Office

Knowledge Network to be Released as a "Technical Preview"

Matthew McDermott — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 05:22:00 GMT

The KN team has announced that Microsoft decided Knowledge Network will released as a Technical Preview. While the decision is a disappointment to those of us who have worked with KN, the reasons for the decision touch on many of the factors that have placed Microsoft and the SharePoint technologies head and shoulders above the competition. I plan to continue to use and promote (and support) KN in our own environment and with our clients. I am looking forward to our feedback improving the product. Go Team!

You can read all about it on the KN Team Blog.

Update 2003 Document Library Images to 2007

Matthew McDermott — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 09:13:00 GMT

For those of you working with office 2007 and still working on Windows SharePoint Services Version 2 or SharePoint Portal Server 2003 document libraries here is a review of how to add icons to your server and editing the DOCICON.XML file.

Office 2007 introduces new file extensions like docx, dotx, pptx, xslx, etc. When added to a document library the generic icon is displayed and the associated menu does not include the familiar “Edit in...” menu item. The process of adding recognized file extensions is as follows:

Obtain the appropriate image files, I got mine from the images directory on my new MOSS server. (icdocx.gif, icpptx.gif, icdotx.gif, icxslx.gif,...)
Copy the images to the images folder in the 60 hive. Usually: c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\web server extensions\60\template\images
Edit the DOCICON.XML file, adding a mapping for each new image type. Copy the predecessor and edit to work for the new file type:

Restart IIS by running IISRESET from the command line.
Browse to the document library containing the Office 2007 documents and you should see the correct images displayed.

Microsoft Office OneNote 2007 Mobile

Matthew McDermott — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 08:51:00 GMT

Finally got OneNote 2007 installed on my laptop with Vista RTM.

My phone is a Cingular 2125, so no keyboard, but it still works great with OneNote Mobile. I don't use it for text notes, just voice and photos. Which is great because the sync pushes the contents right into my OneNote notebook. My only complaint is that the application stores all the notes in main storage (25MB) and I have not found a way to configure it to store my notes on my 2GB storage card. (Hint, hint...)

The BIGGEST pain was getting Windows Mobile Device Center to work with my phone. I finally realized that Windows Firewall was preventing the connection. I disconnected from my network, turned off my firewall and reconnected my phone and tada! Connected! (BTW, I did download and install the beta version of the WMDC from http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/devicecenter.mspx but that MAY not be a necessary step.)

Once I synchronized OneNote detected my phone and offered the installation. EASY! (You can also force the install from the Tools menu.)

Happy Thanksgiving!

UPDATE:

I found the ROM update for my phone on the HTC site. I had to use another computer with XP and ActiveSync to apply the ROM update. With that done, I retried the connection to my Vista laptop and it recognized the device and started the partnership setup PERFECTLY. So before you start, be sure you have the latest ROM for your phone!

I post...they listen!

Matthew McDermott — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 09:35:00 GMT

Well maybe I am not THAT persuasive, but WDS 3.0 Beta 2 has been released. Early reports are good and performance is improved. Most importantly the desktop UI is back!

Happy searching!

More Info Here Download the beta here

I miss my desktop search

Matthew McDermott — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 07:15:00 GMT

Please don't get me wrong, I am enjoying the Office 2007 Beta, but I long for the days on finding the stuff on my computer. (I have a lot of stuff on my computer and have become very complacent abut where I put it because of Windows Desktop Search). Anyway, the office applications Outlook and OneNote require the new (desktop interface-less) version of the WDS engine.

Read the fine print before you decide to install the beta: Download and KB Details

Group Policy Considerations for SharePoint Portal Server 2003

Matthew McDermott — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 09:28:00 GMT

Yes, I know that MOSS is the rage right now...but a lot of folks are still learning to manage their current implementations of SharePoint Portal Server 2003. I wrote this a while ago and have not had time to post it as HTML. I figure there might be one person out there who wants to use the GPMC to configure group policies for SharePoint 2003. If so let me know if this document is helpful.

Group Policy Considerations for SharePoint Portal Server 2003

Office 2003 SP2 and Registry Cleaners

Matthew McDermott — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 05:29:00 GMT

I love Windows Update/Office Update. I know many folks don't like the big brother aspect but PLEASE! how great is it to have your computer tell you when updates for the stuff you installed are available.

So HAL says (in a balloon, don't you just LOVE the balloons...except when they won't just fade away like e-mail that I want to ignore).

"Office SP2 is now available."

So I say "Great! Please install." To which HAL replies:

The update cannot be installed.

"But you SAID...???" I cry.

Anyway, long story short, after 4 hours of troubleshooting (try Googling Office Update "The update cannot be installed") I find a great article that explains what happens if your registry cleaner removes the Install Source Path for your Office Applications.

You cannot install an Office 2003 service pack
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=884298

P.S. The error logs were really no use. They mostly sent me looking in the wrong directions.

Error: Agent failed detecting with reason: 0x800710dd
Installation Failure: Windows failed to install the following update with error 0x80070643: Office 2003 Service Pack 2.

Or from the Event Viewer:

Product: Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003 - Update 'Update for Outlook 2003: Junk E-mail Filter (KB906173): OUTLFLTR' could not be installed. Error code 1603.
Product: Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003 -- Configuration failed.
Failed to connect to server. Error: 0x800401F0
Product: Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003 - Update 'Update for Office 2003 (KB907417): OTKLOADR' could not be installed. Error code 1603.
Product: Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003 - Update 'Office 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2): MAINSP2op' could not be installed. Error code 1603.
EventType office11setup, P1 {90110409-6000-11d3-8cfe-0150048383c9}, P2 11.0.6361.0, P3 startcache, P4 0, P5 x, P6 x, P7 x, P8 NIL, P9 NIL, P10 NIL.
Installation Failure: Windows failed to install the following update with error 0x80070643: Update for Outlook 2003 Junk Email Filter (KB906173).
Installation Failure: Windows failed to install the following update with error 0x80070643: Update for Office 2003 (KB907417).
Installation Failure: Windows failed to install the following update with error 0x80070643: Office 2003 Service Pack 2.
Installation Failure: Windows failed to install the following update with error 0x80070643: OneNote 2003 Service Pack 2.

MSN Desktop Search and SharePoint

Matthew McDermott — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 12:18:00 GMT

So Mark Bower posted a cool technique for using SharePoint from MSN Desktop Search.

So I tried my SharePoint People Search technique and it worked great! (Just change myportal to your portal.)

@person,http://myportal/Search.aspx?w=CONTAINS(%22urn:schemas-microsoft-com:sharepoint:portal:profile:AccountName%22,%20'%22$w*%22')%20OR%20CONTAINS(%22urn:schemas-microsoft-com:sharepoint:portal:profile:FirstName%22,%20'%22$w*%22')%20OR%20CONTAINS(%22urn:schemas-microsoft-com:sharepoint:portal:profile:LastName%22,%20'%22$w*%22')%20OR%20CONTAINS(%22urn:schemas-microsoft-com:sharepoint:portal:profile:PreferredName%22,%20'%22$w*%22')%20AND%20(%22DAV:contentclass%22='urn:content-class:SPSPeople')

The most complete list I have found is http://www.bibleplayer.com/toolbarshortcuts.