STS FAQ

Q : 1.1 - I have installed STS. What next? ‎(1)

The first thing to do is to learn how to use the "Microsoft SharePoint Administrator" and the STS User Interface.

Note: People who come from a FrontPage background seem to want to use FrontPage for everything. They shouldn't.

Q : 1.2 - Where can I find the SharePoint Administrator ? ‎(1)

Under Control Panel / Administrator Tools. (W2K)

Q : 1.3 - What do I use the SharePoint Administrator for ? ‎(1)

Depending on how you installed STS, you may need to access SharePoint Administrator to Extend your site.

(Basically if it works immediately out-of-the-box you don't need to do this).

Otherwise you'll find that you need SharePoint Administrator very seldom until later.

Q : 1.4 - How do I use the STS User Interface for administration ? ‎(1)

You access "Site Settings" on the Menu Line (on the right before Help)

Q : 10.1 - What questions are answered by the Examples in the SDK ? ‎(1)

This section has been added here because questions continue to be asked in the newsgroup that are solved directly by Examples from the SDK. Perhaps if they don't read the SDK they will read this much shorter FAQ. (In the SDK these Examples are at ca pages 55-62)

Example 1: Adding a new field for Flash Movies (not exactly the first requirement that comes to my mind for an STS business site)

Example 2: Customizing the logo on your team Web sites (Trivial)

Example 3: Customizing the top link bar (Asked quite often)

Example 4: Adding a new document type and file type icon (Asked quite often)

Example 5. Adding a field to a list in a custom document library

(Something I use quite often together with a list of possible values)

Example 6: Adding a title link to an item in a document list (Interesting code but not strictly necessary as you can link via the Icon)

Example 7: Adding an in-line, highly customized view (Not yet seen the need)

Example 8: Creating a new template for custom lists (Combine this with Example 5 !)

Example 9: Using Screen Tips to show list data (Not yet seen the need)

Above all, go to look at the SDK and if you look at no other section, DO look at and try the examples !

The SDK as of 05.18.2006 was downloadable from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=67ef03e8-e368-4aa3-a6ab-7d26896ffb48&displaylang=en

(one line)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=67ef03e8-e368-4aa3-a6ab-7d26896ffb48&displaylang=en

Q : 10.2 - What STS issues are fixed by Office XP SP1? ‎(1)

This list of items is taken directly from the STS Resource Guide and is usually quoted in full. The idea in providing it here is that a relevant item will be found by a search of the FAQ.

1. Visual Interdev Navigation Bar Is Not Displayed.

2. Include Components and Shared Borders are Displayed Incorrectly

After you upgrade an IIS-based web site to STS, the Include Components and shared borders are displayed incorrectly. For additional information see the article Q298827.

3. Provisioning fails on Danish Version of Windows 2K Professional

When you install STS on the Danish version of MS Win2K Pro, you receive the following error message
"Could not provision SharePoint based website on 'Root Web' site.
and
"Error 2 opening registry key "Software/Microsoft/Shared Tools/Web Server Extensions/Ports/Port *".

4. Usage Processing Fails If Particular User Agent Appears In Server Logs

For additional information see Q310096

5. Error Message When You Create A View For A List

In MS FrontPage, when you create a view for a list the following error message appears:

"FrontPage Error: The view has been created but there is some internal error."

6. Server Health Deletes Links With Spaces In The URL

If you create a hyperlink that contains one or more spaces, and then run Server Health, the URL is deleted.

7. Entry Deleted, Record Not Save If You Set Hyperlink to URL of Server

If you set a hyperlink column in a document library to the URL of the server on which it resides, the record information is not saved and the entry is deleted.

8. Content Appears Duplicated If Nested In Page Component

When you open a page containing an Include Page component and the page that is included contains a Web component, you may receive the following warning message:

"The contents of a FrontPage component have been modified. These contents will be overwritten when you save this page."

If you Click OK, the page appears and the content of the page is duplicated. For additional information see Q304542.

To correct this problem update both the server and the client to SP1.

Q : 10.3 - What new STS functionality is added by Office XP SP1? ‎(1)

This list of items is taken directly from the STS Resource Guide and is quoted in full. The idea in providing it here is that a relevant item will be found by a search of the FAQ.

1. Visual Interdev Creates New Websites in Low Security Context

On a computer running MS Win NT 4.0, if you create a subweb by using MS Visual InterDev 6.0, it is automatically created as an application. The default setting is to run that application in-process. After you upgrade to SP1, the new default setting for SP1 and the FrontPage Server Extensions update is to run the application out-of-process. This improves security.

