Why term set pop up doesn't have "Add new item"

One of the common confusions using term store in SharePoint is:
 #1. who can contribute (add new items) to the term set?
 #2. why the term set pop doesn't have "add new item"?
As in this example:

Here is the mystery solved:
for #1. Who can contribute to the term set?
In Term Store (_layouts/15/termstoremanager.aspx) you have Term set group to which you can assign access to contribute by adding a user to:
1. Group Managers (high privileged)
2. Contributors

More here : Manage permissions and roles for term sets

for #2.why the term set pop doesn't have "add new item"?
Make sure that:
1. a user has permissions to contribute (see above)
2. the term set submission policy it open

3. the managed metadata column in the list has "Allow Fill-In" - Yes

Managed metadata: 5 things that you wish you knew before using term store management tool in SharePoint

My recent posts are more on the darker side. I see the mistakes, issues and flaws in SharePoint, as well as in working with SharePoint.

It doesn't mean that SharePoint is getting worse, it just means I am getting better). I know more, I see more.

Last couple of years, I was working on understanding how to use SharePoint right. Where SharePoint is helpful, what feature is more appropriate for the specific use case. 

Finally, I have figured out where Managed metadata can bring value. 

More on that:

Role of Enterprise Taxonomy in IA

Taxonomy, Folksonomy. What is it and why we should bother?

I have implemented managed metadata, and have used it successfully to improve findability in the portal.

Nevertheless, working with managed metadata in the real world portal highlights some flaws that currently exist in Term Store management implementation.

1. No history, no versioning

There is no way to see changes made in the term store, nor you can't revert changes.

2.No author of the term

The term doesn't have an author field. So, there is now way to know who created or modified and when the term.

3. No usage (where value is used)

Being in the term store you can't trace where the term has been used.

4. No UI to backup\restore

What you can do is to reach out for PowerShell to export term to backup it.

5. No sync options in case of Hybrid Cloud Architecture

There is no way to maintain term store in sync between 2 farms: on-prem and SharePoint Online

These 5 things can be easily significant in the large implementation of the SharePoint. I hope that you know them before making decision. And it doesn't mean that these facts stop you, but you will be better equipped to set the expectations right.

SharePoint Architecture: Role of Enterprise Taxonomy in IA

The single most important task of a SharePoint is to find information.

There are 2 main strategies to achieve this:

       1. Train people look for information in one particular spot.
Like in a real world, in the grocery market, you want to find an apple, you go to Fresh Produce aisle.
       2. Make information searchable the way the people usually search such kind of information.
Like in Internet, whenever you have got a question, you just google it. You don’t need to know where the information is stored, as long as you remember how to reach a search engine, and as long the data is searchable.

In SharePoint world there is a combination of two these strategies that in the end gives rise to Information Architecture.

To put it simply, SharePoint Information Architecture is:
       1. Sites and libraries organization and structure;
       2. As well as, metadata and managed metadata.

Since SharePoint 2010 SharePoint Information Architecture got richer, thanks to a new feature – Enterprise Taxonomy.

Corporate taxonomy is the hierarchical classification of entities of interest of an enterprise, organization or administration, used to classify documents, digital assets and other information.

Right implementation of Enterprise Taxonomy provides common language within the company, across departments.

Mutual agreement on the meaning of words in Enterprise dictionary simplifies the process of:
1. Information tagging
2. Information retrieving


As you can see, Enterprise taxonomy plays crucial role in finding information in portal.

I hope this bird eye overview helps you to identify business problem areas that can benefit from Enterprise Taxonomy implementation.

Read more on Taxonomy ideas and technical challenges

Taxonomy, Folksonomy. What is it and why we should bother?

A taxonomy is a hierarchical classification of words, labels, or terms that are organized into groups based on similarities.

You can represent your corporate taxonomy by using managed metadata.

Managed metadata is a hierarchical collection of centrally managed terms that you can define, and then use as attributes for items in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010.

See:

​ Taxonomy is the key: Managed Metadata can drive navigation, discovery, relation, and re-usability of content.

