What about SharePoint: March 2013

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Troubleshoot errors in Office Web Apps when it is used with SharePoint 2013

If Office Web Apps isn’t working correctly when it is used together with SharePoint 2013, locate the symptom below and expand the heading to find troubleshooting steps.

Problem: When you select the "new document" link in a SharePoint library, you are prompted to upload a document instead of having the option to create a new Office document. Choosing (single-clicking) an Office document opens the file in the client application. Previews of Office documents are not displayed
Problem: You see the error "Sorry, something went wrong" when you try to view an Office document in Office Web Apps.
Problem: You see the error "File Not Found. The URL of the original file is not valid or the document is not publicly accessible. Verify the URL is correct, then contact the document owner"when you try to view an Office document in Office Web Apps by using a user generated URL.
Problem: Previews of Office documents don't appear in SharePoint 2013. Instead, they show the error "This content cannot be displayed in a frame."
Problem: You see the error “A data connection is set to always use connection file and {0:ExcelWebApp} does not support external connection files. The following connection failed to refresh: Data connections.”

Problem: When you select the "new document" link in a SharePoint library, you are prompted to upload a document instead of having the option to create a new Office document. Choosing (single-clicking) an Office document opens the file in the client application. Previews of Office documents are not displayed.

Here are some troubleshooting options to try.
Verify that claims-based authentication is used by the SharePoint web application that is used to create the new document
Only web applications that use claims-based authentication can open files in Office Web Apps. To determine the authentication provider for a web application, follow these steps:

In SharePoint 2013 Central Administration, select Manage web applications.
Select the web application that you want to check, and then select Authentication Providers on the ribbon.

The authentication provider must be displayed as Claims Based Authentication for Office Web Apps to work correctly with the web application. To resolve this issue, you can either delete the web application and re-create it using claims-based authentication, or you can change the authentication method of the web application. You can find more information in SharePoint authentication requirements for Office Web Apps.
Make sure that the WOPI zones match on the SharePoint 2013 and the Office Web Apps Server farm.
To do this, run the following command on the SharePoint Server:

Get-SPWopiZone

The result will be one of the following: internal-https, internal-http, external-https, external-http.
Next, run the following command on the SharePoint Server:

Get-SPWOPIBinding

In the output, look for WopiZone: zone. If the results from Get-SPWopiZone do not match the zone that is returned by Get-SPWOPIBinding, you must run the Set-SPWOPIZone -Zone cmdlet on the SharePoint Server to change the WOPI zone to match the result from Get-SPWOPIBinding. For help with using these cmdlets, see Get-SPWOPIBinding, Set-SPWOPIBinding, and Get-SPWOPIZone.

Problem: You see the error "Sorry, something went wrong" when you try to view an Office document in Office Web Apps.

Make sure that you are not logged in as System Account. Whenever the currently logged on user name appears as sharepoint\system, that user can’t edit or view the document. Log in as a different user and try to access Office Web Apps again.

Problem: You see the error "Sorry, there was a problem and we can't open this document" when you try to view an Office document in Office Web Apps.

If you set up Office Web Apps in a test environment that uses HTTP, make sure that you set the AllowOAuthOverHttp setting to True as described in Step 5: Change the AllowOAuthOverHttp setting in SharePoint 2013 to True.
At some point, did you add domains to the Allow List by using the New-OfficeWebAppsHost cmdlet? If so, make sure that you are accessing Office Web Apps from a host domain that is in the Allow List. To view the host domains in the Allow List, on the Office Web Apps Server open the Windows PowerShell prompt as an administrator and run the Get-OfficeWebAppsHost cmdlet. If you have to add a domain to the Allow List, use the New-OfficeWebAppsHost cmdlet.

Problem: You see the error "Sorry, Word Web App can't open this document because the service is busy. Please try again later" when you try to view an Office document in Office Web Apps.

