Best Practices for Assigning Permissions and adding users in SharePoint 2013

Few Tips about Assigning Permissions and adding users in SharePoint 2013 -

* Break permission inheritance as infrequently as possible.

* Use groups based on folder membership to assign permissions - Do not use SharePoint groups to assign permissions to sites.When a SharePoint group is used to assign permissions, a full crawl of the index occurs. Instead, we recommend adding Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) groups.

* Assign permissions at the highest possible level. As part of this strategy, consider the following techniques:

• Put documents that require unique Permissions in document libraries that are defined to support that Permissions.
• Use different document publish levels to control access. Before a document is published, the advanced permissions and versioning settings can be set for users who can only approve items in the document library.
  
• For non-document libraries (lists), use the ReadSecurity and WriteSecurity permission levels. When a list is created, the owners can set the Item-level permissions to either Read access or Create and Edit access.

 

* Ensure that you do not have too many items at the same level of hierarchy in the document libraries, because the time that is required to process items in the views increases.

 

* There is a built-in limit of 50,000 scopes (unique permissions) per list or document library. After 50,000 scopes are reached addition of new scopes in a given list or document library is prohibited.

 

* Only set unique scopes on parent objects such as folders.

 

* Do not create a system with many uniquely-permissioned objects below an object that has many scopes.

 

* If your business requires more than 50,000 uniquely permissioned items in a list or document library, then you must move some items to a different list or document library.

CallOut Popups displayed for specific lists in SharePoint 2013

I was asked this question to turn-on CallOut Popups for Announcements list where popups where going to get display the description of the field.

I researched why the Callouts does not appear on the Announcements list as I thought they get displayed for all of them by default but clearly this is not the case.

By default, CallOuts are displayed for certain types of lists and Libraries. I found the list here at Working with CallOut Popups in SharePoint 2013 post from LearningSharePoint.com

CallOut Popups are displayed for following Lists & Libraries -

• Document Library
• Assert Library
• Images Library
• Pages Library
• Task Lists

Lists that do not display CallOut Popups are -

• Custom Lists
• Announcements Lists
• Calendar List
• Discussions List

Change Page Layout from Article Page to WebPart Page in SharePoint 2013

I found this Interesting post on LearningSharePoint.com

By Default, When you use “Add a Page” option in Site Actions to Create a Page, a Page using Article Page Layout gets Created. Just to make it clear we are talking about “Add a Page” option that is in the screen below.



To Change the default Layout (for this “Add a Page”) to your Custom Layout or to a WebPart Page Layout, you can use “Page layouts and site templates” feature that is available in Site Settings of your Publishing sites.

Lets look the Steps on how to do this -

1. Firstly, navigate to Site Settings using the Settings wheel or Site Actions in your SharePoint 2013 site.

2. Under “Look and Feel” Select “Page layouts and site templates”. Make Sure you have Publishing feature enabled to see this option.



3. In Page layouts and site templates page in “New Page Default Settings” section Select the page Layout that you need to set as default in “Select the default page layout:” list.



Once you have set this option, when you Create a new Page using “Add a Page”, a new WebPart Page will be Created.

Create a Page using “Add a Page” for testing purposes.

Resulting Page –


The above page has Title and Page Content Fields added by default.You can Ignore these Fields and use WebPart Zones Instead.

New Project Page Layout in SharePoint 2013 Wiki Site

Each Wiki Site has a Library called “Pages” that can accommodate additional Wiki pages added to your site. By default, two Pages – Home and About are added.











For a Content Author by default, three types of Wiki pages are available -

• Enterprise Wiki Page
• Redirect Page
• Project Page

Enterprise Wiki Page – This is a Default Layout Type for any page Created in the Wiki site.

Redirect Page – This Page Layout is used when a User wants to Create a Page for Redirecting Purposes.