  Managed Metadata provides a common vocabulary and can connect people to social networks.

   Managed Metadata columns promote the consistent use of metadata across sites because they provide users with a list of terms that they can apply to their content. 

 Taxonomy tags are added by the content creator or author. Most typical blogs will have a tag cloud – this is a good example of a Taxonomy.

Folksonomy tags are added by the consumer or reader (not the content creator).  So Flickr keywords – where the user can add their own tags / keywords describing a photo – is a good example of a Folksonomy.

A folksonomy-based approach to metadata can be useful because it taps the knowledge and expertise of site users and content creators and it enables content classification to evolve with the users’ changing business needs and interests. 

SharePoint: Search analytics or How to Improve Search

Recently, I have been diving deeper into Information Architecture

Key Issues in Governance Planning is Search


Google search and sharepoint search shouldn't work the same

when you google something you will get a lots of something

when you search in SharePoint, your intention get less but more relevant information to make business decision quicker. You are confined in bussiness jargon you use in your organization, or by author you are searching for.


Typical Search problems:
 - Garbage in, Garbage out
 - Poort meta data
 - Too much noise
   - Irrelevant content on top
   - Useless content
   - Duplicate content
 - Bad document authoring (pdf, MSOffice)
 - Misalligment with/misunderstanding users' conceptions
 - No Improvement over time


Actions to improve search:
 - Use Site Collection Web Reports
 - Check statistics weekly in the first 3 months
 - Make 20-50 Best Bets
 - Check monthly  and adjust
 - Improve titles descriptions
 - Add metadata
 - Map existing metadata


How to use Site Collection Web Reports to analyze Search?

How do you know of search needs improvement?

Start with "Failed Queries" /_layouts/WebAnalytics/Report.aspx?t=SearchFailureReport&l=sc
Look at the numbers of Queries that are failed. Compare with numbers of visitors
If you see that failed numbers are high, this is the first indication that you have to improve search.

Percentage abandoned value indication:
 returned no results - need to see if we can improve content exposure (via metadata) to show the result based on criteria
 100%  - users didn't follow any link that been shown in the result page. Check the result by yourself, analyze why content is not used by user. Is it wrong metata that describes the content or user uses different terminology?


How do you analyze UX via Search?

If visitor numbers are high /_layouts/WebAnalytics/Report.aspx?t=UniqueVisitorsTrend&l=sc
, but rarely people use Search overall _layouts/WebAnalytics/Report.aspx?t=SearchTrafficTrendReport&l=sc
, it might mean that you navigation is great
or users go only to the specific places without exploration what else can be useful in the portal and maybe you need to promote search feature more.

If users intensely use search it might indicate that you have to improve your navigation page

How can you reduce failed queries?
Add a search keyword with best bet.
Best Bet is a promoted result. Analyze use of the Best Bets via "Best Bets usage" - _layouts/WebAnalytics/Report.aspx?t=BestBetPerformanceReport&l=sc


This note is based on Search Analytics in SharePoint 2010

A great list of famous SharePoint conferences

SharePoint Conferences

View more lists from Asif Rehmani

Do users like SharePoint?

A quick note from webcast by Dell Software

SharePoint 2010 on Cloud. SaaS vs IaaS

Ever wonder how can you move your on-prem SP farm to the cloud? And what is cloud anyway?
 As of 03/22/2013 you have 2 options of cloud-solution for SharePoint:
- Office 365 that deliver bunch of MS products , one of them is SharePoint Online.
This is a classical example of SaaS.
- WIndows Azure VM. 
This is a classical example of IaaS.
Here is a good pic to describe SaaS (Software as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service) and IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service):

In the context of SharePoint migration to the cloud, you need to understand that SharePoint Online delivers the latest version of SharePoint
What is the implication? You have to be totally ready to move SP2013 .MS doesn't offer a mean to move data from your on-prem to SharePoint online.
At this moment I haven't tried any 3d party tools for this purpose yet.
Also, your farm should not have farm solutions. SharePoint Online doesn't support farm solutions. And it doesn't support reporting services at this moment.

