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Site Use Confirmation and Deletion

This functionality- Simply awesome! If you have governance already setup in your organization then everybody will talk about this feature implementation.

This is really a good feature which reduces the storage management task if the site is not being utilized and kept idle for long duration. We can control the number of notifications to be send across (by default is 28) and time duration is 90 days. If the site remains idle for 90 days then the timer job will start sending notifications to the site collection administrators on daily basis, until & unless the site collection administrator clicks on the confirmation link.

How to implement this / from where we can enable this functionality?

Here are the complete details:-

1.   Open the Central Administration

2.   Application management

3.   Under Site Collections

4.   Confirm site use and deletion

We can implement this functionality web application wise, hmm what is meant by web application wise? Is this something will be applicable at the web application level or site collection level? Does this functionality enable the access to web app level?

So much curiosity and excitement is there to know the answer-correct? Me too were having the same before I explored all the things J

Please refer the following screenshot-

Once you select the proper web application from the drop-down then it will be applicable for all the site collections that nested underneath.

Which things are important before applying these settings?

Basically there are two check boxes-

1.   Email notifications

2.   Deletions

Let’s talk about Email notifications:

a)   Time span- By default it is 90 days but if you think this is less time frame for the owners (think from the governance perspective) then you can adjust this window for suppose 5 months / 6 months i.e. 180 days.

b)   When you will get the email from the SharePoint system that please confirm the usage then please don’t ignore by considering that you will get the next reminder email. You need to click on the link which talks about confirmation.

c)   Let me tell you one interesting thing about these emails- customizations. Yes you got it correct; you can customize this email as per your organization requirements. The location is-  C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\TEMPLATE\1033\XML\DEADWEB.xml

Note: Please take the backup of this file before making any kind of changes.

d)   There is one more possibility that initially there might be large numbers of email floating around (on the first-go only) when the timer job gets execute for the first time as we have experienced this behavior.

Let’s talk about Deletions now:

     I.        Be careful on this- Once the site gets deleted then it won’t go to Recycle Bin. Most of the people are having the misconception that just like windows/SP end user recycle bin, this site will also go to the same place but it’s not like that. It will be completely removed from the database also.

   II.        Don’t worry about the sub sites as if gets deleted then you can recover them from the second stage recycle bin but this funda is not applicable for site collections.

Note: In case of any issue or large number of emails floated around then also please don’t modify the database numbers as it is completely not supported.

Let’s talk about behind the scene functionality:

Site use confirmation and deletion functionality is basically depends on three main factors / database parameters:

1)   DeadWebNotifyCount

2)   CertificationDate

3)   LastContentChange

More Information- http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff631154(v=office.14).aspx

Common FAQ’s:

1)   Can we disable this functionality once we enable it? – Yes, you can disable this functionality anytime by the same steps as-

·         Central Administration > Application Management > Site Use Confirmation and Deletion

·         Uncheck the "Send e-mail notifications to owners of unused site collections” check box for the web app these sits are under.

·         Verify the "Dead Site Delete" is 'disabled'

2)  Can we implement this functionality without deleting the site? – Yes, when you turn on / enable the functionality in Central Admin then don’t select the check box which says – “Automatically delete the site collection if use is not confirmed”

3)   When exactly the email will trigger? - The Confirmation and Deletion functionality will e-mail the site owner when the site goes unused for a period of time.

4)  When exactly the site will be deleted? - If there is no response after a certain number of notifications by logging in to the site then you can choose to have the site deleted automatically.

5)   Is there any SharePoint job plays a vital role in this functionality? – Yes, that’s correct. Under Operations> Timer Job Definitions > Dead Site Delete" for all web applications (You will see this job only when you enable the functionality)

I hope the above mentioned information will be helpful to understand this useful functionality.

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

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