SharePoint 2013 Search Verticals and Search Result Pages

Don’t get scared by the term “Search Verticals”  they are the new search categories like People and Content in the old SharePoint Version. Just to be Clear Search Verticals are Categories that are displayed Under the Search box such as Content, People, Conversations,Videos and other Custom Result Scopes.

Search Verticals or Result Source -
In SharePoint 2013 you can specify locations to get Search results from, and set Protocols for getting those results, by using result sources. SharePoint 2013 provides predefined result sources, such as Everything,People which are Set by default. You can Change the default to another predefined result source, such as “Recently changed items” or to a Result Source that you Create. To create a new Search Vertical or Result Source you can Create a new Result Source and specify the query transformation. With “Query Transformation” you can restrict queries to a subset of Content to create a new search scope.
Search Results Pages -
When you Create an Search Center site collection SharePoint 2013 Creates a default search home page and a default search results page.In addition to the default search results page SharePoint 2013 also creates few pages for other default Search Verticals.
The following pages are created in an Search Center site collection:

• default.aspx: the home page for the Search Center, and the page where end-users enter their queries.
• results.aspx: the default search results page for the Search Center. It is also the search results page for the Everything search vertical.
• peopleresults.aspx: the search results page for the People search vertical.
• conversationresults.aspx: the search results page for the Conversations search vertical.
• videoresults.aspx: the search results page for the Videos search vertical.
• advanced.aspx: the search page where end-users can apply some restrictions to their search phrases — for example, limiting the search to an exact phrase.

These pages are located in the Pages library, and they contain Web Parts that you can customize to improve the end-user search experience.

SharePoint 2013 – New Features in Information Rights Management (IRM)

With the Introduction of new Office 2013 there have been new additions to Information Rights Management (IRM) in SharePoint 2013.Firstly, What is Information Rights Management (IRM) – It is a file-level technology from Microsoft where it uses permissions and authorization to help prevent sensitive information from being printed, forwarded, or copied by unauthorized people. SharePoint supports use of IRM on documents that are stored in document libraries. By using IRM, you can control which actions users can take on documents when they open them from libraries in SharePoint. This differs from IRM applied to documents stored on client computers, where the owner of a document can choose which rights to assign to each user of the document.

Prerequisites -
* The permissions are enforced by using authentication, typically by using Active Directory directory service (AD DS). A Microsoft account can be used to authenticate and grant permission if Active Directory is not implemented.
* Before you apply IRM to a list or library it must first be enabled in Central Administration for your site. It can be configured on a subscription level (new in Office 2013) for cloud-Office 365 services.
* To enable IRM on Libraries admins Must have at least Design Permissions on that library.
* A Server administrator must install Protectors on all front-end Web servers for every file type that they Want to protect using IRM. A protector is a program that controls the encryption and decryption of rights-managed files of a specific file format.
Here is the List of New and Old Features in Information Rights Management (IRM) -

• IRM on Library Files and List attachments - If the IRM is enabled for a library, it applies to all of the files in that library. In the list however, it applies only to files that are attached to list items, not the actual list items.
• Easier to use IRM Settings - Settings UI for a document library has been made easier to use (New).
• New UI settings- Admins can now set the following
  • Set access rights, including rights to print, run scripts to enable screen readers, or enable writing on a copy of the document (new to Office 2013)
  • Set expiration date (the date after which the document cannot be used
  • Control whether documents that do not support IRM protection can be included in the library
  • Control whether Office Web Apps can render the documents in the library (new in Office 2013)
• Office Web Apps can render Protected documents - This means that if an authenticated user does not have a compatible Office client, they can still view the documents using Office Web Apps. Note that in the case of Web Apps, the document is presented in read-only mode.
• Prevent Opening documents – Admins can Prevent Opening documents in the browser for a Document Library by simply selecting a check box on the Information Right Management setting page.
• Protect Documents for a group – An admin can choose an Active Directory group and use it to stamp the usage license for the file. Then, documents that are downloaded can be used by all the members of the group, and the user who downloaded the copy can transfer the copy to any member of the group directly.
• IRM supports PDF files – Since PDF documents are integrated better into SharePoint 2013, PDF readers can register a control to allow simple opening of PDF files, and PDF documents can be protected with Microsoft IRM services.
• IRM by Tenant - IRM Integration can now be configured to be tenant aware, thus providing the ability for each tenant to have different IRM settings.

SharePoint 2013 – Create Shortcut to your SharePoint Library for Saving Files

Its always easier if you can Copy and paste a bunch of documents in a library directly rather than using the Upload document page.In SharePoint 2013 you have two options to add multiple documents - 1. Using Drag and Drop(This has its own browser and Office limitations) 2. Explorer ViewThe Upload multiple documents has been depreciated.In addition to these how about if you can directly Save your Office documents into the library without even opening the SharePoint site.This can be done by “Connect to Office” Option in the “Connect and Export” group in the ribbon of the Library.

Connect to Office
Connect to Office gives you following Options to make SharePoint Sites Work with Office documents.