2. Registry Setting Added to Retain Local Accounts If Site Is Unprovisioned

If a site is unprovisioned, all local accounts created by that site are retained if the string value, NoDeleteAccounts, is set to 1 in the following registry subkey.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\All Ports

or individually under this subkey

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\Ports\Port /LM/W3SVC/ xx:

where xx is the instance number for the virtual site

3. Publishing STS Sites

After you install FrontPage 2002 SP1 you can publish SharePoint team Web sites and/or subwebs from one server to another. To do this you need to upgrade both the server and the client to SP1.

Q : 10.4 - What STS issues are fixed by Office XP SP2? ‎(1)

This list of items is taken directly from the relevant KnowledgeBase article (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;323549) and is usually quoted in full. The idea in providing it here is that a relevant item will be found by a search of the FAQ.

1. User Information Can Be Browsed Anonymously

- for further information look at the KB article 326358 "STS: Anonymous Clients Can Browse User Information"

2. Server Health Removes Groups from Role

- Non-local groups are removed from roles by Server Health when the NoMachineGroups value is set to 1.

3. IIS and Server Extensions Installed with Microsoft Windows .NET Server Upgrade

- When you upgrade a Microsoft Windows 2000 Server-based computer to Windows .NET Server, Internet Information Services and the FrontPage Server Extensions are installed, even if they were not installed before the upgrade.

4. Access Violation Creating Subweb Under Stress

- An access violation may occur when creating a new subweb while a server is under extreme stress.

5. Server Health Check Does Not Succeed on Newly Created Site

- The SharePoint Server Health check does not succeed on a new site when the SharePoint Timer Service is not registered.

6. Unique Subweb Permissions Are Not Applied Correctly

- When you use the Microsoft FrontPage 2000 client to apply unique permissions on a nested subweb, the permissions are not applied correctly.

7. Incorrect Metabase Attributes on Windows .NET Server

- Incorrect properties for the FrontPage ISAPI filter are written in the IIS metabase on Windows .NET Server by FrontPage Server Extensions Setup.

8. Cannot Discuss Documents That Have Plus Sign in File Name

- When you try to discuss a document that has a plus sign in the document's file name, you cannot, and you receive a "File not Found" error message or similar error message.

9. Invalid POSTs to Server Extensions Logged to Event Viewer

- Invalid POST requests to the FrontPage Server Extensions are no longer logged in the Event Viewer; this is to prevent the chance of inadvertently filling the Event Viewer logs.

10. Server Health Deletes Lists on New Web Site

- If you run Server Health before and after you create a new Web site, all lists in the Web site that you just created may be deleted.

11. "Next Page" Link on List Page Does Not Work with DBCS Filter

- When you apply a filter on a list by using non-UTF8-encoded values, the "Next Page" link does not work.

12. Scheduled Server Health Removes Lists from Virtual Subwebs

- When Server Health is scheduled to run automatically, lists in subwebs that were created from virtual directories may be deleted.

13. Potential Heap Overflow Vulnerability

- for further information look at the KB article 326359 STS: Chunked Request Causes Heap Overflow

14. Anonymous Queries using XMLDATA Return User Information

- for further information look at the KB article 326360 STS: Anonymous Queries using XMLDATA Return User Information

Q : 11.1 - My default.htm does not display correctly - what should I do ? ‎(1)

If your default.htm does not display correctly (possibly following an incorrect amendment with FrontPage - i.e. by opening the file rather than the correct opening the web site and then the file) - then moving columns in 'Customize Home Page Layout'; Saving then moving back and Saving again; will often clear the problem.

Explanation: The database contains a long code for each document library and this is referenced within default.htm. If for some reason the code has changed since default.htm has been created then default.htm will no longer find the correct record in the database hence leading to a problem (especially that listed in III.11.2). Do the above steps forces the system to re-calculate default.htm based on the present database code values.

Q : 11.2 - I get "The list or view of a list that is referenced here no longer exists" - what do I do ? ‎(1)

This is one specific result of a problem with default.htm.

Use the solution described there (III.11.1) to correct.

Q : 11.3 - I get  what might be the reason ? ‎(1)

(I intend to build up a list of reasons as they come up - here is the first one)

1. In a list you have deleted some field names and added some new field names. When you click on Title you get the full text of the custom list but this is disfigured by .

Reason: One of the field names that you deleted is still selected in DispForm.htm for this list. Replace it with one of the valid field names.

2.You are writing custom CAML views and refer to a column name that doesn't exist.

