Can't open SharePoint 2013 site in SharePoint Designer 2013 - Fixed

SharePoint Designer is a very advanced tool which we use for customization purposes like creating SPD workflows, changing master pages, creating customized pages, master page customizations, GUI operations, changing locks etc. But let me tell you, please use this tool very carefully i.e. design and plan every change by taking proper backup. If anything goes wrong then you should be able to revert it back with the default settings.

SP entities:-

OS- Windows 7 32 bit

Designer version- Microsoft SharePoint designer 2013, 32-bit

Browser Status- Fine, site is opening in IE without any issues.

IE version- IE 10 32 bit

SP version- SharePoint 2013

Let me share some troubleshooting steps that I have performed on one of the issue which has been reported by one of the business owners.

Today’s article is completely based on workstation specific i.e. client specific and no need to troubleshoot anything from the server side.

Problem description:-

When I am trying to access my SharePoint site from the SharePoint Designer 2013 then I am getting the following error message.

Error message:-

Server error: The version of Microsoft SharePoint Foundation running on the server is more recent than the version of SharePoint Designer that you are using. You need a more recent version of SharePoint Designer.

When I checked the users’ machine then I found out that he was using multiple office versions for different purposes. – Very strange as one office version can deliver everything that you want then what’s the need of mixed versions.

99%- This issue happens because of multiple office versions installed on the same machine. Microsoft recommends to use the same version of office as well as SPD that corresponds to SharePoint version i.e. if you are using SharePoint 2013 then please make sure that you have the SharePoint Designer 2013 and Office 2013 is a part of the machine i.e. your client machine/desktop/laptop/workstation.

This is not just only one issue because of mixed versions, there are so many with respect to office so best recommendation is as explained above.

Resolution:-

It’s a two-step resolution and not difficult too-

1.    Uninstall all versions of SharePoint Designer on workstation.

2.    Reinstall Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2013

Download link- http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35491

I hope the above information will help you to resolve the issue, in case of any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know. I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues, Thank you.

Are you coming to SP24?

The team over at SharePoint-Community.net are organizing a free, online SharePoint Conference that has already seen 3250 SharePoint professionals register.

SP24 kicks off on Wednesday 16th April, 10pm GMT with a keynote from Senior SharePoint Product Manager, Bill Baer.

Here are some key facts:

Key Facts
• Free for all attendees.
• It’s entirely on-line – so you won’t need to leave the office or home!
• Takes place on 16th April 10pm GMT.
• Lasts for 24 hours.
• Famous speakers from all over the world.
• Keynote from Bill Baer (Senior Product Manager, Microsoft).
• Comprises of 2 tracks, (business and technical).
• 48 Live sessions + non-live sessions.

Find out more and register at https://www.sp24conf.com

Publish InfoPath form to SharePoint 2013 document library

The following article demonstrates how to integrate an InfoPath form with a SharePoint form library, using a centralized template stored in a SharePoint document library and linked to a site Content Type. The form is set up to submit to a SharePoint form library.

InfoPath offers options to enable you to create forms for collecting information from users or displaying information from a data source. In this article I am going to explain about creating a form as a SharePoint list, steps to get started, design, setup, and publish an InfoPath form.

Assumed consideration: - I am assuming that you already have an InfoPath form ready and in this article, we will see how to publish it on your SharePoint 2013 site.

Here are the details:-

1.   Open your InfoPath form

2.   Click on ‘File’

3.   Select Publish

4.   Select the SharePoint Server option

5.   Type the URL of the SharePoint site (without default.aspx)

6.   Click on Next

7.   Make sure the option ‘ Enable this form to be filled out by using a browser’

8.   Select Form Library

9.   If you already have a form library then please select ‘Update’ option, otherwise select ‘create a new form library’

Click on add, select next and finally click on Publish.

That’s it- You are done.

Go back to your SharePoint site and check the form library!

Some Common Issues & Online Resolutions:-

Error Message- the SOAP message cannot be parsed

Resolution- http://sharepoint.stackexchange.com/questions/61330/infopath-form-services-publish-the-soap-message-cannot-be-parsed

Error Message- InfoPath cannot connect to the server. The server may be offline, your computer might not be connected to the network, or InfoPath Forms Services 2010 might not be enabled on the server. To fix this problem, start by checking your network connection, and then trying again

Resolution- Thanks to Brent Hafner’s Blog http://brenthafnersblog.wordpress.com/2013/01/15/cannot-publish-infopath-forms-or-cutomized-list-forms-in-sharepoint-lists-2010/

Error Message- InfoPath failed to publish because the default content type in the document library is not based on the Form content type.

