microsoft Office System HOL 304: Using List Events in Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 In this lab, you will create an Event Handler. Lessons Creating an Event Handler Associating an Event Handler with a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 List HOL 305: Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Site Templates This lab explains the site template architecture in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. Lessons Configuring the Site Template Architecture New Options for the Site Template Architecture HOL 311: Getting Started with the Business Data Catalog in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 In this lab, you will learn about connecting Office SharePoint Server 2007 to line-of-business applications by using the Business Data Catalog. Lessons Creating Custom Business Applications Using the Web Parts and SharePoint List Connections HOL 312: Search Administration and Customization in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 In this lab, you will learn about Search and the Search Center in Office SharePoint Server 2007. Lessons Administering Search and the Search Center Customizing Search and the Search Center HOL 313: Designing Content-Driven Web Sites with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 The objective of this lab is to give you an overview of creating content-driven sites within Office SharePoint Server 2007. Lessons Creating Content-Driven Sites Using the Content Management Functionality HOL 314: Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 - CSS and the Data Form Web Part This lab will give the participant an understanding of SharePoint Designer 2007. Lessons Customizing SharePoint Pages and Applications Cascading Style Sheets The Data Web Form Part HOL 315: Creating and Deploying Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Workflows for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 In this lab, you will learn how to build, deploy, and test a Visual Studio workflow in Office SharePoint Server 2007. Lessons Building a Visual Studio Workflow Deploying a Visual Studio Workflow Testing Workflow Functionality HOL 411: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Advanced Administration In this lab, you will learn about advanced options for the SharePoint administrator. Lessons Managing a Site Managing Site Collection Managing a Content Database Creating Portable Sites for Staging Environments Creating Automated Processes HOL 412: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Advanced Authentication In this lab, you will learn more about the available authentication methods and protocols. Lessons Form-Based Authentication Kerberos Authentication SharePoint Single Sign-On Configuring Additional ASP.NET Authentication Protocols HOL 413: Using Microsoft Windows PowerShell for Administration and Customization of Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 This lab explains how to use the Microsoft Windows PowerShell (formerly "Monad"). Lessons Administering Windows SharePoint Services an Office SharePoint Server 2007 Using Windows PowerShell Customizing Windows SharePoint Services and Office SharePoint Server 2007 Using Windows PowerShell Related Blogs: Official MS Site Course 5061- Implementing Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Course 5060 - Implementing Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Course 50050A: Architecting Documents and Records Management Solutions with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Course 50051A: Architecting Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Portals and Collaboration Solutions Course 50049A: Architecting Web Content Management Solutions with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Course 50048A: Enterprise Search Solution Architect Workshop Course 50047A : Advanced IT Pro Course for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Course 50003A: Customizing and Extending Enterprise Content Management Solutions Course 50004A: Implementing Advanced Portals and Collaboration Solutions Course 50064A: Advanced SharePoint 2007 Development Posted May 28 2008, 10:47 PM by Neil with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Sharepoint, Courses