3. You are writing custom CAML views and refer to a column name that does exist but you use the wrong case. (CAML is case-sensitive)

Q : 12. - I don't like the US date format MM/DD/YY and want to have the European/Australian (DD/MM/YY) or Swedish (YY/MM/DD) etc. format. How do I do this ? ‎(1)

To set the default locale for your STS to show the appropriate date format, go to Regional Options (within the Control Panel).

Click on the "Set default..." button in the General tab to set the default settings, not anywhere else. Then restart the system, everything will work fine.

There's no need to change any XML or ASP codes...

Note: Make sure you have the "language settings for the system" set and not just the "settings for the current user".
(To change 'language settings for the system' you click anywhere in the lower half of the Regional Options/General tab before clicking the 'Set Default' button.)

Q : 13.1 - I get "Could not provision SharePoint based website on 'Root Web' site." when I try to provision STS on my server. How do I correct this? ‎(1)

SharePoint Team Services (STS) is sensitive about the security settings made by IIS. More often than not, this error occurs when STS discovers that executables in its directories actually have execute permissions. The solution that works for most people experiencing this error is as follows:

1) Open the Internet Services MMC panel.
2) Expand the tree until you find the web site you are running STS on
3) Select the [Home Directory] tab
4) Change the "Execute Permissions" to "Scripts Only"
5) Hit Okay, close the MMC panel.
6) Open a command prompt and type "iisreset" (not required, but sometimes can make a difference)
7) Try to create your site again.

Thanks to Dustin Miller of FuseWerx LTD for this text.

Q : 13.2 - I can't create a SubWeb and get "Could not provision SharePoint Based Site on "XXXXX" Site. What's my problem and how can I delete the subweb that is then listed but isn't? ‎(1)

You probably have an incorrect ONET.XML file. The simple answer is to replace it with the original file and try again.

You will still have entries listed for your failed attempts at creating subwebs and you will be unable to delete these "subwebs". So the final step is to get rid of these.

Use SharePoint Administrator for the top-level site and set the following parameters in Server Health - Synchronize Database; Verify Existence of Webs; Check Roles Confirmation.

This should remove the entry. Check too that the sub-folder on your server with this name has also been deleted. If not delete it yourself.

Q : 14. - How do I rename the name of a SubWeb ? ‎(1)

The instructions for this are included in a MS paper that also rather oddly includes the basic task of changing the name within default.htm of the web site (by using the STS normal User Interface).

The MS paper is at http://www.microsoft.com/TechNet/prodtechnol/sharepnt/maintain/urlnamch.asp?frame=true

The solution in brief is to use FrontPage 2002 (!)

Open the subweb.
Go to Tools
Web Settings
Change the name in the General Settings.
Hit ok.

http://www.microsoft.com/TechNet/prodtechnol/sharepnt/maintain/urlnamch.asp?frame=true

Q : 15. - I can publish using the FP extensions but when I try to create a SharePoint web, I get a message ‎(1)

In the one case we've had in the newsgroup where this came up the problem was caused by the installation of what the writer described as "a select version of FP extensions that I never knew existed" which lacked SP support.

Removing these cleared the problem.

Yet another example of the complex relationship between FP and STS.

Q : 16.1 - How do I make the Folder View the default view for a Document Library ? ‎(1)

This is covered (along with III.16.2; III.16.3 and III.16.4) in "Troubleshooting Default Views" from TechNet at

www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sharepnt/support/trblshoot/defview.asp?frame=true

I feel justifying in including it here because at least this one (Folder View) has been a question in the newsgroup.

The answer if you are feeling lazy and daring is to use Open Web within FP 2002. then in Folders (right-click folder/Properties/Supporting Files/Default view page and select the view you want).

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sharepnt/support/trblshoot/defview.asp?frame=true

Q : 16.2 - How do I make the Calendar View the default view for the Events list ? ‎(1)

See III.16.1

Q : 16.3 - How do I make Expanded View the default view for Discussion boards ? ‎(1)

See III.16.1

Q : 16.4 - How do I specify a different default view for a Survey than the standard view ? ‎(1)

See III.16.1

Q : 16.5 - I have changed my default view for a document library to show Title instead of FileName. How can I change the top-level page (Team Site = default.htm) to also show Title instead of FileName ? ‎(1)

a. Open the Web in FrontPage and then the default.htm file.

b. Once there right-click on this document library and you will see that one option is to "Layout Customization View".

c. Open this and then right-click on the field you want to change (Note there is both the text - use Title - and the Field - use "Title (Linked to Document)").

d.Use ListField to change these names.

e.Change them; (don't do anything else !) and Save your revised default.htm.

f.Check your "Team Page" not forgetting to refresh.

