Using Microsoft Excel with SharePoint 2007

Nice article and tip for end users which is often overlooked is the ability to export a SharePoint list into Excel. Here's a nice write-up on how to do this. Using Microsoft Excel with SharePoint 2007

I would like to point out one major error in the article: "You can't use Excel to edit the data that's stored in SharePoint. That's because the SharePoint data is linked to Excel through a Web query file. In this particular scenario, a Web query file facilitates only one-way operations."

This isn't true at all. The authors of the article fail to mention the List Toolbar which does offer the ability to Synchronize your SharePoint list within Excel. You have to have edit rights to the list in order to write back to the list.

In Excel 2007
You can add the 'Synchronize List' option to your Quick Access Toolbar by clicking the Office Button -> Excel Options (bottom right) ->Customize -> Change the first dropdown to Choose Commands from All Commands and locate the Synchronize List option. Click Add. Now the shortcut will appear at the top of Excel next to your save, undo, and redo changes.

Note you can also click the small arrow next to the Quick Access Toolbar and select More Commands.

Don't you love how intuitive Excel 2007 is! (note the sarcasm)

In Excel 2003
Just enable the List Toolbar by View->Toolbars - List

One key point the article does make is the inability to apply formatting. In order to do that, you'll need to create separate sheets in your Excel workbook and use lookup formulas to the data.

No MOSS Required: Free Web CMS Built on SharePoint Services

Here's a pretty interesting concept that I thought the community would appreciate:

No MOSS Required: Free Web CMS Built on SharePoint Services

CompleteSharePoint.NET was built by Tommy Segoro, a Practice Lead working at L7 Solutions in Perth, Western Australia. It is currently a beta solution. Released on CodePlex in October of last year, CS.NET has been downloaded over 519 time to date.

CompleteSharePoint Functionality
It is said to have some, but not all, of the same functionality as MOSS — SharePoint Server 2007. Some of these features include:

• Custom base publishing content type (named CompleteSharepoint.NET Article Page)
• Custom site actions menu
• Custom administration pages located in _layouts
• Custom controls such as page editing toolbar
• Custom field controls (eg. publishing page content field using FreeTextBox)
• ASP.NET VirtualPage to treat page layout as if it's a compiled .NET page

Example of CS.NET http://www.bmuu.com.au

Read more at the source...

SharePoint 14 Buzz!

Check out the latest SharePoint Buzz on SharePoint 14.

More Articles:
SharePoint 14, SharePoint 2010 or SharePoint 2012. The next version is a long way off by any name
Wonder What's Coming in Next Version of SharePoint?
SharePoint vNext – Rumours, Speculation and Confirmed Features
SharePoint 14: Everything We Know
SharePoint Conference 2009
Arpan Shah's Interview and Answers regarding '14'
No SharePoint 14 for you this year
Joel Oleson is writing a SharePoint 14 Book

MSDN Magazine: 10 Best Practices For Building SharePoint Solutions

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd458798.aspx

This article discusses:
Taking advantage of built-in SharePoint capabilities
Deploying SharePoint solutions
Creating testable code
Branding SharePoint for scale and maintenance

Custom Auditing in SharePoint - Document Download and List Item Counts

So you're interested in item counts and downloads by users? Have you read up on Audit Logs? Well for those on devs working on WSS, Ted Pattison has a great article entitled "Office Space: Custom Auditing in SharePoint" which includes a code download located on MSDN Magazine.