Resolution- Mostafa has mentioned a detail resolution on the following article http://wmostafaw.wordpress.com/2012/11/19/publish-infopath-form-issue-infopath-failed-to-publish

Error Message- The following URL is not valid

Resolution- Nice research by Jenkins

http://www.linkedin.com/groups/When-I-try-publish-InfoPath-44371.S.5803139149573668864

References:-

http://community.office365.com/en-us/forums/172/t/198959.aspx

http://community.office365.com/en-us/forums/154/t/187791.aspx

http://community.office365.com/en-us/forums/154/t/79249.aspx

February 2014 Cumulative Update

February 2014 Cumulative Update Packages for SharePoint Foundation 2010, SharePoint Server 2010 and Project Server 2010 have been released. Use the following links to download the update packages:

February 2014 CU for SharePoint Foundation 2010 - KB 2863938 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2863938

February 2014 CU for SharePoint Server 2010 - KB 2863913 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2863913

February 2014 CU for Project Server 2010 - KB 2863917 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2863917

Note: This is build 14.0.7116.5000 of the cumulative update package.

Managed metadata navigation – SharePoint 2013

Let’s start off by taking a look at this new feature named as “managed metadata navigation”.

Now one of the big challenges to navigation inside SharePoint is a fact that we need to set it up in each site so the problem is if i remove any links then I need to go in each site by site and delete the links or make any changes. On top of that, I have limited control over those links, relatively static i.e. modify each and every link by referring every site collection.

But I am looking out for the ability to have my links a little bit flexible and hierarchical. My capability is to do things like that are limited in certain situations.

What are the challenges?

1.   Limited control over links

2.   Search engine optimizations issues like

·         URL with spaces

·         Pages with query strings

·         Buried pages

How managed metadata comes to rescue in this situations?

1.   Enable navigation via Term set

2.   Terms becomes nodes

·         Terms can point to pages, catalog items, simple URL’s

Enabling managed metadata navigation:-

Couple of things needs to consider like-

1.   Enable SharePoint Publishing feature at the site collection level.

2.   Enable managed navigation at the site level

3.   Configure navigation structure inside the Term Store.

How to setup? Let’s see now-

Phase-1

1.   Open your SharePoint 2013 site

2.   Site settings

3.   Site collection administration

4.   Site collection features

5.   Activate SharePoint publishing feature.

Phase-2

1.   Open your SharePoint 2013 site

2.   Site settings

3.   Under look and Feel

4.   Navigation

5.   Will see two options i.e. Global navigation and Current navigation

6.   Global navigation means top navigation and Current navigation means left navigation.

7.   Scroll down

8.   Will see the section “Term Set”

9.   By default “term store management” is selected. Hit OK.

By means of this, all the links can now be managed by Team Store.

Phase-3

1.   Open your SharePoint 2013 site

2.   Site settings

3.   Site administration

4.   Term store management

5.   There is a Term group “Site collection-nameofyoursite”

6.   Underneath – Team site navigation

7.   Make sure the check box named as “Use this term set for site navigation” is always ticked.

That’s it- we are done. Simple and easy!

Please let me know in case of any queries/questions. I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues, Thank you.

How to customize the master page in SharePoint 2013

Customization is a broad topic but would like to share some basics so that we can do some exploration initially and become expertise by means of hands-on. There are so many ways by which you can do the customization's like SharePoint designer, Visual studio etc.

In this article, we will check the SPD option i.e. SharePoint Designer.

 We will see a simple example i.e. customize the master page so that every page in a site displays a custom footer.

Here are the details-

1.   Open the SharePoint 2013 site in SharePoint Designer 2013

2.   Find the .html page that corresponds to your master page

3.   Edit in advance mode

4.   Add the following HTML right before the end of the workspace div, last one before the end of body tag

<div id=”Footer” class=”s4-not-dlg” style=”background:black;color:white”>&copy; Welcome to My Site</div>

Hope this helps! It’s easy and simple too…

Please let me know in case of any queries or questions. I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues. Thank you.