Using the Office Backstage View with SharePoint
Interacting with Lists by Using Excel and Access
The Microsoft SharePoint 2010 platform has many strengths; one of the greatest is its integration with the Microsoft Office desktop client. Not only do Office applications installed on the client desktop interface directly with SharePoint sites and workspaces, but they also interface with the entities within these sites, such as document libraries, content, and workflows.
Throughout this chapter, we will cover the differences in Office 2010 versions as they relate to SharePoint Foundation 2010. We will also make reference to other, non-Windows Office versions which provide a measure of interaction with the SharePoint 2010 platform; it should be noted that these are not the core focus of this chapter and are not covered in detail.
Also, there are several books dedicated to the unique features and functionality present in each individual Office product as well as books written to cover the entire suite. This chapter is not intended to cover each Office product in detail; instead, it is intended to focus on functionality specifically related to SharePoint Foundation.
As you might imagine, it is rare for an organization to upgrade all of its desktop client software at once. Installations are generally accomplished a section at a time by department or business unit, for instance. At the same time, others within the organization continue to use the older products.
SharePoint 2010 does not abandon users of the older products; to the contrary, it accommodates backward-compatible functionality. The level of this backward compatibility depends greatly on what version of the client software you have installed.
Table 11-1 presents the versions of Microsoft Office for Windows that SharePoint 2010 supports.
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INSIDE OUT Comparing Office functionality within SharePoint
Microsoft offers a white paper that details the levels of interoperability and other SharePoint 2010 client information. The document is named Business Productivity at Its Best—Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010, and you can download it at http://go.microsoft.com/FWLink/?Linkid=209803.
There are always exceptions to any rule. Over the course of ten years and several versions (plus Service Packs) of the Office platform, products such as Microsoft OneNote, Microsoft InfoPath, and Microsoft Visio have been added into the mix. Some of these items, for example, InfoPath and OneNote, have version or format requirements that you need to keep in mind when planning interaction with your SharePoint farm.
InfoPath was initially released as a component of the Office 2003 Professional product. It is used for developing forms to capture data. The forms themselves are stored as XML Form Template (XSN) files, and the data that fills each form is stored as eXtensible Markup Language (XML) files. This product has always had a strong connection to the SharePoint platform, and you can use it for building forms in a SharePoint form library.
One of the major requirements for InfoPath has been that the version of the InfoPath tool must at least match that of the server. For example, it is not possible to use InfoPath 2007 to generate forms for SharePoint 2010; however, InfoPath Designer 2010 can be used to generate forms for both 2007 and 2010 versions of the SharePoint Platform.
Thus, if you are designing forms for use with SharePoint 2010, you must use InfoPath Designer 2010—no other version will work.
OneNote was introduced in late 2003 as a free-form information gathering tool. Initially built as a single-user tool, OneNote has quickly become a tool for interaction within business teams. OneNote 2007 expanded this functionality by giving a user the ability to store “Notebooks” in SharePoint 2007 document libraries. OneNote 2010 expands this sharing of notebooks even further; users can now take advantage of even more detailed collaboration in a notebook as well as the ability to store and synchronize information between a local computer, mobile platforms, SharePoint, and Windows Live.
When planning for different versions of OneNote in your organization, you should be mindful of a change in the file formats between OneNote 2007 and 2010. Both OneNote 2007 and 2010 formats use the same file extension, and 2007 OneNote files can be opened in OneNote 2010; however, for a OneNote Notebook to fully utilize all of the 2010 features, it must be converted from the 2007 to the 2010 version. Of course, by converting the format to 2010, the file can no longer be used by OneNote 2007. Should you need to, a file can be converted back to the OneNote 2007 format, but some loss of functionality will likely occur.
Visio is a professional diagramming tool. Just about anything that you would normally place on a whiteboard (organizational charts, workflows, and other diagrams) you can draw in Visio. Visio provides additional functionality by which diagrams can become functional constructs in other Line-of-Business (LoB) systems; a great example of this is how workflows can be visualized in Visio 2010 and then exported as true business process workflows into SharePoint Designer 2010 (this requires the Visio Premium edition—we will discuss editions in the next section).
