The Permissions and Management column on the Document
List Settings page provides even more tools that the list or library
administrator must be familiar with.
Delete This Document Library
Every
once and a while, the site administrator may need to delete a document
library, and the tool will execute as soon as the Delete This Document
Library link is clicked. The administrator will see a message that
states “This document library will be removed and all its files will be
deleted. Are you sure you want to send this document library to the site
Recycle Bin?” If the administrator clicks OK, the document library and
all its content will be moved to the site Recycle Bin. The End User
Recycle Bin will now list the document library. If deleted from the End
User Recycle Bin, it will be listed in the site collection Recycle Bin,
so a site collection administrator can still restore it. If deleted from
the Site Collection Recycle Bin, it will be permanently deleted and
will need to be recovered from other backups of the site collection.
Save Document Library as Template
Most organizations will
customize a selection of lists and libraries and then use them as
templates. This section gives an example of creating a List template
from a document library and some tips pertaining to the use of these
templates (as well as some of the limitations). Although these templates
can be very useful, a site administrator should test them thoroughly to
become familiar with the upsides as well as downsides of using them,
and might want to focus instead on using site templates for reasons
provided next.
To create a List template, follow these steps:
1. | From the Document Library Settings page for the library, click the Save Document Library as Template link.
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2. | Enter a filename (for example, DocLib050410) and a template name (which can be the same as the filename). Leave the Save Content box unchecked. Click OK.
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3. | The
Operation Completed Successfully message will appear. Click the List
Template Gallery link visible in the body of the message. The List
Template Gallery for the site collection will open.
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The templates are stored in the
List template gallery, accessible via the Site Settings page for the
site, by clicking List Templates from the Galleries section. After a
List template has been saved, it will be available from the Create.aspx
page for lists and libraries, or the Create window if SilverLight is
installed.
The following list provides some tips for effectively using it:
Create a site
that contains the template lists and libraries so they can be edited at a
later date and then save to the List Template Gallery. Do not use this
site for production purposes (for example, storing “live” files or list
data) because it will be modified in the future and new templates
created from it, possibly Site templates, as well.
Create
a logical naming scheme for the List templates that includes an
identifier, such as the date it was created. For example, a name such as
ProjectDocLib010110 is more useful than DocLibraryV1 because it
describes the type of library (a project library) and contains the date
when it was created, which will be visible when creating new libraries
from it.
Although
the option is given to Include Content when creating a template, there
is a fairly small size limit of 50MB. Therefore, this is not a very
powerful backup and restore tool for document libraries because most
document libraries quickly exceed this limit, but could be useful for
lists.
List
templates are only shared within a site collection. List templates can
be saved locally from one List Template Gallery and then uploaded to
other List Template Galleries for other site collections.
Changes
to the List template will not affect lists previously created with the
List template. So, for example, if five lists have been created using
AnnouncementsTemplate050410, each one will need to be visited separately
to replicate the changes.
When
the List template is used to create a list at a later date, consider
putting the name of the template used in the description field of the
list. This will make it easier to tell which template was used to create
which list at a later date.
If
too many List templates are created, the Create page or Create window
will become very cluttered and confusing. Consider creating Site
templates rather than List templates for this reason.
Although it is not a
recommended best practice to modify the List template, more advanced
administrators may be interested in viewing the contents of the List
template. Follow these steps to view the contents of a List template manifest xml document for a template created for a document library:
1. | Visit
the List Template Gallery and choose a template. Right-click the name
of the template (DocLib050410, for example, as created previously) and
click Save Target As. Save the document to your desktop using the same
name. Note that the file extension is .stp.
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2. | Click Open Folder when the download completes.
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3. | Right click the STP file and click Rename. Change the extension of the file from .stp to .cab. Press Enter.
Note
You might need to change the
view settings in Control Panel if you can’t edit the extension. For
Windows 7, navigate to the Control Panel, click Folder Options, click
the View tab, unselect Hide Extensions for Known File Types, and then
click OK, and you should be able to now change the extension.
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4. | Click Yes for the Rename warning. The file will now be listed as a .cab file.
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5. | Right-click the file and click Open. This will show the contents of the .cab file.
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6. | Right-click the manifest XML file and click Extract. Save to the desktop once again.
