Numbers are Being Added to My SharePoint List Internal Names

When you create a list or library, the name you enter becomes both the internal name (used in the url), and the display name. When you rename a list, only the display name is changed. If you later create a new list with the same name as a renamed list’s original name, the new list’s internal name will have a number added.

Here are the steps to show what's happening:

1. Create a new Custom list and name it "TestList".
2. Navigate to the list and note that the URL contains "TestList".
3. Go to the list and List Settings and use "List name, description and navigation" to rename it to something like "TestListNorth".
4. Note the URL. It's still "TestList".
5. Create a new Custom list and name it "TestList".
6. Navigate to the list and note that the URL contains "TestList1". This is also the internal name. The display name is "TestList".
7. Change the display name of this list to "TestListEast" and note that the URL is still "TestList1".
8. Create yet another new Custom list and name it "TestList".
9. Navigate to the list and note that the URL contains "TestList2". This is also the internal name. The display name is "TestList".
10. Change the display name of this list to "TestListWest" and note that the URL is still "TestList2".

The internal name is both unique and not changeable from the browser user interface. The display name is also unique amongst the display names, but can be different than the internal name.

Keep in mind that the deletion of large objects in SharePoint is a gradual and background process. You might get numbers added to the internal name when you delete a large list, or even a Site or Site Collection, and then recreate those objects and lists using the same names.

SharePoint 2016 Durable Links

I recently had a question in class about “Durable Links”. I did a search of the Microsoft sites to find anything official on SharePoint 2016 “Durable Links”, and basically only found a beta vintage blog article.

https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/wbaer/2015/09/22/durable-links-in-sharepoint-server-2016-it-preview/

While I did find a number of other blog articles from the beta period, mostly of the “what’s new in SharePoint 2016” type, I found no TechNet articles. So… I thought I’d share part of one of my courses that has a section on Durable Links. This course is available from many Microsoft Learning partners, and of course, from MAX!

From:
Course 55198A: Microsoft SharePoint Server Content Management for SharePoint 2013 and 2016

SharePoint 2016 Durable Links

Prior to SharePoint 2016, renaming or moving a file would break all of the links and shortcuts that pointed to the file. In SharePoint 2013 you might have had a file named “FinancialStatementFY14Q2.xlsx” that had no spaces in the name. This is both an ugly filename and a name that will cause problems with search. (Users searching for “Statement” or “FY14” would never find it based on the title.) The 2013 URL would look something like this:

http://yourServer/sites/yourSite/Shared%20Documents/FinancialStatementFY14Q2.xlsx

Renaming this file to include spaces in the name would create the following URL. But, users with links to the old file will no longer be able to find it.

http://yourServer/sites/yourSite/Shared%20Documents/Financial Statement FY14 Q2.xlsx

Note the spaces in the URL will be replaced with “%20”.

Durable Links
SharePoint 2016 now appends a “d” query string to the URL with a unique ID that will not change even if the file has been renamed. (But not always… see notes below…)

http://yourServer/sites/yourSite/Shared%20Documents/FinancialStatementFY14Q2.xlsx?d=w780e689061e44dbfb4123fe450f4b957

After renaming, SharePoint will still find the correct document as it looks for the Durable Link ID first to find the document.

http://yourServer/sites/yourSite/Shared%20Documents/Financial%20Statement%20FY14%20Q2.xlsx?d=w780e689061e44dbfb4123fe450f4b957

To find the Durable Link in SharePoint 2016, or the SharePoint Online “Classic UI”, click the “…” next to the filename.

Notes:

• Durable Links are not a feature and cannot be enabled or disabled.
• Durable Links require Office Online Server to be part of the farm.
• Works with Office documents like Word, Excel and PowerPoint (i.e. things displayed in Office Server), but not other files like .jpeg, .png, etc.
• At the time of this writing, the Office 365 / SharePoint Online “Modern Library” pages do not offer a way to copy the URL that includes the Durable Link query string.
• Documents that are moved (drag and drop or cut/paste) will preserve the Durable Link ID. Documents that are copied and pasted will get a new Durable Link ID.
• The Publishing site Content and Structure feature does not preserve the SharePoint 2016 Durable Link. (A new ID is assigned after a Move.)

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Adding HTML to SharePoint Columns – Color, Images and More – Round 2!

Back in June Microsoft announced they were blocking HTML created by Calculated Columns with the June 2017 Public Update (PU) for SharePoint 2013, 2016 and SharePoint Online.

See here: http://techtrainingnotes.blogspot.com/2017/12/no-more-html-in-sharepoint-calculated.html

Before the June update:

After the June update:

You can turn this new “feature” off using PowerShell… but only for on-prem.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4032106/handling-html-markup-in-sharepoint-calculated-fields

$wa = Get-SPWebApplication http://yourWebAppUrl
$wa.CustomMarkupInCalculatedFieldDisabled = $false
$wa.Update()

Repeat for each web application as needed.

There’s a workaround!

There's a fairly simple solution that works in all versions, if you don't mind using a workflow.

1. Edit the Calculated Column with the HTML and change it's "The data type returned from this formula is" back to "Single Line of Text". (Just change the result type... leave the column as a Calculated Column.)
2. Create a new Multiple Lines of Text column and set it to "Enhanced rich text (Rich text with pictures, tables, and hyperlinks)".
3. Create a workflow that simply copies the Calculated Column to the new Multiple Lines of Text column. Set the workflow to run on Created and Changed.
4. Edit your views to hide the Calculated Column and add the Multiple Lines of Text column.

The workflow is just a single Set Field in Current Item action.

Set the “field” to the new Multiple Lines of Text column and set “value” to the Calculated column. Publish and test!