• Sharing a "One Note 2007" Notebook in Sharepoint

  "Microsoft Office OneNote 2007" is one of the new applications that ship with the enterprise edition of Office 2007. It can also be purchased separately, but most people will not do this as they have no idea of what the application does. The intention behind this blog is to explain how OneNote works with Sharepoint, but before I can do that, I need to ensure that you know what OneNote does and the purposes behind the application. Let's start with a scenario that occurs almost everyday in most corporate environments: A lot of people get invited to a meeting Agenda Items and Objectives are email to the individual people attending the meeting. The Boardroom is booked and minutes are taken. Everyone also takes their own notes. The minutes of the meeting are then emailed to all the attendee's of the meeting. Everyone then emails their comments and work done to central person that spends days consolidating the information. The scenario that I just sketched above is so common that we think it is normal and that is just the way that it is done. If you sit and think about it, the way we do things is very inefficient and there is a better way of doing it. "One Note 2007" to the rescue. Lets take a look at how we can use "One Note" to streamline the process: Create the agenda items in "One Note". Publish the "One Note" workbook to Sharepoint so that everyone can access one copy of the Agenda. During the meeting, share the notebook in live mode so that everyone types on the "One Note" at the same time. After the meeting everyone adds their additional notes to the same notebook. Doing it in this manner has a number of advantages: The amount of email generated is significantly reduced. Their is only one copy of the documentation with version control in Sharepoint. Virtual meetings can be done via the Internet negating the need to book a Board Room. There is no need to consolidate the notes after the meeting as it has already been done. Now that I've explained the purpose and use of One Note with Sharepoint, let's take a look at how to do this: Create a new document library in Sharepoint to store the "One Note" sections. Create a new notebook in "One Note" and publish it to Sharepoint Put the "One Note" into Live Sharing mode so multiple people can work on it simultaneously. Create the document library in Sharepoint The first step is to navigate to a site in Sharepoint and create a new document library to store the "One Note" sections. You will notice during the creation of the document library that "One Note Section" is one of the options available as a document template. Create the "One Note" workbook The next step would be to launch "One Note" and create a new notebook.   This process will start a wizard that will allow you to publish the notebook into Sharepoint. The first part of the Wizard will require a name and a layout for the notebook that can be selected from a list. The second part of the wizard will give you the opportunity of defining where the notebook will be stored. In our case this will be in Sharepoint. The third part of the wizard allows you to specify the URL to the document library in Sharepoint created earlier. This is what a notebook in "One Note" looks like once it has been created and published.   The application allows you to create multiple different sections per topic of discussion, insert freeform text anywhere you like and even insert images to make it look good. If you really want too, you can insert video and voice recordings that can be synchronized with your mobile device. The real reason this product is called "One Note" is its ability to have multiple users create content on the same note at the same time. This is achieved by sharing the notebook and then making it live. Making the Notebook Live The last step in the process is to enabled the notebook to be shared simultaneously between multiple users. This is done by selecting the "Share" menu and then selecting "Live Share Session" -> "Start Sharing Current Section". A new tool pane will open on the right hand side of the screen that allows you to configure additional options. The first thing to do is too click on the button saying "Start Live Sharing Session". This will then enabled the "One Note" section that you are working on to be shared with other people. The only thing left to do is invite other people to participate in the live sharing session on "One Note". This is done by clicking on the button labelled "Invite Participants". This action will open an email window with links to the live sharing session that will be emailed to the participants selected on the previous screen. The last piece of the puzzle is to take a look at where the "One Note" sections are stored in Sharepoint. As you can see each section is stored as a single file and the entire notebook is stored as a folder in the document library. I hope this blog has enticed you to start exploring the world of "One Note" and Sharepoint. Related Blogs: Building a KPI List using Excel in Sharepoint Publishing PowerPoint slides to Sharepoint Creating a Pivot Table in Sharepoint Publishing a Blog from Word 2007 into Sharepoint The importance of Outlook 2007 as a user interface into Sharepoint Migrating an Access 2007 Database to Sharepoint Posted May 27 2008, 11:10 PM by Neil with no comments Filed under: Sharepoint, Office 2007

• Creating New shortcuts for MS Office 2007 to Sharepoint

  One of the biggest problems that end-users of Sharepoint face, is the ability to gain access to the correct site in Sharepoint to save the information too. There are various ways in which to do this: Create a new network place under "My Network Places" that acts as a mapped drive. Add favourites to Internet Explorer to remind the users of where these site are located. Change the default save location of MS Office 2007 to permanently look at "My Site" on Sharepoint. Unfortunately all of these solutions have there individual problems and challenges and therefore none of them form an adequate solution for the user. Fortunately Microsoft created a solution to this problem in the SSP of MOSS that not many people are aware of. This is done by publishing the shortcuts directly from Sharepoint onto the users desktop. This can be done by navigating to the SSP using the Sharepoint Admin Console and then selecting the link called: "Publish links to Office client applications".   A list will then be made available that will allow you to define as many shortcuts to Sharepoint content as you like. New items can be created by selecting the "New" option from the menu. There are a number of options that can be configured on this page: Define the URL that will point to the content in Sharepoint Descriptive name that will be used to refer to this location. The Type allows you to define what object in Sharepoint the Link is referring too. The target audience that will have the ability to see this shortcut. Once all the options have been completed and committed the link will display in the list. At this point we can check if the solution worked by opening one of the MS Office applications like "Word" and attempt to save a document. You will notice that on the navigation bar on the left there is an option called "My Sharepoint Sites" and by selecting this option all the shortcuts are displayed in the main viewing pane. Selecting the shortcut will then open up the Sharepoint location as defined in the link. I have had some problems in the past getting this link to appear and will therefore provide some tips: It sometimes takes some time for these links to be published, so be patient You can speed up the process by having the user navigate to their "My Site" If this process does not happen automatically the links can be setup manually on the users machine. The shortcuts are stored on the users machine as indicated in the images above: "C:\Documents and Settings\<User Account>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Office\My Sharepoint Sites". A new shortcut can be manually created by dragging and dropping from "My Network Places". I hope you have found this information useful as I have found that it makes a big difference to the user experience with MS Office 2007 and Sharepoint. Related Blogs: The purpose behind "My Site" in Sharepoint Publishing a Blog from Word 2007 into Sharepoint Overview of User Profiles in Sharepoint Posted May 25 2008, 05:52 PM by Neil with 8 comment(s) Filed under: Sharepoint, Office 2007

