Using Office 2010 Applications with SharePoint 2010 : Creating Shortcuts to SharePoint 2010

There are several ways to facilitate the process of saving documents to SharePoint by creating favorites and shortcuts. This first set of steps that follows shows how to create a shortcut by using the Connect to Office button in a document library, and the section that follows that describes how to manually create the shortcut from Windows Explorer.

Another method of creating shortcuts, which can be used on computers not using Office 2010, is to simply create a shortcut under Network Places, which is useful to know about if the SharePoint Sites folder isn’t available for certain users.

Using the Connect to Office Tool to Create Shortcuts

Users should be informed that the Connect to Office tool available on the Library tab is the easiest way to create shortcuts that will be available from Office 2010 applications via the Save As interface.

Follow these steps to use the Connect to Office feature in a SharePoint document library:

1.	Visit a SharePoint document library using a computer with Office 2010 installed and an account with at least read permissions to the library.
2.	Click the Connect to Office button from the Library tab, and the select Add to SharePoint sites. A message appears that states “In order to connect libraries in this site to Microsoft Office, your machine must register the user profile service application used by this site....” Click Yes; the SharePoint folder will be created under Favorites for the user, and the shortcut will be added. Note If Office 2007 or an earlier version of Office is installed, the Connect to Office button will be inactive.
3.	Next, click the Connect to Office button again, but this time click Manage SharePoint Sites, and the MyQuickLinks page will display, showing the links available, as shown in Figure 1. Note that additional tools are available, including Add Link, Edit Link, Delete, and Create Tag from Link. Figure 1. The MyQuickLinks page in Word 2010.
4.	Verify that the new link appears in Word 2010 by opening Word 2010, and click the Save As button from the File tab.
5.	Click SharePoint Sites from the Favorites section in the left pane, and the new SharePoint shortcut will appear. Double-click the new shortcut added in step 2, and the Save As window will now display the document library and existing contents, as shown in Figure 2. Figure 2. Accessing the SharePoint Sites folder in the Save As window in Word 2010.
6.	Enter a valid filename and click Save.

Manually Add a Shortcut to the SharePoint Sites Folder

The previous section described how to add a shortcut from the Connect to Office button, but administrators might want to distribute shortcuts to end users either in bulk or on an as-needed basis. The following example assumes the SharePoint Sites folder exists under Favorites for the user, which is created when the user uses the Connect to Office button and clicks Yes to the warning that is provided (as described in the previous section):

1.	Click the Start button and select Computer.
2.	Double-click the SharePoint Sites folder under Favorites in the left pane.
3.	Assuming there are already shortcuts in place, right-click an existing one  and click Copy. Then click a blank portion of the right pane and click Paste.
4.	This will paste a copy of the shortcut with the suffix - Copy. Right-click the copy and select Properties.
5.	As shown in Figure 3, the path starts as follows: file://abcsp1004/ DavWWWRoot/sites/.... Therefore, a similar path needs to be entered for other shortcuts to work. The intuitive path of http://servername/sitename/libraryname won’t work. Now, simply edit the path to the desired site and document library. In this example, the path is Shared Documents library or to the following complete path: file://abcsp1004/DavWWWRoot/sites/Chapter%2022/ Shared%20Documents. Then click the General tab and change the name of the shortcut to reflect the new path. Click OK. Figure 3. Manually creating a shortcut in SharePoint Sites in the Favorites folder. Note The %20 equates to a space in the URL.
6.	Now double-click the new shortcut to make sure the SharePoint document library opens.
7.	Open Word 2010, click the File tab, and then click Save As.
8.	In the Save As window, scroll down to the shortcut under Favorites, and then double-click the new shortcut, and verify that the file saves properly.

Manually Create a Network Location Shortcut

This method allows the end user or an administrator to create shortcuts in the My Computer Explorer Window. This is important for users who aren’t on Office 2010 (for example, Office 2007 users) because they won’t be able to use the Connect to Office tool from a document library—it will be inactive because Office 2007 doesn’t support this level of interaction. By providing this shortcut, these users will still be easily able to save documents to SharePoint libraries.

Follow these steps to create a shortcut manually:

1.	Access the Start button and click Computer.
2.	Right-click in an empty section of the Explorer window in the right pane.
3.	Click Add a Network Location.
4.	Click Next.
5.	Click Choose a Custom Network Location. Click Next.
6.	Enter the URL for the SharePoint site and document library (for example, http://abcsp1004/sites/chapter25/shared documents, as shown in Figure 4). Figure 4. Manually creating a network location shortcut in Explorer.
7.	Click Next and enter a name for the shortcut, and click Next, and then click Finish, leaving the box next to Open This Network Location When I Click Finish checked. Click Finish and verify that the document library opens.
8.	Open Word and click access the Save As tool, click Computer from the left pane, and the shortcut should appear in the right pane. Double-click the shortcut and the SharePoint library will open. Provide a name for the document and click Save.