Did you install Office Web Apps Server on a domain controller? Office Web Apps Server cannot run on a domain controller. Office Web Apps Server must be installed on a separate server that is part of a domain. For more information, see Software, hardware, and configuration requirements for Office Web Apps Server.

Problem: You see the error "File Not Found. The URL of the original file is not valid or the document is not publicly accessible. Verify the URL is correct, then contact the document owner"when you try to view an Office document in Office Web Apps by using a user generated URL.

Are you trying to open a document that has a file size that is larger than 10 megabytes from a user generated URL? Make sure the document doesn’t exceed 10 megabytes.

Problem: Previews of Office documents don't appear in SharePoint 2013. Instead, they show the error "This content cannot be displayed in a frame."

Low memory conditions can cause problems with Office document previews. View Hardware requirements—web servers, application servers, and single server installations to see the memory requirements for SharePoint 2013, which are the same requirements that Office Web Apps Server uses.

Problem: You see the error “A data connection is set to always use connection file and {0:ExcelWebApp} does not support external connection files. The following connection failed to refresh: Data connections.”

This happens because Office Web Apps Server doesn’t support the Office Data Connection (ODC) file that stores the data connection information. To fix this problem, follow these steps:

Open the workbook in an Excel client application.
Choose the Data tab and then choose Connections.
Select the data connections listed in the message, and then choose Properties.
Choose the Definition tab.
Clear the Always use connection file check box for check box.”
Re-upload the workbook to the SharePoint document library.

To enable people to interact with workbooks that contain a Data Model or Power View views in a browser window, configure Excel Services in SharePoint Server to display workbooks. This requires a SharePoint administrator to run the New-SPWOPISupressionSetting cmdlet on the server where SharePoint Server is installed. For more information, see New-SPWOPISuppressionSetting and Administer Excel Services in SharePoint Server 2013.

Configuring Office Web Apps for SharePoint 2013

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj219455.aspx#prerequisites or watch the video on: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff431685.aspx#BKMK_Video

On the server that runs Office Web Apps Server;

Step 1: Install prerequisite software for Office Web Apps Server

Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012 have slightly different prerequisites. Be sure to install the correct prerequisites for your operating system.

To prepare a server that runs Windows Server 2008 R2

1. Install the following software:
o Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1
o .NET Framework 4.5
o Windows PowerShell 3.0
o KB2592525
2. Next, open the Windows PowerShell prompt as an administrator and run the following command examples to install the required roles and services.

For Windows Server 2008 R2

Import-Module ServerManager

 And then run the follow command examples:

Add-WindowsFeature Web-Server,Web-WebServer,Web-Common-Http,Web-Static-Content,Web-App-Dev,Web-Asp-Net,Web-Net-Ext,Web-ISAPI-Ext,Web-ISAPI-Filter,Web-Includes,Web-Security,Web-Windows-Auth,Web-Filtering,Web-Stat-Compression,Web-Dyn-Compression,Web-Mgmt-Console,Ink-Handwriting,IH-Ink-Support

If you are prompted, restart the server when the command finishes.

To prepare a server that runs Windows Server 2012

· Open the Windows PowerShell prompt as an administrator and run the following command examples to install the required roles and services.
For Windows Server 2012

Add-WindowsFeature Web-Server,Web-Mgmt-Tools,Web-Mgmt-Console,Web-WebServer,Web-Common-Http,Web-Default-Doc,Web-Static-Content,Web-Performance,Web-Stat-Compression,Web-Dyn-Compression,Web-Security,Web-Filtering,Web-Windows-Auth,Web-App-Dev,Web-Net-Ext45,Web-Asp-Net45,Web-ISAPI-Ext,Web-ISAPI-Filter,Web-Includes,InkandHandwritingServices

If you are prompted, restart the server when the command finishes.