Project Page – Project Page Layout is a new Content Type added to a Wiki Site. A Project Page Layout is used for Creating Wiki Pages specific to Projects in the Company. This Layout has a special right Column for adding Metadata about the Project with Fields such as Project Status, Contact Person and Web Page address for the Project. See an example of Page Created using this Content Type below.

How to deploy WSPs from SharePoint 2010 in SharePoint 2013

In this post we will discuss some of the Important things to note while deploying SharePoint 2010 Solutions in SharePoint 2013. These results are based on Our experiences and findings from various posts about migration around the web.

Deploy SharePoint 2010 Solutions in SharePoint 2013 -

Migrating Custom Wsp Solutions -

Most of the wsp Solutions deployed in SharePoint 2010 should work fine in SharePoint 2013. This is because of the Support for both 14 Hive and 15 Hive directories that are Created in SharePoint 2013 by default.

Initially, when you deploy a SharePoint 2010 Solution it gets deployed to 14 Hive and not 15 Hive. To force the solution to install in 15 Hive you need to modify manifest.xml file of your solution and add addSharePointVersion=”15.0″ attribute to it. The Solutions can be forced to install in 15 hive that way However, some of the files especially that refers to _layouts might not work. All SharePoint 2010 Solution files that refers to _layouts folder (i.e. Features, Layouts-files, Images, ControlTemplates)needs to be updated(best approach is to Re-Create the Solution in Visual Studio 2012).In 15 hive , files in Layouts directory has a Path with ’15′ added to it.

For example path of a Custompage in 14 and 15 hive would be -
14 Hive path  – _/layouts/Custompage.aspx
15 Hive  path – _/layouts/15/Custompage.aspx

Notice the reference of 15 in _layouts folder reference in 15 Hive.This is reason you need to update paths of all the deployed files such as Features, Layouts-files, Images, ControlTemplates if the solutions is targeted to be deployed in 15 Hive.

Compatibility Level - In addition to SharePointVersion=”15.0″ attribute,with the new “CompatabilityLevel” parameter of Install -SPSolution cmdlet you can now deploy your .wsp or Solution to either 14 hive, 15 hive or both using the Powershell itself.This “Compatibility Level” value overrides SharePointProductVersion specified in manifest of the solution and it is only way with which solutions can be installed in both 14 & 15 Hive.

Compatibility Level Impacts only files deployed to the Templates folder in the 14/15 Root folder i.e. Features, Layouts-files, Images, ControlTemplates, etc.The files deployed Outside of this folder (e.g. a WCF Service) will be deployed to the 15/ISAPI regardless of the Manifest or PowerShell Compatibility level settings of the wsp-package. Files such as Assemblies in GAC/Bin and certain resource files will also be deployed to the same location regardless of the Compatibility Level.

Bin Directory Considerations -
Also, you can no longer add partial trust solution packages to the \bin directory.Any files deployed to the \bin directory must be full trust.

GAC Considerations - After the Release of .NET Framework 4.0, the GAC was split into two, one for each CLR.
c:\windows\assembly is the location for .NET versions 1.0 through 3.5 and
c:\windows\microsoft.net\assembly is location for all the dlls for project Created in .NET Framework 4.0.
Consider looking into new Location if you have Created your project in Visual Studio 2012.
For these reasons and more it is Recommended to Re-Create a Solution in Visual Studio 2012, Re-add all the features, Components and then deploy it to SharePoint 2013 in 15 hive.

Sandbox Solutions -

Sandbox solutions are upgraded with the Content databases.

Fabulous 40 templates in SharePoint 2013 -

As per MSDN, Microsoft is not Creating any New Versions of these Fabulous 40 Templates. The Old Sites based on these templates can be upgraded only if the Templates are Installed successfully in SharePoint 2013.You can try installing wsp of Fab 40 with CompatabilityLevel as 15 and upgrade the existing site collections.