This solution will let you keep the Calculated Column for easy revising of the formula logic. You could also let the workflow do all of the work to create the logic and HTML using a String Builder, and eliminate the need for the Calculated Column.

Update the Existing Items

You now need to get the workflow to run on all of the existing items. You can run a PowerShell script to start the workflows, you can run a PowerShell script just to copy the data from the Calculated column the new column, you can manually run the workflows on each item, or if you don't mind the Modified date and Modified By being changed switch to the Quick Edit view and copy all the items in one column and then paste them right back.

After the workaround:

What does not work?

Script tags and Style tags. (and I’m sure there are a few more) Style blocks are emptied and script blocks are completely removed. But, basic HTML for hyperlinks, image tag, etc. still work.

Before: <style>#test { color:red }</style><script>alert(1)</script> more HTML…

After: <style></style> more HTML…

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No More HTML in SharePoint Calculated Columns!

Update: Here's a workaround using a workflow: http://techtrainingnotes.blogspot.com/2018/01/adding-html-to-sharepoint-columns-color.html


Just in case you missed it:

“Some users have added HTML markup or script elements to calculated fields. This is an undocumented use of the feature, and we will block the execution of custom markup in calculated fields in SharePoint Online from June 13, 2017 onwards. The June 2017 Public Update (PU) and later PUs will make blocking a configurable option for on-premises use in SharePoint Server 2016 and SharePoint Server 2013.”

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4032106/handling-html-markup-in-sharepoint-calculated-fields

So, no more of this:
  
Or this:
    =REPT("<img src='http://yourPath/yourImage.GIF' style='border-style:none'/>",[Value])
 

SharePoint: Running JavaScript Code Only When in Page Edit Mode

One of my old Content Editor Web Part “tricks” would not work when run in a Publishing page. I was hiding a web part when not in Page Edit mode. You can detect this mode by checking for ‘PageState.ViewModeIsEdit != "1"’. The PageState object is automatically created in normal site pages (“Wiki Pages”). It is also created in Publishing Pages, but only when the page has not been published. I.e. when the page is checked out, or in edit mode.

My code originally looked like this:

  if ( PageState.ViewModeIsEdit != "1" )
  {  …code to run when not in edit mode… }

As the PageState object does not exist in a Published page, I had to change it to this:

  if ( typeof PageState == 'undefined' || (PageState.ViewModeIsEdit != "1") )
  {  …code to run when not in edit mode… }

Of course… none of the above works in SharePoint Online “Modern UI” pages!

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SharePoint Audiences are not Security!

In a nutshell… The SharePoint Audience feature is not security… ever. Audiences are used to filter (hide), not secure.

Some may consider the use of Audiences as “security by obscurity”, but it is not security.

From my SharePoint Security book…  (on Amazon – 2013/2016 version coming soon.)

Audiences

SharePoint audiences are used to target content to specific groups of people by hiding it from those who don’t need to see it. These groups can be SharePoint groups, Active Directory security groups, Active Directory distribution lists and SharePoint global audiences that are based on user profile data.

Audience targeting can be used with:

• List and library items, but only when displayed using a Content Query Web Part (part of the Publishing feature).
• Entire web parts.
• Top Link and Quick Launch navigation links. (when Publishing features are enabled)

Note: The Audiences feature is only available with SharePoint Server Standard and Enterprise editions. SharePoint Foundation has no support for Audiences. (Audiences is part of User Profile Services.)

Audiences are not security!

Audiences are usually described as being used to "target" content to a selected group. Audiences could also be described as being used to hide content from all users except for the target audiences. This second form sounds like security, but absolutely is not. While a list item or document web part might have a target audience, and non-audience members won't see the web part, if it is not otherwise secured they can still get to the item by using a direct URL or find it from search.

The Audience feature should be thought of as a filtering option, not security.

To filter list items using an Audience

List and library items can be filtered using the Audience feature using the Publishing feature’s Content Query Web Part. While the regular list web parts have an Audience feature, that feature hides the entire web part, not selected items. The Content Query Web Part is added to a site collection when you enable the Publishing features.

Four steps are required to filter list content using an Audience:

· Create a publishing site or enable the Publishing Infrastructure feature on a site collection.

· Enable the Audience feature on the list.

· “Tag” list items by Audience.

· Display the list using the Content Query Web Part.

Step 1: Enable the SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure Site Collection feature

First make sure there are no other reasons to not enable the Publishing features. (Policy, support, governance, etc.)

1. Go Settings (gear), Site Settings of the top level site of the site collection.

2. In the Site Collection Administration section click Site collection features.

3. If not already activated, activate the SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure feature.

Step 2: Enable the Audience feature on the list or library

1. Go the list or library, click the LIST or LIBRARY tab in the ribbon.

2. Click List Settings or Library Settings.

3. Click Audience targeting settings.

4. Checkmark Enable audience targeting.
A new field named Target Audiences will now be displayed in the New and Edit pages for the list.

5. Click OK.

Step 3: “Tag” list items by Audience

1. Edit the properties of a list or library item.

2. In the Audience area click the Browse button ( ) and select an Audience.

3. Save the changes to the item.

Step 4: Display the list using the Content Query Web Part

1. Move to your page where you want to display the web part.

2. Edit the page.

3. Click the Insert ribbon tab and the Web Part button.

4. Click on the Content Rollup category and then click the Content Query web part. (If the web part is not listed then you do not have the SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure site collection Feature enabled.)

5. Click Add to add the web part to the page.

6. Click the web part’s dropdown menu and click Edit Web Part.

7. Expand the Query section.

8. Select the Source (the scope) for the rollup from one of the following: Show items from all sites in this site collection, Show items from the following site and all subsites, or Show items from the following list.