Step 2: Install Office Web Apps Server

Complete the following steps on all servers that will run Office Web Apps Server.
To install Office Web Apps Server
1. Download Office Web Apps Server from the Microsoft Download Center.
2. Take one of the following actions:
o For Windows Server 2012, open the .img file directly and run Setup.exe (double-click it).
o For Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, use a program that can mount or extract .img files. Then run Setup.exe (double-click it).
3. In the Office Web Apps Server 2013 Wizard, on the Read the Microsoft Software License Terms page, select I accept the terms of this agreement and then selectContinue.
4. On the Choose a file location page, select the folder where you want the Office Web Apps Server files to be installed (for example, C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Web Apps), and then select Install Now. Note that, if this folder does not exist, Setup will create it for you.
5. When Setup finishes installing Office Web Apps Server, choose Close

Step 3: Create the Office Web Apps Server farm

Step 3a: Deploy a single-server Office Web Apps Server farm that uses HTTPS

The information here will help you install a single-server Office Web Apps Server farm that uses HTTPS. You must have a certificate installed on the server as described in Securing Office Web Apps Server communications by using HTTPS . You can use this Office Web Apps Server farm to provide Office Web Apps functionality to SharePoint 2013, Lync Server 2013, and Exchange Server 2013.

The code in the following example creates a new Office Web Apps Server farm that consists of a single server. The URL that you specify for –InternalURL is the FQDN name of the server that runs Office Web Apps Server, such as http://servername.contoso.com. The URL that you specify for –ExternalURL is the FQDN name that can be accessed on the Internet. You must specify the friendly name of the certificate by using the –CertificateName parameter. The –EditingEnabled parameter is optional and enables editing in Office Web Apps when it is used together with SharePoint 2013. The –EditingEnabled parameter is not used by Lync Server 2013 or Exchange Server 2013 because those hosts do not support editing.

New-OfficeWebAppsFarm -InternalUrl "https://server.contoso.com" -ExternalUrl "https://wacweb01.contoso.com" –CertificateName "OfficeWebApps Certificate" –EditingEnabled

Additional parameters that configure translation services, proxy servers, clipart support, and Online Viewers are described in New-OfficeWebAppsFarm. You can find additional information about how to obtain licenses that allow users to edit files by using Office Web Apps Server in Plan Office Web Apps (Used with SharePoint 2013). To learn about how these licenses are used in SharePoint Server 2013, see Configure licensing in SharePoint Server 2013.

note

Note:
If components of the .NET Framework 3.5 were installed and then removed, you might see “500 Web Service Exceptions” or “500.21 – Internal Server Error” messages when you run OfficeWebApps cmdlets. To fix this, run the following sample commands from an elevated command prompt to clean up settings that could prevent Office Web Apps Server from functioning correctly:

For Windows Server 2008 R2

%systemroot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\aspnet_regiis.exe -iru

iisreset /restart /noforce

For Windows Server 2012

dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:IIS-ASPNET45

Step 3b: Deploy a multi-server, load-balanced Office Web Apps Server farm that uses HTTPS

The information here will help you install a multi-server Office Web Apps Server farm that uses a load balancer and HTTPS. Before you begin these steps, you must have your load balancer configured as described in Load balancer requirements for Office Web Apps Server, and you must have a certificate installed on the load balancer as described in Securing Office Web Apps Server communications by using HTTPS . You can use this Office Web Apps Server farm to provide Office Web Apps functionality to SharePoint 2013, Lync Server 2013, and Exchange Server 2013.

The code in the following example creates a new Office Web Apps Server farm on the first server. The URL that you specify for –InternalURL is the FQDN name of the server that runs Office Web Apps Server, such as http://servername.contoso.com. The URL that you specify for –ExternalURL is the FQDN name that can be accessed on the Internet. The SSLOffloaded parameter enables offloading SSL termination to the load balancer. The –EditingEnabled parameter is optional and enables editing in Office Web Apps when it is used together with SharePoint 2013. The –EditingEnabled parameter is not used by Lync Server 2013 or Exchange Server 2013 because those hosts don't support editing.

