Windows SharePoint Services FAQs

Windows SharePoint Services allows teams to create Web sites for information sharing and document collaboration, benefits that help increase individual and team productivity.

Windows SharePoint Services Support

Administration How To's – Quick Answers to SharePoint Features
How do I add a web page to my site?
How do I Add a New User?
How do I Edit a Users Role?
How do I Change a Users Password?
How do I Edit a Users Information?
How do I view a usage report?
How do I Add a Theme to my site?
How do I select the root level template?
How do I change the Quick Launch Bar?
How do I Add an Email Alert?
How do I Manage a Users Alerts?
How do I get emails?

For more detailed How–To help, please see SharePoint How To's

SharePoint Capabilities

What is a Site Collection Administrator?
Are there different Language Packs available? Can My Top Level site be changed to a language other than English? Is my survey response truly anonymous?
How many questions can a survey have?
Is my survey response truly anonymous?
Why am I not able to apply a theme to one or two pages in my Web site?

SharePoint Troubleshooting

Information in Help doesn't match what I see in my Web site. What gives?.
Site users report that they can't get to a list, document library, discussion board, or survey, yet I can see it listed on the Document Libraries, Discussion Boards, or Lists page.
I can no longer modify a view by using my Web browser
I don't see my name in the list of users on the User Information page.
I just created a team Web site, but when I go to Site Settings, I'm denied access.
I set Edit access in my list or survey to None, and now no one can enter items in the list or respond to the survey.
I get a message that I didn't type a valid date.
I typed a Web address in a text field, and when I view the item, only part of the Web address is a hyperlink.
I typed a mailto: address in a text field, and when I view the item, it isn't an active hyperlink
The Upcoming Events view shows me events that have already happened.
I can't copy and move files when I'm in Folder view in a document library.
I get an error message when I try to import a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that was saved as a Web page.
My Web site looks wrong and some features are not working.

Q. How do I add a web page to my site?
You can add a webpage to your SharePoint site by adding it as a Web Part. Learn more about Web Parts by accessing the SharePoint Help file from your SharePoint site's Nav Bar, and select "Customizing the home page."

Q. How do I Add a New User?
Go to Site Settings >> Manage Users >> Select Add Users

Q. How do I Edit a Users Role?
Go to Site Settings >> Manage Users >> Select the user >> Change the Role check box

Q. How do I Change a Users Password?
Go to Site Settings >> View Information about Site Users >> Select the user >> Change Password >> Add New Password >> Confirm and OK

Q. How do I Edit a Users Information?
Go to Site Settings >> View Information about Site Users >> Select the user >> Edit User Information

Q. How do I view a usage report?
SharePoint has a built in usage report in which you can view usage by User, page, OS, Browser and referral URL. The data collected in each of these categories is total hits, recent month, most recent day, most recent day hits.
Go to Site Settings >> Site Administration >> Select View Site Usage Data

Q. How do I Add a Theme to my site?
Go to Site Settings >> Apply theme to site >> Select theme and Apply

Q. How do I select the root level template?
We default the top level site to the Team Site Template.

When you create a sub site, you will be prompted to select a template. You can use one of the 25 SharePoint templates provided by us, or at the root level, upload/create your own. Just add your template to the root level template catalog and it will in the list of available templates when you create your sub site.

For example: http://sharepoint.yourdomain.com will be your home page with a link to your subsite http://sharepoint.yourdomain.com/marketing.

Q. How do I change the Quick Launch Bar?
This can be done at the time of a List or doc library creation (select "add this link to the quick launch bar"). Open the default.asp page and select Add Link or double click on the bar to edit.

Q. How do I Add an Email Alert?
Go to the List you want to receive notifications for >> Select Alert Me >> Select the Change Type >> Select the Alert Frequency

You should receive an email confirming a successful setup.

Q. How do I Manage Users Alerts?
Go to Site Settings >> View Information about Site Users >> Select the user >> My Alerts on this site

Q. How do I get emails?
You can setup SharePoint Alerts that email based on certain conditions (see Working with Alerts in the SharePoint Help file from your site's Nav Bar).

Q. What is a Site Collection Administrator?
Site Collection is a set of Web sites on a virtual server that have the same owner and share administration settings. Each site collection contains a top–level Web site and can contain one or more subsites. The only role that has permission over the entire collection of sites is the Site Collection Administrator.

