Get Windows 10 from Windows 8.1

I know everyone is excited and waiting for the 29th of July, 2015 for Windows 10 upgrade which is FREE  :)

I have Windows 8.1 version in my system.

Points to be noted for getting Windows 10 FREE upgrade from Windows 8.1:

1. You should have a licensed version of Windows OS installed.
2. You should have all the latest updates of Windows installed successfully
3. When you have all the latest updates installed, you will automatically see an Windows 10 icon in the task bar as shown below:

4. When you click on the icon, you see an pop up window showing the steps to get Windows 10 as shown below:

5. When you click on the blue icon on the left top corner, you will see various menus -> click View Confirmation under Getting the upgrade:

                                   

Here you can enter your email ID associated with Windows Account to reserve your Windows 10 for free :)

You should see a screen as shown below if your Windows 10 copy is reserved:

According to Microsoft's latest press release, it is going to be LIFETIME FREE!!!!

Learn more on Windows 10 Update: Link

Read Windows 10 Features: Link

Please share this post if this helps you!

Read More

Could not load type ‘Microsoft.AnalysisServices.SpAddin.ReportGallery.ReportGalleryView’

Recently, I have installed the power pivot in SharePoint 2013 and then configured the power pivot service application in the Central Administration.

I tried creating a Pivot Gallery and it is successful. When I opened the pivot gallery library, it is showing the below error: 

I am sure some feature is not activated but couldn’t find it. Then, checked the Central Administration -> System Settings -> Manage Farm Solutions -> powerpivotwebapplicationsolution

This solution should be deployed to the web application in which have created the pivot gallery.

Happy learning! Please share this post if it helps you!

Read More

SharePoint 2013 / Office 365

I wanted to try some proof of concepts using SharePoint 2013 and been looking for various easy options to get the SP 2013.
Hence I wanted to list the easy ways to get SharePoint 2013 for the readers. Below is the list:

Office 365 Trial :

https://products.office.com/en-us/business/compare-office-365-for-business-plans

On-Premises Deployment:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-sharepoint-server-2013

Windows Azure:

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/free-trial/?CR_CC=200256621&WT.mc_id=A24158309 

SharePoint Online:

https://products.office.com/en-us/SharePoint/compare-sharepoint-plans?legRedir=true&CorrelationId=08d4bcac-2e4e-4269-9981-1deb00da1ad9

SharePoint Rackspace:

http://sharepoint.rackspace.com/free-sharepoint-2013#chat 

Cloud Share:

http://www.cloudshare.com/cloudshare-template-library

This are the some of the easier ways to get the trial versions for SharePoint 2013. Please share this post if this is helpful. Happy Sharing!

Read More

External List in SharePoint Limitations

When I tried to connect the external DB to the SharePoint using external content types, I found lot of issues or limitations for the end users. This is same in external lists as well. I am using SharePoint 2010.

No look up:

Unfortunately the only thing that you can do a look up on in an external list is on the ID column, anything else and you are out of luck.

No Attachments:

Attachments options are not available.

No RSS Feeds:

RSS feeds is also greyed out and it really helps when you need updates from SharePoint list

No Workflows:

Workflows are very important in SharePoint lists and it plays a vital role in different business requirements. But workflows are disabled in external lists

No Ratings:

In all the SharePoint lists, you will see an option of Rating Settings under General Settings where the Rating can be enabled but this is disabled
No Inline Editing or Datasheet View:
Inline editing allows you to edit list items in list view itself. Datasheet view is a where you can easily change the data for multiple items. Neither of these is available.

No Versioning or history:
You cannot see version history for an External List. It does make sense, in many of the external systems there is no concepts of version
No Item Level Permissions:
You cannot configure item level permissions for external list items
No Export to Excel Option:
This is a frequently used option which allows the end users to export the list data to excel. But this is disabled
No Open with Access / Create Visio Diagram / Open Schedule: 
Though this not used frequently, sometimes we may need this but this is also disabled

I gone through BCS in SP 2013, it is improved a little bit:

1. Export to Excel option is included
2. Sorting and Filtering are improved
3. Event receiver on external lists is introduced

Read More

Update on InfoPath and SharePoint forms

As part of the update shared around the Evolution of SharePoint and the next SharePoint Server on-premises release, we are also updating the timelines for removal of InfoPath Forms Services components of SharePoint and SharePoint Online. Specifically, InfoPath Forms Services will be included in the next on-premises release of SharePoint Server 2016, as well as being fully supported in Office 365 until further notice. Customers will be able to confidently migrate to SharePoint Server 2016 knowing that their InfoPath forms will continue to work in their on-premises environments, as well as in Office 365. 