• Access Denied on a Sharepoint Site when editing Master Pages

  In the last two weeks I have encountered two customers that have experienced this problem, therefore it seems logical that more people are going to encounter this problem. This is not an actual error on Sharepoint, but more a misunderstanding of how Sharepoint works and handles Master Pages. The problem occurs when people start using Sharepoint Designer to change or apply a new master page to a Sharepoint Site and follow the normal sequence of events: Create a new Master Page or Download a new master page. Apply the master page to a Sharepoint site. Save or publish the site with the new master page. At this point the problem occurs. You will find that when navigating to the Sharepoint site, that the site collection or site administrators can view the site perfectly, but all the users get an error "Access Denied". The default reaction at this point would be to go and check the security settings, which is what people do. They spend hours changing security and testing and all to no avail. This is due to the fact that the problem lies with the new Master Page and not the security. To understand the solution to the perceived problem you need to understand where Master Pages are stored in Sharepoint and also how they are managed. Master pages are stored in the "Master Page Gallery" at the site collection level. The gallery is merely a document library that saves web pages, specifically Master Pages and Page Layouts. There is an "Approval" workflow rule attached to this document library for security reasons. New Master pages and page layouts therefore need to be approved before they can be applied. The problem occurs when the master page is published from Sharepoint Designer. SPD publishes the master page into the "Master Page Gallery", but the workflow rule then kicks in and places the page into an unapproved state. This is what causes the "Access Denied" error for the users of the site. To fix the problem is quite easy: Navigate to the site settings page Select the Master page gallery from the list of options. Navigate down the list of master pages and page layouts in the gallery to the master page causing the problem. Choose the drop down arrow next to the page and select "Publish" from the drop down menu. Choose the drop down arrow next to the page and select "Approve" from the drop down menu. The status of the page should now have changed from "Draft" to "Approved". Problem Solved. I hope you find this blog useful if you ever encounter this problem and please post comment on your experiences. Related Blogs: Minimal Master page in Sharepoint Designer Creating a new Sharepoint site using Sharepoint Designer Giving Anonymous Access to Users on a SharePoint Site Posted May 15 2008, 07:07 PM by Neil with 16 comment(s) Filed under: Sharepoint, SharePoint Designer