Q. Are there different Language Packs available? Can My Top Level site be changed to a language other than English?
The following language packs can be used on all sub sites – Arabic, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish.

If you need to create SharePoint (WSS) sites in languages other than the default language, please download here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=36EE1BF0-652C-4E38-B247-F29B3EEFA048&displaylang=en

If you need to install multiple languages on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, please download here:
http://www.microsoft.com/DownLoads/details.aspx?FamilyID=2447426b-8689-4768-bff0-cbb511599a45&displaylang=en

Q. How many questions can a survey have?
You can add up to 1,024 questions to a survey.

Q. Is my survey response truly anonymous?
Your user name does not appear in the results of a survey that is set to hide user names. However, an administrator with access to the database that stores survey results can match your identity to your response.

Q. Why am I not able to apply a theme to one or two pages in my Web site?
By design, you apply themes to an entire site. If you want to apply themes to individual pages or to further customize your Web site based on in any way, use a compatible Web page editor.

Q. Information in Help doesn't match what I see in my Web site. What gives?
Help is written to document your Web site in its default configuration. Your team or administrator may have customized the site so that it no longer matches exactly with the information in Help.

Q. Site users report that they can't get to a list, document library, discussion board, or survey, yet I can see it listed on the Document Libraries, Discussion Boards, or Lists page.
The default view may have been deleted.Do one of the following:

Set an existing view as the default view >> Create a new view to use as the default view

Q. I can no longer modify a view by using my Web browser
If a view is modified extensively by using a Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services–compatible Web page editor, it can no longer be modified in the Web browser.

Q. I don't see my name in the list of users on the User Information page.
You have not yet participated in the SharePoint team Web site. Do any of the following:

Go to the Discussion Boards page and participate in a discussion.
Go to the Document Libraries page and upload a document to a library.
Go to the Documents and Lists page and add an item to a list, or respond to a survey.

Q. I just created a team Web site, but when I go to Site Settings, I'm denied access.
You have not yet participated in the SharePoint team Web site. Do any of the following:

Go to the Discussion Boards page and participate in a discussion.
Go to the Document Libraries page and upload a document to a library.
Go to the Lists page and add an item to a list, or respond to a survey.
Go to the Create Page and add a new list, document library, discussion board, or survey to the site.

Q. I set Edit access in my list or survey to None, and now no one can enter items in the list or respond to the survey.
Edit access includes the ability to create items. There is no setting that prevents users from editing their own items. However, you can prevent them from editing someone else's items by setting Edit access to Only their own.

Q. I get a message that I didn't type a valid date.
Dates must be in the format nn/nn/nnnn or n/n/nn.

Q. I typed a Web address in a text field, and when I view the item, only part of the Web address is a hyperlink.
If the Web address includes a space, type %20 for the space. For example, http://example%20site.microsoft.com.

Q. I typed a mailto: address in a text field, and when I view the item, it isn't an active hyperlink
All mailto: addresses must be in lowercase letters. For example: mailto:someone@example.com

Q. The Upcoming Events view shows me events that have already happened.
The Upcoming Events view includes all events that happen on the current day, since midnight.

Q. I can't copy and move files when I'm in Folder view in a document library.
Your security settings may be too strict. Try the following:

In Microsoft Internet Explorer, on the Tools menu, click Internet Options, and click the Security tab.
In the Select a Web content zone to specify its security settings box, click Trusted sites, and then click Sites.
In the Add this Web site to the zone box, type the URL of your team Web site, and then click Add.

Q. I get an error message when I try to import a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that was saved as a Web page.
Windows SharePoint Services cannot import spreadsheets that were saved with interactivity. Try saving the spreadsheet again, without interactivity.

In Excel, on the File menu, click Save as Web Page.
Click Republish: Sheet, and clear the Add interactivity check box.
Click Save.

Q. My Web site looks wrong and some features are not working.
Web sites based on Windows SharePoint Services work best with Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or Netscape Navigator 6.0 or later, installed on a computer that is running Microsoft Windows 2000 or later. If you are using another Web browser or operating system, some pages may not display properly, and some features may not work.

Q. I get an error message that the required program may not be installed properly.
You may have set up the required program to be installed on first use. Run the program so that it is fully installed on your hard disk, and then try using the feature again.