GENERAL SHAREPOINT ADVICE
SharePoint Best Practices, Tips and Tricks: Use the tags in this wonderful SharePoint Maven blog to learn oh so much!
Ten Tips for Success with Microsoft SharePoint Online: Best advice for deploying SharePoint with success.
Sites vs. Site Collection: Definition of each and specific guidelines on which one to create
When to Create a New Site Collection: Some general thoughts on what factors go into creating a new site collection.
LIBRARIES and WEB PARTS:
Forcing a SharePoint Link to Open in a New Tab/Window: Overview of how to embed some JavaScript in your page in order to have selected links open in a new tab/window.
Linking to a Document in another Library: These directions are a must for those times you would like to have a document appear in multiple libraries… the end result is to feel like you have put a document in both libraries even though you really have not!
Using a Relevant Document Web Part to Show “My Stuff”: Cool way to display all the last documents you’ve worked on, regardless of which library they’re loaded in.
Highlighted Content Web Part to Show “Particular Content”: Wonderful web part that by default will display your most recent documents. However, you can customize to choose particular site libraries to pull from, what particular sorting and filtering settings you want, and what layout is preferable (Note: this is a simplified version of the former Content Search web part; available with SP online and SP server 2019). One great use if for displaying governance documents across all libraries.
Content Query Web Part: Allows you to display content from anywhere in your site collection. Enables you to pull specific documents that are located in a variety of different libraries or lists.
CUSTOM VIEWS AND METADATA
Creating [Me] Views to show only “My Stuff”: How to create dynamic filtered views that only show items you created or modified in a list or library
Creating [Today] Views to show only “Recent Stuff”: How to create dynamic filtered views that show items based on today’s date
Using a Lookup Column to Create a Dynamic Dropdown: Learn how to connect 2 lists by using a lookup type column
Calculated field formulas: Overview of the various kinds of formulas you can implement as one of your columns when it is a calculated field type
Creating a column to calculate totals: Specific directions on how to get the grand total for calculated columns without using SharePoint Designer
4 ways to create cool custom views in SharePoint: Learn about grouping, dynamic filters, hiding folders, and limiting number of items
Do not modify the default “out of the box” view (e.g. All Documents): The default view is a catch all with no grouping or filtering in which you can always enable “Quick Edit” view. Once you start creating custom views, you may find that some operations can not be done because they do not apply to views that have some grouping, sorting, or filtering settings in place.
WHY TO AVOID FOLDERS…
SharePoint Folders vs. Metadata: Wonderful slide deck with visuals to help you understand the shortfalls of folders
12 Reasons to avoid folders: Great summary of the compelling reasons on why folders should be avoided
Lost Documents when metadata is missed: See point #5 in this list
ANNOUNCEMENTS: handling announcements & their expirations
How to set a default expiration date for an announcement list: Learn how to use the [Today] parameter to set a default date
To make “old” expired announcements disappear from a list: Create a view that filters out announcements using their created date.
PERMISSIONS, CHECK OUT & CHECK IN
Limiting Permissions on a list: Setting a list permission where users can add items, but only be allowed to view and edit their own items
Top Questions about Check Out, Check In, and Versions: Read through this advice to see if requiring check out is something you would like to do.
SHAREPOINT SURVEYS:
How to delete SharePoint Survey data: These directions will show you how delete all survey data and still keep the questions.
OUTLOOK
Syncing SharePoint with Outlook: Yes, you can sync quite a bit to Outlook!