Master pages and CSS files -

Master Pages and Css has Changed a lot in SharePoint 2013.You can deploy a master page in Master page gallery but the styles from old core.css needs to be updated.See some useful tips on How to Override default Css in Layout and Master Pages in SharePoint 2013

Themes -

Re-create your themes following the SharePoint 2013 theming guidance, or select a new theme available in SharePoint 2013.

Site definition -

Migrate sites to a supported, predefined site definition, then apply Custom features by using Solution deployment.You can also Continue to use a Custom site definition. You do not have to create a new site definition that is based on SharePoint 2013.

SharePoint 2013 Design Manager Examples

SharePoint 2013 Design Manager Tutorials. This month we Started Exploring a new Feature of SharePoint 2013 called “Design Manger”.

This is Suppose to be a good replacement of the existing SharePoint Designer to Create Master Pages & Layout Pages in SharePoint 2013. Design Manager is a Cool new addition as it lets you Convert a simple HTML Template into a SharePoint Master Page(along with an awesome Preview functionality), Create a Layout Page, Get Code Snippets for SharePoint Components, Manage Design Templates for Search webparts and more.

Lets look at some of the Features & Benefits of using Design Manager.

1. Design Manager can only be used on Publishing sites(or sites with Publishing Feature turned-on).
2. You can Navigate to Design Manager from Site Settings menu and from Site Settings Page under Look and Feel.
3. You can upload the entire Design Package using “Import Design Package” option or you can Create Design Package using “Create Design Package” option.
4. You can Manage Device Channels – Create and Edit Channels.
5. Upload an HTML Master Page and Create a minimal master page.
6. Create an Edit Page Layouts.
7. Edit Display Templates.
8. Change Site and System Master Page
9. Lets you Preview Master Pages, Layout Pages and navigate to Snippet Gallery.
10. Lets you get Code from Snippet Gallery(for SharePoint Components) to be added to Master Pages & Layouts.

To begin with, consider Mapping Master Page Gallery as a Network drive. Opening Master Page Gallery as Explorer would let you Copy and Paste the design files that you can use in Design Manager.

Lets look some of these examples -

Add an Html Master Page to SharePoint 2013 using Design Manager – With Design Manager, you can now Create a SharePoint Master Page out of a simple HTML Page Template – that you can either download from Internet or create it a notepad. See an example…
 
Create a Custom Page Layout in SharePoint 2013 This is a Step-by-Step tutorial on how to Create a Custom Page Layout in SharePoint 2013.We will use the new Design Manager to Create a Layout (from an existing one) and then edit it in one of the editors like Notepad.Once the layout is Created and Uploaded to Master Page Gallery, you can edit the generated html file in an editor of your choice and upload it back to the Master Page Gallery. See an example…

Add Snippets from Snippet Gallery in Master Pages & Layout Pages in SharePoint 2013 This is a Step-by-Step tutorial on How to use “Snippet gallery” and how to add Snippets for SharePoint Controls in Layout Pages using the design manager. See an example…

Add Navigation, Security Trimming and more Snippets in Master Page in SharePoint 2013 In SharePoint 2013 the new Snippet Gallery provides an easy way to get Codes for very useful SharePoint Out-of-box Controls like Navigation, Security Trimming Control, Edit Panel Control, Search, Device Channel and more. SharePoint 2013 Design Manager Tutorials

Now you Upload Logo in SharePoint 2013 Site from you Computer

Changing Logo on a SharePoint Site is one of the most desired requirements for a new SharePoint Site. It is easy to Change the Logo using Site Settings where you simply add the URL to the logo that you want replace it with.

Simply Navigate to Site Settings  and select 'Title, Description, and Logo'. Next in SharePoint 2013 you have two Options to Upload a Logo From Computer and to Upload from a SharePoint Site.

FROM COMPUTER | FROM SHAREPOINT
 

Uploading from SharePoint Site would let you select the Logo from one of the Libraries and Uploading From Computer would let you select the Logo from your Computer that gets added to Site Asserts Library and then applied as a new Logo.

Uploading from Computer is new in SharePoint 2013.