*********

An alternative but similar approach is slightly simpler.

a. is identical.
b. instead of "Layout Customization View" use "View Properties".
c. Amend "Fields" by moving 'File Name' to the left and replacing it with Title. 'Move up' Title if necessary.
d. OK. OK.
e. Save your revised default.htm
f. Check your Team Page.

This is faster (especially if you are changing more than one field) and easier to do correctly.

Q : 17. - Why can't my users with Netscape access my site ? ‎(1)

The most likely reason is that you are using "Integrated Windows Aunthentication". This works fine with IE but not with Netscape. Change to "Basic Authentication" and Netscape users can access your site.

Note: Basic Authentication is less secure than Windows Authentication because the passwords are transmitted in clear.

Q : 18.1 - How do I get my Links sorted in alphabetical order ? ‎(1)

This answer refers to the Quick Launch links included in the home page of a site or subweb (default.htm)

1. Open the web from FrontPage
2. Open Default.htm
3. Right-Click on the Quick Launch section
4. Select "Link Bar Properties"
4. Move the Links Up (and Down) as you require
5. OK.
6. Close FrontPage.

Q : 18.2 - How do I get my Views sorted in alphabetical order ? ‎(1)

While you can use Front Page (see above III.18.1) to get the Quick Links in alphabetical order, you can't do this with Views.

Instead Views come in the order in which they have been entered (to some point at which they seem to start at the top again - or even in the middle !).

Here's how to put the Views in Alphabetical order *without* having to delete them and then re-create them (by which I mean specify all the parameters all over again).

Let's suppose you have (in this order) the following views

Outlook
Exchange
SPTS
MOM

and you want to end up with

Exchange
MOM
Outlook
SPTS

1. Go via "My Network Places" to the directory.

2. Copy Exchange.htm to the same directory (giving Exchange (2).htm). Rename this O_Exchange.htm. Delete Exchange.htm. Rename O_Exchange.htm to Exchange.htm.

3. Repeat for MOM.htm
4. Repeat for Outlook.htm
5. Repeat for SPTS.htm

Now go to your Web Page. You'll see the following Views

Copy of Exchange
Copy of MOM
Copy of Outlook
Copy of SPTS

Go to 'Modify Settings and Columns' and Rename each of these in turn (delete the "Copy Of " in each View Name).

That's it.

You save a lot of time with this method over the alternative 'Delete Views'; 'Re-create Views' because you don't need to spend time on setting any parameters for each view except the quick Title change.

Q : 19. - How do I save an STS page as a file and retain all the variable data ? ‎(1)

Problem:

If you save an STS page from the browser you get the top and left-hand borders with contents if you save it as an .mht file but none of the variable data from the centre and right-hand columns.

Solution:

Save the page as a .pdf file.

Comments:

One way of doing this is to print to a .pdf file. One company that supplies such a print driver is Broadgun Software whose PDFMachine can be ordered at http://broadgun.com/pdfmachine/purchase.php.

I think they also have a restricted use free version available too.

Q : 2. - What do I do using Site Settings ? ‎(1)

In this section I'll try to take you through a basic site creation with one document library.

http://www.collutions.com/Lists/FAQ/DispForm.htm?ID=38

Q : 2.1 - Web Site Settings ‎(1)

Your Web Site's home page has a two line title. By default this is (line 1) "Team Web Site" and (line 2) "Home".

The first of these two lines can be amended in the first section of "Web Site Settings" (i.e. 'Change Site Name and Description'). In order to change the second of these two lines you need to amend the code of the default.htm file for the site.

The second section of "Web Site settings" 'Customize Home Page Layout' is used to amend the document libaries listed on the default page. This works by drag-and-drop to-and-from the left hand column. Only the centre and right columns are visible on the home page. The contents of the left column is *not* the contents of the left column of
the home page; nor does the order of the columns in the left-hand-column have any relevance to the appearance of the home page.

Note that if your default.htm does not display correctly (possibly following an incorrect amendment with FrontPage - see later) then moving columns in 'Customize Home Page Layout'; Saving then moving back and Saving again; will often clear the problem.

http://www.collutions.com/Lists/FAQ/DispForm.htm?ID=39

Q : 2.2 - Web Administration ‎(1)

Initially you will probably only use the "Manage Users" part of this section.

The following are suggestions only on how to use this part of the site.

A new site will contain Adminstrators with Administrator rights.

I would then add myself (network id) as Adminstrator; and the initial users (network id) as Author.

I would then check the wwwroot section to see that the Author group has rights to update files on the server.

