Using SharePoint Workspace with SharePoint 2010

Formerly known as Microsoft Office Groove 2007, SharePoint Workspace 2010 provides support for existing Groove 2007 implementations and allows connectivity to SharePoint 2010 farms without any Groove infrastructure in place. SharePoint Workspace 2010 makes it easy for users to synchronize SharePoint content to the SharePoint Workspace 2010 client and have it accessible from their workstations, whether the SharePoint sites are available or not. Therefore, the product is a natural fit to the needs of “road warriors” and users who do not have continuously available connections to their SharePoint sites. This section reviews the process of loading and setting up SharePoint Workspace for the first time and the synchronization process and reviews several of the main tools available in the Workspaces and the Launchbar interfaces.

Caution

The term workspace can become confusing because “workspaces” can be created from SharePoint 2010 sites for meetings or document sharing and are specialized SharePoint sites. Workspaces created from the SharePoint Workspace 2010 tool are local filesets on the end users’ computers that allow them to synchronize lists and libraries and work with the data offline. So, IT should be clear about the differences between the workspace sites that can be created from SharePoint 2010 and the “workspaces” that are created by using the SharePoint Workspace 2010 tool, because they are very different.

There are other ways of taking SharePoint 2010 content offline, including syncing to Outlook or to an Access database, but SharePoint Workspace provides the most versatility and tools specifically designed to manage the various situations that arise for mobile workers.

Follow these steps to synchronize a list to SharePoint Workspace 2010:

1.	Access a SharePoint 2010 list or library with data in it. In this example, the list is titled Sales and Issues. Note that not all lists and libraries can be synchronized with SharePoint Workspace 2010.
2.	Click the List tab, and then click Sync to SharePoint Workspace.
3.	If this is the first time SharePoint Workspace has been used on the computer, the Account Configuration Wizard will open. Then follow steps 4 and 5. If not, skip to step 6.
4.	In most scenarios, especially for testing, the user simply clicks Create a New Account, but the Restore an Existing Account option may be appropriate if the user already has an account created and doesn’t want to end up with multiple accounts. The GRV file for the existing account will need to be available from this computer to perform the restore. For the purposes of testing, and this example, click Next.
5.	Leave the circle next to Create the Account Using Your E-Mail Address checked and click Finish. SharePoint Workspace will open. The other option is to use the Create the Account Using an Account Configuration Code, but this is available only if Groove Server 2010 Manager is in use, because it creates and manages those codes.
6.	Click OK on the Sync to SharePoint Workspace window, and the sync process will start. Click Open Workspace when the process completes.
7.	Figure 1 shows the workspace where a number of tabs and tools are available that make it possible to interact with the data. Figure 1. SharePoint Workspace showing data from a SharePoint list.

To synchronize a complete site with SharePoint Workspace 2010, follow these steps:

1.	Access a SharePoint 2010 site with lists and libraries that have content. Access the Site Actions drop-down and click Sync to SharePoint Workspace.
2.	A window opens, asking for confirmation to sync to your computer. Note that there is a Configure button that allows access to the specific settings to determine the level of synchronization that will take place. The options are All Items, Headers Only, or No Content. Figure 2 shows an example where User1 clicked the Configure button and then selected several lists and libraries and selected No Content from the drop-down menu. Click OK to start the syncing process. Figure 2. Configure Settings interface when synchronizing a whole site to SharePoint Workspace 2010. Note The Configure Settings window also lists the lists and libraries that cannot be synced, which include Calendars, Site Pages libraries and other specialty lists such as the Whereabouts list, and Phone Memos list.
3.	A status window will show the sync progress for each list and library. There is also an Errors tab to consult if errors are encountered. Click Open Workspace when the process is complete. Note Errors are often the result of insufficient permissions on the SharePoint site, list, or library. For example, if a document is edited in a document library in SharePoint Workspace, and then the user clicks the Sync button from the Sync tab, an error will occur if the user account doesn’t have the required permissions in the library. A Resolve tab will appear, and it provides tools to rectify the error.

A full complement of tools are now available for the lists and libraries, including adding new list items or documents, cut and paste capabilities, Copy as Link tool (which copies the URL of the item to include the SharePoint server name and location), Download tool (useful if only the headers of items have been synced initially), Save As, Properties, Versions, Check Out, Check In tools, Mark Unread, Set Alerts, Launchbar, and Search tools.

The Launchbar button loads the Launchbar interface, as shown in Figure 3, which is a smaller interface that allows access to workspaces and contacts. The Launchbar is an efficient interface to use for viewing the available SharePoint workspaces and shared folders the user has access to. Any SharePoint 2010 lists, libraries, and sites that are synchronized will show up in this interface, along with shared folders created from SharePoint Workspace 2010 by the logged-in user, and any shared folders created by other users that the logged-in user was invited to, and the confirmation process completed. A variety of different views are available for the workspaces, including Alphabetical, Folders, Last Unread Time, Status, and Type.

Figure 3. SharePoint Workspace Launchbar.

Alerts are quite powerful in SharePoint Workspace 2010 and offer some additional options to SharePoint alerts. Clicking the Set Alerts button allows the user to set an alert level for the list/library of the “tool” (workspace). These levels include Inherit (inherit the workspace settings), Off (don’t display an alert for new or modified content), Medium (highlight unread content with an icon), High (display an alert for new of modified content), and Auto (similar to the high alert level but auto-dismisses ignored unread alerts). One complaint about SharePoint alerts is the fact that they result in emails, and busy users can find them irritating, so SharePoint Workspace provides an alternative to using SharePoint list- and library-based alerts, which some users find preferable. Users can also select the alert sound that plays or can upload their own.

The Mark Unread tool allows the user to mark selected entries, an entire list or library, or a whole workspace as unread, which will place a green icon next to the unread items, and the Launchbar will reflect this status.

The Sync tab provides access to the Sync, Change Sync Settings, and Sync Status buttons. These tools make it very easy for the user to just sync one list or library (by clicking Sync Tool) or the whole workspace (by clicking Sync Workspace) and then see the sync status as the process takes place. The Change Sync Settings button provides an option to disconnect a list or library from the server if needed.

The View tab provides access to tools that allow the user to show or hide the Content pane, change the view being applied to the list data (assuming the SharePoint list or library has multiple views to use), and the New Window button. The New Window button allows access to the New Workspace tool, which opens a new instance of SharePoint Workspace, and New Selected Tool button, which opens the list or library in its own window. There is also a Reading Pane button for a list that makes it very easy to modify list items and properties.

Note

SharePoint Workspace 2010 also allows users to create Groove workspaces, if Groove Server is installed in the environment, and shared folders. Shared folders can be created on the user’s desktop or other location, and once created the user can invite other users and manage the shared folders similarly to other SharePoint workspaces by adding and managing alerts, marking them as unread, and performing similar tasks. This enables users to quickly share files without uploading them to SharePoint libraries or creating SharePoint workspaces.