SharePoint in Depth – Page 2 – A chronicle of issues encountered in SharePoint

This article from SProbot compares two different methods for blocking external access to SharePoint Online sites: PowerShell vs Sensitivity Labels.

I find the first section on the PowerShell method to be the preferred method. The caveat here is that to perform this method you must have Global Admin rights on the O365 tenant. In my case, that’s not feasible.

So the second option is interesting. I did not realize that one could apply a sensitivity label to an entire site before this. I had never noticed. But under the section “Define the scope for this label” in Microsoft Purview (formerly Compliance Center) after you have chosen to “+ Create a label” sure enough, there is an option to define the scope to “Groups & sites”. So this is helpful indeed and you don’t have to be a Global Admin to do it.

Workarounds for SharePoint Online Modern Site Limitations

By Doug

On January 2, 2023

In SharePoint Online

If you’re working with a modern SharePoint Online site, such as the modern Communications site, you are probably disappointed at the limited number and features of the web parts available. Notably, the Script Editor web part (SEWP) and the Content Editor web part (CEWP) are no longer available, which is most unwelcome. To fill this gap, there are several options, at present:

The Modern Script Editor web part from Puzzlepart. Salaudeen Rajack has provided a helpful write-up here.
Dave Schmidt’s forum answer to add a classic “Web Part Page” to your site’s Content Types.
Note: If the classic page looks too dramatically different from the rest of your modern site, use CSS to customize it.
React InjectCSS: An SPFx extension that injects CSS on every page of your modern site
Another gem from Salaudeen, this clever solution involves using the Embed web part to call a custom HTML page you’ve created.
Note: It requires enabling custom scripting in the SharePoint Online Admin Center.

Clever Techniques for Dealing with Folder Sprawl

By Doug

On November 20, 2022

In SharePoint 2010, SharePoint 2013, SharePoint 2019, SharePoint Online

I cannot count the number of clients I’ve encountered who have treated the default document library on a SharePoint site as the *only* document library they could use. So they filled it up with folders, then sub-folders, then sub-sub-folders, etc. It makes for a difficult conversation. I usually say “let’s take ALL of the top-level folders and make them each their own document library!” And then they say “No” because they’ve gotten used to it like this. And by “this” I mean sprawled and unmanageable, generally.

So if you’ve got sites that have folder sprawl, this article from Veronique Palmer will give your users a little help figuring out how many sub-folders are beneath your top-level folders, and how many items they contain. It’s a start. And it’s helpful.

One last piece of advice: if your organization manually provisions sites for users, delete the default “Documents” document library and during the provisioning process, ask your users to think about how many document libraries they’ll probably need going forward. Get them to provide meaningful document library names. And then create them for them.

Repair Broken Links Before or After a SharePoint Migration

By Doug

On September 6, 2022

In Office 365, SharePoint 2010, SharePoint 2013, SharePoint Online

Today I found two tools from LinkTek that I want to share. First, the free one. LinkReporter is a free tool that reports on broken links throughout your IT enterprise. I suggest you run it and then decide to either fix the links manually or use a paid product to fix them for you.

The second tool is LinkFixer Advanced which runs against SharePoint on-premise, Microsoft 365, Box, OneDrive, DropBox, and regular file servers. It is an enterprise-wide application that appears to run against any of these platforms so it’s not specific to SharePoint at all.

For SharePoint-specific migrations, they offer a page which goes into more detail: LinkFixer Advanced for SharePoint. This could be the tool that saves your job or your sanity.

How to Enable “View in File Explorer” in Microsoft Edge

By Doug

On July 1, 2022

In SharePoint Online

June 15, 2022 marked the End of Life for Internet Explorer. Now, we are redirected to Microsoft’s Edge browser. It appears that Edge does not support the SharePoint library feature “View in File Explorer” that many of us have come to rely upon. Apparently, since Edge build 93, the feature is now supported but there are two steps that must be followed. The article at the link below provides the solution.

How to Enable “View in File Explorer” in Microsoft Edge

However, Microsoft advises against using File Explorer in favor of the Sync feature. Click this link and then scroll down to the section heading “What’s the difference between Sync and View in File Explorer?” for a full explanation of this modern, recommended feature.

