IE crashes when opening Office documents on SharePoint?

One of the most common problems around the office seems to be the browser crashes when attempting to open files in a SharePoint document library. 

Yesterday, one of my user had raised a ticket that he is facing a problem with Internet Explorer 6 crashing whenever he try to open an office document in a SharePoint.

Exact issue details: You connect to a document library in a Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 site or in a Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 site by using Windows Internet Explorer 7 or Microsoft Internet Explorer 6. However, when you try to open a Microsoft Office document, Internet Explorer crashes (stops responding). 

This problem occurs if the following conditions are true:

    - You install a Microsoft Office 2003 product on the computer.

    - You install one or more 2007 Office system programs on the computer.

    - You repair or update the installation of an Office 2003 product.

In this scenario, the older version of the Name.dll file becomes the registered version. When the Owssupp.dll file is used, it tries to use functionality that is not available. This condition causes Internet Explorer to crash (stop responding). 

Resolution: 

Download and install Microsoft Hotfix Patch

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938888

Another issue which is based on the same story but configuration is different:

if you face below mentioned error message and your machine configuration is windows vista, office 2007 and internet explorer 7 then please follow the below mentioned steps to resolve the issue:

-Click Start Button

-Type Office Diagnostics into Search box

-Click Microsoft Office Diagnostics

-Click Continue to begin the scan.

-It will take some time to run and as it scans your system, you should see results appear online

-Done!!!- click on continue (If you click on the Continue button above, you will be taken to a 

Microsoft Office site which will give you detailed information regarding what was found)

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned info then please let me know, Thanks...

File Name, Length, Size and Invalid Character Restrictions and Recommendations

New Blocked File Types

If you were familiar with the WSS 2.0 list, there are some new Blocked File Types: .asmx, .rem, .resx, .soap, or .ashx.  If they existed before upgrade they are no longer visible or cannot be opened after upgrade.  These file extensions have been added to the list of blocked file extensions.

You now have the ability to make differences between farm wide blocked file types and web application blocked file types.  If you want to un block it, it needs to be removed at both farm and application levels, but you can add specific blocked files for a single web application.  The farm level block list for example will override anything removed at the web application level.

My most commonly removed blocked files are .chm (help files), .lnk (url link), .url (url link) 

My most commonly added blocked files are .mp3 (audio), .pst (mail), .vhd (virtual hard drive)

Site Names

-In WSS Site Names may not contain the following characters: \ / : * ? " < > | # { } % & " ~ +

-You cannot start a site name, sub site name, or a site group name with an underscore (_) character or with the period character (I recommend avoiding the (_) underscore in site names)

-You cannot use the period character consecutively in the middle of a site name

-You cannot use the period character at the end of a site name

File Names

-Invalid characters: " # % & * : < > ? \ / { | } ~ 

-Cannot be longer than 128 characters

-You cannot use the period character consecutively in the middle of a file name

-You cannot use the period character at the end of a file name

-You cannot start a file name with the period character

Folder Names

-You cannot use the following characters anywhere in a folder name or a server name:  ~ # % & * { } \ : < > ? / | "

-Cannot be longer than 128 characters

-You cannot use the period character consecutively in the middle of a folder name

-You cannot use the period character at the end of a folder name

-You cannot start a folder name with the period character

Max File Upload/Download Sizes

The default max single file upload size is 50 MB by default for a web application.  

Microsoft IT limits their environment at 100 MB, and the maximum that the product itself can handle or support is 2GB which is essentially a SQL limit.  By setting the limit to blank will essentially support what SQL will support.

Increase the maximum upload size

1.  Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click SharePoint Central Administration.

2.  Under Virtual Server Configuration, click Configure virtual server settings.

3.  On the Virtual Server List page, click the virtual server you want to change.

4.  On the Virtual Server Settings page, under Virtual Server Management, click Virtual server general settings.

5.  Under Maximum upload size, type the maximum file size (in MB) that you want to allow to be uploaded.

6.  Click OK.

1. Get into the SharePoint Central Administration Site

2. Select "Application Management"

3. Under the "SharePoint Web Application Management" section select "Web Application General Settings"

4. Change the "Maximum Upload Size"

If IIS is timing out when you upload large files, you can configure the Connection timeout setting in IIS to allow more than the default 120 seconds (2 minutes).

Tune the IIS connection timeout

1.    Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.

2.    Right-click the virtual server you want to configure, and then click Properties.

3.    Click the Web Site tab.

4.    In the Connections section, in the Connection timeout box, type the number of seconds you want IIS to wait before timing out.

5.    Click OK.

Coying the files from document library to local hard disk / how to copy/upload documents from local folder to Sharepoint document library

Document libraries are collections of files that you can share with team members on a Web based on Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services. For example, you can create a library of common documents for a project, and team members can use their Web browsers to find the files, read them, and make comments. Users with Microsoft Office 2003 can check out and edit the files as if they resided on a local or network drive.