• Add to SharePoint sites
• Remove from SharePoint sites
• and Manage SharePoint sites

With Add to SharePoint Sites Command, a shortcut to the library is created in the SharePoint Sites folder of your favorites list(in the explorer) and in the Office Save As and Open dialog boxes.
Using the Add to SharePoint Sites Command on a library lets you do the following tasks easily:

• Open a SharePoint library document from your Office application and update it.
• Share or publish a new document directly from your favorite Office application to a SharePoint site library.
• Insert images, videos, and audio files from a SharePoint Asset Library into Office documents.
• Find a connected SharePoint library document in your Windows Explorer file system.

Lets Look at a Sept-by-Step process on how to add a Shortcut to a Document library in your Favorites list (in Windows Explorer) which you can use to Save files directly into a SharePoint library.

1. Open a SharePoint site library from the browser.
2. Click the Library tab.
3. Click the Connect to Office Command in the ribbon and select Add to SharePoint Sites.

This will add “SharePoint Sites” folder in your favorites list in windows Explorer which when clicked will show the site name and document library name that you added the shortcut to.You would see something like “Team Site-Shared Documents” when you click on your newly added SharePoint Sites” folder in your Windows Explorer’s favorites list.After you’ve created this shortcut to a SharePoint library you can now Save and Open an Office document from the SharePoint library directly using this shortcut.
Screenshots will added later..

What are Site Feeds and how to Follow & Unfollow Sites in SharePoint 2013

As a part of SharePoint 2013′s social Capabilities Uses can Follow and UnFollow sites to track updates for the sites that they follow.Firstly lets look a breif description about the Site Feed\Follow.
What are Site feeds -  Site feeds display Posts and Replies (or Conversations) to users who have access to the Team Site they are following.These Posts and Replies displays in the Newsfeed of a user.Here are some of the Important things about Site feeds -

• Site feeds do not display system-generated activities.
• Site feeds or Follow Site Option is only available if the “Following Content feature” and “Site Feeds feature” is activated on the Team site(in the written Order). By default, the Site feed feature on a team site is enabled.
• Site feed activities are Security trimmed.This means that no site feed activities will appear in the search results of a user who doesn’t have access to the team site.
• If the activity is a Site feed activity, the activity is saved in the team sites Content database.

How to Follow a Site - User’s Can simply click on “FOLLOW” button in the Suite bar (top link bar).



When a User FOLLOW a site it gets added to the “Sites” can see the sites that follow

How to UnFollow a Site - To UnFollow a Site a user need to Navigate to his\her MySite and then Navigate to the sites that they Follow. To go to the sites they Follow page they can either select “Sites Number” under “I’m following” in NewsFeed or Users can click on “Sites” tab Next to NewsFeed tab in top link bar and they will see the sites they follow
In the sites they follow page users will see the Option to “Stop Following” the sites.

SharePoint 2013 – Add\Edit Links in Quick Launch or Left Navigation

This is a Step-by-Step article on how to add Links to the Quick Launch or Left Navigation of a SharePoint 2013 site.
Please Note : This article is a part of our SharePoint 2013 How To’s series.
With the Introduction of New look and feel for SharePoint 2013, the procedure for Adding\Editing Navigation links has Changed.The New Quick Launch can now be edited from “Edit Links” option which is available in the quick launch itself.Lets look at the detailed Steps-
1. New UI –
2. When you click on “Edit Links” it Opens the quick launch in Edit mode.You can either drag and drop any link to the edit area or simply click on “link” button.

3. When you Click on the Link you can add the URL where your link would go to and the Text to display.Click OK Once done.

4. This will add “Create Lists” link in the Quick Launch.

5. Save the Quick Launch to Save the settings.

Other Features -
Edit the Quick Launch Links - Simply click on the added “Create Lists” link to edit the URL and Text.

Order Quick Launch Links - For Ordering the links simply drag and drop the links and Save the settings.
Please note : The old “Navigation” option in Site Settings still exists for editing Quick Launch and Global Navigation.The Feature is available Only for sites with Publishing feature turned on.

How to use IFrames in SharePoint 2013

Support for IFrames has been added in SharePoint 2013 as a part of Web Content Management(WCM) Enhancements as specified in the post SharePoint 2013 Web Content Management Enhancements.With IFrames Admins can now Embed dynamic content from other sites, such as videos or map directions on any SharePoint site into an HTML field like the one of Content editor webpat or in a blog post Body field.To add a Youtube Video add the “Youtube.com” Domain in “HTML Field Security” first.
Any external domains that will be Inserted in an Iframe should be added as Approved domains in “HTML Field Security” first.”HTML Field Security” is a new feature that you would find in Site Settings (of a Site collection) under “Site Collection Administration” section.
By default, Certain trusted external domains are already Approved for use in iframes.Site collection administrators can customize the field security settings by changing the default trusted external domains.
Please Note : This article is a part of our SharePoint 2013 How To’s Series
Lets look at the Steps-
1. Navigate to Site Settings (top-level Site collection) -> HTML Field Security.

2. Make sure the domain that you need to use in Iframe is added as permitted domain.In our case we will add a Youtube Video in an Iframe So we need to make sure that “Youtube.com” is added in the list.