New-OfficeWebAppsFarm -InternalUrl "https://server.contoso.com" -ExternalUrl "https://wacweb01.contoso.com" -SSLOffloaded -EditingEnabled

%systemroot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\aspnet_regiis.exe -iru

iisreset /restart /noforce

For Windows Server 2012

dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:IIS-ASPNET45

Step 2: Add more servers to the farm

After the first server is running Office Web Apps Server, run the following command on each server that you want to add to the Office Web Apps Server farm. The –MachineToJoin parameter adds the current server to an existing Office Web Apps Server farm, so use the computer name of one of the servers that's already in the Office Web Apps Server farm.

New-OfficeWebAppsMachine –MachineToJoin ”server1.contoso.com”

Want more information about these parameters? You can find them in New-OfficeWebAppsMachine.

Step 4: Verify that the Office Web Apps Server farm was created successfully

After the farm is created, details about the farm are displayed in the Windows PowerShell prompt. To verify that Office Web Apps Server is installed and configured correctly, use a web browser to access the Office Web Apps Server discovery URL, as shown in the following example. The discovery URL is composed of the value that you assigned to the InternalUrl parameter when you configured your Office Web Apps Server farm, and it is followed by /hosting/discovery.

https://server.contoso.com/hosting/discovery

If Office Web Apps Server works as expected, you should see a Web app Open Platform Interface (WOPI)-discovery XML file in your web browser. The first few lines of that file should resemble the following example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<wopi-discovery><net-zone 
name="internal-https"><app name="Excel" checkLicense="true" 
favIconUrl="https://wac.contoso.com/x/_layouts/images/FavIcon_Excel.ico"><action 
name="view" 
urlsrc="https://wac.contoso.com/x/_layouts/xlviewerinternal.aspx?<ui=UI_LLCC&><rs=DC_LLCC&>" 
default="true" ext="ods"/><action name="view" 
urlsrc="https://wac.contoso.com/x/_layouts/xlviewerinternal.aspx?<ui=UI_LLCC&><rs=DC_LLCC&>" 
default="true" ext="xls"/><action name="view"

Note:
Depending on the security settings of your web browser, you might see a message that prompts you to select Show all content before the contents of the discovery XML file are displayed..

Step 5: Configure SharePoint 2013 to use Office Web Apps

To configure SharePoint 2013 to use Office Web Apps Server, you must run one or more Windows PowerShell cmdlets from SharePoint 2013. After you run the necessary cmdlets, users can open Office files from SharePoint 2013 document libraries in a browser.

Prepare to configure SharePoint 2013 to use Office Web Apps Server

Certain conditions must be met before you can successfully configure SharePoint 2013 to use Office Web Apps Server. Review the following requirements before you continue.

Verify that all SharePoint 2013 web applications use claims-based authentication. Office Web Apps rendering and editing will not work on SharePoint 2013 web applications that use classic mode authentication. Learn more in SharePoint authentication requirements for Office Web Apps.
To enable users to edit (not just read) Office documents in a web browser, verify that you have the necessary editing licenses and that you have enabled editing on the Office Web Apps Server farm. You can learn more about licensing requirements in Licensing Office Web Apps for editing Office files.
If you log into SharePoint 2013 by using the System Account, you will be unable to test the connection between SharePoint 2013 and Office Web Apps Server. You will have to log on by using a different account to test the connection.
Low memory conditions can cause Office document previews to fail in Office Web Apps. Verify that the server or servers that run Office Web Apps Server have sufficient memory by reviewing the Hardware requirements—web servers, application servers, and single server installations for SharePoint 2013, which are the same requirements that Office Web Apps Server uses.

Configure SharePoint 2013 to use Office Web Apps Server by using HTTPS

Before you start the following procedures, make sure that you have set up Office Web Apps Server by following the steps in Deploy a single-server Office Web Apps Server farm that uses HTTPS or Deploy a multi-server, load-balanced Office Web Apps Server farm that uses HTTPS .
On the server that runs SharePoint 2013

Step 1: Open the SharePoint 2013 Management Shell

Choose the procedure that corresponds to your server operating system.

