Not able to download audit reports

Auditing is an important feature in SharePoint. Auditing maintains a log of the actions performed on content in a site collection. Administrators can retrieve the entire history of actions — from a particular user or date range.

If you want to learn as how to configure audit settings then please refer the following article: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint-server-help/configure-audit-settings-for-a-site-collection-HA010099726.aspx

Coming back to the main point: One of our clients has raised a ticket with us by mentioning: They are not able to download ‘content viewing’ reports.

What exactly is happening as they are not able to download?

·         Open the SharePoint site on which you are working on

·         Site actions

·         Site settings

·         Site collection administration section

·         Audit log reports

·         Whenever we clicks on ‘content viewing report’ to download

·         It prompts for credentials

·         After entering the correct username and password, it keeps the login prompt as it is and finally ‘you are not authorized to view this page’

What is the reason behind this issue / proper explanation?

Audit settings can be configured at the site collection level only. The logs are maintained in the dbo.AuditData table of the respective content database.

You will find an excellent explanation here:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/subhajitc/archive/2009/05/20/tip-the-untold-story-of-audit-logs-in-sharepoint.aspx

Resolution:

stsadm -o trimauditlog

   -url <URL name>

   -date <YYYYMMDD>

   -databasename <database name>

   [-databaseserver] <database server name>

Important instructions:

·         If you are providing the site collection URL then there is no need to provide database name as well as database server name

·         Let’s assume that your client wants the audit data in between 21 September 2011 to 25 April 2012 then the date parameter will be 20110921, so the data before this will be deleted or u can call it as trimmed.

Note: This operation is available after the Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers is installed. This functionality is available only by using Stsadm.

If you have 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 issuesJ J

Copy a permission level

We can choose which permissions are associated with these permission levels (except for the Limited Access and Full Control permission levels) or add new permission levels to combine different sets of permissions. We can associate permissions with permission levels and also associate permission levels with users and SharePoint groups. Users and SharePoint groups are associated with securable objects such as sites, lists, list items, libraries, folders within lists and libraries, and documents.

-: How to Copy an existing permission level:-

§  On the Site Settings page,

§  Under Users and Permissions,

§  Click Site permissions.

§  In the Manage section of the ribbon,

§  Click Permission Levels.

§  In the list of permission levels,

§  Click the name of the permission level you want to copy.

§  At the bottom of the page,

§  Click Copy Permission Level.

§  On the Copy Permission Level page, in the Name field, type a name for the new permission level.

§  In the Description field, type a description for the new permission level.

§  In the list of permissions, select or clear the check boxes to add permissions to or remove permissions from the permission level.

§  Click Create.

If you have 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 J J

An unexpected error has occurred

When a user tries to add a file to the My Content page, he might encounter this error message. This error can occur when the User Profile service is stopped.

To resolve this error, in Central Administration, do the following:

1. Click Application Management
2. In the Service Applications section
3. Click Manage services on server.
4. On the Services on Server page
5. In the User Profile Service row
6. Click Start.

In case of any queries/information required then please let me know.

I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues J

Business Data Catalog

   The BDC is essentially a catalog of business applications that are of interest to SharePoint Server 2007 users, and it bridges the gap between the portal and business applications by bringing in key data from various applications to SharePoint sites, lists, search, and user profiles. The BDC is the key infrastructural component around which most of the other business data features of SharePoint Server 2007 are built. Administrators can register business applications in the BDC, after which the data in the application is immediately available to SharePoint through the business data features described below. A key requirement for each registered business application is an XML-based metadata model that describes the application programming interfaces (API) of the application or the schema of the database that maps to business objects (e.g. customer) and properties (e.g. name) that a SharePoint user can understand. These metadata models can be easily created by DBAs or database developers.

Business Data Web Parts

SharePoint Server 2007 ships with four out-of-the-box Business Data Web Parts: Business Data List, Business Data Items, Business Data Related List, and Business Data Actions. These Web Parts rely on the Business Data Catalog, and their main purpose is to display business data in a portal application without the need for any programming. Moreover, these Web Parts are generic and can show any type of data (entity) registered in the Business Data Catalog.

These Web Parts support Web Part Connections, which enable Master-Detail types of data display – again, without any programming. For example, you can display customers and their details using the BusinessDataList and BusinessDataItems Web Parts.

