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pane, which is visible on the right side of Figure 35.21, click the Office Button, then select

Server, and Document Management Information.

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FIGURE 35.21

Document Properties Ribbon and Document Management pane in Word 2007.

As shown in Figure 35.21, the Type of Document metadata column created previously for

this document library is visible under the Document Properties – Server title. In the

Document Management pane on the right, five options are available, each of which

provides data from SharePoint:

.
Status option—
Lists important status information about the current document.

.
Members option—
Lists which individuals and groups have access to the document

library, and which users are online or not online. An email can be sent to all

members from this tab.

.
Tasks option—
Shows tasks from the primary Tasks list on the Windows SharePoint

Services 3.0 site that houses the document library. New tasks can be added, alerts can

be set, and workflow tasks can be viewed.

.
Documents option—
Shows the other documents in the home library for the open

document. New documents and new folders can be added, and alerts can be created.

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.
Links option—
Displays any links that are present in a Links list on the home site.

A new link can be added, or an alert can be created.

The Publish link from under the Office button can also be used. Two standard options

offered are to publish to a blog or to a document management server. If the Blog option is

selected, the user is shown a preview and is asked to select the SharePoint blog site to

publish to. If the Document Management Server option is chosen, the Save As window

opens with a list of possible locations.

Another entry option in the Office button in Word 2007 is the Server entry. It provides

some additional tools, which are available when a document has been opened from

SharePoint 2007. One of these is Check Out, if the document is not already checked out.

Another is View Version History, which allows the user to see the version number, modi-

fied date, user who made the changes, size of the document, and any comments. And if

any workflows are available in the document library that houses the document, a View

Workflow Tasks option will be available.

This ease of use for accessing information encourages users to share, collaborate, and

communicate together on projects, initiatives, or ideas without having to leave the

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comfort of the Word 2007 application.

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Using Excel 2007 with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

Excel 2007 offers the same level of connectivity as Word 2007 in terms of the Document

Properties Ribbon and Document Management pane. Excel 2007 also has some additional

ways of linking to Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 lists, quite possibly because Excel data

is so similar to data stored in SharePoint lists, or because Microsoft understands the impor-

tance of encouraging users to adopt SharePoint technologies as an alternative to Excel

spreadsheets, and to enhance collaboration.

One way of sharing data in an Excel workbook with SharePoint 2007 users is to export the

contents to a SharePoint list. For this to work, you first need to create a table in Excel

2007, populate it, and then initiate the export process. An extremely powerful feature of

SharePoint lists is that multiple people can edit them at the same time, which can be an

advantage over users fighting to check out, edit, and check in documents one at a time. So

the following exercise is helpful as a way of demonstrating the collaboration capabilities

of a list that houses Excel data.

To export an Excel 2007 table to a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 list, follow these steps:

1. On a worksheet with data, select the range of cells that you want to make into a

table. From the Insert tab, in the Tables group, click Table.

2. The Create Table window opens. Define the range, and check the My Table Has

Headers check box, if needed.

3. Click OK. A table is created that includes the data in the defined range, as shown in

Figure 35.22.

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FIGURE 35.22

Converting a range of cells to a table.

4. If necessary, select a cell in the table, so that the Design tab becomes active, access

the Export drop-down menu, and select Export Table to SharePoint List. The Step 1

of 2 window opens, as shown in Figure 35.23. Enter the address of the site to be

published to and the name of the table. Click Next.

FIGURE 35.23

Export Table to SharePoint List from Excel 2007.

5. The Step 2 of 2 window opens, and it summarizes the data types that will be used

(for example, Text(single line) or Number or Date). Formulas are stripped at this

point, and only the values are kept. Click Finish.

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6. A summary window opens stating “The table was successfully published” and

provides a URL to the new list. Click this URL to open the new list.

7. Figure 35.24 shows the new list, in this case titled Site Usage Data. Note that because

the data was exported, there is no longer a link between Excel and this data.

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FIGURE 35.24

List created from an exported Excel 2007 table.

CAUTION

Using the Export Table to SharePoint List option is a great way to quickly publish data

to a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 table. However, this is a one-time export, so if

the spreadsheet is updated later, you cannot re-export it to the same SharePoint list!

Exporting to Access 2007 from a SharePoint 2007 List

A Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 list also provides the ability to export list data to an

Access 2007 list so that the administrator can leverage some of the powerful analysis tools

of Access 2007. The administrator can create forms, pivot charts, reports, or queries.

Simply click on Export to Access from the Office Links, which can be accessed on the right

side of the screen in Datasheet view of a list, as shown in Figure 35.25. After the data is

opened in Access 2007, you can easily create a report with a few mouse clicks, as shown in

Print Preview mode in Figure 35.26.

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FIGURE 35.25

Exporting list data to Access 2007.

FIGURE 35.26

Report created in Access 2007 in Print Preview mode.

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Many other tools are available in Access 2007, which makes it well suited for repurposing

data from Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. For example, data can be exported to

. Excel 2007

. SharePoint 2007 or Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 list

. Rich Text Format File (ideal for then using in Word 2007)

. Text file

. Other formats, including XML file, ODBC database, HTML document, or merged

with Word

Many users saw little if any use for Access with SharePoint data in the past, but Microsoft

has worked hard to improve the effectiveness of the tools provided in Access 2007, which

now makes it an ideal companion to Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.

Managing the Site Collection

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The previous sections gave some insight into the different components of a site, including

lists and libraries, and an overview of many of the features of these components. This

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section provides an overview of the tools a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 farm admin-

istrator, site collection administrator, and subsite administrator have available. These tools

allow her to control many of the elements of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 farm

(which can consist of one server or a collection of servers), the collection of sites from the

top-level site (which is linked to an IIS website and a specific port number on the server—

typically port 80), and subsites beneath the top-level site.

These different toolsets provide insight into what tools are available at each strata of the

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 environment and help to clarify what can easily be

changed from within the different interfaces and what might require other products, such

as SharePoint Designer or command-line tools (such as the stsadm.exe tool).

Using the Site Settings Pages to Manage Top-Level Sites and Subsites

Figure 35.27 shows the tools available on the Site Settings page (settings.aspx) for the