I’ll be the first to tell you that Alternate Access Mapping confuses the heck out of me. It does not do what I think it should do and it affects things I think it should not affect. I guess my main complaint is the name and not the function. Anyway, here is a fix to a problem that I have seen in several implementations that use an extended web application. Read More →

We just applied WSS and SPS SP3 to a production SharePoint installation and it turns out that following the application of WSS SP3 you MAY be unable to open lists and libraries in Data Sheet View! (When I say “may” I mean “will”.) As stated in the KB this is a known issue… http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923643/ “You may be unable to open the “Edit in Datasheet” view in some document libraries after you install Windows SharePoint Services SP3. Read More →

I spend a lot of my time working with great companies that want to get better. They keep striving for how they can improve incrementally in all areas of endeavor. It it this passion for “baby steps” rather than the “grand slam” that makes them great. I call it “continuous improvement” other call it “restlessness”, whatever you call it, working for one of these companies can be exciting and thrilling or unsettling and terrifying, it all depends on your point of view, it all depends on your personal perspective and how you interact with your peers at the company. Read More →

If you cannot wait for the Conference DVD the recorded sessions are available on the SharePoint Conference Web site through MySPC. http://www.mssharepointconference.com/ The DVDs will be sent in the mail to all attendees and available for purchase by those of you how could not attend. Read More →

Wandering through the Seattle airport on the way back home this morning I noticed a few things that cause me to stop and ask, who is this sign for? Oh sure, I understand the top one, but this is outside the bar inside the secure zone of the airport. Just makes you stop and ask yourself if someone actually made it past TSA with a gun and saw the sign, would they think twice about popping in for a beer with a two year old? Read More →

The 2008 MVP Global Summit has just wrapped up and what a phenomenal experience. This year was my second Summit and I have a much deeper understanding of how Microsoft uses our feedback to build better products. The MVP community meets once a year for several days of face-to-face interaction with the product group to provide feedback, share ideas and crack some of the geekiest deep technical jokes I have ever heard! Read More →

I have created a project on CodePlex for sharing the XSL samples I have created in my search demonstrations. I have ideas for other samples that I will post as I have time to develop them. If anyone out there is interested in participating just download a sample so you can review how I documented the samples and then send me an example. If you have ideas but no time…I totally understand! Read More →

I often find that after I migrate a site from one URL to another the publishing pages retain their reference to the original page layouts. This causes a problem when you try to open the Page Settings page. Fellow MVP Gary Lapointe has written a number of STSADM Custom Extensions and solved this problem with his Fix Publishing Page URL command. I followed the guidance of my friend Travis and used the following query to identify the affected pages. Read More →

The genesis for this post was a conversation I had during SPC following my presentation on Social Networking with MOSS. SharePoint offers many features that (when properly configured) enable and facilitate social networking “inside the firewall”. The power and flexibility of SharePoint lends itself to providing a great platform for corporate social networking. The key is to have a plan and implement the user profiles correctly. If you do not pay attention to the user profile accuracy, all your efforts to implement the connections that come from the recommendations engine will be in vain. Read More →

My second presentation at SPC2008 was Advanced Search Configuration and Management. I presented in “the BIG room” and what a thrill that was. The AV folks were true professionals, the stage was amazing, and the audience (though a bit small due to the early hour on the last day..) was very receptive and kind. After the session I fired up the VPC to determine what went wrong with the breadcrumb demo and determined that in my haste I chose the wrong master page. Read More →