9. Select the List Type and the Content Type to select the content to display from the Source selected above.

10. In the Audience Targeting section checkmark Apply audience filtering.

11. Optionally add filters or Presentation options.

12. Click OK to save your web part changes.

13. Save the page and test the results.

Note: the Target Audience option in the Advanced section of the web part’s property panel is used to control if the entire web part will be displayed for an audience.

Search Web Parts vs the CQWP

Microsoft currently recommends using the Search Web Parts in many of the places that we might have used the CQWP. While search uses cached content, and can be quite a bit faster, the data is only as current as the last search crawl. (I.e. Completed tasks may still display as incomplete.) The CQWP is always using live data and can be Audience filtered.

Resources for the CQWP:

Display data from multiple lists with the Content Query Web Part:
https://support.office.com/en-US/article/Display-a-dynamic-view-of-content-on-a-page-by-adding-the-Content-Query-Web-Part-3e35bd58-d159-43d6-bfc7-77878b4a856d (or just do a web search for “Display a dynamic view of content on a page by adding the Content Query Web Part”)

To show web parts for an Audience

You can use Audiences to hide an entire web part from all users except for the selected audiences. Simply edit the web part, expand the Advanced section and select an audience.

Note: The SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure Site Collection feature is not needed for web part Audience filtering.

To display a Quick Launch or Top Link Bar link for an Audience

Links in the Quick Launch and the Top Link Bar can be filtered by Audience when the Publishing Infrastructure feature has been activated. Once this feature has been activated the Quick Launch and Top Link Bar options are replaced with a single Site Settings option named Navigation. In the Navigation page Quick Launch is called Current Navigation and the Top Link Bar is called Global Navigation.

Enable the SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure Site Collection feature:

1. Go Settings (gear), Site Settings of the top level site of the site collection.

2. In the Site Collection Administration section click Site collection features.

3. If not already activated, activate the SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure feature.

To filter navigation links:

1. Go Settings (gear), Site Settings.

2. In the Look and Feel section click Navigation.

3. Scroll down to the Navigation Editing and Sorting section of the page.

4. Add or edit a Heading or a Link.

5. In the Audience area click the Browse button ( ) and select an Audience.

6. Set the Title, URL and other options as desired and click OK.

7. Test! The new navigation item should only be displayed for the selected Audiences.

Creating Random Numbers in SharePoint Calculated Columns

 

One of my examples for tonight’s Cincinnati SharePoint User Group meeting! See you there!

 

I wanted to add a "motivational" message to a list of new sales. To be "fair" (i.e. I did not want to think and create a good algorithm!) I wanted the messages to be random. Something like this:

  

But… Calculated Columns do not support the Excel RAND() or RANDBETWEEN() functions.

 

So, how to get a random number???

Calculated columns do support the =Now() function. This returns a numeric value that represents the current date and time. If formatted as a Date, or Date and Time, then you will see the current date. But, if you format it as Single Line of Text you will see something like: 42,691.3977137731, or a few seconds later: 42,691.3983521875. The last number starts to look like a random number! And if accurate, it changes every .0000000001 of a day, or about every 0.00000864 seconds. Close enough for me.

 

Get a random number between 0 and 9.

This one looks easy, just pull off the last digit from NOW()!

    =RIGHT( NOW() ,1)

But.. there’s one flaw with this… The last digit of a fractional value is never zero!  (I.e. you will never see .111111110 unless custom formatted.)

So we need to pull off the next to last digit!

  =LEFT( RIGHT( NOW() ,2) ,1 )

 

Get a random number between 1 and 5

With just a little math we can limit the range a bit. As we don’t want the zero value we can skip the LEFT function for this one.

   =ROUND( RIGHT( NOW()) / 2+0.5 ,0)

  

Here’s a sample:

  

 

Get a random number between 0 and 999.

If you need bigger numbers, just return more digits:

    =RIGHT(NOW(),3)

As RIGHT creates a string (text), you will get leading zeros (“012”). To remove the leading zeros just do some math!

    = 0 + RIGHT(NOW(),3)

  

But… (there’s always a “but”), this will never return a value that ends with a zero. So… back to the LEFT function:

    =LEFT( RIGHT(NOW(),4), 3)

I.e. get the left three of the right four digits…

 

Random Messages?

This little exercise started out to create random messages. All we need to do is combine a random number with the CHOOSE function. As CHOOSE starts with item 1 and not item 0, we will need to add one to the random number.

   =CHOOSE( LEFT( RIGHT( NOW() ,2), 1) + 1, "Good Job", "Wow!", "Good Work", "Thanks!", "Could be better",
                      "Gold star for you!", "a free coffee for you!",":-)", "You are the MAX!","Do it again!" )

 

Notes

• These are not guaranteed to be mathematically pure random numbers!
• The values depend on the exact instant that an item is added to a list and will change with each edit. (But will not change with each view.)

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Hide the Windows Explorer Button in SharePoint Libraries

 

Tested in SharePoint 2013, 2016 and SharePoint Online.

 

The Windows Explorer view of a SharePoint library has so many issues that I'm often asked to hide it. Turns out that this is pretty easy to do. Two solutions:

• Create a SharePoint Feature and deploy it to the desired site collections.
• Add CSS to your master page, or to selected view pages.

 

Create a SharePoint Feature and deploy it to the desired site collections

This is the best solution! And it's been documented elsewhere: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/tejasr/2010/07/19/how-to-remove-open-with-windows-explorer-button-from-document-librarys-ribbon-menu/

I would only add one more step to this solution… make sure the WSP file does not include an unneeded DLL so the solution can be deployed to SharePoint Online. (No code allowed!) The one extra step: In the project's Properties panel click "Include Assembly in Package" and change it to False.

Once the Feature has been installed in the Site Collection, just visit each subsite and activate the feature. This will impact all libraries in the site.