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7. | Locate
the manifest file on the desktop, right-click the document, and choose
Open With, and select Internet Explorer. You will now be able to see all
the contents of the manifest file.
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Armed with the
preceding information, the site administrator should experiment with
using List templates and determine whether they provide value for the
organization or whether creating these templates clutters up the list
creation options and will be confusing, and whether site templates, each
with customized lists, make more sense for the organization.
Permissions for This Document Library
Site administrators should be
aware that lists permissions can be customized, and be familiar with the
process. However, they should also be aware that lists and libraries
with customized or “unique” permissions can be difficult to manage, and
records should be kept of the changes that are made. There is no “magic”
report that lists all unique permissions used within a site collection
or site, so a general best practice is to avoid customizing permissions
for lists and libraries unless strictly necessary.
Tip
Instead of customizing permissions
on a list or library basis, consider creating a subsite with the
revised permissions for that site—for example, if a site
(http://intranet/SiteA) is accessible to “everyone” (for example,
abc\domain users have read access to it) in the organization. The site
administrator wants to have a few libraries and lists that are only
accessible to a select group (for example, abc\IT). Instead of modifying
the permissions on those lists and libraries, he creates a subsite that
houses those lists and libraries (http://intranet/SiteA/SiteAPrivate)
and stops inheriting permissions for the site, and then removes
abc\domain users from access to that site, and gives abc\IT users
contribute permissions. Although this might seem like overkill
initially, users can be easily taught that the subsite (SiteAPrivate) is
where they upload documents that are for more restricted use, while the
parent site (SiteA) is where documents that are available for anyone
with a domain account to read. And the administrator now doesn’t need to
customize permissions for any lists or libraries on either site!
Follow these steps to customize permissions for document library:
1. | For the document library, access the Document Library Settings page and click Permissions for this document library.
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2. | Notice
whether a note appears that says “This library inherits permissions
from its parent.” If this message appears under the Ribbon, any changes
to the parent will affect this document library. To change the
permissions, click Stop Inheriting Permissions on the Edit tab of the
Ribbon.
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3. | Click OK when the warning appears, stating “You are about to create unique permissions for this document library.”
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4. | Check
boxes next to the individual users or groups that are to be removed or
modified. Then click Remove User Permissions or Edit User Permissions as
appropriate, and repeat until the desired result is achieved.
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5. | Before
exiting, click the Check Permissions icon and enter one or more
individuals’ names, and then click the Check Now button to see what
permissions, if any, the users or groups have after the changes made in
step 4.
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6. | Finally,
the Inherit Permissions icon can be clicked to overwrite your changes
with the permissions assigned at the parent site level. This is
basically a “get out of jail free” tool that can be used to undo
undesirable changes.
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Manage Files That Have No Checked-In Version
It is a fairly rare occurrence
that a file will have no checked-in version, but the Manage Files Which
Have No Checked In Version tool on the Document Library Settings page
does come in handy is certain situations. This tool is not helpful if a
user simply checks out
a file and then forgets to check it back in because there will be a
checked-in version that exists before the file is checked out.
Where this tool is handy is
when documents are uploaded to the document library but required
metadata is not entered. This can happen when the Open with Explorer
button on the Library tab of the Ribbon is used and multiple documents
are pasted into it, or the upload multiple documents tool is used from
the Documents tab. Because many end users will want to save time, it can
occur that the uploaded files will end up in a checked-out status, and
the list administrator will need to access this link and add the
required metadata to the items and then check them in.
Workflow Settings
This page allows the
administrator to see the number of workflows in progress for the list or
library, to set the types of items that the workflows are configured to
run on, and to as add and remove workflows and view workflow reports.
As noted on this page, selecting a different type will navigate the user
to the Workflow Settings page for the content type that is modified.
The Three-State Workflow
is the only workflow template provided in SharePoint Foundation 2010,
whereas others are available in SharePoint Server 2010. SharePoint
Server 2010 Standard and Enterprise provides the following workflow
templates: Disposition Approval, Publishing Approval, Collection
Signatures, Approval, and Collection Feedback.
The workflow reports
available are the Activity Duration Report and Cancellation & Error
Report, and are generated on-the-fly, saved to a SharePoint library, and
can then be immediately opened after generation without having to go to
the library.