Note: The rights of each of the five different catagories are defined in detail (and can be amended) in "Microsoft SharePoint Administrator". You should find that the default settings are sufficient.

http://www.collutions.com/Lists/FAQ/DispForm.htm?ID=40

Q : 2.3 - User Information ‎(1)

Not used in the initial stages

http://www.collutions.com/Lists/FAQ/DispForm.htm?ID=41

Q : 2.4 - Modify Site Content ‎(1)

You will use this section to amend existing Document Libraries and create Views. This will be dealt with in III.3.2.

First we need a document library to work with ... see III.3.1

Q : 20. - When I open a .chm file via STS I have an almost total loss in functionality. What is causing this and how do I resolve it ? (May apply to .hlp files too) ‎(1)

A .chm file with spaces in the name (e.g. "CMS Test.chm") will open completely correctly from the file system. When however the same file is opened from within STS, most of the functionality vanishes (you have to specify a search name to get anything).

The solution is to re-name the file to a name without spaces ("CMSTest.chm") and only then upload it to STS.

(Thanks to Dustin for finding this solution)

Q : 21. - Is it possible for me to restrict access to certain lists and especially document libraries depending on who the users are? ‎(1)

The best and easiest way to solve this is to use the subweb function.

One method is to have an introductory main web with no authorization - i.e. everyone can access it. Then create subwebs that have different authorization to the main web and for these subwebs remove the ability of people to browse. Then assign the users in your group (one by one) to their subweb.

Documents that need to become available to just one set of users go to libraries (and list) in the correct subweb and documents that are available to all go to libraries and lists in the main web.

Note that in STS you can not assign a user group to a subweb and must assign users one-by-one. This has potentially the advantage that you can assign certain users to several subwebs and less powerful users to only one sub web.

If this method (within STS) of restricting access to documents is not enough for you, then you have to go to the file system and restrict access there - which takes us away from this STS FAQ.

Q : 22. - What is the SharePoint Timer Service and how do I use it to schedule jobs ? ‎(1)

The following MS article has all you need on the SP Timer Service and how to schedule such things as usage analysis and backing up the STS database.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/prodtechnol/sharepnt/proddocs/admindoc/owsi05.asp

Q : 23.1 - How do I import Contacts to the Contact page from Office 2000 (Outlook 2000)? ‎(1)

WARNING: see last two lines.

Go to create>Import Spreadsheet on your sharepoint site. Browse to your spreadsheet on double- click, select the range of cells you want to import, click Import. You can then name that list "Contacts" and delete the existing contacts list.

(Unchecked by FAQ maintainer)

WARNING: Reports are now coming in that this DOESN'T WORK. Send mail to the FAQ maintainer if it does or doesn't work for you.

Q : 23.2 - How do I import Contacts to the Contact Page from Office XP (Outlook 2002) ? ‎(1)

Go to the Contacts list on your sharepoint website into which you want the contacts to be imported. On the little action menu there, you will see "Import Contacts". Click it. Your default windows address book pops up. 'Add' the addresses you want to import and press OK. You might now have to allow access to Outlook, but on doing that the addresses are copied and appear on your Contact page.

Note that there is a limit on the number of addresses that can be imported at one time so don't Add too many at once.

Q : 23.3 - How do I add Contacts from Outlook 2002 that don't have E-mail addresses ? ‎(1)

The only answer seems to be to give them bogus E-mail addresses and then follow III.23.2. As was pointed out in the newsgroup this is a pain if you have a lot of addresses to import.

Q : 24.1 - I get an error message that says my SQL Server is not started but I know it is. What's the problem ? ‎(1)

This message is actually connected to the password used to access SQL Server.

The full message might be

"SQL Server Error
The SQL Server might not be started.
If this problem persists, please contact your administrator.
Troubleshoot issues with Microsoft SharePoint."

The answer in brief is to reset the password.

This answer is covered in detail in the knowledge base article Q288536 at

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q288536

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q288536

Q : 24.2 - "Error connecting to SQL Server ..." what could causing this ? ‎(1)

One reason for this (as specified in the MS whitepaper "Large.Scale Deployment of SharePoint Team Services") could be that your Web Server is configured to connect to SQL using Named Pipes.

Change this to 'connect to SQL using TCP/IP'

(Thanks to Ilidio Castro Oliveira)

Q : 25. - I get the error message 'email address unknown' when I try to send invitations. What might my problem be ? ‎(1)

In the case of a W2K server running STS and SMTP Service, the solution was as follows.

Set the Relay Restrictions of the SMTP service to accept relays only from 'only the list below' and specify 127.0.0.1 as the address that is acceptable. This then agrees with the STS email server name setting (set this to 'localhost').