Windows Azure VM gives you more flexibility. You can choose what version of SharePoint you want to run, and you have a full control to administer the system. More on SharePoint Deployment on Windows Azure Virtual Machines

But also it means you have to have a resource to support the system.
And by the way, wonder how can you cut the cost? I wonder too)
At this moment, it's interesting to know that:

Virtual machines continue to incur compute charges even when they are stopped You can avoid these charges by deleting the virtual machine.

BTW, in case you want to automate SP installation process, try this - http://autospinstaller.codeplex.com/

SharePoint 2010: Confirm site use and deletion. How to restore Site Collection ?

One big part of  the migration to a new version of SharePoint is a preparation phase.
This phase emphasizes cleaning or pruning the environment before moving content database (  in case of SharePoint 2013 Upgrade you don't have in-place upgrade option) to a new version.

I recommend to clean from top to bottom.
First, identify unused web applications. (SP Migration: Phase I "Cleaning". Unused web applications )
Then check unused site collections.
At this step, I recommend to make use of "Confirm site use and deletion"

Of course, you can still use this option even you are not planning the upgrade but still feel urge to get of rid of "dead" structure and content.

I found a useful article that explain in detail how this feature works - A Closer Look At “Site use confirmation and deletion”…
As this post mentioned, it's good to know that :

As of the June 2012 CU for SharePoint 2010, the Dead Site Delete timer job now calls proc_DeleteSiteAsync which is explained below - this is good news, and now means that sites deleted by site use conformation and deletion will be subject to the site Recycle Bin.

Let's explore June 2012 CU (build 14.0.6123.5002):
It has resolved issue 2598348 Description of the SharePoint Foundation 2010 hotfix package (Wss-x-none.msp): July 2, 2012

From http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2598348

If a site is deleted by a dead site delete timer job, the site is deleted permanently. Instead, the site should be sent to the Site Collection Recycle Bin.

So, based on this knowledge you can now check 'Automatically delete the site collection if use is not confirmed' with less struggles in your mind.

And btw, Where is Site Collection bin? Here is the asnwer:
SharePoint 2010: SP1 Site Collection Recycle Bin (en-US)

SharePoint 2010 to 2013 Upgrade: How to migrate SP2010 to SP2013. List of useful articles

I have just started to prepare for full-blown migration to SP2013.

From simple to complicated scenarios and thoughts:

 Simple one:

Step-by-step instruction on SP upgrade:

Upgrading from SharePoint 2010 to SharePoint 2013 Step by Step

What if you need to upgrade SP2007 to 2013?
You have to upgrade SP2007 to SP2010 first then.

Here is my findings so far:

 1. In SharePoint Server 2013, the In-place Upgrade approach is now unavailable for upgrading from prior versions of SharePoint products.

 But instead, you will get a set of "yummies" like:

• Deferred Site Collection Upgrade
• Site Collection Health Checks
• Evaluation Site Collections

SharePoint Server 2013 focuses on improving your upgrade options while providing support for the upgrade approach designed to be the most resilient: the Database Attach approach.

 2. SP2010 farm solution will run on SP2013.

But in case you want them make better, read on:
Upgrading a custom application to SharePoint 2013

 3. You can upgrade site collection by site collection:

Get-SPSite -ContentDatabase WSS_Content -Limit All | Upgrade-SPSite –VersionUpgrade

 4. A content database upgraded to SharePoint 2013 is capable of supporting both backward compatible SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint 2013 mode site collections

More on this:

Introduction to Upgrade in SharePoint Server 2013

Want to get a deep understanding of the Upgrade?

 - MS modules on Upgrading to SharePoint 2013

A good slide from one of the modules above on "how to proceed with upgrade to SP2013":

Craving for complication? and you want to deploy your farm solution in 14 and 15 mode?:

Read this:

Planning Deployment of Farm Solutions for SharePoint 2013

Simple concept: Property bag VS Hierarchical Object Store

[Question]: Ever wondered what the difference between Property bag and Hierarchical Object Store in SharePoint?