To open an elevated SharePoint 2013 Management Shell in Windows Server 2008 R2

On the Start menu, choose All Programs.
Choose Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Products.
Choose (right-click) SharePoint 2013 Management Shell to display the shortcut menu.
In the shortcut menu, choose Run as administrator.

To open an elevated SharePoint 2013 Management Shell in Windows Server 2012

Swipe in from the edge of the screen to show the charms and then choose Search to see all the applications that are installed on the computer.
Choose (right-click) SharePoint 2013 Management Shell to display the app bar.
In the app bar, choose Run as administrator.

Step 2: Create the binding between SharePoint 2013 and Office Web Apps Server

Run the following command, where <WacServerName> is the FQDN of the URL that you set for the internal URL. This is the point of entry for Office Web Apps Server traffic.

New-SPWOPIBinding -ServerName <WacServerName>

Need help? See New-SPWOPIBinding.

Step 3: View the WOPI zone of SharePoint 2013

Office Web Apps Server uses the concept of zones to determine which URL (internal or external) and which protocol (HTTP or HTTPS) to use when it communicates with the host, which in this case is SharePoint 2013. By default, SharePoint Server 2013 uses the internal-https zone. Verify that this is the current zone by running the following command:

Get-SPWOPIZone

After you run this command, you should see the WOPI zone displayed. Take note of the WOPI zone that is displayed.

Need help? See Get-SPWOPIZone.

Step 4: Change the WOPI zone if it is necessary

Depending on your environment, you might have to change the WOPI zone. If you have a SharePoint farm that's internal and external, specify external. If you have a SharePoint farm that's internal only, specify internal.
If the results from Step 3 show internal-https and the SharePoint farm is internal only, you can skip this step. If you have a SharePoint farm that’s internal and external, you must run the following command to change the zone to external-https.

Set-SPWOPIZone –zone “external-https”

Need help? See Set-SPWOPIZone.

Step 5: Verify that Office Web Apps is working

In SharePoint 2013, make sure that you are not logged in as System Account. (Whenever the currently logged on user name appears as sharepoint\system, that user can’t edit or view the documents by using Office Web Apps.) Go to a SharePoint 2013 document library that contains Office documents and view a Word, PowerPoint, Excel, or OneNote file. The document should open in a browser that displays the file by using Office Web Apps.

Technorati Tags: Office Web Apps,SharePoint 2013,Office Web Apps 2013

Sunday, March 24, 2013

The number of Distributed Cache hosts in the farm exceeds the recommended value

When you open Central Administration in SharePoint 2013, you see the following error message

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj891124.aspx

The Distributed Cache service (by default) is started on every server in a farm.

On a farm with four or more servers, you must not start the Distributed Cache Service on all servers in the farm. If you configure all servers as cache hosts, you may experience reliability and performance problems in the farm.

Resolution: Reduce the number of cache hosts by using Windows PowerShell.

Verify that you have the following memberships:
- securityadmin fixed server role on the SQL Server instance.
- db_owner fixed database role on all databases that are to be updated.
- Administrators group on the server on which you are running the Windows PowerShell cmdlets.
- Farm Administrators group.

An administrator can use the Add-SPShellAdmin cmdlet to grant permissions to use SharePoint 2013 cmdlets.

Start the SharePoint 2013 Management Shell.
- For Windows Server 2008 R2:
  - On the Start menu, click All Programs, click Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Products, and then click SharePoint 2013 Management Shell.
- For Windows Server 2012:

On the Start screen, click SharePoint 2013 Management Shell.

If SharePoint 2013 Management Shell is not on the Start screen:

Right-click Computer, click All apps, and then click SharePoint 2013 Management Shell.

For more information about how to interact with Windows Server 2012, see Common Management Tasks and Navigation in Windows Server 2012.