Although Visio officially became a Microsoft product in 2000, it did not officially join the Office family of products until 2003, at which point, it was branded as Office Visio 2003. As time and versions have progressed, Visio has become better integrated into both the Office products and the SharePoint platform.
Microsoft Visio is offered in three editions: Visio Standard, Visio Professional, and Visio Premium. Each of these editions offers a different level of interaction with SharePoint 2010; however, only the Visio Premium edition gives you the ability to create and manipulate SharePoint Designer workflows from a Visio diagram.
SharePoint Foundation 2010 also provides a level of integration with the Microsoft Project client that was unavailable in the previous versions. A SharePoint site can now host a Project Tasks list, and this list will integrate with the Project Professional 2010 client.
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Project 2010 is not provided as a basic component of any Office license. You must always purchase it separately, regardless of edition.
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INSIDE OUT Extending SharePoint Server 2010 with Project Server 2010
The Microsoft Project client fully integrates with a product called Project Server 2010. This product installs on top of a Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 server (required) and provides a robust project management ecosystem with full PMO capabilities. Project Professional 2007 SP2 (and greater) or Project Professional 2010 is required in order to access Project Server 2010. You can find more information about Project Server 2010 at www.microsoft.com/project/en/us/project-server-2010.aspx.
Microsoft provides many different editions of the Office 2010 client platform; this is important to the context of this book because Office integration with SharePoint varies based on the edition you choose to install. For instance, users who want to utilize the SharePoint Workspace (renamed from “Groove”) functionality must purchase the Professional Plus edition of Office 2010.
In most editions, SharePoint is tightly integrated with the Office 2010 platform. What this means to you or your business is that in most of the Office client editions, you will be able to work with SharePoint directly, editing and saving documents to your site without the need to first save a copy of the documents to your computer.
There are notable exceptions to this rule: Office Starter 2010, and Office Home and Student 2010. Both of these editions provide the ability to generate standard Office documents, but the documents will need to be uploaded and downloaded via the SharePoint web interface.
The following sections discuss the products available in each of the Office 2010 suites. Each one is also categorized by availability, as distinguished between OEM, Retail, Academic, and Volume Licensing:
OEM This stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer, which means that the product is only available on a new computer.
Retail The product can be purchased from a computer hardware or software retailer.
Academic The product is available to students through a college or university.
Volume Licensing The product is for businesses that require more than five Office 2010 client licenses, either directly from Microsoft or a software reseller.
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INSIDE OUT Choosing an Office client platform
The Windows Office clients are available in 64-bit (x64) and 32-bit (x86) editions. Both versions will work with SharePoint, and both will install on a 64-bit computer; however, there are a significant amount of controls used by SharePoint that are 32-bit–compatible only (such as the Grid view component, used when viewing a list). Many organizations choose to use the 32-bit Office client specifically to avoid difficulties with Office add-in availability; if you choose instead to deploy the 64-bit Office client, you should first determine whether necessary 64-bit add-ins are available for your users.
This edition of Microsoft Office includes reduced functionality versions of Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel and is a direct replacement for the older Microsoft Works product line. Office Starter 2010 is only provided on an OEM installation. It comes preinstalled on a computer that you purchase; it also provides a quick and easy upgrade path to other versions of Office.
Files generated from this edition of Office 2010 can be used in SharePoint via its web interface; SharePoint 2010 functionality is not directly integrated into Office Starter 2010. For example, you cannot save your document directly to a SharePoint site.
This edition of Office includes full versions of Word, Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, and One-Note. Office Home and Student 2010 is intended for non-commercial use and does not directly integrate with the SharePoint platform.
