SharePoint

In This Document:

Quick Links:

Overview

SharePoint is a virtual team collaboration tool that can assist clubs in storing documents, sharing information, and coordinating project work. Kellogg's SharePoint service is intended for use by club co-chairs to share club documents and to pass on club information to future generations of students.

Key features of SharePoint include:

  • A Shared Documents folder that can be used to share and archive club documents.
  • The shared documents folder also supports versioning, which may be of assistance to club leaders collaborating on projects.
  • Shared Contacts and Tasks lists.
  • Picture libraries.
  • An Events module for posting deadlines for club events and activities.

Requesting a Club SharePoint site

To request a Club SharePoint site, fill out the SharePoint Request Form.

If you are interested in document sharing for a class or study group, we currently recommend the use of Blackboard or other collaboration tools external to KIS. If your class does not have a Blackboard site, you can request that one be created by contacting the Professor for that class. Please contact Faculty / Staff Support for any additional Blackboard assistance.

Creating new document libraries

Document libraries are like folders. Clubs may want to have separate folders for various events, activities, or responsibilities. NOTE: You can also create sub-folders within a document library. However, only document libraries will be listed on the front page of your SharePoint site, so you need to create a new document library to get the convenience of a link from the front page.

To create a new document library:

  1. Login to your SharePoint site and click the Site Actions menu in the upper right hand corner, then select Create.
  2. Click the Document Library link (shown at right).
  3. Enter a name for the library in the Name field.
  4. If you do not want this library to show up on the front page, select No for Display this document library on the Quick Launch bar?
  5. If you would like to use document versioning, select Yes for Create a version each time you edit a file in this document library?
  6. Click Create. After the new document library is created, you will be taken to it.

Copying files & folders to a SharePoint document library

If you have files and folders stored on your computer or a network share (H: drive, W: drive, etc...), you can copy them to a SharePoint document library. To do so:

  1. Open the document library (i.e. Shared Documents) you want to copy files to.
  2. If you will be copying the file to a subfolder of the Shared Documents folder, click the subfolder(s) until you're in the folder you want to upload the file to.
  3. Click the down arrow next to Upload, then click the Upload Multiple Documents link, as shown in image #1 below.
  4. Use the interface provided (shown in image #2 below) to find and select all documents you wish to upload by checking the box next to each document.
    Note: you may only use this interface to upload multiple documents from a single folder.
  5. When finished selecting files, click OK to upload the documents you have selected and return to the document library.

Using document versioning

Document versioning allows you to maintain previous versions of a document. This is useful in case the current version is corrupted, you accidentally delete data from the document, or you just want to see a previous version.

By default, versioning is turned off in SharePoint. To use document versioning, you must first enable it.

Enabling document versioning

  1. Login to your SharePoint site and click the Shared Documents link.
  2. Click the down arrow next to Settings, then click Document Library Settings.
  3. Click the Versioning settings link.
  4. In the Document Version History section, select Create major versions.
  5. Click OK to save your changes.

If you have multiple document libraries, you'll need to repeat this process for each document library.

Accessing previous versions of a document

To view a previous version of a document, click the arrow to the right of the file name, then select Version History.

To open a previous version, click the date & time it was modified.

Editing shared documents

Using Check In / Check Out

KIS highly recommends checking out documents before editing them. If you would like to, you can require check out of your documents before editing them. This option can be configured on the same page that is used to enable document versioning.

Checking out documents before editing them prevents other people from editing the same document that you are working on. It does not prevent other people from viewing documents that are checked out, although when viewing a document that is checked out, the user who doesn't have the document checked out will not see any changes made since the document was last checked in.

To check the document out -- click the arrow to reveal the pull-down menu to the right of the file you want to edit, then select Check Out.

Once you've finished working on the document and have saved it, check it back in. In Microsoft Word, click the Office orb and select Server > Check In. You can also open SharePoint and click the arrow to the right of the file you have checked out and select Check In.

Editing Documents

To edit a shared Microsoft Office Word, Excel, or PowerPoint document, go to the document library (i.e., Shared Documents). Click the arrow to the right of the file you want to edit, then select Edit in Microsoft Office Word (or Excel, or PowerPoint).