 

Add CSS to your master page, or to selected view pages

Add one little piece of CSS to your master page, or open SharePoint Designer and edit the library's views to add a CSS block and the button will disappear. If added to the master page then this will impact every library in the site. If added to a view page, then it will impact only that view.

This CSS will not work with the SharePoint Online “New Library Experience”. But then the new “experience” does not currently include a link for Windows Explorer!

The CSS:

<style type="text/css">
  #Ribbon\.Library\.Actions\.OpenWithExplorer-Small {
    display: none;
  }
</style>

Note: The backslashes have been added to the ID due to the non-standard naming convention that uses periods.

If you would like site owners to still be able to see the button then wrap additional CSS in a SharePoint:SecurityTrimmedControl. Note that this control can only be added directly to a page, typically using SharePoint Designer. It will not work if added to a Content Editor Web Part.

<style type="text/css">
  #Ribbon\.Library\.Actions\.OpenWithExplorer-Small {
    display: none;
  }
</style>
<Sharepoint:SPSecurityTrimmedControl runat="server" PermissionsString="ManageWeb">
  <style type="text/css">
    #Ribbon\.Library\.Actions\.OpenWithExplorer-Small {
      display: inline;
    }
  </style>
</SharePoint:SPSecurityTrimmedControl>

 

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Auto-populated Choice Columns in SharePoint!

 

This was tested in SharePoint 2013 and 2016.

Had a list with 100,000 items with a State column. I found that some of my users did not know their state abbreviations. (KE is Kentucky?) After cleaning up the "nonstandard" states, I decided to convert the column from Single Line of Text to Choice.

Magic!

After editing the column and clicking "Choice" I scrolled down and found that the list of choices was already populated!

For this to work for lists with more than the List View Threshold number of items (5,000 by default) you will need to be:

• a server administrator, or
• an auditor (Configured in Web Application settings, and only for under 20,000 items.), or
• working with the list during Happy Hour!  (Offically “Daily Time Window for Large Queries”.)

 

Bonus!

The State column was now available in my Metadata Navigation Settings options.

 

Too Easy!

In the future when importing large amounts of list data I’ll just make the columns that should be Choice as Single Line of Text and then after the import change them to Choice.

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SharePoint 2016: List View Threshold Limit to Delete a List is 99,993 Items???

 

SharePoint 2013 had a default List View Threshold that used the number 5,000 for a lot of limits. SharePoint 2016 has made a few changes to the List View Threshold to give us a little more flexibility. If you take a look at the TechNet article “Software boundaries and limits for SharePoint Server 2016” you will find that the old 5,000 limit is still there for normal list activity, but they have made a few changes for Site Owner maintenance activities.

These include:

• When adding or removing a column index, the threshold is 20,000 by default.
• When deleting a list or folder, the threshold is 100,000 by default.
• When renaming a folder within the same library, the threshold is 100,000 by default.

Note that these limits are for Team Members, Site Owners and Site Collection Administrators. Server administrators can exceed these limits and everyone can during “happy hour!” (Officially, the “Daily Time Window for Large Queries” limit set by the SharePoint Server administrators.)

As I am working on a new course, “Microsoft SharePoint Server Content Management for SharePoint 2013 and 2016”, I have to both test these limits and create screen captures for classroom demos. I ran into two interesting discoveries:

• I could rename folders when there were more than 100,000 items. So this one must be for when there are up to 100,000 folders at the same level.
• I could NOT delete a list with 100,000 items. Or, 99,999 items.

The delete issue was a bit more interesting… I started deleting items, even emptied the Recycle Bin after each delete, but still could not delete the list… until I hit 99,993 items. Weird huh? That number is not even a magic number (a power of 2). I guess there must seven hidden, for SharePoint’s use only, items in that large list. Who knows…

I could not delete the following list until the item count was below 99,994.

99,993… now I can delete it.

 

Now… should I go an tie up the bandwidth to create a 100,000 item list in SharePoint Online to test there?

Of course!

 

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Office 365 / SharePoint Online Site Contents Page Changes

 

SharePoint Online Latest Change of the Week / Day / Hour / Minute…

If you use Office 365 / SharePoint Online then you should now be used to the constant tinkering with the user interface. I’m starting to feel like SharePoint Online is kind of like the weather in Cincinnati… if you don’t like it, hang around, it will be different tomorrow.

One of the latest changes is to the Site Contents page. A preview of this page is documented in the link below. But… it’s already out of date! They have since added the Top Link bar back and the site icon. (To see these new pages in advance of general release you need to enable Preview Features in the tenant’s SharePoint Settings page.)

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/The-SharePoint-Site-Contents-page-ba495c1e-00f4-475d-97c7-b518d546566b?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US

 

The page as of 6/19/2016…

 

Changes to Site Contents:

• This is a “New SharePoint” style page. It is responsive and will somewhat adapt to screen resolution and device size. But like the other new responsive pages, a change of screen resolutions or zoom levels will make well known navigation elements move to new locations, or disappear. (Usually being rolled up into another navigation element.)
  Where did Quick Launch go? (It’s now the three slashes button) Where did the App launcher/waffle button go? (It’s now changed colors and has moved to the right into the middle of the other buttons.)
  
• This is no longer a master page based page or even a typical ASPX page. Right-click the page, select View Source and you will see that there’s basically an empty HTML tag and the loading of a bunch of JavaScript. If you use the F12 developer tools in your browser you will see that everything’s a DIV and there are MANY JavaScript files being loaded. The page is still stored in “_layouts” so there’s no customization through web parts or SharePoint Designer.
• +++ They changed the list of lists and libraries into a list!!! No more ugly blue squares, in no useful order and having to click Next, Next, Next.
  