(The error message came because the Relay Restrictions were set to "deny all relays")

Q : 26.1 - I want to change the notification message for subscriptions. How do I do this ? ‎(1)

You can't. This message is stored in a cryptographically signed DLL that cannot be altered without breaking the "seal" of the signature and rendering it useless.

Q : 26.2 - Subscriptions no longer work after we installed Office XP SP2. What might be the problem ? ‎(1)

Make sure that the SharePoint Timer Service is running.

(See III.22 for the link to details of the SharePoint Timer Service)

Q : 27. - A site that I have published to another server uses plain html files when creating new lists/views. What is my problem ? ‎(1)

(Because of this new pages come up with no navigation, no view selector etc.)

This problem seems to be caused by specifying "Blank, SharePoint enabled Web Site" when creating the site in IIS.

By changing a site created in this way to "SharePoint Web Site" there were various problems including doubles of everything such as two top navigation bars on each page, but new pages created after this worked correctly.

When however the data base and files were restored the site type changed back to "Blank, SharePoint enabled Web Site".

There are two solutions

a. (the safest)

Never use "Blank, SharePoint enabled Web Site" when creating a site but always use the "SharePoint Web Site" option.

b. (the trickiest - after you have already created using "Blank, SharePoint enabled Web Site")

Open in Notepad the service file in the hidden folder _vti_pvt in the root of your web.

Change Site Provision Flags to

vti_siteprovisionflags:IR|2

and add the following line

vti_hasonetlists:BR|true

This is enough to make the site think it is a default SharePoint web site and will use the right layouts when creating new content.

(Thanks to Jim Duncan for this)

WARNING: The above description is a temporary one and I am with Jim working on a permanent description. In particular what I describe above as "the safest" may not be accurate. (FAQ Maintainer)

Q : 28. - How do I specify my STS site in Outlook (XP) so that it is rendered correctly ? ‎(1)

Part 1: Display STS Pages in Outlook Public Folders

Your company is making the slow transition from Exchange Public Folders to SharePoint Team Services. Since everyone is already used to using Outlook to view the Exchange Public Folders, create a way to display the new SharePoint pages in their place.

Simply setting the home page for the public folder to an STS page doesn't work...the CAML is not executed and the page does not render as it does in the browser. The trick is to create a simple page hosting an iframe (Host Page) which actually hosts the STS page (Guest Page).

To keep from having to create a unique Host Page for each Guest Page to display in a public folder in Outlook, create an Active Server Page which allows for specifying the Guest Page address in the URL.

Step 1 - Create the Host Page:

Create a new page called iframe.asp in the root of your SharePoint site with the following HTML:

<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
<title>Your Own Page Title</title>
</head>
<body topmargin="0" leftmargin="0" scroll="no" onload="document.all.myIframe.src='<%= Request.QueryString("url")%>'">
<iframe name="myIframe" id="myIframe" src="about:blank" height="100%" width="100%" border="0" frameborder="0">
</iframe>
</body>
</html>

Step 2 - Set the Public Folder to display the Host Page and specify the address of the Guest Page:

In Outlook, right click the Public Folder and pick properties.

Click the Home Page tab and in the address box type http://your_server_name/iframe.asp?url=address_of_Guest_Page
(for example http://server/iframe.asp?url=/default.htm this will display the SharePoint home page)

Check the box for 'Show the home page by default for this folder'

Now, whenever a user selects the Public Folder in Outlook, they will see the SharePoint page directly in Outlook.

<sidebar>
You can also specify an external URL as in http://server/iframe.asp?url=http://www.collutions.com and, it works for non-Public folders too </sidebar>

(Thanks to Jim Duncan for this too)

Q : 29. - How do I create a recurring event in a calendar ? ‎(1)

I'm afraid you can't.

(Added to the FAQ so that this negative answer is thrown up by a Search)

Q : 3. - Creating a document library ‎(1)

Sub-sections III.3.1 and III.3.2 are my guidelines for creating new document libraries. These are guidelines and suggestions for getting a site started. Once you have done this a few times you will start creating your own standards.

The rest of this section covers mainly problems encountered when uploading documents.

Q : 3.1 - How do I create a new document library ? ‎(1)

On the site menu line (on the home page), you select Create; then Document Library.

Q : 3.10 - When I upload a document to a document library it is not listed under the "All Documents" view but is present on the disk drive (and can be listed under Folder View). What's the problem ? ‎(1)

The solution to this problem is listed in the MSKB article Q318975 (Apr 14 2002)

In brief you need to clear the "No Count" check box in SQL Server.