The InfoPath 2013 application remains the last version to be released and will work with SharePoint Server 2016.

Ref : http://blogs.office.com/2014/01/31/update-on-infopath-and-sharepoint-forms/ 

This gives answer for many migration questions with regard to InfoPath forms in SharePoint lower versions.

Read More

OWA web parts in SharePoint 2013

When I tried finding the OWA web parts in the SharePoint 2013 OOTB web parts, I couldn't find the web parts and “Outlook Web App” category is also not available. I was thinking it is deprecated or not available in SharePoint 

2013.

After searching, I found the following solution.

Steps to add Outlook web parts

1.   Go to Web part Gallery.

2.   On Web part Gallery page, Click Files-> New Document -> New in the ribbon.

 3.   On New web part page (NewDWp.aspx), look for Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal.WebControls.OWA, select the web parts related to the outlook as shown below and populate gallery.

4.   Now, under Miscellaneous Category, you will see the web parts related to Outlook. 

Hope this helps you!

Read More

SharePoint 2013 & 2010 OOTB Web Parts Comparison

There are many changes made in SP 2013 in OOTB web parts. I tried creating
a summary which shows the following:
1. What category is added or removed in SP 2013?
2. What are the web parts removed from SP 2013?
3. What are the new web parts added and their functionality?

Downloadable Link for the below file: Link to download

Share the post if this helps you!

Read More

Promoted Links in SharePoint 2013

Promoted Links is a new list type added in SharePoint 2013.

What it is and how to use this?

1.   New app in SP 2013 available Out of Box

2.   It is similar app like “Get Started with your site” in the home page 

3.   It is a very cool feature which allows you to add images and links to it and display it in a Tile view in a page for quick navigation.

4.   Let’s create a promoted links app for our SharePoint 2013 home page.

5.   Go to “Add an App” -> Promoted Links -> Give a name “Home Page Navigation”

                    

6.   You will see a message. The list is empty, Add tiles from the All Promoted Links view. Now, start adding the images and links in the app as shown below

When you click on the “All Promoted Links” you will see a list view to add items in it.

Adding new item will have the following fields

a.    Title

b.    Background Image Location

c.    Description

d.   Link Location

e.    Launch behavior

f.     Order 

Example of one item added.

Similarly, I have added 4 items in the list.

Now, in the list, if you navigate to the Tile View, you will see the images with the links displayed with Links. Cool Isn't? It is OUT OF BOX. 

If you hover the mouse, the title automatically goes up. You can click and navigate to the desired page.

This list can be displayed in a web part in the site home page which can be used for quick navigation. Please share this if it is useful!

Read More

Site Administration in SharePoint 2013

In this article, we will have know how does Site Administration in SharePoint 2013 looks. Here is the screenshot of SharePoint 2013 site administration.

Read More

New Features of SharePoint 2013

It has been a while here, there are many reasons and I was busy as well. Let’s start it again with SharePoint 2013J
SharePoint 2013 has many new features and it is trending in the market. Let’s see the list of features which is new and what is different from the other versions of SharePoint.

1. HTML 5 and CSS 3 support  - Cross browser compatibility and optimized browser experience.
2. Device Manager & Device Channels – new way of designing  theme for  the site using SharePoint Designer 2013.
3. Community Portal – Social Networking  makes collaboration within the organization easier.
4. New Search Experience (My favorite feature J) - Continuous Crawl – yes, you get the results once you publish the new contents to the site
   Fast Search is integrated in the search feature and it is not a separate product now, licensing becomes easier.
5. Content Search Web Part – display information from the other web apps which is not possible in other versions of SharePoint – and off course content has to be crawled and indexed for displaying in this web part
6. Rich Workflows – New actions, no code web service call
7. Shredded Storage  - removes the duplicate files  and hence reduces the amount of storage in the site
8. WCM – Managed metadata for navigation and shortening of URL’s
9. Apps & Apps Store – Create and publish apps
10. Mobile Experience –  Mobile usage has increased drastically and this feature allows you to view the SharePoint site in three view such as Classic, Contemporary, Full Screen UI.

Read More