Web Part	Description
Business Data List Web Part	Displays a list of entity instances from a business application registered in the Business Data Catalog. For example, you can use a Business Data List Web Part to display all the customers or orders from the AdventureWorksDW database.
Business Data Items Web Part	Displays the details of an entity instance from a business application. For example, you can use a Business Data Items Web Part to display the details of a particular customer or order from the AdventureWorksDW database.
Business Data Related List Web Part	Displays a list of related entity instances from a business application. For example, you can use a Business Data Related List Web Part to display all the orders for a particular customer from the AdventureWorksDW database.
Business Data Actions Web Part	Displays a list of actions associated with an entity as defined in the Business Data Catalog. For example, you can use a Business Data Actions Web Part to display all the actions that portal users can perform on the Customer entity. Some examples of these actions are to send e-mail to a customer or edit the address of a customer.

Business Data in Lists

Windows SharePoint Services V3 provides custom field types. SharePoint Server 2007 leverages this feature to provide a new field type called Business Data that is available to all lists in SharePoint Server 2007. The Business Data field type enables users to add data from business applications registered in the Business Data Catalog to any SharePoint list. For example, in your RFP (Request for Proposal) Document Library, you can add a Business Data column to the document properties that specifies the customer who issued the RFP. This enables users to view the customer’s details and perform actions associated with them from within the Document Library.

Business Data Actions

You can define actions for each entity in the Business Data Catalog. Some examples of actions for a customer entity are to send e-mail to a customer or to edit the address of a customer. Business Data Catalog implements actions as links that allow you to navigate to a URL directly from the page where the entity or Business Data column is displayed. For example, these links can open Web pages, display the native graphical user interfaces (GUI) of line-of-business applications, and launch Microsoft® Office InfoPath® forms.

Business Application Search

By leveraging the Business Data Catalog, the Search Center feature of SharePoint Server 2007 can gather and index data from all of the registered business applications and provide full-text searching. For example, after you register the AdventureWorksDW sample database from SQL Server 2005 in the Business Data Catalog, the Search Center feature can crawl the database and return customer data in search results. In addition, the Search Center feature’s extensibility enables you to create customized search experiences. For example, you can create a Customers tab in the Search Center where users can search strictly for customers in the AdventureWorksDW database.

Office documents prompting for credentials

Multiple users are suddenly facing problems while accessing sharepoint site.

SYMPTOMS:

Users are prompted for credentials when accessing Office documents via ISA. 

Customer is using Forms-Based Authentication [FBA] to authenticate external users.

ERROR MESSAGE:

None

ENVIRONMENT:

Office SharePoint Server 2007

CAUSE:

ISA defaults to a settings "Never use persistent cookies"

Resolution:

On the SharePoint site - 

On the properties of the SharePoint publishing rule on ISA, 

go to the following location - Listener - Forms - Advanced Form Options - Cookie Settings - Use 

Persistent Cookies - set this to “On All Computers” (the default setting is “Never use persistent cookies”)

If you have 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.

Could not load user profile

When we implement SharePoint or when we set up everything right from the scratch i.e. creating service application, web applications, site collections, host headers etc. at that time it might be a possible we did some mistake then it will come in the picture when we provide the site for testing to end users or testing team.

When an end user tries to access their personal My Site, he might encounter this error message.

This error occurs when the SP admin does not connect a User Profile service application with the Web application that hosts My Sites, or disconnects a User Profile service application from the Web application that hosts My Sites.

To resolve this error, please refer the following steps and your issue will be resolved:

1-In Central Administration-Click Application Management.

2-In the Web Applications section, click Manage web applications.

3-On the Web Application Management page, click the Web Application that hosts My Sites, and then, in the Manage section of the ribbon, click Service Connections.

4-In the Configure Service Connections Associations dialog box, ensure that a User Profile service application is selected and set as the default.

If you have 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

Installation of WSS/SP2 package was failing

Problem Description:

To install the SP2 & April Update for MOSS

ERROR MESSAGE:

"Installation of this package failed." Error while installing the WSS package”

What is happening?

When we tried to install the WSS/Sp2 and WSS Hot fix package we get "Installation of this package failed" error

ULG logs digging:

“MSI (s) (60:44) [17:51:28:748]: Product: Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

Error 1921.Service 'Windows SharePoint Services Search' (SPSearch) could not be stopped. Verify that you have sufficient privileges to stop system services.”

Cause determined:

This package was trying to stop the "Windows SharePoint Service Search" and was failing.

Resolution provided:

1. Stopped manually SPSEARCH service from the services.msc console and found we were able to install the WSS package without any issue.

2. On Another server we were unable to stop this service and were showing some errors.

3. We manually set the status to "DISABLED" and rebooted the server

4. Found we were able to install the package successfully.

If you have 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 :-)

Export To Spreadsheet not showing response columns from Survey:MOSS 2007

Survey list has so many limitations and this list is very unique from all lists which are present in sharepoint.