• +++ The lists are sortable!!! (But not filterable or customizable. It would be really nice to group on list type or especially a custom property!)
• +++ They also changed the list of subsites into a list!!! It’s also sortable!
  
• - - - They added new big ugly blocks that we have to scroll past to get to the list of lists and subsites. These are site activity reports that really should be in their own page somewhere, maybe a “Site Activity” page. The first two big tiles do link to their own report pages.
  
• - - - They gave the page a new “New” button that will confuse the heck out of people.
     
  Click New and then List, you get a “Custom List”. No options. Click New and then Library, you get a generic library. If you want a Tasks list or an Announcements list, you have to click New and App. And then we are back to the ugly big blue tiles. (The New App page would be a great place to replace the blue tiles with a list! Give it two tabs, “Lists and Libraries” and “SharePoint Apps”.  Oops, I should have said “SharePoint Ad-ins”. They did tell us that they renamed these, right?)

 

So…

They cleaned up, and cluttered up, the Site Contents page.

 

Don’t like the new design… hang around!

(Today it’s hot and sunny in Cincinnati…)

 

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SharePoint Column Validation Examples

Now available on Amazon!

Over 100 Examples!

A how-to book of formulas would not be too useful without a few examples. I've been collecting these for years. They've come from classroom questions, forum questions, and my own SharePoint sites. Now they are all in one place…

• Over 60 Calculated Columns examples
• Over 30 Column Validation examples
• 11 List/Library Item Validation examples
  (and every one of the Column Validation examples can be used here.)
• 7 Calculated Column Default Values examples
• 15 Workflow “workarounds” for things SharePoint formulas can’t do

Update 11/18/2017… added test for nearest 1/4th, 1/10th, etc.
Update 11/2/2015… added "Date must be the first day of the month" and "Date must be the last day of the month".

The following applies to SharePoint 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016 and SharePoint Online/Office 365.

 

Column Validation

SharePoint does not include column types for phone numbers or part numbers, nor does it include support for Regular Expressions to test for character patterns. It does support Excel style functions that we can use to create useful column validation formulas.

Below you will find column validation examples for:

• OR
• AND
• Length (LEN)
• Pattern matching using SEARCH and FIND
• Date testing

General Validation Formula Rules:

• Formula must return True or False.
• Column validations can only be added to Single Line of Text, Number, Choice (Drop-Down menu or Radio buttons, but not Checkboxes), Currency and Date and Time columns.
• Expressions are generally Excel compatible, but not all Excel functions can be used.
• Field names without special symbols can be entered as is or in square brackets
        = Price * [Qty]  > 100
• Field names with spaces or symbols must be enclosed in square brackets
        =OR( [Sales Region] = 1, [Sales Region] = 1)
• The text comparisons are not case sensitive.
        =OR( status = "a", status="c")     is true for either "A" or "a" or "C" or "c".
• In a column validation the formula cannot refer to another column.
• In a list / library validation the formula can refer to other columns in the same item.

Examples using "OR":

The OR function accepts two or more Boolean tests that each return True or False. OR returns True if any one of the tests is True.

=OR(YourFieldName="A",YourFieldName="C",YourFieldName="E")

=OR(State="OH", State="IN", State="KY", State="MI")

=OR(Qty=5, Qty=10, Qty=20)

Examples using "AND":

The AND function accepts two or more Boolean tests that each return True or False. AND returns True if all of the tests are True.

=AND(YourFieldName>"A", YourFieldName<"M")     YourFieldName value must be between A and M.

=AND(Qty>5, Qty<100, Qty<>47)      Qty must be between 5 and 100, but not 47.

Examples using "LEN":

As an example, if your part numbers are always 9 characters long:
    =LEN(YourFieldName) = 9

If the part numbers can be 9 or 12 characters long:
    =OR( LEN(YourFieldName) = 9, LEN(YourFieldName) = 12 )

Examples for Pattern Matching

The SEARCH function:  (online help)

• Matches a pattern using "*" and "?". "*" equals zero more characters and "?" equals exactly one character.
• To match an asterisks or question mark character prefix the symbols with "~". 
  Example: "a~?b?c" matches "a?bxc" but not "axbxc". 
• An "*" is assumed to be appended to the end of the match pattern. To limit the length use the AND and LEN functions.
• The comparison is not case sensitive.
• If there is a match, the function returns the position of the match. If the every character is to be matched you would typically test for "=1" or maybe ">0". 
• If there is no match, the function returns ERROR, therefore it must be wrapped inside of an ISERROR function. As we will have a match if there is no error, the ISERROR must be wrapped inside of a NOT function. (online help for ISERROR)

Examples:

Must start with an "a" or "A" and the third character must be a "c" or "C":
   =NOT(ISERROR( SEARCH("A?C",YourFieldName)=1 ))

   Matches: abc   AbC  aXc  a6c aBcDEF
   Does not match:   bbb   abb  ac  a

Match a phone number pattern of xxx-xxx-xxxx: (note: user could type letters or digits or type extra characters.)
   =NOT(ISERROR( SEARCH("???-???-????",YourFieldName)=1 ))

   Matches: 123-123-1234    aaa-aaa-aaaa   123-123-12344444

Match a phone number pattern of xxx-xxx-xxxx and limit the length:
   =AND( NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH("???-???-????",YourFieldName,1))), LEN(YourFieldName)=12 )

   Matches: 123-123-1234
   Does not match: 123-123-12345

Match a phone number and make sure only digits have been used:

The first example here is not a true pattern match. It just extracts the characters we think should be digits and tries to multiply them by any number. If that fails, then one or more of the characters is not a number. (online help for CONCATENATE and MID)

=NOT(ISERROR(1*CONCATENATE(MID(YourFieldName,1,3),MID(YourFieldName,5,3),MID(YourFieldName,9,4))))

   Matches: 123-123-1234    123x123x1234   123-123-1234xxxxx
   Does not match: abc-123-1234

The second example combines the earlier pattern match with a numeric test:

   =AND(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH("???-???-????",YourFieldName,1))),LEN(YourFieldName)=12, NOT(ISERROR(1*CONCATENATE(MID(YourFieldName,1,3),MID(YourFieldName,5,3),MID(YourFieldName,9,4)))))

The FIND Function:  (online help)

The FIND function is similar to the SEARCH function with two differences;

• FIND is case sensitive.
• FIND does not support wild cards.