Please refer the following steps as mentioned below:

Copy / Move SharePoint Document Library files to local folder:

1. Open the sharepoint site that you are using/referring to

2. Go to the sharepoint document library in which all the files resides

3. In the right hand side of the document library, you can see 'ALL DOCUMENTS' View, Please click on that and select 'EXPLORER VIEW'

4. You will see the same set of files/folders which are present in standard view, now select the number of files/folders that you wants to move/copy by using basic windows operations.

Windows commands:

CTRL A: Select
CTRL C: COPY
CTRL V: PASTE
CTRL X:  CUT

5. Suppose if you had selected to copy(CTRL C) then go to the local drive/Desktop location where you wants to paste/move and paste it(CTRL V)-thats it..

6. Depending upon the size of the documents, it will take some time to complete the operation...

same procedure will be applied to copy/upload documents from local folder to SharePoint document library i.e. EXPLORER VIEW so that the activity will be completed in quick manner...

If you have any queries/questions then please let me know..

I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your queries..Thanks...

How to Enlarge the Size of Announcements Web Part

The purpose of an announcement web part is to provide relevant information to the users of a center. The content displayed in announcement web parts is page-based. That means, if a user has access to the page displaying the web part, they will be able to see the content displayed in the web part.

Yesterday, one user raised a ticket as she wants to enlarge the size of the announcement webpart. The reason behind this is-When we create the announcement then the announcement webpart shows some information and remaining one in the dotted lines. So user has to click on that link to view the complete announcement.

User's query was reasonable as why the user click on the link each time if they want to view the complete info. Let me clear first thing-There is no out-of-box way to achieve this functionality. If you want to fulfill this requirement then please use SharePoint Designer 2007(SPD).

In this post, i am going to convey the steps that i have taken to resolve this issue. In case of any doubts/queries then please let me know. I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues, Thanks...

Here we go:-

1. Open the default.aspx page in SharePoint Designer (Please take the backup of this page first before making any kind of changes)

2. Click on the announcements web part and you'll notice a List View Options button is displayed in the upper left corner of the web part.

3. Click on Change Layout.

4. Select the Layout tab and select the layout that is 3rd or 4th from the bottom of displayed layouts and click OK.

5. Click yes to the Site Definition Page Warning dialog. 

6. Save your work in SharePoint Designer.

7. Go back to your browser in which the site is currently open and check the results (Please refresh once)

This Form Template Is Browser-Compatible, But It Cannot Be Browser-Enabled On The Selected Site.

I have an InfoPath form which is published to a document library in a SharePoint site. I am using InfoPath 2007 and MOSS 2007 enterprise edition. When I try to publish the form, and when I check the box "Enable the form to be filled out by using a browser", I only have the option to publish the form as Administrator approved form template, the other options of publishing it in a document library or publishing it as a content type are grayed out. 

 The InfoPath wizard is throwing an error message:

"This form template is browser-compatible, but it cannot be browser-enabled on the selected site"

Troubleshooting Steps:

1. Check Central Administration Settings

 -Central administration

 -Application Management

 -Click on Configure InfoPath Forms Services in the InfoPath Forms Services section (Check the following Check-boxes)

 a. “Allow users to browser-enable form templates”

 b.“Render form templates that are browser-enabled by users”

2. SharePoint Site Settings

1)   Open your SharePoint site

2)   Click on Site Actions 

3)   Site Settings

4)   Select Site collection features under Site Collection Administration

5)   Activate InfoPath Forms Services support or Office SharePoint Server Enterprise Site Collection feature

3. InfoPath 2007 client settings:

1)   Open the InfoPath client

2)   Tools

3)   Form Options

4)   Select the Compatibility category

5)   Check the 'Design a form template that can be opened in a browser or InfoPath'

6)   Click Ok

4. Form Publishing:

1)   When you published the form on to a document library then please make sure this settings (imp step):

2)   Check the “Enable this form to be filled out by using a browser” checkbox and finish.

5. Document Library Settings:

1)   Open the document library

2)   Settings

3)   Document Library Settings

4)   Advanced Settings

5)   Select the “Display as a Web page” option in the Browser-enabled Documents category

After all these troubleshooting steps, if you still faces the same issue then please execute the below mentioned commands and your issue will be resolved:

stsadm -o deactivatefeature -filename IPFSSiteFeatures\feature.xml -force -url %SITE_COLLECTION_URL%

stsadm -o deactivatefeature -filename IPFSWebFeatures\feature.xml -force -url %SITE_COLLECTION_URL%

STSADM.EXE -o activatefeature -filename IPFSSiteFeatures\feature.xml -url %Sitecollection_URL% -force

STSADM.EXE -o activatefeature -filename IPFSWebFeatures\feature.xml -url %sitecollection_URL% -force

If you have any queries/questions then please let me know. I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your queries...