• Creating Content Types and linking them to Document Library's in Sharepoint

  One of the biggest problems that we face when trying to manage unstructured content like office documents, is the fact that almost no two documents are the same. A whole sales team can create proposals, but none of them will be the same. This raises the question, how do I attach common workflow rules or share information in a structured way between unstructured content. The only way to fix this problem is to attached some form of structured information to the unstructured content. In Sharepoint this is done by creating meta data columns of data, grouping them together using "Content Types" and then linking those "Content Types" to MS Office Templates. Add the correct version of MS Office (obviously 2007) on the users desktop and we have a solution. In the rest of the blog I will step you through the process of actually doing this, but before we start, lets outline the steps required: Create the meta data columns required to store the data in "Site Columns" Create the "Content Type" to link the meta data columns together as a logical unit. Create the template in MS Office to link to the "Content Type" Create a "Document Library" to link the "Content Type" too. Link the "Content Type to a document library to be able to use it. Test the solution to see that it works. Both the "Site Columns" and the "Content Types" can be found under "Site Settings" from the "Site Actions" menu. Create Meta Data Columns: The first step is to go and create the meta data columns to stored the structured information that will be associated with the unstructured document. This is done by Navigating to the "Site Columns" gallery. There are a number of standard columns available in Sharepoint that ship with the product by default has they are used in the standard features and web parts that come with Sharepoint. All of these columns are re-useable and can be used in building your own "Content Types", but if you wish to store some information and none of the standard columns cater for it, you can create your own column by selecting the "Create" button at the top. When creating your own column there are a number of options to choose from that are very similar to those found in an SQL Server Database. These options range from Numbers to Dates to Lookups to Choice options. Once a selection has been made, then you will need to configure the appropriate fields associated with that selection. Create Content Type: Now that all the columns that we require have been added to the site columns gallery we can now logically group them together using a "Content Type". This can be done by navigating to the "Content Type" gallery under "Site Settings". A number of content types have already been created and these are used by the standard lists and library's that ship with Sharepoint. The important thing to remember with content types is that they act like classes in .NET. They can be linked together in an inheritance structure where the one content type inherits its values from its parent. It therefore becomes critical that a lot of planning is done on the implementation and business processes involved. New "Content Types" can be created by selecting the "Create" button at the top of the screen. A number of things need to be configured at this point: Give the "Content Type" and descriptive name that will make sense to the users. Determine from which base "Content Type" you will be inheriting from. Microsoft has provided a base for every different category of "Content Type". Determine the category that you will use to list the "Content Type" in the gallery. It makes it easier to find later. Complete other additional options and commit the settings. At this point we have a "Content Type" with only one column. If you are building it on the document base content type then that column will be called "Title". Now we can go and select the columns we created in the site columns gallery and add them to the "Content Type" by selecting the link called "Add columns from Site Gallery". It then simply becomes a matter of selecting the columns on the left of the screen (coming from the site gallery) and adding them to the right of the screen (new content type) by using the "Add" button in the middle of the screen. Once all the columns have been added, commit the changes. Columns can also be made "Required" fields by selecting them and then choosing the "Required" option button. This can then be used to force the users to complete these fields in MS Office before the document can be saved. Create Office Template: Now that the content type is complete, we need to create a template using MS Office so that we can link it to the "Content Type". For illustration purposes, I am going to do it in MS Word 2007 as it is more conducive to creating readable templates. Here is the steps to follow: Launch MS Word. Create the Layout of the templates using all the features to your disposal eg: Smart Art, Tables, Font etc. Save the document as a Word Template(*.dotx). The next step is to link the template to the "Content Type": Navigate back to Sharepoint in IE (where we left off when creating the content type). Select the "Advanced Settings" hyperlink. Upload the new template Commit Changes. At this point the "Content Type" is complete and we can now link it to the document library. Create Document Library: The steps involved in creating a document library is probably familiar to you, but I will list them in any case: Navigate to a Sharepoint site within the Site Collection that is storing the new "Content Type" Select "Create" from the "Site Actions" menu. Select "Document library from the list of items to create. Give the library a Name Choose "MS Word 2007" from the document template drop down list. Commit Changes. Linking Content Type to Document Library: Now that the document library has been created, we need to enabled it to support "Content Types". This feature is switched off by default and is most likely the reason most people do not know how to do this. Here is the sequence of steps on how to do this: Navigate to the document library Select "Document Library Settings" from the menu. Select "Advanced Options" Enable "Content Types" This option will now enable a whole new section under the document library settings that was not available before. Navigate to the "Content Type" section under the "Document library settings" area. Browse for existing "Content Types" Link the "Content Type" we created earlier to the document library. The only thing left too do is test the solution. Test the Solution: When selecting the "New" drop down arrow on the document library menu, you will notice that the "Content Type" now appears as an option. This is how you expand the various options available in an document library and they can also be based on different applications (Excel, Power Point, etc.) Select the "Sales Proposal" option from the menu. This will launch MS Word 2007. There are a number of things to take note of once the "Content Type" has been opened in Word. The template we created earlier in "MS Word 2007" has become the basis of the look and feel of any new proposals created. The "Meta Data" fields we created in the "Content Type" then appear as user controls on a toolbar at the top of the document. If these fields have been made compulsory, then the user cannot save the document without completing the fields. With a bit more work, these meta data fields can be linked to bookmarks in the word template that will update the document directly as the fields are completed. Conclusion: This then concludes the process of attaching structured data to unstructured content and makes it possible to do a number of things: Enforce compliance on users as far as creating a standard in the company when creating documentation. The Meta data fields can be indexed and search when attempting to find information. Complex workflow's can be created using the meta data fields for rules. Events become more useful as the fields can be used for business rules. Related Blogs: Content Types the Core of ECM in Sharepoint The Importance of Site Columns in Sharepoint Posted May 12 2008, 04:23 PM by Neil with 4 comment(s) Filed under: Sharepoint, Office 2007