Examples for Numbers

Validate if a number ends in either .25, .50 or .5 or .75 or is a whole number.

     =ROUND([Activity Effort]*4,0)/4 = [Activity Effort]

If you wanted the number to the nearest 10th then divide by 10, round then multiple by 10.
     =ROUND([Activity Effort]*10,0)/10 = [Activity Effort]
This works all of the time for numbers with non-repeating digits. I.e. It will not work for 1/3 as 0.333333333333... can't be truly represented as a fixed set of digits. (It will actually work for 1/3 if you know the right number of digits to type! it looks like it's 15 significant digits: 0.333333333333333, 0.666666666666667 and 1.33333333333333 will work for 1/3, 2/3 and 1 1/3 with =ROUND([Activity Effort]*3,0)/3 = [Activity Effort] as the validation.)

Examples Using Dates

You can create rules to limit date ranges by using the TODAY() function or the DATEVALUE() function.

Date must be in the future:
    =YourFieldName>TODAY()

Date must be in the future by "x" days:
    =YourFieldName>TODAY() + 3
I.e. If today is the 7th, then valid dates start on the 11th.

Test against a particular date:  (online help for DATEVALUE)
    =YourFieldName>datevalue("1/1/2015")

Date must be between now and the end of the current year:  (online help for YEAR)
    =YourFieldName < DATEVALUE( "12/31/" & YEAR(TODAY()) )
This example calculates a DATEVALUE by building a string to represent a future date.

Date must be within the next 30 days:
    =AND(YourFieldName >= TODAY(),YourFieldName <= TODAY()+30)

Date must be a Monday:   (1 = Sunday, 2 = Monday, 3 = Tuesday, …)   (online help for WEEKDAY)
    =WEEKDAY(YourFieldName)=2

Date must be the last day of the month:
=DATE(YEAR(yourDateColumn),MONTH(yourDateColumn),DAY(yourDateColumn))=DATE(YEAR(yourDateColumn),MONTH(yourDateColumn)+1,0)

Date must be the first day of the month:
=DATE(YEAR(yourDateColumn),MONTH(yourDateColumn),DAY(yourDateColumn))=DATE(YEAR(yourDateColumn),MONTH(yourDateColumn),1)

Note: Some of the more "fun" Excel date functions like WEEKNUM, NETWORKDAYS and EOMONTH are not supported in SharePoint.

Not so useful tests!  

Value must be greater than PI.  (3.14159265358979 more or less…)
    =YourFieldName > PI()

And some square roots:
    =YourFieldName > SQRT(2)

And of course you need a little trig:
    =TAN(RADIANS(YourFieldName)) > 1

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SharePoint: Search for People using Properties (LastName:smith)

 

The typical SharePoint end user knows less than 1% of the SharePoint Search feature set. In other words, they know how to do a Google search. They just type a word or two, press Enter and hope for the best. Just think what they could do if they just knew a few search properties!

You can really improve search results by adding a Search Administrator to your team and letting them invest an hour or three a week in improving the end-user search experience. Train your end users, add tips to your search pages, create cheat sheets - there’s lots of options.

Just adding a few search tips to the search pages will do wonders:

  

So, let’s take a look at how users can do a better People search…

 

Searching for People

Let’s say I do a search for people using the keyword “training”. I could find people in the Training department, people with the word “training” in About Me, and even people with the last name of “Training”. If you would like to focus your search then you can use the predefined search Managed Properties. For example:

  

While a few of the properties can be used with the equals operator (“=”), most will only return results with the contains operator (“:”). For example, searching for a work phone number using “=” returns nothing. Using “:” will return the person with that number.

  

 

Managed Properties for People Searches

Most of the User Profile properties are searchable in a People search by just typing a keyword in the search box. You can also perform a People search using some of the out of the box Managed Metadata properties that are linked to the User Profile Services properties. In the table below you will find most of the User Profile properties along with the matching search Managed Property names. A few of the properties below have obvious names. A few are wrapped up in a single search property named “ContentHidded”. Some are “indexed” (crawled), but do not have the needed matching Managed Property. For most of those that do not have a matching Managed Property you can manually add a property to the search schema.

I will follow up with an article on adding the missing search Managed Properties.

Property for search	Property name found in the user’s profile	Notes
AccountName	Account Name	Example: accountname:contoso\samc
AboutMe	About Me
Interests	Interests
Responsibility	Ask Me About
FirstName	First name
LastName	Last name
PreferredName	Name	This is the full name. “Mike Smith”
WorkPhone	Work Phone	To find all users in the same area code or a partial number, use wild cards: workphone=513*
JobTitle	Title
WorkEmail	Work Email
MobilePhone	Mobile phone
	Home phone	Mapped to ContentsHidden. Can be mapped to a new Managed Property.
	Fax	Not mapped, but can be. (People:Fax)
Department	Department	This is a String property. This department maps to “Department”
	Department	This is a Managed Metadata property. Not mapped, but can be. (People:SPS-Department)
Schools	Schools
If you see this list	anywhere but on	TechTrainingNotes.blogspot.com, then it was “stolen” and used without permission.
OfficeNumber	Office	Generally used for “room number”.
BaseOfficeLocation	Office Location
PastProjects	Past Project
Skills	Skills
	Manager	Not mapped, but can be. (People:Manager) (returned as domain\username)
	Assistant	Not mapped, but can be. (People:Manager) (returned as domain\username)
	Birthday	Not mapped, but can be. (People:Birthday) (returned as “2000-03-01T00:00:00.0000000Z”)  All birthdays are set for year 2000.
	Hire Date	Not mapped, but can be. (People:SPS-HireDate)
ContentsHidden	(many)	This maps to several crawled properties as a single merged property: People:Office People:SPS-PastProjects People:SPS-School People:WorkPhone People:CellPhone People:Fax People:HomePhone People:SPS-MemberOf People:AboutMe People:OrganizationParentNames

 

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SharePoint Folders Are Not EVIL!

