The Microsoft Internet Explorer browser 5.01 with Service Pack 2 or higher is the only browser able to support the Datasheet view because it is still an ActiveX control. The “Edit in Datasheet” menu option under the Actions menu will appear only if the browser supports the requirements. This extra feature is very helpful because the user no longer sees the menu option and therefore gets no error message when the system doesn’t meet the requirements.

The Datasheet view is not available in all of Microsoft’s prebuilt list templates. Table 6-1 indicates the list templates that have and don’t have the Datasheet view capability.

You can resolve the following errors by retrying your changes:

You can resolve these errors by discarding your changes:

Additional detailed information on resolving data conflicts or errors can be found by clicking any of the help links.

Another detail worth mentioning is the ability to move columns by left-clicking and dragging them to a different location. This option prevents you from having to go to the View Properties screen to make the changes. To move the columns, navigate to a list or document library Datasheet view. Hover over a column name until the “Move” pointer (a four-prong icon) appears. Click and drag the column to the desired location and then release the mouse button—the column has been moved. Something to keep in mind when moving columns from the Datasheet view is that it changes the properties of the current view permanently. When you switch back to “Show in Standard View,” the column will appear in the new position.

If you fall into a repetitive error cycle when working on a task with the table, column, row, or cell, click to display the task pane, then click the Undo button to back out to the original state. Undo is an option until the change has been successfully committed.

If you highlight the whole table by clicking on the Access icon in the upper-left corner of the table, the following menu options are present:

By hovering over the column title and clicking it when the down arrow pointer appears, the whole column is highlighted and the following menu options are available. A brief description is listed for each:

If you hover over the first (gray) cell in a row and click when the right arrow pointer appears, the whole row is highlighted, and the following menu options are available (some of these menu options are specific to a list or document library and its configuration settings):

When you make a cell active, the following menus are available (some of these menu options are specific to a list or document library and its configuration settings):

As mentioned earlier, the Status bar displays:

The status bar will display a calculation formula when either the column or a cell in that column is selected. This feature is very helpful in identifying whether the column is built from a calculation.

All the options are pretty self-explanatory, and determining whether the data is editable or not is pretty simple. If the data can’t be edited, the text “Read-only” will appear next to the connection box on the far righth and side of the status bar. For example, system columns in the datasheet table can’t be edited, so “Read-only” should appear if you click them.

A couple of options from the menu toolbar worth mentioning are Totals and Connect to Outlook:

There will be occasions when other menus will appear on the toolbar. An example of this is the Slide Library, which has the Copy Slide to Presentation menu.

A good example of security-sensitive menus is when a user assigned to the reader roll of a list is able to see only the Actions menu and not any other Toolbar menu. The reverse is also true; if you are the site collection administrator, you would be able to see New, Actions, and Settings menus for that list.

In my opinion, the reason for the new style of menus is because the lists and document libraries of SharePoint 2007 now have more menu options available, depending on security level, browser compatibility, and type of list or document library.

The menu option differences in the Actions menu are very evident when looking at a library created from the Document Library template versus a library created from the Slide Library template (see Figure 6-4 and Figure 6-5).

Figure 6-4. Document Library Actions menu options

The navigation of the current list or document library links has been moved from the lefth and side of the screen to the righth and side of the menu toolbar in a drop-down list. The drop-down list also gives the capability to modify the current view and create a new view. The Modify and Create options are also available from the Settings menu.

Figure 6-5. Slide Library Actions menu options

If a user accesses the Datasheet view for a document library and doesn’t have Microsoft Outlook 2007 installed on his machine, he won’t see the menu option Connect to Outlook under the Actions menu. In the previous version of SharePoint, all toolbar menus would be visible but would display a warning message if used without the proper software or browser. This improved feature should make life a lot easier on IT teams because they will no longer have to explain why the menu option is available to click on but doesn’t work.

“Track this List in Access” provides a richer environment for working with SharePoint list data because of the new and improved features of Microsoft Access 2007, which make it a lot more enjoyable then the previous version.

This feature takes the current SharePoint List and the User Information List and creates or uses an existing Microsoft Access 2007 Database and adds the SharePoint lists as linked tables. Double-clicking one of the linked tables in Navigation Pane brings the datasheet into the righth and side of the window, and the Datasheet menu also appears. If you click the “Datasheet” menu, the menu ribbon appears. More menus can be found by right-clicking the SharePoint list name in the Navigation Pane and choosing SharePoint List Options.

Another big push with this version of SharePoint and Office is offline capabilities. This feature allows users to work offline once the SharePoint list tables have been linked to a Microsoft Access database by clicking the “Online with SharePoint” menu option and then clicking the Work Offline menu option. The “Online with SharePoint” menu option can be found on the righth and corner of the status bar. The Work Offline and Work Online menu buttons can also be found on the External Data menu ribbon on the far right side. There are several other menu options on the ribbon to help with synchronization, caching, and relinking to the SharePoint list.

While working with this capability, the one shortcoming I found was not being able to check out a list item under version control. The new and improved Microsoft Access 2007 could be very helpful to anyone who wants to do a little more with her list data.

For example, say you created an Issue Tracking SharePoint List, and you want to create custom reports to help track metrics. By using this capability, you are able to link the Issue Tracking SharePoint List and create custom reports to be used any time they are needed—e.g., by your boss or for a meeting—and still have the flexibility to add a new SharePoint list. This super tracking capability could become your new best friend when you need results quickly or over a long period of time. Think of it as your personal report center.

By following these steps, you’ll be able to successfully link SharePoint list data to a new or existing Microsoft Access 2007 database. In this example, we will use a new Microsoft Access 2007 database called SPListAccessLinked:

"Export to Access” is very similar to the “Track this List in Access” feature because it exports the current SharePoint list data to an existing or new Microsoft Access 2007 database and adds it to a new table that is not linked to the SharePoint list data.