[Answer]: A nice and short (that how I like) article on that here - Where Should You Store Your SharePoint Solution’s Configuration Data?

The big discovery for me was that:

 Property bag is store in the content database;

 Hierarchical Object Store in the config database.

More on Managing Custom Configuration Options for a SharePoint Application

ListFormWebPart: ViewFlag attribute. Or How to make a form default?

List Item Forms (*.aspx file). When uploading it to the list’s SP folder and only if there is ListFormWebPart control in the file, SP adds the file to the Forms collection for the list with the following characteristics:

FormType property:

4 – Display

6 – Edit

8 – New

For values see more detailed here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.sharepoint.pagetype.aspx

ViewFlag property – if absent then is not Default

((int)Microsoft.SharePoint.SPViewFlags.Default) == 1048576

Search result won't show Default form for the list

I encountered a problem when crawled search results for list items gave URLs based on their display form but not on the Default one – what is unexpected.

So, I decided to investigate the logics how the search engine defines which of display forms to use for search results.

I found the similar problem described here:

http://go4answers.webhost4life.com/Example/custom-dispformaspx-search-results-100205.aspx

After playing for a while with renaming and created date for the forms available in the list, I came up with the following conclusion:

Search engine takes the OLDERS display form (aspx)  for list items to construct search result URLs.

[The note is humbly provided by http://www.facebook.com/yury.shpakov]

SharePoint Limits

This is a very short post on SharePoint limitations.

Often when you negotiate software requirements for SharePoint project, you need to have at hand information what SharePoint cant' do and what it can (especially - Boundaries: Static limits that cannot be exceeded by design)

Here is few links that will help at least me to reach this info easily:

Software boundaries and limits for SharePoint Server 2013

SharePoint Online: software boundaries and limits (SP 2010 Online. At the moment of creation of this post we still have SP2013 in Preview)

SharePoint Server 2010 capacity management: Software boundaries and limits

Plan for software boundaries (Office SharePoint Server 2007) , and a short version of SharePoint 2007 Limits

And my old posts on:

Large list limits Sharepoint 2007/2010

"Column Limit Exceeded" Message When You Add a New Column to a SharePoint Services List

Happy analyzing to you!

Term store migration to another farm

Your task is to migrate a content db to another farm. For this you can refer to the post How restore a SharePoint 2010 content database on the different farm

But in case you have managed metadata column somewhere in your web application, you will soon discover that they lost related term set which is expected.

The term store is not stored in the content database. It's a responsibility of the Managed Metadata Service.

You question - how can I migrate term store from one farm to another?

Here is what I found useful to read and use:

Migrating managed metadata term sets to another farm on another domain - the article clearly explains what happens with metadata value in the columns when you restore content db on the another farm. Essentially, you will not loose metadata value in the lists, but you can't use it further until you migrate related term store.

Article also provides a means to migrate your term set and how do you reconnect the term store to the content via PowerShell - http://sptermstoreutilities.codeplex.com/


Here is my 2 cents in it:

Instead of using http://metadataexportsps.codeplex.com/ for UI export\import of term store, you can use a PowerShell from Laponte - a PowerShell SharePoint guru - Exporting and Importing SharePoint 2010 Terms. The navigation on his blog  is a little bit confusing - the extended powershell comands are bundled in one Lapointe.SharePoint2010.Automation.wsp on http://blog.falchionconsulting.com/index.php/downloads/

In case you want to know how to use PowerShell in SharePoint -Simple concept: How to use SharePoint cmdlets in PowerShell ISE


ATTENTION:
If you have reused terms in the termset, make sure the order in the export file the following:
Parent, then Child
In this example, the term set Customers reuse terms from the first level of the term set Projects. In the initial file that I have exported, the customer set goes first before the project.
If I try to export this file via Import-SPTerms , I will get an error.
I need to change the order of the terms beforehand and them import the file.


P.S.

For SPOnline migration I believe you have only one option is to export via csv . I wonder what about exporting reused terms. I can't see the int csv file to specify it....

Simple Concept: How to search by managed metadata field or term?

