Uploading and interacting with documents
Once you're in the document library, you can very easily upload new content to the library by clicking the + New Document link at the top of the page.
Once you’re in the document library, you can very easily upload new content to the library by clicking the + New Document link at the top of the page.
When you do, the Upload Document window appears.
Here, you can select the single document you would like to upload by clicking the browse button. If you have multiple files you want to upload, click the link that says "Upload files using Windows Explorer instead" and a new Explorer window will open. You can drag and drop files into this window just like any other file share, and the documents will automatically be copied up to SharePoint without any further action on your part. Click OK to finish out, and you'll see the newly uploaded file(s) in the list with the green "new" symbol.
You can select the single document you would like to upload by clicking the browse button. Additionally, if you have multiple files you want to upload, click the link that says “Upload files using Windows Explorer instead” and a new Explorer window will open.
If you click the three dots (the ellipsis) beside the file, you get a little box that gives you some options, including edit and share capabilities, as well as another ellipsis under which lie many more options.
Edit. Clicking Edit opens the document on your computer, typically in Microsoft Word for word processing documents or Microsoft Excel for spreadsheets. PowerPoint also works here. This is just a convenient way to access files for editing.
Share. Sharing lets you add other people to a document. You can add their usernames or type their full names. In the dropdown box to the right, you can choose permissions for the people to whom you are granting access. In some cases, your administrator may have disabled this option to prevent data leakage or to comply with a corporate information protection policy.
Sharing lets you add other people to a document. You can add their usernames or type their full names.
The fuller set of commonly used options (under that other ellipsis) includes:
In the dropdown box to the right, you can choose from simple options for permissions for the people to whom you are granting access.
- View Properties. Selecting this option opens the document properties page, where you can adjust the name and title of the document. You can also get a smaller ribbon of options on this page, allowing you to view the version history of the document, delete it, check it out (to prevent others from editing it at the same time), set an alert to notify you when actions are performed on the item, and manage alternate copies of this document. (This last option exists in case other copies are located in other places on the SharePoint site, so you can get notified when updates are made on every copy.) Here, you can also see who created the document and when, and who the last editor of the document was and also when that last edit occurred.
The document properties page, where you can adjust the name and title of the document.
- Edit Properties. This option brings up the same page as View Properties, but actions are enabled on this page by default so you can actually edit the settings instead of just seeing what they are.
- Check Out. The Check Out option locks a file for editing by a single user. If other users attempt to save back to the file, they'll be notified that they can't until the user who has the file checked out currently then checks it back in and makes it available for editing.
The Check Out option locks a file for editing by a single use.
- Download a copy. This simply gives you a prompt to save a copy of the document to your local computer.
- Shared With. This gives you a screen listing all people with access to the document. You can also invite people and send a group e-mail to everyone with access to the document.
This gives you a screen listing all people with access to the document. You can also invite people and send a group e-mail to everyone with access to the document.
- Delete. This simply deletes the file, after a confirmation prompt, from the document library. A copy is stored in the site's Recycle Bin (accessible by default, unless your administrator has turned this feature off) in case you delete something by mistake.
Customizing the document library
You can use the Ribbon to manage and further interact with documents in your libraries. On the Files tab, you can perform operations grouped as follows:
- The New group: You can create a new document, upload a single document or multiple files at the same time, or create a new folder within the library.
- The Open & Check Out group: You can begin editing a document in its native application, check out a document to lock it for further editing, check it back in, or discard a check-out if you made no changes and have no revisions to check back in.
- The Manage group: You can view and edit the properties of a document, as well as view its version history, the permissions on the document (if your administrator has enabled such a feature), and delete a document from the library.
- The Share & Track group: You can access the share screen mentioned previously.
- The Copies group: You can download a copy of a document, send a copy to either another location or a new document workspace, manage copies in other SharePoint locations, or go to the source of a copied document in this group.
- The Workflows tab: You can manage workflows, publishing, and approvals.
Creating and customizing calendars
Arguably the second most common activity users head to SharePoint for is to create, view, and edit team calendars. SharePoint is a reasonably flexible solution for sharing calendars that multiple people need to see and that pertain to a specific project -- they're better suited than just sharing out peoples' Exchange calendars, since those are mostly locked down and contain a lot of extraneous information as well.
For tracking due dates, events, and project meetings, SharePoint calendars are great.
To create a new calendar on a SharePoint site, head to the Settings menu and then click Add an app. From there, you can click Calendar, and then type in a friendly name for the new calendar and click the Create button.
To create a new calendar on a SharePoint site, head to the Settings menu and then click Add an app. From the Apps you can add section, click Calendar, and then type in a friendly name for the new calendar and click the Create button.
Once your calendar is created, you can add events by clicking the Events tab in the Calendar Tools group on the ribbon, and then click the New Event button.
Once your calendar is created, you can add events by clicking the Events tab in the Calendar Tools group on the ribbon, and then clicking the New Event button.
From there, you can enter the name of the event, the location, the duration and times, a description, a category (if you are using them), whether or not this event is a recurring or all-day event, and what category this meeting should be in. Hit Save when you have completed the form.
You can enter the name of the event, the location, the duration and times, a description, a category (if you are using them), whether or not this event is a recurring or all day event, and what category this meeting should be in.
After your calendar has been populated, you can experiment with the various views that are available specifically for calendar lists in SharePoint. On the calendar’s SharePoint page, click the Calendar tab in the Calendar Tools ribbon group. Then, in the Manage Views group, click the drop-down list under Current View.
You will see a few options from which you can choose:
- Calendar: The default and popular grid we are all accustomed to seeing.
- All Events: A tabular listing of all events on the calendar -- past, present, and future.
- Upcoming Events: Also a tabular list, but only of forthcoming events.
These different views are helpful if you need to edit a batch of events in bulk and don't want to click through the monthly views of the calendar to get to each event.