 

It seems that everyday I run across another blog article, forum post or social media that says “Never Use Folders!” While one of the common analogies for SharePoint is the Swiss Army Knife, a better one might be a tool box, and one with a lot of tools. Saying “Never Use Folders” is kind of like saying never use an adjustable wrench because we have box wrenches. Tools are tools and you need to select the correct tool for the job.

The following is not an excuse to not create a formal taxonomy and use a pure metadata approach to content management. It is a description of one of your many SharePoint tools in your toolbox. Remember everything is not a nail, and your only tool is not just a hammer.

 

Sometimes You Just Can’t Afford Metadata

Not an excuse so much as a reality.

You just built your new SharePoint farm. You have hundreds of thousands of documents to migrate to SharePoint. Who’s going to add all of the metadata? You employees (in their free time?), summer interns, contractors?

If you maintain the folder structure during your migration from network shares then your users can still find content as they always have. And, when you have added all of your metadata you can then either hide the old folders in your views, or move the content into one giant folderless library.

 

Folders are metadata!

In fact, Folders are “instant metadata”. Just upload or drag the document to the right folder and everyone will know something about it. If it’s in the folder named “Chlamydoselachidae” then it must be something about “Frill Sharks”!

(I’ll give anybody at Microsoft a couple of dollars if they will add the folder name property to the available columns in a view. It would then be true metadata!)

Folders can have custom metadata

A folder is a Content Type. You can create new Content Types that inherit from Folder and then add metadata columns. While a search on the metadata does not return the files in the folder, it will return the folders.

Here’s an article I wrote back in 2007 that still applies to SharePoint 2010, 2013 and 2016: http://techtrainingnotes.blogspot.com/2007/08/sharepoint-how-to-create-links-from.html

  

  

  

 

Want really smart folders with metadata that shares their metadata with their contents?

Take a look at Document Sets. Not the out of the box example, but rather a custom one that you create by inheriting from the Document Set Content Type. If you add a Site Column named “Product Category” then every document in that Folder / Document Set will be findable from search on that property. If you move a document from one Document Set to another Document Set, the document’s inherited metadata is updated to match!

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff603637.aspx

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Introduction-to-Document-Sets-C49C246D-31F1-4BFE-AFE2-E26698B47E05

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Create-and-configure-a-new-Document-Set-content-type-9DB6D6DC-C23A-4DCD-A359-3E4BBBC47FC1

 

Folders can be nested more than two levels deep

Using views and metadata you can create two levels of grouping. If you have SharePoint 2007 or 2010, you can use SharePoint Designer to create views that are up to 16 levels deep. But for SharePoint 2013 and 2016 they have changed (broken) SharePoint Designer so you can only group deeper than two levels by hand crafting XLST and HTML.

You can nest folders as much as needed, up to the maximum URL limits of Path to Library + Folders + Filename.

 

Folders are ideal for a rigid taxonomy

If the primary way of accessing content is by a single hierarchy then a folder structure may be the better choice. While still limited to the maximum length of a URL, it clearly supports more than the two levels offered by a grouped view.

  

Want a full crumb trail like we had in SharePoint 2007? See here: http://techtrainingnotes.blogspot.com/2015/11/add-crumb-trail-to-sharepoint-2013.html

 

Folders can be navigated using a Tree View

There are actually two tree views available, one out of the box, and one that is hidden.

The Quick Launch Tree View (Settings, Site Settings, Navigation Elements):

  

The hidden SharePoint 2010 “Navigate Up” button:

(See: http://techtrainingnotes.blogspot.com/2014/06/sharepoint-2013-restoring-2010-navigate.html)

  

Note: Currently neither Tree View is available in the “new library experience” for SharePoint Online, and one day for SharePoint 2016 on premises.

 

Metadata is not always searchable as a property

Unless you have created Site Columns, and configured them as friendly search Managed Properties, then as far as seach is concerned, all of those columns of metadata might have just been typed into a single “Keywords” column.

 

Search Likes Folders

Search includes several managed properties to make finding folders and content in folders easy to do. Unlike Site Columns, these folder properties do not require any Search Service setup to work.

Path:    path:https://yourServer/sites/site/library/folder
            path:"https://yourserver/sites/taxonomy/Fish/Agnatha and Lampreys/Myxini/Myxiniformes"

Searching with Path works, and is very precise, and returns all of the content in that path. The negative is typing the full path to the folder.

contenttype:folder     contenttype:folder Myxiniformes

contenttype finds all folders and all content types that inherit from Folder. (This will also return folders that have a column with the keywords being searched. In the example above you will get folders with “Myxiniformes” in the folder name and folders with a column with “Myxiniformes” in its name.)

IsContainer:true        IsContainer:true Myxiniformes

IsContainer returns Sites, Libraries and Folders that have the keyword in their name or metadata. IsContainer also returns Team Site Notebooks (OneNote files) and content stored in Asset libraries (The thing you click on in an Asset library is a folder, not the actual picture or video.) as they are represented as folders.