(SQL S Enterprise manager/ right-click DB/Properties/in Attribute clear
the 'No Count' check box)

Q : 3.11 - I want to keep the "New!" icon when I add a document for longer than the STS standard. How do I do this ? ‎(1)

When you add a document the default value is that a "New!" icon appears alongside the file name in the listing of documents. This icon then disappears at midnight.

A MS KB article (Q287523) at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q287523 explains how to turn off this feature (i.e. how to ensure that the "New!" icon never appears).

In the article there are two values - 0 (= never appears) and 1 (appears but vanishes at midnight).

However you can also use (for instance) a value of 5 which would mean that the "New!" icon would be visible on the site for 5 days (i.e. would vanish at midnight on the fifth day).

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q287523

Q : 3.12 - I want to remove the New! icon that appears as default when I add a document ‎(1)

See the previous item (III.3.11) and use the parameter = 0

Q : 3.13 - I want to replace the New! icon that appears as default when I add a document with a different icon ‎(1)

Change the following icon (X is the boot drive)

X:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web
server extensions\50\Templates\1033\Images\newlink.gif

Thanks to Chris Eglois for this.

Q : 3.2 - Do you have any tips when creating early document libraries ? ‎(1)

You should already have thought about how you are going to group documents. Will you have Manuals in a different document library to White Papers ? Will you have document libraries per vendor or per type of document ?

My personal choice is to have the same kind of information in the same document library and to use additional fields and Views to distinguish between the sources of the documents.

My own standard document library has the following.

a) In Columns - Title made compulsory

b) In Columns - New field 'Category'; type Choice (plus list of alternative); compulsory

c) In Columns - New field 'Source'; type Choice (plus list of alternatives); compulsory

d) In Views - one View for each 'Category' named the same as the category in the list of Choices.

Fields selected in this order 'Document Icon'; 'Edit (link to Edit Item); Title; Source

Sort Ascending by Title / Source

Select on Category = Name of View

Note: Try to work out all the views you will need before you start adding views and add them in Alphabetical Order. This is one section where you can't seem to change the order in which items appear in a list. (See however III.18.2 for a workaround for this)

Q : 3.3 - How do I bulk transfer documents into an STS document library ? ‎(1)

The documents you want to transfer are on a network or local drive. Select the ones you want to transfer into STS and do Ctrl-C.

Then access the web site's document library *via My Network Places*. Open the document library folder and Ctrl-V.

(Or open both folders and just do drag-and-drop which works too. The key is the use of My Network Places)

This method means that the web site is aware of the documents; it gives them either no title or tries to work out a suitable title if possible; it also assigns the current default value to any fields.

Tip: Suppose you have 100 documents that will go into five different Categories. Assign Category1 as the default value for Category and then copy across (using the above method) the sub-group of documents that will belong to that category; then assign Category2 as the default value for Category and copy across that sub-group of documents etc. (This is usually much faster than copying all 100 and then having to edit the Category field for all of them)

Jim Duncan has an alternative method -

a. Add the server to your 'Trusted Sites' security zone (Tools Menu>Internet Options>Security>Sites...uncheck https requirement if needed).

b. Type in the url of your server (include the http://).

c. Then use drag and drop in Folder View.

As far as we know *both* methods should always work.

Q : 3.4 - Is it possible to upload a document with multiple supporting files to a Document Library, such as an HTTP document with *.gif files? ‎(1)

The previous answer (III.3.3) is suitable for the bulk uploading of documents by an administrator rather than by an end-user.

This question provides a solution (or the germs of a solution) for the uploading of one document which includes supporting files. The solution requires the creation of an html page (if a suitable one is not available).

First design a suitable html page.

Then save it in I.E. (maybe 5.0 upwards - 6.0 works) as an 'MHT single file archive'.

Then upload this single file to STS using the normal upload method.

(When you later open this within STS, an instance of IE is opened and the .html file you saved appears with all links still available.)

Note that there appear to be problems with links to the local site but external links in the mht file seem to work OK. Hence the statement above that this is the "germ of a solution".

Meanwhile I am uploading one zip file if I want to "bulk upload" a set of .gif/.jpg files.

Note: See also III.3.7 and III.3.8

Q : 3.5 - I get "Cannot run the FrontPage Server Extensions on this page" when I try to upload a document. What's my problem ? ‎(1)

This problem is possibly caused by you modifying the upload.htm especially if you did this in FrontPage. If you must modify this file do it in Notepad or another plain text editor.

The problem is possibly resolved by reversing the changes that FrontPage made to the file.

FrontPage makes the following changes.