The document will open in Microsoft Office. Saving changes to shared Microsoft Office documents works the same as with any document stored locally on your hard drive. Just type CTRL-S or click the Office orb and select Save to save changes.

Adding users

To add users to an existing SharePoint site:

  1. Login to your SharePoint site and click the Site Actions menu in the upper right hand corner, then select Site Settings.
  2. Click the Advanced permissions link (second link under the Users and Permissions section).
  3. Click the down arrow next to New and click Add Users.
  4. In the Users/Groups field, enter the email addresses of the students you wish to add, separated by semi-colons (;). The email address must be a full Kellogg email address (i.e., jdoe2007@kellogg.northwestern.edu). Non-Kellogg addresses, such as jdoe@yahoo.com or j-doe08@nlaw.northwestern.edu will not work. If you need to look up email addresses, use the Northwestern web directory at directory.northwestern.edu.
  5. Select Give users permission directly in the Give Permission section.
    Note: The other option (using SharePoint groups) is useful in some situations, but for most student use it is less confusing to simply grant users permission directly.
  6. Select a role for the users you are adding -- reader, contributor, web designer, or administrator.
    Note that you will need to return to the Add Users page if you need to add some people with Read access, and some with Full Control; you can't do that at the same time.
    • Users with Read access have read-only access to the site. They can view documents, but can not edit them.
    • Users with Contribute access can create and edit items in existing lists and document libraries. They cannot create new document libraries or lists.
    • Users with Design access can edit documents and add new ones and can also add new document libraries and lists.
    • Users with Full Control access have full control over the SharePoint site. They can edit any documents in the site, add new documents and document libraries, add new lists, and add or remove users.
    • There are several other permission levels listed on the Add Users page; most students will not need to use them.
  7. Decide whether you want SharePoint to email the users you are adding. If you do, leave the box for Send welcome e-mail to the new users checked; uncheck the box if you don't want to send the email through SharePoint.
  8. Click OK. SharePoint will take a few seconds to process the changes, then return you to the screen from "step 3". Verify that the people you wanted to add are now listed with the appropriate access level on this page.
  9. If you need to remove users from the site, check the box next to their name, then click the down arrow next to Actions and select Remove User Permissions.

Adding a club logo

To add your club logo to the front page:

Cliick the Site Actions menu in the upper right hand corner, then select Edit Page.

Click Add a Web Part in near the top right hand corner of the page (shown in the image to the right).

Wait for the Add Web Parts window (shown below) to appear. This may take a few seconds.

Scroll down to the Miscellaneous section, then check the box next to Image Web Part, and click Add. This will add the Image Web Part to the top of the Right Web Part Zone.

To specify the image you would like displayed, click the open the tool pane link in the Image Web Part to enter the link (URL) for your club logo. To find the link for your club logo, go to your club web page and right-click the logo. Select Properties. Cut and paste the URL from the Address (URL): field to the Image Link field in SharePoint.

IMPORTANT: If the club logo is stored on the Kellogg web server (www.kellogg.northwestern.edu), change the link to use https:// instead of http:// -- this will keep visitors from getting an error when they login to the SharePoint site.

Click OK. Your logo should now appear on the page, but the page will still be in edit mode. Click Exit Edit Mode (directly under Site Actions) to return to the "normal" view of the page.

 

Known Problems and Troubleshooting

There are a few file types and file name characters that SharePoint does not support. These include:

Files with the following extensions:

.exe, .mwt, .lnk

File and folder names with the following characters:

$ # % & ~

File names with tabs or multiple periods are also unsupported.

To copy a file with a &, $, #, ~, or % in the file name, you will need to remove that character from the file name before copying it to SharePoint.

KIS Support Policy

KIS will be happy to assist clubs with basic SharePoint functionality (the key features outlined above). Unfortunately, we are not currently able to support advanced customization of SharePoint sites in most cases.

For assistance with SharePoint, please contact kis-techtools@kellogg.northwestern.edu or come to the Kellogg Student Technical Support Center during business hours.

Other SharePoint documentation

Further SharePoint documentation is available by logging in to your SharePoint site and clicking the Help link at the top of the page.

Additional resources:

Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007 Support Center.

Last update: May 28, 2008