Administering even a small SharePoint site is a
reasonably big responsibility. However, the value of any
SharePoint site is always found in its content. SharePoint is designed
for business users, so most of its content categories have a business
feel to them, but there is plenty for families to enjoy. The next few
sections take you through four content types that you might want to add
to your site: a picture library, a calendar, a contacts list, and a
links list.
Storing Images in a Picture Library
A SharePoint picture library is a storage area for
images. You can use the library to view an image slide show, and you
can edit the images if your computer has an image-editing program
installed. If you have Office installed on the client computer, you can
also email images via Outlook and edit and download images to your
computer using the Microsoft Office Picture Manager.
To create a picture library, follow these steps:
1. | Log on to the top-level SharePoint site using the primary (or secondary) site collection administration account.
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2. | Click Site Actions, and then click More Options to display the Create page.
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3. | Under Libraries, click the Picture Library link.
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4. | Type a name and description for the new library.
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5. | In the Navigation section, click Yes if you want to include a link to the picture library on Quick Launch.
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6. | If
you want SharePoint to keep track of versions of pictures as they’re
editing in the library, click Yes in the Picture Version History
section.
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7. | Click
Create. SharePoint builds the new library and (if you clicked Yes in
the Navigation section) adds a link to the picture library in the
Pictures heading of Quick Launch. Figure 1 shows a sample picture library. Here’s a summary of the most useful commands available in a picture library:
- Upload Picture— (Upload menu) Displays the Add Picture page, which you use to upload an image from your computer or network to the library.
- Delete— (Actions menu) Deletes those library images that have their check box activated.
- View Slide Show— (Actions menu) Displays the library images in a separate slide window.
- Open with Windows Explorer—
(Actions menu) Opens the picture library in Windows Explorer. This
enables you to click and drag images from another folder window and
drop them inside the picture library.
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If you have Microsoft Office installed, you also get the following commands:
Upload Multiple Pictures—
(Upload menu) Displays the Microsoft Office Picture Manager’s Uploading
Selected Pictures window, which enables you to select and upload
multiple images to the library.
Edit—
(Action menu) Displays the Microsoft Office Picture Manager’s Editing
Selected Pictures window, which enables you to modify image properties
such as brightness, contrast, and color, as well as crop, rotate, and
resize the image.
Download—
(Action menu) Enables you to select and download multiple images from
the library to your computer using the Microsoft Office Picture Manager
program.
Send To— (Action menu) Attaches the selected images to an Outlook email message.
2. Tracking Appointments with a Calendar
A SharePoint calendar, similar to the Outlook
Calendar, is a special list that keeps track of your appointments and
events. It can even synchronize with Outlook so that you don’t have to
maintain two separate lists of appointments.
SharePoint includes a calendar by default in many
site templates. If your site doesn’t have a calendar, or if you want to
add another calendar to your site, follow these steps:
1. | Log on to the top-level SharePoint site using the primary (or secondary) site collection administration account.
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2. | Click Site Actions, and then click More Options to display the Create page.
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3. | Under Tracking, click the Calendar link.
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4. | Type a name and description for the new calendar.
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5. | In the Navigation section, click Yes if you want to include a link to the calendar on Quick Launch.
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6. | Click
Create. SharePoint builds the new calendar and (if you clicked Yes in
the Navigation section) adds a link to the calendar in the Lists
heading of Quick Launch. Figure 2 shows a sample calendar.
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Here’s a summary of the most useful commands available in a calendar:
New Event—
(Events tab) Displays the New Item page, which you use to create a new
appointment by specifying the appointment title, location, start time,
and end time. You can also create an all-day event and a recurring
appointment.
Connect to Outlook—
(Calendar tab) Adds the calendar to Outlook’s Calendar folder. You can
then create and work with appointments either in Outlook or in
SharePoint. Note, however, that you need Outlook 2003 or later for this
to work.
Tip
It’s easy to keep the SharePoint and Outlook
calendars synchronized. If you change the data in Outlook, refresh the
SharePoint window (by pressing F5) to see the new data; if you change
the data in SharePoint, select the calendar in Outlook and then select
Tools, Send/Receive, This Folder (or press Shift+F9).