[Question]: I have created a term and used it in managed metadata column. How can I search by term value to find any place where such term has been used?

For an example,

I have a managed metadata column "Project Tags" in the library.

I have an item in the library with value "eReview" in the Project Tags column.

I want to be able to search by eReview to find that item

[Answer]:

Once you have created a managed metadata column, you have to run a crawl.

Crawl will automatically  create a crawled property and managed property that look at the managed metadata column.

What you have to do is to check "Include values for this property in the search index". It will give ability to search by term title in the search.

In case you need to search byTerm id, use  a managed property value like this:

Where owsTaxIdProject is a managed property and term id - the actual term of id (in this case -  eReview).

You may ask 2 questions at this time:

1 . Why I need to search by Term id?

 - You may want to build a custom webpart to show all related content based on the select term.

2.  How do I know Term id?

One way to find a term id  is to go to the site collection hidden list Lists/TaxonomyHiddenList

Other popular option is to use seach refiner with the term that is interesting for you:

Select the value in the refiner and then look at the url of the search page:

Easy way to decode this - URL Decoder/Encoder

ATTENTION:

If you have several metadata columns in the several lists that look at the the same term set, but you call them differently (internal names in the different lists are not the same), the crawler will create several managed properties.

You want them unite. Find all crawled properties that have been created based on your managed metadata.

Hint: name of crawled property has a pattern. ows prefix means - custom metadata, taxId - refers to the type of column- Managed metadata. Hence you can find your all crawled managed metadata columns by searching withing crawled properties by name taxId.

And then map the crawled properties to the one Managed property.

Good luck with Taxonomy!

SharePoint sandboxed solutions are deprecated in SharePoint 2013

Yesterday, a new SharePoint developer was frustrated with limitations in Sandbox solution that he has to develop for SharePoint Online, which at this moment (September 2012) is on SharePoint 2010.

He send me an email with a link to Apps for SharePoint compared with SharePoint solutions and a glorious title SharePoint sandboxed solutions are deprecated in SharePoint 2013 Preview

It's totally understandable when you are trying  to find a way to get rid of , as I call it,  SharePoint development madness.

 

Let me explain myself. For me, SharePoint development madness feels like an internal feeling of frustration and hopelessness. It is rooted in deep sense of overwhelming.
You as a new SharePoint developer is constantly have an  impression that you have to know a lot beforehand in order to write a first line of code for SharePoint.
And I were there... not a nice place. SharePoint community calls it -a steep learning curve...
I have posted recently a quick note on where to start in SharePoint development for a newbie. It might help initially to catch some fundamentals.

If your case is that you have to develop something in sandbox for SharePoint 2010, but you have already heard a lot about SharePoint 2013 new development Apps you almost certainly feel left behind.

You feel cheated since MSDN says that Sandboxed solutions are deprecated in SP2013 Preview? Be hold!

Here is me perspective on this emotional issue:

As it says in Apps for SharePoint compared with SharePoint solutions  SharePoint sandboxed solutions are deprecated in SharePoint 2013 Preview in favor of developing apps for SharePoint, but sandboxed solutions can still be installed to site collections on SharePoint 2013 Preview. 

My impression that MS believes that APP can replace all functionality that is possible to implement in sandbox solution. But at the same  time, we don’t know what’s going to be a new hit in the version after SP2013.

MS doesn’t announce the release date for Sp2013. Some rumors say it might launch 1Q of 2013.

If you feel uncomfortable to develop server side code in Sandbox solution, the only option I can see is Client-Side development: Client-Side Access and Remote Access

I believe you can develop client-side logic (javascript) and deploy it via Sandbox solution.

To summarize, we have to stick with sandbox since we don’t have any other option at this moment. But you still have a freedom to choose how you will implement the logic (server side\client side).

Once we are over the hill and with SP2013, I would glad to see you moving logic out of the sandbox to APP if this is appropriate.

Business doesn't jump fast to a new version. I predict that we will have more clients with SP2010 in the next few years rather than with SP2013.