Remove one or more servers from the cache cluster. On each server that you want to remove from the cache cluster, run the following cmdlet:

Remove-SPDistributedCacheServiceInstance

Verify that the server is removed from the cache cluster. To do this, in the SharePoint Central Administration website, click Manage services on server, and then, on the Services on Server page, make sure that the Distributed Cache service is not listed for the server from which you removed the service.

Technorati Tags: SharePoint 2013,Distributed Cache Service,SharePoint health Analyzer,Central Administration

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Use Datasheet view in 64-bit Office 2010

By default, the Datasheet view of a list or library is not supported when you are using the 64-bit version of Microsoft Office 2010 installed on a 64-bit Windows operating system.

If you want to use Datasheet view, we recommend that you install the 32-bit version of Microsoft Office on a 64-bit Windows operating system.

If your business needs require using the 64-bit version of Office 2010, you can install the 2007 Office System Driver: Data Connectivity Components to enable the Datasheet component. These components are available here on the Microsoft download center:

2007 Office System Driver: Data Connectivity Components

Find out if your Office is 32- or 64-bit

To find the bit version of Microsoft Office 2010, on the File tab, Click Help, and then note the bit version under the About section.

Find more information about 64-bit Office 2010 in the See Also section.

About installing the 2007 Office System Driver: Data Connectivity Components

The 2007 Office System Driver: Data Connectivity Components install a 32-bit version of the Datasheet component that will work with the 64-bit version of Office 2010 as long as you are using a 32-bit version of an Internet browser.

IMPORTANT If you are using a 64-bit version of an Internet browser, for example the 64-bit version of Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0, there is no support for the Edit in Datasheet feature.

You must install all 64-bit versions of Office products before you install the 2007 Office System Driver: Data Connectivity Components.

For example, if you plan to install Microsoft Project 2010, Microsoft Visio 2010, or Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2010, components that are not installed as part of an Office 2010 suite, you must install the 64-bit versions of these products before you install the Data Connectivity Components.

Other reasons Datasheet view might not work

There might be other reasons why Datasheet view is not working, including the following:

A datasheet component compatible with SharePoint 2010 is not installed.
Your browser does not support ActiveX controls.
Certain libraries and lists do not support Datasheet view, such as a slide library, and therefore the Datasheet view command is dimmed.

Install

If you select a List in SharePoint 2010 now and select

It WILL open in Datasheet View

Technorati Tags: Datasheet View,SharePoint Lists,SharePoint 2010

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

The context has expired and can no longer be used

When you create a site collection the below error shows up:

First check within Central Administration is the Default Time Zone is defined for your Web Application

When the default time zone is missing, this error might show up
If missing, open the Date and Time zone settings on your server and check which time zone is defined. Configure the same time zone for your web application (in the above location)
Next step would be to do an IISRESET and try if you are able to create the site collection now

Another reason for gettin the error message: "The content has expired and can no longer be used" might be related to the token-timeout value which is defined within the Farm.

The default token-timeout value = 1440 minutes (=24 hours = 1 day). When you use Active Directory groups and add those groups into your SharePoint groups, this means that it would take 24 hours before the update is active in your farm. Therefore we decided to change this value to 1 minute

Because creating a site collection took longer than this 1 minute, we got to see the " Content has expired" error.

After changing the value to 10 minutes, we were again able to create the site collections without getting the error.

