Create a Custom Task Pane to Consume SharePoint Server 2007 Query Services in Word 2007

In this visual how-to video, learn how you can access Enterprise Search results from client applications and Web applications outside the context of a SharePoint site.

http://wm.microsoft.com/ms/msdn/office/2007officevisualhowtos/wd2007consumingqueryservicesusingvstose.wmv

From: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/bb870301.aspx

COM exception error in Sharepoint with HRESULT: 0x80041051

I was recently working on an enviroment where we got a very unhelpful error. In turns out it is caused by ForeFront!!! So if you get a COM exception error in Sharepoint with HRESULT: 0x80041051 it is caused by Forefront thinking some pages have a virus.

Go to the SharePoint SQL Server and run the following query on each of the WSS_Content databases:

SELECT *
FROM Docs
WHERE (VirusStatus > 0) AND (VirusStatus IS NOT NULL)

If any rows are retuned then run the following query:

Update dbo.allDocs
Set VirusVendorID=NULL, VirusStatus=NULL, VirusInfo=NULL
where (VirusStatus > 0) AND (VirusStatus IS NOT NULL)

Repeat this process for each of the wss_content databases.

Pixel Mill

I’ve seen people struggle with customising SharePoint. Generally I recommend you only make minor changes. However some people what to completely brand their SharePoint Intranet.

If you want to rebrand SharePoint but with very little effort it seems like the guys at Pixel Mill have got a solution. Check out http://www.pixelmill.com

SharePoint Magazine

SharePoint now has it own magazine, albeit an online one. Check out the SharePoint Magazine here: http://sharepointmagazine.net/

International SharePoint Professionals Association

All those SharePoint Pros should sign up to the International SharePoint Professionals Association.

"The International SharePoint Professionals Association (“ISPA”) is the first independent, community-run, not-for-profit organization designed specifically for SharePoint Professionals. ISPA is a professional association dedicated to the promotion and global adoption of Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies. The Association provides support and guidance to the community by establishing connections between SharePoint professionals and groups, resources, education and information."

SharePoint Pod Show

A SharePoint podcast has been launched called SharePoint Pod Show. You can find details here: http://www.sharepointpodshow.com/

Help, SharePoint security is unmanageable!

One annoying thing about SharePoint, is security. Now don’t get me wrong there isn’t a problem with how secure SharePoint actually is, but with managing security.

Let’s say you have 10 sites and a user of a company who has been given, over a period of time, access to each site as a Contributor. His hard work at the company pays off and the user is promoted. How do you elevate the user’s Permission Level to Site Owner? That’s easy I hear you say, go to each site and set the permissions. But if you get a lot of these requests and you have a large number of users in a large number of sites it is going to become a big overhead.

Like with other parts of SharePoint there are tools and add-ons that can help.

One tool I have used is called Universal SharePoint Manager 2007 by iDevFactory (http://www.idevfactory.com/). Its current feature list includes:

• Environment (Farm) Reporting
• User Site Security Analyzer
• User List/Item Security Analyzer
• Permission Level Site Access
• Add User Site Security
• Remove User Site Security
• Clone User Site Security
• Account Property Synchronizer
• Dead Account Cleaner
• Site Level Reporting
• Sites Manager
• Site Security Auditor
• Site Collection Administrators
• Site Security Reset
• Site Permission Replicator
• List and Item Security Auditor
• List Security Reset
• List Permission Replicator
• Item Security Reset
• Item Permission Replicator

And the list grows. The tool is primarily a security tool but it’s features are growing fast. Well worth a look I say.