SharePoint Adds PDF Converter
April 7, 2014
One of the major complaints about SharePoint is that users often have to leave the platform in order to accomplish basic tasks. SharePoint is getting closer to complete, and Microsoft is making some needed improvements. However, add-ons are also filling an important role in improving the user experience. Virtual Strategy covers one addition in their article, “SharePoint Now More Killer With PDF Document Converter; It’s No Fool’s Joke.”
The article begins:
“Today, PortalFront Tru Apps announces a new ‘Convert to PDF’ feature in SharePoint, bringing SharePoint a step closer to maturity . . . Converting documents from Word (doc, docx), Excel (xslx), PowerPoint and other formats to PDF directly in SharePoint libraries was not possible. The app also allows batch conversion and supports many other file types to PDF.”
Add-ons have been the key to SharePoint satisfaction according to many experts. Stephen E. Arnold is one of those experts, and he puts his thoughts down on the Web site, ArnoldIT.com. He covers a lot of SharePoint news and has found that user experience is highest when customization is at its best. But since many organizations cannot fully support internal customization, add-ons are key.
Emily Rae Aldridge, April 7, 2014
Improvement to SharePoint Records Management
April 4, 2014
Early iterations of SharePoint records management were fraught with shortcomings. But the word has come that SharePoint 2013 offers an improvement on the failings of the past. Read more in the Search Content Management story, “SharePoint Records Management Spans New Forms of Content.”
The article begins:
“In prior releases, SharePoint records management was functional but nothing to write home about. But with SharePoint 2013, it’s time to get excited. The trends of mobile computing, social media in the enterprise, the cloud, and global search have converged and touched just about every business process that depends on IT. Records management is no exception.”
Stephen E. Arnold is a longtime leader in search and offers up his analysis and opinions on his Web site ArnoldIT.com. SharePoint gets a lot of coverage due to its prominence in the market. But, Arnold consistently finds that the huge platform of SharePoint lags behind the smaller more agile offerings on the market. Only time will tell if the improvements in mobile, social, and records management will increase the overall functionality and user experience of the product.
Emily Rae Aldridge, April 4, 2014
SharePoint Best of Breed Organizations Named
April 3, 2014
Focusing on SharePoint organizations worldwide that focus on solving unstructured and semi-structured problems by leveraging SharePoint, the Best of Breed Showcase Initiative recently recognized some winners. The PR Web article, “Concept Searching Clients Represent SharePoint Best of Breed Organizations,” highlights the details:
“Concept Searching, the global leader in semantic metadata generation, auto-classification, taxonomy management software, and developer of the Smart Content Framework, is honored that two of its clients, Nottinghamshire County Council and West Sussex County Council, were participants in the Metalogix Best of Breed Showcase initiative, which culminated at the recent SharePoint Conference 2014.”
Stephen E. Arnold is a longtime search expert, and gives a lot of attention to SharePoint on his Web site, ArnoldIT.com. He also tries to find the best SharePoint add-ons that improve the overall user experience. While SharePoint is still the market leader in terms of adoptees, it is still a large and unwieldy platform that needs a lot of customization to make it functional. Effective add-ons can improve that process.
Emily Rae Aldridge, April 3, 2014
Documentation Toolkit for SharePoint
April 2, 2014
Documentation Toolkit for SharePoint 4.0 was released this week by Acceleratio Ltd. SharePoint 2007 is supported and new best practices and features were added. Read all the details in the PRWeb release, “Documentation Toolkit for SharePoint 4.0 – New SharePoint Best Practices, Enhanced Permissions Reports and Completely New Interface Design.”
The release says:
“Acceleratio Ltd., an innovative software development company, released a new version of Documentation Toolkit for SharePoint. Version 4.0 comes with improved Permissions Reports, a redesigned interface and an improved compare wizard. New Best Practices were added for more efficient analysis of the SharePoint farm configuration.“
Stephen E. Arnold of ArnoldIT.com has made a name for himself following and analyzing all things search, including SharePoint. But one thing is certain from the coverage; SharePoint gets more powerful and more complicated all at the same time. This opens a wide space for add-ons and value-added software that improve the user experience and customization of SharePoint without adding a lot of hassle.
Emily Rae Aldridge, April 2, 2014
Microsoft Dynamics Marketing
April 1, 2014
SharePoint is showcasing its brand new marketing automation features. Dynamics Marketing marks a formal entrance into a market where Microsoft previously had no presence. CMS Wire covers the details in their article, “Will Microsoft Dynamics Marketing Trigger the SharePoint Effect?”
Their coverage says:
“At last month’s Convergence conference in Atlanta, Microsoft revealed what it had been internally assembling around its 2012 acquisition of Marketing Resource Management (MRM) specialists MarketingPilot. The resulting digital marketing suite has the potential to shake up the marketplace just as SharePoint did in the enterprise content management (ECM) market in 2001.”
Many wonder if Microsoft Dynamics will enjoy the same momentum as SharePoint, or the “SharePoint effect.” Simply stated, many companies don’t care if Microsoft offers the best product; they just want a simple implementation that integrates with their other Microsoft products. Stephen E. Arnold is a longtime leader in search and covers a lot of SharePoint news on his Web site, ArnoldIT.com. We will have to see if Dynamics Marketing stands the test of time like SharePoint.