For more information on SandBox vs APPs in 2013:

Understanding SharePoint 2013 Apps (aka: Apps 101) by Andrew Connel

social.msdn.microsoft.com "Is Sandbox solution replaced by SharePoint Apps in SharePoint 2013 Preview"

Simple Concept: Where to start in SharePoint development?

[Question]: I am a complete newbie in SharePoint development. Where should I start?

[Answer]:

Here is what I recommend to read to build a solid understanding of SharePoint architecture and development. I would recommend to read highlighted pages and then dive into development.
I suppose the whole  highlighted  pages reading will take up to 2 days.: 

Understanding and troubleshooting SharePoint 2010 technology features and services -  pages from 6 to 14

Understandingsharepoint journal issue "Introducing SharepPoint 2010" by Bjørn Furuknap - pages from 99 to 152

SharePoint 2010 Development with Visual Studio 2010 (Microsoft Windows Development Series) - Chapter 1: Introduction into SharePoint pages 1-130

What about 2013?
here we are go: Simple concept: Jump start for developers of SharePoint 2013 App
Beginner's luck is on your side!

And full-blown collection of the SP book to get lost)

Need some a bird view on SharePoint main job types  - Developer, Administrator, Architect? - Become a SharePoint professional

SharePoint UX: Styling and Branding. Design implementation

Previous related posts:

SharePoint UX: Styling and Branding. Design strategy

SharePoint UX: Styling and Branding . Do it right

Other important course on general UX: Daily UX Crash course (free and simple) 31 days in a row

Last day Kyle Schaeffer in his Styling and Branding class dove deeper into jQuery and how to use it to enhance User Experience in SharePoint portal.

Kyle said it clearly and easy to remember:


CSS is all about presentation

HTML is all about structure

JavaScript is all about behavior. (Jquery should enhance the interface but your basic structure should be functional even without jQuery)

Remember this and you design will be easy to manage.

This post is all about sharing resources that will get you started with such customization:

What to learn:

Fun resource to learn javascript, web fundamentals, jQuery

A free and recommended by Kyle book on html5

Recommended by Kyle a book to buy if a free book is not enough for you

What to do:

Pure design:

Image generator lorempixel

Text generator lipsum

Design site palette easy

Google Web Fonts

Web coding:

SharePoint blank master page starter

An example of quick jQuery magic - WP Tabify: transform a SharePoint web part zone into tabs

jQueryui - animation, advanced effects and high-level, themeable widgets, built on top of the jQuery JavaScript Library

SPservices - jQuery library which abstracts SharePoint's Web Services and makes them easier to use


Do you want implement slide Image Carousel into your page?
Refer to: jQuery Cycle Plugin

The quick signposts to implement it in SharePoint:
Picture Library -> Content Query WP -> Item Style -> jQuery Script with jQuery Cycle Plugin

P.S. Item style is to change the presentation of the data

P.S.S. Not from Kyle but worth to know: Top 10 Mistakes in SharePoint 2010 Branding and UI Design

SharePoint UX: Styling and Branding. Design strategy

Previous related post:
SharePoint UX: Styling and Branding . Do it right

Kyle Schaeffer presented a nice design strategy that I couldn't resist to share with people who want:

 - prepare SharePoint implementation proposal;

 - present to the clients SharePoint custom design before implementation with less expenses;

 - come up with design solution that suits business needs and feasible to do in SharePoint.

Strategy consists of 4 phases:

1. Discover

Perception vs Expectation.  Kickoff meetings

You goal as an integrator, understand the client. 

Ask the client:

  -  Who are the users?

  -  What are they going to do?

  -  What is your goal?

Check yourself whether you understand the client.

How do you check your understanding?

Use a user persona , journaling. Use these personas for QA, during the whole project life

Example of journaling: 

Joe - a manager- does specific tasks

In QA cycle, ask clients again if "is a Joe satisfied?"

Spend some time on Information architecture 

( 50-100 users for small site -3-4 days for Information architecture)

- gather info about content

 - determine audience, users, personas

 - determine priority of content from the client's perspective