It is licensed either of two ways:
As a single license (key card)
For installation on up to three machines within the same household
This edition of Office includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Microsoft Outlook 2010. The retail version of Office 2010 Home and Business 2010 is geared toward home and small business use.
It is licensed either of two ways:
As a single license (key card)
For installation on up to two machines (one home, one portable)
This edition of Office includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Microsoft Access, and Microsoft Publisher. Office Professional 2010 is intended for professional use, providing most of the functionality available in the complete Office 2010 platform.
This edition of Office includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Access, and Publisher, but is offered at a reduced price for students at an educational institution in the United States (your email address must end in .edu).
The academic version of Office Professional 2010 is otherwise identical to its retail counterpart, providing most of the functionality available in the complete Office 2010 platform.
This edition of Office includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook 2010 (with Business Contact Manager), and Publisher 2010. It is targeted toward organizations that need most of the functionality of the Office platform but do not require advanced functionality such as Access, InfoPath, SharePoint Workspace, or Microsoft Lync (renamed from Microsoft Office Communicator).
This edition of Microsoft Office includes all functionality available in the core Office platform (except Visio 2010 and Project 2010, which are licensed separately). Office Professional Plus 2010 includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook (with Business Contact Manager), Publisher, Access, InfoPath, SharePoint Workspace, and Lync.
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INSIDE OUT Office 2010 comparison grid
The six Windows-based versions of Office 2010 are compared in the Office 2010 suites section of the Office 2010 Resource Kit. You can view the version comparison grid at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee523662.aspx.
Microsoft offers other ways to interact with Office documents and SharePoint 2010 besides the traditional Windows-based Office client. In addition to Office Mac 2011, Office Web Apps and Office Mobile 2010 platforms provide a seamless online/offline experience and contribute to the notion of a “Use Office anywhere” user experience.
As integration with the following platforms is a relatively new occurrence, each provides a level of SharePoint 2010/Office 2010 compatibility, although not all functionality may be the same as in an Office 2010 (for Windows) client. This chapter focuses primarily on the Office 2010 Windows platform.
This edition of Office includes Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for Apple’s Mac platform; it is designed for non-commercial home and student use. Files generated from this edition of Office 2011 are fully compatible with Office 2010 for Windows and can also be used in SharePoint via its web interface.
It is licensed either of two ways:
As a single license
For installation on up to three machines within the same household
This edition of Office includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook for the Mac platform; it is geared toward home and small business use. Files generated from this edition of Office 2011 are fully compatible with Office 2010 for Windows and can also be used in SharePoint via its web interface.
It is licensed either of two ways:
As a single license
For installation on up to two machines (one home, one portable)
This edition of Office includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook for the Mac platform, but it is offered at a reduced price for students at an educational institution in the United States (your email address must to end in .edu).
Files generated from this edition of Office 2011 are fully compatible with Office 2010 for Windows and can also be used in SharePoint via its web interface.
This edition of Office includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook for the Mac platform. It is licensed for larger organizations; files generated from this edition of Office 2011 are fully compatible with Office 2010 for Windows.
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INSIDE OUT Planning Office for Mac 2011 client integration
Office Mac 2011 client integration with SharePoint is detailed in the “Planning to Use Office for Mac 2011 with SharePoint” section of the Office:mac site, which is on the “Office for Mac 2011 and SharePoint integration features” page at http://mac2.microsoft.com/help/office/14/en-us/admin.
This edition of Office is either provided online (for consumer use) or provided in your organization as part of SharePoint 2010 (for business use). With Office Web Apps, you can generate Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote documents without having the Office 2010 client loaded directly on your personal computer. This functionality can be combined with Microsoft’s free SkyDrive and Live Mesh offerings, which means that the documents you generate are portable and accessible anywhere there is an Internet connection.
This edition of Office is available for download to your Windows Mobile 6.5 or 7.0 device. With it, you can interact with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook information. SharePoint Workspace Mobile is also included in this version, so you can take SharePoint documents offline and work on them when a network is not available.