This feature gives a lot more flexibility when you want to remove data or add new data to the table without it affecting the SharePoint list structure or data. It could also be used for static reporting.

For example, let’s say that your boss wants a monthly report, but not all the data is in the SharePoint list, so you have to import it from other data sources. The last thing that you want to worry about is the data changing and messing up your reporting numbers. By using this feature, you are able to take a snapshot of the data each month and import it into a Microsoft Access 2007 database table that is static and is updated only from Microsoft Access 2007. This would give you the flexibility to import all the other data sources necessary for creating monthly reports. It would also give you the flexibility to always go back and review the data without wondering whether something had changed.

By following these steps, you’ll be able to successfully export the current SharePoint list data to a new or existing Microsoft Access 2007 database. In this example, we will use a new Microsoft Access 2007 database called SPListAccessExport:

"Report with Access” is very useful when you want to create quick reports from SharePoint list data through Microsoft Access 2007. It automatically creates a default report when it is first used.

“Report with Access” is very similar to “Track this List in Access” because it links to the current SharePoint list and the User Information List to allow for easy access to new data that is being entered into the SharePoint lists.

When Microsoft Access 2007 first opens, there will be two tabs. The first tab is the current SharePoint list data in the standard Datasheet view and the second tab (the active tab) is a prebuilt report. When changing between the tabs, the menus above will change.

Once again, Microsoft Access 2007 has an improved reporting model and interface that makes it a lot easier for creating more professional-looking reports quickly.

By following these steps, you’ll be able to successfully link the current SharePoint list data to a new or existing Microsoft Access 2007 database for reporting. In this example, we are going to use a new Microsoft Access 2007 database called SPListAccessReport:

"Query list with Excel” exports the data out of the SharePoint list and imports it into a Microsoft Excel 2007 spreadsheet. The connection that was created stays connected unless you terminate it by clicking the Unlink option located in the External Table Data ribbon section. The connection created is a one-way connection; data you add to the spreadsheet will not be synced to the SharePoint list. Many users will be surprised by this limitation because the functionality was there in the previous version of Microsoft Excel 2003 and SharePoint 2003.

Excel may display an error message that says, “Microsoft Office has identified a potential security concern.” Click Enable to allow the data to be imported from your SharePoint list. This new security feature helps users verify that the data being imported is safe.

“Query list with Excel” gives a friendly environment in which to manipulate SharePoint list data with all the trustworthy and new features of Microsoft Excel 2007.

By following these steps, you’ll be able to successfully link the current SharePoint list data to a new Microsoft Excel 2007 workbook:

"Print with Excel” takes the data from the SharePoint list and imports it into a Microsoft Excel 2007 workbook, then automatically launches the Excel print window.

“Print with Excel” is very similar to “Query list with Excel,” but it also automatically launches the Excel print window. The data that is imported into the Excel Workbook is linked and can be refreshed by selecting the Refresh All menu option on the Data ribbon.

Excel may display an error message that says, “Microsoft Office has identified a potential security concern.” Click Enable to allow the data to be imported from your SharePoint list. This new security feature helps users verify that the data being imported is safe.

By following these steps, you’ll be able to successfully link the current SharePoint list data to a new Microsoft Excel 2007 workbook for printing:

“Chart with Excel” takes the data from the SharePoint list and imports it into a Microsoft Excel 2007 workbook and then automatically launches the Excel Create Chart window to allow the type of chart to be selected before inserting the chart onto the worksheet. Once the chart has been inserted onto the worksheet, the Design menu ribbon becomes active. The Design menu ribbon is part of the Chart Tools section.

“Chart with Excel” is very similar to “Query list with Excel” but it adds the additional feature of automatically launching the “Excel create chart” window. The data that is imported into the Excel Workbook is linked and can be refreshed by selecting the Refresh All menu option on the Data ribbon.

Excel may display an error message that says, “Microsoft Office has identified a potential security concern.” Click Enable to allow the data to be imported from your SharePoint list. This new security feature helps users verify that the data being imported is safe.

By following these steps, you’ll be able to successfully link the current SharePoint list data to a new Microsoft Excel 2007 workbook:

“Create Excel Pivot Table Report” takes the data from the SharePoint list and imports it into a Microsoft Excel 2007 workbook. It then automatically launches a worksheet with the pivot table control located on the top left side of the screen, activating both the Pivot Table Field List task pane and the Options menu ribbon from the PivotTable Tools section. A simple way of adding a column or row is by clicking and dragging the field down into either the Column Labels or Row Labels box.

“Create Excel Pivot Table Report” is a little different from the other Excel options because it doesn’t show any of the data until a field has been added to either the Report Filter, Column Labels, Row Labels, or Values box. Data for each field can be seen by hovering over the field and clicking the upside-down triangle on the right end of the bar. The Options menu ribbon gives a lot of additional features. The data is linked and can be refreshed by clicking the Refresh option on the menu ribbon.

Excel may display an error message that says, “Microsoft Office has identified a potential security concern.” Click Enable to allow the data to be imported from your SharePoint list. This new security feature helps users verify that the data being imported is safe.

By following these steps, you’ll be able to successfully link the current SharePoint list data to a new Microsoft Excel 2007 workbook with a Pivot Table already inserted and ready for designing:

When I tried to add a document library as a reader, I got this warning message: “An error occurred copying some or all of the selected files.”

When I tried to delete a document from the document library as a reader, I got this message: “Unable to delete filename. You do not have the correct permissions. Please contact the server administrator.”

Because the messages may vary, it might be a good idea to inform other users what messages they might receive when using the Explorer view to help reduce confusion.