Left Nav Missing After Applying May 2022 CU for SharePoint Server 2019

By Doug

On June 11, 2022

In Office 365

Fortunately for me, I’ve switched over to SharePoint Online. However, for those admins who are running SharePoint Server 2019 on-premise, the recently released May 2022 Cumulative Update (CU) may make your entire left-hand navigation disappear! Thankfully, Stefan Goßner at Microsoft has posted the issue details and the resolution on his wonderful blog.

Remember: when installing SharePoint Server patches, you’ll want to install both the language-dependent and the language-independent fixes, then run PSCONFIG.

The SharePoint Online App Bar

By Doug

On April 8, 2022

In General, Office 365

Recently, Microsoft has added a nifty button in the upper-left corner of SharePoint Online (part of the Microsoft 365 package) that renders the logged-in user’s recent history for Sites, Lists, and Files, as well as recommended news and global navigation. The App Bar button is just to the right of the Microsoft 365 “waffle” icon and is available throughout.

For end users: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/use-the-sharepoint-app-bar-b2ab82d5-9af7-445e-ad24-236c5a86b5f8?ui=en-us&rs=en-us&ad=us

It is interesting to note that it is not (yet?) available on Classic sites and customization is limited to the global navigation pane.

For admins: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/viva/connections/sharepoint-app-bar

PeoplePicker Issues with SharePoint 2019 in a DMZ

By Doug

On December 21, 2021

In SharePoint 2019

We have the task of installing SharePoint 2019 in a corporate DMZ but then connecting back behind the corporate firewall to the AD instance so our corporate users can connect to the platform via SSO. We ran a wacky STSADM -O command that allowed us to successfully connect the PeoplePicker in Central Admin to add users to the Farm Admin group but it still fails when trying to add users to the web application (where it’s needed).

So on a call with Microsoft we were referred to the below article by Josh Roark, Sr. Support Escalation Engineer at Microsoft. I hope it helps you as much as it did us!

https://joshroark.com/sharepoint-how-to-configure-people-picker-for-a-one-way-trust/

OneDrive admin center settings are coming to the SharePoint admin center

By Doug

On May 10, 2021

In Office 365

This is good news. For those of us who have SharePoint Online admin access but do not have admin access over the entire Microsoft 365 tenant, this will give us a little more ownership. The post was released previously but updated today. It may take even longer for those of us on the Government Cloud (GCC):

// MC240393 · Published Feb 18, 2021 · Last updated May 4, 2021 · pasted below //

“The OneDrive and SharePoint admin centers are converging into one, providing you with holistic control as we streamline the admin experience. [By that they mean “converging into the existing SharePoint admin center”.]

This feature is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 65911.“

Automation options for SharePoint Online

By Doug

On November 17, 2020

In Office 365

There has been, and continues to be, a lot of buzz about PowerApps in Microsoft365 (previously called Office365). As the workflow engines behind SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint 2013 workflows are disabled and soon to be disabled (respectively) for SharePoint Online, the push is to rewrite them for SharePoint Online using PowerApps. That’s pretty much the consistent message I’m hearing. You don’t have a choice: the answer going forward is Power Automate.

However, Microsoft has another automation platform that is housed in Azure instead and may work better for automating tasks across your Azure portal. It’s called Logic Apps. It may actually prove better at integrating with other enterprise applications, particularly those housed in Azure. Read up on it for yourself.

Obviously, one key difference is that Logic Apps run on Azure so for those who have an Azure subscription but are not subscribers to Microsoft365, then it’s a clear choice to go with Logic Apps. Vice-versa for those who have a Microsoft365 subscription but do not have an Azure subscription. For those of us who have both, Microsoft has put together this comparison of Logic Apps vs Power Automate, which they’re still calling Flow in this older presentation.

Last but not least, Thijs Lecomte has posted Why You Should Use Logic Apps Instead of Power Automate which I find compelling and helpful. Hopefully this post will encourage you to explore your options a little more. Happy Automating.