How to edit a Master Page and Layout Page in SharePoint 2013

You probably would have seen a lot of examples about Creating Custom Master Page and Layout Page in SharePoint 2013, but in this post, I will give you some very important tips that you need to know before you start creating these custom pages.
When editing a Master Page -
When you try to modify a SharePoint 2013 Master Page, you must edit the Master Page’s .html file only. Once saved, the associated master page file gets updated automatically.
So don’t attempt to modify the .master as it should be perfectly in sync with its html counterpart.


When editing a Layout Page -
When you Create a Custom Layout Page using Design Manager, two files – .aspx and .html gets Created in the Master page gallery.

If you need to make any Changes to the Layout page, make sure you download the .html file of your layout page and make Changes to it. The .aspx page will get updated automatically.

Also, don't forget to Publish the .html or .aspx as a major version.

SharePoint Versioning

Tip #1 - SharePoint Tip of the Day – You probably would have used Major and Minor Versions in a document library. While Setting the limits though there are two boxes available under “Optionally limit the number of versions to retain”.
1) The first box is for setting the limit for Major Versions.
2) The second box however is used to specify the number of Major version that can have minor versions.

A lot of users think that the second box it to specify the number of minor versions but that isn’t true. In actual, the second box is to specify major versions that you want to keep drafts or minor versions for. By default, each major version can have up to 511 drafts (minor versions).

Tip #2 - If a user with Read permissions is getting Access denied on Documents, be sure that the document is Published as Major Version and not is in Draft’s mode.

A Document in Drafts mode will give access denied to any Read-only user despite of Read permissions assigned to it.

You can also change the “Draft Item Security” in Version Settings to allow readers to see the Draft versions as well.

Why I don't see "Edit Links" in left or Top Nav in SharePoint 2013

Here is a quick tip on a question that I was asked today.

"Edit Links" only appear in a Top-level Site (of a site collection) and not in subsites only if the navigation is inherited from the parent site.

In other words, if your subsite is inheriting navigation from Parent site the link "Edit Links" in left and top navigation will not appear.

Migrate Content in new SharePoint 2013 Online\Office 365 Site

You can now use a new Public Site Content Migration App to copy pages, documents, images, navigation, and more from your existing website to your new website in Office 365.

If your Office 365 account was recently upgraded, you’ll notice that you end up with two public websites.The Public site (middle) is your current website and the New public site (right) is the new website introduced with the upgrade. With both websites available, you can take your time learning how to use the new website and upgrade websites at your own pace. Or, if you’re not using your current website, then don’t upgrade at all.

To start the upgrade, go to the new website and install the Public Site Content Migration App. (Choose Settings  > Add an app select SharePoint Store and search for Public Site Content Migration App.)

Once you install it, open the app on your new website. (Settings  > Site contents > Public Site Content Migration.)

Follow the instructions, which starts with installing the migration app on your existing (pre-upgrade) website then returning to the migration app on your new website to finish. (Your existing website must be upgraded to the latest version of SharePoint before you can install the migration app there.)

When you’re finished migrating content and customizing the new website, you’re ready to switch to the new public website. You do this in two steps. First, make the website public so that everyone can see it. (You do this from the new website itself.)

Then, you change the website address (URL) of the new website so it uses your custom domain name, (like www.contosobistro.com). This assumes you own a custom domain name; if not, then there’s no additional step here.

Hide\Disable CallOuts and CallOut Actions in SharePoint 2013

I was asked about the easiest way to Hide or Disable CallOuts and CallOut Actions in SharePoint 2013. I found few ways but the easiest is to either Change the View of the ListView Webpart or use a Custom Column that does not have a CallOut tied to it.




Look at the Various Options below -

1. Change the Column (Title) - You can Change the Title Column that is tied to CallOuts by using Title with Linked to edit menu or Title with Linked to Item Instead of Default Title Field. See details at Hide CallOuts in a SharePoint 2013

2. Change the View  - You can Change the View of the ListView Webpart to Newsletter etc to give your webpart a SP2010 ListView Look and feel. See details at Disable CallOut Popup for a Field or Column in SharePoint 2013 List
 
3. Hide CallOut Actions - You can Hide CallOut Actions bu Overriding the CallOut Actions in a default CallOut. See this quick example at Hide,Remove,Customize CallOut Actions in SharePoint 2013

Display Truncated Announcements in SharePoint 2013

The requirement of Displaying Truncated Announcements in SharePoint is one of the most desired requirements from business.

You can achieve this in various known ways like Custom webpart, odifying XSLT, dding DataForm Webpart etc but one of the new and easiest ones that I saw on web is by using JS link.

With JS link property of a ListView you can control the rendering of items entirely. Take look at this example from LearningSharePoint.com which shows how easy it is to style announcements and modify the output as per your requirement.

You can also try few other Interesting Options that I found on the web -

Display Announcement Details in CallOuts on Hover Over of Item in SharePoint 2013

Styling Announcements with JavaScript (using JS Link) in SharePoint 2013

SharePoint 2013 - Create CallOut and CallOut Action Example

Example of Creating a CallOut and CallOutAction in SharePoint 2013

CallOuts are displayed for Certain type of lists in SharePoint 2013 like Task lists and Document libraries. All exiting CallOuts Can be customized and new one can be Created.

In the below Code all you need is to replace the 'target' element to position the callout from.



Create new CallOut -

 

 var listCallout = CalloutManager.createNew({ 
                launchPoint: target, 
                beakOrientation: "leftRight", 
                openOptions: { 
                    event: "click", 
                    showCloseButton: true 
                }, 
                ID: title, 
                title: title, 
                content: "<div class=\"ms-soften\" style=\"margin-top:13px;\">" 
                        + "Pulication Date: " + pubDate + "</div>" 
                        + "<div class=\"callout-section\" style=\"margin-top:13px;\">" 
                        + "<div>Description:</div>" + description + "</div>", 
            }); 

 

Create CallOut Actions -

 

var calloutAction1 = new CalloutAction({
                text: "Open ",
                isEnabledCallback: function () {
                    callBackListUrl = curListUrl;
                    return true;
                },
                onClickCallback: function () {
                    window.open(callBackListUrl);
                    listCallout.close();
                }
            });

 

listCallout.addAction(calloutAction1);

Check out more Examples at SharePoint 2013 CallOut Tutorial & Examples