Site Owners need to create templates from existing lists

Users with Full Control cannot create templates from lists.  It seems to me that this would be something a site owner needs to do, especially if they want to implement standard libraries, calendars, etc across the sites they manage. 

If you want a user to be able to "Save list as template", you need to give them at least Design permissions to the top-level list template gallery.  Here's another blog post which explains this - probably better than me!  Kudos to the blog writer... http://vanillacloud.com/sharepoint/moss-2007-full-control-user-cannot-save-site-or-list-as-template/

How much space is each site taking up?

Unfortunately, this is not something you can easily get to unless you have established quotas.  Then, you can analyze usage on the _layouts/storman.aspx page.  This doesn't give you much information for sites and subsites, though. 

Lucky for me, someone has created an application that will analyze usage - all the way from the site collection down to every subsite, list and even document!  And it fits into our budget here ($0).

http://www.thesug.org/blogs/lsuslinky/SSM/Pages/default.aspx

Download and install to your SharePoint server, get a registration code from the author (details at above link) and you will have your data in minutes!

503 Service Unavailable

On one of our MOSS 2007 implementations, none of the sites (inlcuding Central Administration) were accessible.  The error message returned was "HTTP 503 Service Unavailable".

The problem:  Several updates had been downloaded and installed the night before.  IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) had also been enabled.

The solution:  Disable IPv6.  This is a known issue - read more about the problem and the solution here.

Path to Accessibility - Tools

I attended a class this morning provided by another agency.  The bulk of the class was spent learning how to use different toolbars for testing website accessibility:

AIS Accessibility Toolbar (IE)
JT Favelets (IE)
WAVE Toolbar (Firefox or Upload)
Developer Toolbar (FF)
Juicy Studios Accessibility Toolbar
Complex Table Toolbar
Firebug (Firefox)
JAWS (IE and Firefox)

Once I get these installed on my system, I'll begin reviewing sites and pages to see where the problems are.  Until then, I won't even know how many issues there are or how severe they might be.  Since our agency is using SharePoint 2007 OOTB, it will be interesting to see how close the basic code is to compliance.

One thing I know, however, is that accessibility compliance isn't important just because it's required.  There are people with impairments and disabilities that just want to be able to do their jobs like everyone else.

Too Many Alerts! - multiple emails for the same alert

Just a short post regarding a situation with an alert. 

The problem:  A user was receiving 5 email alerts anytime any changes were made to a calendar.  She sent me copies of the emails - they all had the same date/time stamp and the same content. 

I confirmed (through Site Settings->User Alerts) that she only had one set up.  I also contacted several other users who had the same alert set on the same list but they were only get one email for each change.  And there had been no similar issues reported for alerts on other sites/lists.

I asked the user to delete the alert and add it again.  While I was waiting for her to test and report back, I found some great alert troubleshooting tips here - http://sharepointalert.info/troubleshooting-sharepoint-alerts/ - and even contacted the author (Ryan with Pentalogic.net).  He also suggested that we delete and re-add the alert.

The solution:  Delete the alert and re-add it.  After the user did this and waited for a change to be made to the calendar, she only received one email.  I wish I knew why this corrected the problem.  But, as with many other issues, a simple "re-boot" is often the solution.

Path to Accessibility - Series Introduction

Working for a state agency, it is a requirement that our websites - public-facing and internal - are accessible.

This is the introduction to a series on accessibility.  As I learn about and apply accessibility techniques to one of our large, internal site collections, I will blog about what I did and how.  I hope to provide step-by-step instructions as much as possible.

And I truly hope this series ends before the next century begins and that the ending is a happy one:  an official stamp of accessibility approval.

Creating and Using List Templates - Where did it go?

One of the easy ways to generate lists and libraries is by using Templates.  There are several available out-of-the-box, but you can also create your own.  This is particularly useful when you've spent a great deal of time creating a library that has several custom columns, uses multiple content types and/or has calculated fields.

To use an existing template, just navigate to Site Actions -> Create (or by viewing all site content and selecting Create) and you will see a list of available templates.



But what if you want to create your own custom template?  Well, this is also fairly simple.  In the library or list settings, you will see - under Permissions and Management - the option to "Save document library (or list) as template".

The problem:  A colleague did exactly this - created a custom template - but when he attempted to use the template, it did not appear as one of the available options.  It was, however, stored in the top-level List templates gallery.  So, what was the problem?

He had started his original custom list with one of the "Fab 40" templates.  Specifically, it was the Absence Request and Vacation Schedule Management template.  We determined this based on the Feature ID that is displayed for each template in the top-level gallery:



Why is this important?  For many custom solutions (templates, applications, etc.) site collection features and/or site features must be enabled before you can use them.  For the Absence Request and Vacation Schedule Management template, two site features  - Absence Type and Absences - must be enabled. 

The solution:  Once we had enabled the site features necessary to use the template, the template appeared in the list of available choices.



By the way, we found a list of Feature IDs and their corresponding names here.  Kudos to Robert Bogue for putting this together.