Library search box

The search box at the top of each library assumes you only want to search the content in the current folder! (You can then click “Some files might be hidden. Include these in your search” to search the rest of the library.)

  

 

Microsoft / SharePoint Really Likes Folders!

Take a look at OneDrive for Business… you can’t even add metadata columns or use Content Types. “Name”, “Modified”, “Modified by”, “File Size” and “Sharing” are all you get. The only “metadata” I can add is by using folders.

   
    (Yes, I really have a folder named “junk”!)

In my OneDrive I have to embed metadata in the filename and/or the folder structure. Kind of like network shares!

   

 

The New Library Experience likes folders!

The new library experience in Office 365 makes it easy to arrange and rearrange documents by folder. (Seems to encourage the use of folders!)

   

 

Sync Only Sync’s Folders

All three of the sync clients only sync folder structure, not metadata. If you want any obvious classification of your local sync of the content then you have to use folders. The only metadata you can add from client side is in the filename and the location/folder.

 

Security and Folders

Remember when Microsoft’ advise was to never use item level permissions? At least until SharePoint 2013 where they gave everybody a “Share” button. Now SharePoint 2013 and 2016 encourage users to break inheritance everywhere!

See here for what can happen with unlimited use of the Share buttons: http://techtrainingnotes.blogspot.com/2015/10/trick-or-treat-day-in-life-of.html

For a simple example consider:

1. We create a site for Sales Managers. We create a library for their files.
2. The sales managers start clicking the Share links on various documents, most to share with the “Summer Interns” group and the “Marketing Team” group. Over time there are 500 items with broken inheritance.
3. Management asks you to add Regional Sales Managers to the site, with their own group.
4. You create a SharePoint group and add the Sales Managers and grant it access to the site.
5. The Regional Managers visit the site and complain that they can’t find all of the files the Sales Managers have told them about.
6. You now have to:
   1. Find the 500 files with broken inheritance.
   2. Grant permissions to each of the files to the Regional Managers group.

So what can you do? Use folders for permissions.

1. Create the library.
2. Add a folder for “Everyone”. (Optional as the files in the root of the library will be available to everyone by default.)
3. Add a folder for “Sales Managers Only”. Break inheritance and grant permissions to the Sales Managers group.
4. Add a folder for “Visible to Marketing Team”. Break inheritance and grant permissions to the Sales Managers group and to the Marketing Team group.
5. Add a folder for “Visible to Interns”. Break inheritance and grant permissions to the Sales Managers group and to the Interns group.
6. Create a new view named “Sales Files”:
   1. Make it the default view.
   2. In the Folders section hide the folders.

Users will now see a single list of content, which can also be grouped using metadata, but they will only be able to see the content they should see. The users who maintain the content use the AllItems view so they can quickly upload documents into the correct folder, and automatically apply the correct permissions. (Now all you have to do is hide those pesky Share buttons! http://techtrainingnotes.blogspot.com/2015/08/hiding-evil-sharepoint-2013-share.html)

 

So which should you use?
  Folders or
    Metadata+Views or
      Folders+Metadata+Views?

Use the best tool for the job!

 

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SharePoint: I Just Love Consistency! SharePoint, Not So Much

 

SharePoint 2016 is so similar to SharePoint Online / Office 365 that it’s sometimes hard to tell which version you are in. I just ran across an odd change from the past versions. How do you share or break inheritance on a list item?

The steps are different and the end results are different. And I thought 2016 was supposed to be SharePoint Online brought onsite.

 

SharePoint 2013

• Shared With is available in the ITEMS ribbon and the ribbon of the View Properties page.
• The “…” menu has a Shared With option:
   
• The above link takes you to the Shared With popup.

 

SharePoint Online / Office 365

• Shared With is available in the ITEMS ribbon and the ribbon of the View Properties page.
• The “…” menu has a Share option:
   
• The above link takes you to the Shared With popup.

 

SharePoint 2016

• Shared With is grayed out in the ITEMS ribbon, but is available in the ribbon of the View Properties page.
• The “…” menu has an Advanced popout that has a Manage Permissions option:
• The above link takes you to the user.aspx Permissions page.

 

 

I write training materials and really wish I was paid by the word or page! These detail differences waste hours and complicate training!

 

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SharePoint: Undocumented Pending Shares Page

 

Article applies to SharePoint 2013, SharePoint Online and SharePoint 2016.

 

Did you ever wonder after using the Share buttons in SharePoint if the Site Owner ever responded to your request, responded with a question, or approved the request?

The My Permissions page

As I can’t find any documentation, I’ll call this undocumented for now… After a bit of web searching I did find a mention of the page in an Ignite presentation. In any case, this page lists the status of pending requests and lets the user who made the request check and send messages to the site owners. Requests that have been approved or declined will not be listed here.

The site owner can see your requests by going to Settings (gear), Site Settings, Site Permissions and clicking “Show access requests and invitations”. This will take them to the Access Requests page at _layouts/Access%20Requests/pendingreq.aspx.

You can check your pending requests by going to:
http://yourDomain/sites/yourSite/_layouts/mypermissions.aspx
This link will redirect to /_layouts/15 for now and may change in future versions.

Of course, no one knows about this page. There are no out of the box links to it. And… the site owner will probably not know to click the “SEND” button to start a conversation with the person who made the request.

If “Sharing” is important in your organization, you will need to provide some training, easy access to a link to the MyPermissions page, and do some work to “drive adoption”.

 

Details:

• Only “Pending” requests are displayed. Approved requests are not.
• You can click the “…” to see messages from the site owner, or to send a message to the site owner.
  
• This pending invites listed are unique to the current site. I.e. each site has its on MyPermissions page.

 

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