1. It sets the META Generator tage to "Microsoft FrontPage 5.0" instead of "Microsoft SharePoint"

2. It removes the 'EncType="multipart/form-data' attribute from the form OWSForm.

3. It changes the bot attributes of the  and  tag from bot="FileUpload" to bot="SaveResults".

Thanks to a now unknown poster to the group for this. Thanks to another for pointing out that this "solution" doesn't always work (!)

** Later ** This problem is now the subject of a KnowledgeBase article at
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q305059.

"SPTS: Error Message: Cannot Run the FrontPage Server Extensions on This Page (Q305059)"

The solution in Q305059 is clearer than the above (because longer) but is similar.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q305059

Q : 3.6 - I'm using URLScan with STS but I can't upload documents, is there a solution ? ‎(1)

(URLScan is a Microsoft ISAPI filter to secure a webserver and allow
administrators to control the types of requests a webserver should ignore.)

The following two amendments to the URLSCAN.INI file were suggested.

In the Options section change AllowDotInPath=0 to AllowDotInPath=1

In the AllowVerbs section add PROPFIND

The second amendment solved the problem for this user.

Q : 3.7 - How do I create a sub-folder to a document library folder ? ‎(1)

Warning: So far I have noticed no side effects of this procedure.

You can not do this *within* STS as within STS you can only add a file to a document library not a folder.

However you can create a sub-folder to a document library folder in the file system and then by the use of 'My Network Places' copy files to the sub-folder.

These files will then appear (with the default values applicable at the time they were transfered) in the STS All Items list even though they are located one level below the document library itself.

You can not add documents to this Sub-Folder from within STS as it - despite listing these documents - does not know that this sub-folder is present in STS.

Note: I have not yet tried to delete such a file.

Q : 3.8 - When would having a sub-folder to a document library folder be useful ? ‎(1)

Suppose you have the right to make an .htm page containing various gifs etc. available on your network. If you were to copy the htm file to your document library none of those .gifs would be available. On the other hand linking to the .htm file stored elsewhere would make the text contents of that .htm page unavailable to the STS indexing process.

What you could do is to follow the procedure in III.3.7; and copy all except the main .htm to a suitably named sub-folder. You'd then amend the .htm file so that all the internal links now point to the correct directory *within your web site*.

Finally to avoid the problem that all the gifs etc. appear in the AllItems list, create a new field called Visible and give this field the value of YES for your htm file. Then filter so that only Visible=YES records are visible in AllItems.htm.

(The other - and better - way to avoid this problem is to transfer the gifs etc. to the server NOT via MY Network Places but via a network drive. I.e. copy the gif files etc. to a drive that is available from both your workstation and the STS server. *On the server* copy the files from the network drive to the local drive. In this way the gif files are not known to the system; don't appear in the database and thus aren't listed on the STS site. You will still have to copy the main .htm files via My Network Places as these need to be in the database and thus listed on the STS site. Running any STS utility that recalculates the site will mess up this solution, however.)

Q : 3.9 - I can't upload any documents when the browser is configured for proxy server. How do I solve this problem ? ‎(1)

You need to add an Exception to the part of Internet Explorer where you have specified that you are using a proxy server.

In Internet Explorer:

1. Click Internet Options on the Tools Menu
2. Go to the Connections tab
3. Click the LAN Settings button
4. Click the Advanced button
5. Add the server name to the Exceptions box, excluding the http://
(i.e. yourserver.yourdomain.com)

Q : 30. - How do I specify a new password for an existing local user ? ‎(1)

Note: When you know the answer this is very simple however the FAQ maintainer has just spent several frustrating days trying to find it. So to save you all some time, here is that simple solution.

The answer is NOT Site Settings / Site Administration section - Manage Users. You can only use that to add or delete a user.

In order to change a user's password as Administrator, you need to access your STS server and *there* do the following

Start / Programs / Administrative Tools / Microsoft SharePoint Administrator /

The third link is "Reset User Password Link".

Note: Changing your *own* password is easier and can be done from your workstation using

Site Settings / View User Information / and clicking on *your own name* upon which you get a screen with Change Password. You will then need to know your present password.

You can not use this method to change another users' password because clicking on another users' password does not give you the screen with the 'Change Password' option. (Nor should you know the other user's password!)

(Thanks to Paul Menius, Krams, Jim Duncan, Martha Cushman and Marian Lishman all of who (and none more than Paul) showed incredible patience when I was going round in circles on this.)

Q : 31. - I get an "unexpected error" when I try to import an Excel worksheet to STS. Why? ‎(1)

This answer refers to a Knowledge Base article.

The reason for this error is that you haven't installed Visual Basic for Applications.

The KB article with the solution is (288228) at