Another thing that Every SharePoint Consultant Should Know (WESPCSK) is some of the specific settings and the scopes that they are applied to. Now this will help in requirements gathering, architecting and general discussions. So below is my list of settings and the general scope that they are applied to which can be of interest.

Web Application Specific Settings and Offerings

• Recycle Bin: How long items are deleted from user bins and Second Stage recycle bin size.
• Maximum Upload Size: The maximum file size for all content within sites that reside in the Web Application.
• Authentication Provider: Specify the authentication that will be used
• Define Managed Paths: Managed paths can be defined per web application only.
• Enable Self Service Site Creation: Enable SSSC is only available at the web application level.
• Blocked File Types: This is once again done per Web Application

Site Collection Specific Settings and Offerings

• Recycle Bin: Dedicated Recycle Bin for the site collection
• Dedicated usage reports: Usage reports work on the site collection level.
• Dedicated Administration: Site Collection Administrators
• Search Configuration: Configurable search scopes, keywords and best bets
• Galleries: Galleries for libraries, images and styles
• Site Quota templates: Unforunately all sites within a site collection contribute to the quota.
• Dedicated Database: Very important! Each SC can be housed in its own database which makes it very useful in a disaster recovery scenario

Site Specific Settings and Offerings

• Site Features: Features that are scoped to a particular site
• Permissions: Site specific permissions
• Themes: A theme is site specific

There are many more in this list that I will continue to add as I dig further in this…

Here are some articles that caught my eye in January, there was a whole lot more but I always seem to forget about them after I read them!

• CodePlex Project for Word Automation: Really cool SharePoint designer workflow action that allows you to convert documents into a number of different file formats.
• SharePoint 2010 Records Management: How to set up some basic records management functionality.
• SharePointDevWiki.com Screencasts: Great set of screencasts on various aspects of SharePoint 2010.

One thing that always annoyed was that the context menu in list items in SharePoint 2007 was on the title field or alternatively you had to put in an ‘Edit’ button.

Well no more in SharePoint 2010 as now you can easily customise a view to show the ECB on any field within a list.

1) Within any list click on Library (or List) -> Modify View -> Modify in SharePoint Designer (Advanced). This will open the list up in

Modify in SPD Option

2) For any field wait until you see the little < icon and then select the appropriate option from the men.

Common xsl options

Show List Item Menu: This will attach the context menu to the list item

Show Link To Item: This will take the user to the DispForm.aspx for the item.

The articles that I read and particularly liked this week were:

• Per Location View Settings from Japp Vossers: Its amazing how many new options there are in 2010 and how little people know about them!
• Creating Workflows in SharePoint 2007 17 part series: 17 pages of workflow goodness, especially good if you are trying to get a basic understanding about workflow.
• Branding SharePoint 2010 Collaboration Sites: Really good information on how the new SP2010 theming engine works, possibly the only information out there at the moment!
• 36 Software Start Up Tips: A great collection of tips for a software startup which I intend to use, if and when I finally own a start up that is.
• Building a SharePoint Development Farm: This has some really good information, more in depth than most of the other blog posts that I have read, about how to build a farm.
• Improvements in SharePoint 2010: MSDN article focusing on the improvements in workflow in SP2010. Talks about new workflow types, InfoPath 2010 and other workflow features.
• Styled Point: A site concentrating on SharePoint branding, where the hell is the RSS feed though

Remember if you like any of these articles let the authors know!

This is one of the few non SharePoint articles out there but I think a really cool tip.

If you like to create a short cut to ‘God Mode’ within Windows 7, which gives you every single option available to configure in Windows 7 in one easy spot, then simply create a folder with the following name:

GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Then instead of a folder you get the following icon:

Then when you click into it you have all the various options displayed like below, plus a few more. But in essence you can now administer all the possible functions from one place:

Options now available

I did a presentation for the Vancouver SharePoint Users Group last night about some of the new document management features in SharePoint 2010.

It details some of the new features as it applies to document management so have a look.

Managing documents in SharePoint 2010 from Vanspug on Vimeo.

For everyone annoyed when you cant find the key here it is:

SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise Beta Key: PKXTJ-DCM9D-6MM3V-G86P8-MJ8CY

SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Enterprise Beta: BV7VC-RMR6B-26P6Y-BTQDG-DX2KQ

So I got my Microsoft Certified Trainer’s certificate now which means that I can officially teach Microsoft courses to the masses which is great.

We are hoping to start rolling out some SharePoint courses early in the new year which will be great but until then we are busy working on developing some  workshops for the upcoming SharePoint 2010 course.