Technorati Tags: Context has expired,SharePoint 2010,deafult time zone

Thursday, March 14, 2013

SharePoint libraries don’t open in Explorer View

First of all followed all the below “ possible” solutions…
1. Click "Start" icon, then "Run" input "Services.msc" click ok, and restart "WebClient" service.
2. Add your team site to the "Trusted sites" location of browser.
3. Clear the cache of IE on your client computer.
4. Uncheck the "Enable Protected Mode" of your browser.
5. Use 32-bit IE browser to open your team site, do not use 64-bit IE browser.
6. Add Desktop Experience Feature on the Windows SharePoint servers
7. Use IE 9
8. Add Registry setting HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WebClient\Parameters\AuthForwardServerList (Multi-String Value) with the URL of the SharePoint server
9. Change Registry setting for: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WebClient\Parameters\BasicAuthLevel to 2
None of them worked for me…
Then I found out that I was missing the below client in my Advanced Network Settings

I added the below Registry setting (first made a Registry back up)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\NetworkProvider\Order with this content:

After a reboot the Web Client Network showed up BUT…
When checking the Windows Services, I was no longer able to start the Web Client Service

After running : sfc /scannow (with Elevated permissions)

Rebooted my machine again, checked the services (Web Cient service was started now) and checked whether I was able to open a SharePoint Library in Explorer View….
Which it did…

Technorati Tags: Explorer View,Open in Explorer View,SharePoint

Monday, March 4, 2013

Shared Folder restrictions and warnings

Folder restrictions

SharePoint Workspace disallows sharing the following types of folders in a shared folder:

· A folder on removable media, such as a CD-ROM or floppy disk.

· A folder on a network drive.

· Any folder within the SharePoint Workspace data directory.

· Any folder for which you do not have write permissions; that is, folders in which you cannot create new files.

· Any folder already being synchronized in another SharePoint Workspace account.

· A folder with a name that starts with .hg

Additionally, SharePoint Workspace posts a warning given the following circumstances:

· If you select the root folder of a computer drive for sharing. This activity is strongly discouraged.

· If you select any folder within the Windows system directory.

· If you select a folder (or parent) folder that you are already synchronizing in another shared folder.

In this case, it is important to be aware of the following security issue: Folders shared in multiple shared folders are available to members across all those shared folders. You should be certain that all members in all shared folder are authorized to access all the data in all folders.

File restrictions

The following files and file types cannot be shared in a shared folder: Any file that has a file name that starts with a ~ character or .hg; all files with a gfs, tmp, bak, sav, or lnk extension.

Additionally, files with the following attributes cannot be shared in a shared folder: Hidden, System, Temporary, or Offline.

To see a list of shared folder restrictions, open the Folder Synchronization Properties box.

SharePoint Workspace cannot synchronize any files that are larger than 1 GB. Additionally, SharePoint Workspace will stop synchronizing any shared folder that exceeds the following limits: More than 5000 files or a set of files that exceeds 2 GB in total size.

In addition to the file types that are specifically restricted from file sharing, there are other types of files that may not work well in a shared folder. These include file types that have dependencies on other files in order to run properly, or files from applications that run properly only on the computer where the application was originally installed. Examples of these file types include Outlook PST files, Quicken Quickbook files, and Access database files.

Recommendations for optimal performance

For optimal performance in a shared folder, keep the following in mind:

· Avoid adding large files (>50 MB) to a shared folder.

· Avoid adding large numbers of files (>100 files) at once.

· Avoid storing large numbers of files (>500 files) in a shared folder.

These numbers are recommended based on SharePoint Workspace's minimum system requirements. Systems exceeding the minimum requirements will be able to handle larger numbers of files with less performance degradation.

Other factors that may impact performance include:

· Degree of change to files in the shared folder. The more frequently files are changed, the more performance is degraded. Larger workspaces can function with less degradation if they do not have a high degree of change.

· Download settings of workspace members. Members who use manual download settings avoid requiring other members to send data on each update. This improves overall performance for all members.

· Starting and stopping SharePoint Workspace frequently. For optimal performance, keep SharePoint Workspace running.

· Running earlier versions of SharePoint Workspace. All members of the workspace should use the latest version of SharePoint Workspace to ensure optimal performance.

In addition, pausing communications for a workspace also pauses the synchronization of local changes to the workspace. In larger workspaces, pausing communications until updates are really needed can help overall performance

Technorati Tags: SharePoint Workspace,SharePoint