Emily Rae Aldridge, April 1, 2014
SQL Server 2014 Coming to SharePoint 2013
March 31, 2014
Microsoft recently announced changes to SharePoint, some well received and others less so. For instance, the next SharePoint server update is planned for 2015. However, in other news, SQL server will be supported within SharePoint 2013. Read more in the Redmond article, “Microsoft Adding SQL Server 2014 Support to SharePoint 2013.”
The article says:
“SharePoint Server 2013 will be capable of supporting SQL Server 2014 when Microsoft releases the next SharePoint cumulative update next month, according to an announcement on Friday. SQL Server 2014 is currently in the release-to-manufacturing (RTM) stage, and is expected to hit general availability on April 1.”
SharePoint is continuing its quest to be all things to all people, incorporating more and more outside components. However, it is becoming more difficult and more complicated for users to manage such complex implementations. Stephen E. Arnold is a longtime leader in search and gives a lot of coverage to SharePoint on his Web site ArnoldIT.com.
Emily Rae Aldridge, March 31, 2014
Improving SharePoint Ease of Use
March 28, 2014
None-technical users of SharePoint will rarely say that the solution is easy to use. In fact, many will actually circumvent the system, or develop their own ways to share information just because of the perceived effort of SharePoint. But some companies are creating solutions that improve the user interface of SharePoint without asking end users to understand the underlying architecture. Read more in the CMS Wire article, “If You Dress SharePoint Differently, Is it Easier to Use? #SPC14.”
The article introduces Akumina Interchange:
“’Akumina today announced the beta release of InterChange, a persona-based authoring and website management solution for SharePoint 2013. ‘With InterChange, casual content authors no longer need to ‘learn SharePoint’ or understand the underlying information architecture of their site to create and manage content,’ Rogers told CMSWire.”
Stephen E. Arnold is a longtime search expert and gives a lot of attention to SharePoint on his Web site, ArnoldIT.com. He has found that customization is an important factor in SharePoint adoption. It would be interesting to see if this type of add-on is just as helpful, since end users would have fewer “unfamiliar” aspects to overcome.
Emily Rae Aldridge, March 28, 2014
Compliance Update to SharePoint Could Shake Partners
March 27, 2014
SharePoint Conference 2014 was full of announcements, plans, and projections. Users and managers kept an eye on the program hoping to see updates that would improve ease of use and overall efficiency. One such announcement projected an upcoming unified compliance tool. Read more in the Fierce Content Management article, “Compliance, Video Portals Could Shake SharePoint Partners.”
Developer partners have long enjoyed a symbiotic relationship with SharePoint when it comes to add-ons for the enterprise, but the article says that might be about to change:
“But compliance and video updates unveiled at last week’s SharePoint Conference in Las Vegas, could unnerve some of the partners on which Microsoft relies. During the event Microsoft teased its forthcoming Unified Compliance Center, which builds upon compliance tools found in Exchange and allows them to be leveraged seamlessly across all tools in Office 365. The tool will allow for multifactor authentication to facilitate not just eDiscovery but true auditing and compliance enforcement.”
Stephen E. Arnold is a longtime leader in search and gives a lot of attention to SharePoint on his Web site, ArnoldIT.com. He often finds that customization and critical add-ons are key to a successful SharePoint deployment, so this announcement will really up that capability for most users.
Emily Rae Aldridge, March 27, 2014
Webinar to Improve SharePoint Document Viewing
March 26, 2014
Webinars are a classic professional development option, but can be especially helpful when needing to brush up on the details and ins and outs of SharePoint. CMS Wire offers a good selection and they will be offering a helpful one today. Read more on their event calendar, “(Webinar) Make SharePoint Document Viewing Easier with HTML 5.”
The overview of the program says:
“By integrating an HTML5 document viewer with SharePoint 2013, you enable your users to easily display almost any document file type right from a SharePoint list, through a consistent, easy-to-use interface with search, annotation, redaction, and DRM tools. Your users don’t need any special software on their devices—all they need is an HTML5 browser, even on mobile—and their documents show up fast, through any connection type.”
This type of upgrade to the document viewer could be really essential in improving user experience for your users. Saving users clicks and helping them stay within SharePoint to open documents means saving them time and improving user satisfaction. Stephen E. Arnold is a longtime follower of search and reports many of his observations on ArnoldIT.com. He finds that a successful SharePoint deployment is one that is efficient and customized, so taking the time to learn and implement tricks like these really do make all the difference.
Emily Rae Aldridge, March 26, 2014
SharePoint Search: A Very Positive View
March 25, 2014
Navigate to “Dump the File Server: Why We Moved to the SharePoint Online Cloud.” Tucked deep in the bowels of the rosy tipped discussion of Microsoft’s cloud services is this statement:
And the search power in SharePoint is disgustingly accurate, providing the accuracy and file previews that we were used to on Google Drive.
I like that “disgustingly accurate.” Sounds objective to me. Much more meaningful than such silliness as relevance, precision, and recall.
Stephen E Arnold, March 25, 2014
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