I have handled so many issues regarding survey from last few weeks. From all of them, i have noticed one which is very unqiue and need some tweaks to get your issue resolved.

When we used "export to spreadsheet" option for survey then we dont get all the columns data  and shows only time stamp and items field.

End user opened a ticket for this and it took some time to resolve this issue as it was new for me also.

Please refer the following steps regarding the same:

1. Open the survey list

2. Edit Page

3. Modify shared webpart

4. Edit the current view

5. Select the appropriate view in which you wants to make the changes

6. Copy the View GUID ID from the URL and paste in a note pad https://sharepoint2007/sites/AHRC/Comp%20Survey%20Report/_layouts/viewedit.aspx?List=%7B415A8DFB%2D0FFF%2D4412%2D925D%2DC4191DDF4127%7D&View=%7B02550769%2DEBF3%2D45F8%2D987C%2DE19F51CC06DB%7D&Source=https%3A%2F%2Ftestl%2Ewsstools%2Econsumer%2Esharepointgroup%2Enet%2Fsites%2FAHRC%2FComp%2520Survey%2520Report%2Fdefault%2Easpx%3FPageView%3DShared

7. Edit the GUID to eliminate few characters , notice the change carefully: %7B02550769%2DEBF3%2D45F8%2D987C%2DE19F51CC06DB%7D&  becomes “02550769- EBF3- 45F8-987C-E19F51CC06DB”

8. Select the number of columns as per your requirements and click OK

9. Click on Actions-Export to spreadsheet. Now as you mentioned in the screenshot below there is a view ID in connection properties-Replace the View GUID with the one copied above and click OK.

10. It will give you the correct spreadsheet.

If you have 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

Site Prompts for Credentials + How to add your sharepoint site in trusted file location zone - SharePoint 2007 and SharePoint 2010

This is a very common issue in which the SharePoint site prompts for credentials i.e. username and password. By default, SharePoint sites should automatically log you in via your existing Windows credentials without ever asking any identity.

Yesterday, one of my user faced the same problem n would like to share the resolution with all of u.

Internet Explorer Security Settings: How to add your SharePoint site in trusted file location zone

Open the Internet Explorer/Browser

1.   Tools

2.   Internet Options

3.   Select Security Tab

4.   Sites Button

5.   Enter the website name (URL) in Add this website to the zone.

6.   If your SharePoint site is NOT using SSL, make sure you uncheck the box require server verification (https :) for all sites in this zone prior to adding it.

7.   Click Ok once and you will be redirected to following window:

8.   Click on Custom Level Tab now

Note: If you are getting the above tab greyed out then it means that you don’t have admin rights on your machine.

9.   Scrolls towards the bottom and select the option that says

"AUTOMATIC LOGON WITH CURRENT USERNAME AND PASSWORD"

Click OK Everything

Open your SharePoint site in a new browser and check the results

The above steps will resolves your login prompts issue and you should be able to access the SharePoint without any problems!!!

If you face any issue then please let me know... I would be more than happy to help you and resolves your queries as soon as possible. Thanks you.

The restricted trust level is not supported + Infopath

Recently I tried to create an InfoPath 2007 form template and publish it to a SharePoint Forms Library and I received the following error:The restricted trust level is not supported.

This Form template cannot be uploaded to the server.Review the following 1 error(s) for more information.
Errors
The restricted trust level is not supported.

-Make sure that the form’s trust is set to domain.
-Go to Tools > Form Options > Security and Trust and Uncheck “automatically determine security level” and select “Domain”or "Full Trust" as the level of trust.
-Click “Ok”.

To publish InfoPath 2007 form to a SharePoint library:

Using SharePoint to Verify and Upload the Form Template

The SharePoint Central Administration site contains the Upload Form Template page,to verify a form template before uploading it. Once the form template is verified, enter the path to the form template and upload it to the server.

To verify the form template by using SharePoint Central Administration
1. Click Start, click All Programs, click Administrative Tools, and then click SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration.
2. In the top navigation bar, click the Application Management tab.
3. On the Application Management page, under InfoPath Forms Services, click Upload form template.
4. On the Add Form Template page, click Browse.
5. In the Choose file window, browse to C:\InfoPathLabs\deploylab01.xsn, click the template, and then click Open.
6. In the Deploy Form Template section, click Verify.
7. In the Report Details section, look for any errors and warnings for the form template.
8. If the system warns you that the template already exists, click Application Management, click Manage form templates, click the arrow that appears next to the form template, and then click Remove Form.
9. On the Remove Form Template page, click Remove.
10. If you did not receive a warning, click OK.