3. Navigate to your Youtube video and click on Share and then Embed.

Copy the highlighted text.
4. Add a Content editor webpart on a page and then click on “Edit Source” in “Format Text” tab in Ribbon.

Add the following in the Source.

and click ok.
Result -

Introducing the Dual License Model in SharePoint 2013

Just read this great post by Antonio Maio about the New Licensing model SharePoint 2013.So here is the short description for our readers.
SharePoint License model is simple and well known by its Users.As you might know, that users can purchase Standard or Enterprise license CAL (client access license) for SharePoint and these License types Enables or disables certain features depending on the One you purchase.
Enterprise license usually Offers more features than Standard.Traditionally, these additional features offered by Enterprise License are used by a set of people in the Company, not by the entire user base.Still for the earlier versions of SharePoint Companies needed to purchase the Enterprise CAL for all their users to make use of a few additional features by a set of users.In SharePoint 2013 however this has been Changed.Now Admins can Assign a set of Users access to Enterprise CAL features while other users (with Standard CAL) will have Restricted access to the additional Enterprise CAL features.The License Enforcement is gracefully handled by SharePoint when in case a Standard CAL user tries to access a feature that is only available to Enterprise CAL Users.
The license that is assigned to a user is based on their active directory group membership. The way this is done is by mapping an active directory group to a particular license category, and then assigning users that are supposed to have a particular license to that group.

In this post we will see how to add a user Control in a SharePoint Master Page, along with its code file. Here we will create a user control with a hyperlink, and will change the title of the hyperlink and its navigation url in the page load of the code file. The steps are: 1. Create the Web user Control (ascx) along with the code file. Open Visual Studio and Create a new web application project. Add a Web User Control in your project. In the ascx file add a hyperlink control.( like below) Now, lets add few lines in our code behind file. See the below image. Ok we are done adding the stuff. Now lets build the Project. Oh wait! we didn’t sign the project, since we are going to throw the .dll for this project into GAC, we need to sign the project with a key. 2. Signing the Project - firstly, let create a key that we need for signing. To do this browse to the VS tools command prompt (See below ). Now, create the key using the command below. Now build the Project. After you have done this, we need to make one little modification to the ascx file so that it uses what we have written in the code behind. We usually do not deploy .cs or code files along with our ascx or aspx pages in Sharepoint, instead the ascx file accesses the code file, by inheriting from the .dll of the project. so lets change the Inherit tag in the ascx file to something like below : Inherits=”MasterPageUserControlDemo.MasterPageUserControl1, MasterPageUserControlDemo, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=0745576964bce313″ Now build the Project once again. 3. Deploy the Control - To add the control in SharePoint context, Open the project folder and just drag and drop the control into controltemplates folder of SharePoint 12 hive. I mean add this under this path : “C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\CONTROLTEMPLATES” Next, drag and drop your signed assembly into GAC or C:\WINDOWS\assembly folder. 4. Now, we are ready to add our user control in our master page - So, lets start with registering the user control in the master page . To do this, open your SharePoint site in SharePoint designer and check out the master page. Now, add the line below on the top the page. See the Image below. <%@ Register TagPrefix=”ouruc” src=”~/_controltemplates/MasterPageUserControl1.ascx” TagName=”OurSitesLink” %> Now lets just add the control anywhere on your page. I added the below line in the footer of the page . See the image below. >ouruc:OurSitesLink id=”Footerlink” runat=”server”/< Now check in the page and approve it. The Result should be something like below.

In SharePoint 2013 Sites are Saved as Template in the same way as in earlier versions but there are some steps that you need to keep in mind.
Please Note : This article is a part of our SharePoint 2013 How To’s Series
Important things to know about Saving Sites as Template -

• You Cannot Save a Publishing Site or a Site with Publishing feature activated as a Site Template.
• As in SharePoint 2010 Saving Sites as Template does not generate a .stp file, it gets saved as a .wsp in Solutions gallery.
• When Saving a Site as Template the WSP generated is temporarily saved in the c:\temp or in c:\windows\temp folder and later in the solution gallery on SharePoint. Make sure that the App pool account has Full permissions to c:\temp and c:\windows\temp folder.
• You Cannot Create a Subsite based on a Site Template that was Created in SharePoint 2010. You will need to recreate the site template in the 2013.

So here is the Step-by-Step process to Save a Site as Template in SharePoint 2013.
Steps -
1. Open a Team Site that you need to Save as Template and Navigate to Site Settings ->Under “Site Actions”  select “Save Site as Template”.

2. Next in the Save as Template Page enter Template Name and Description.Click Ok.

3. Next, you would see a Operation Successful message with a link to “solutions gallery”.






4. If you Navigate to the solutions gallery you can see that the CustomTemplate is added to the library.Next we will create a site using this Template.

5. To Create a Site\Subsite from a Template Navigate to “Site Contents” -> new subsite (towards the bottom).

Add user control in sharepoint master page

In this post we will see how to add a user Control in a SharePoint Master Page, along with its code file. Here we will create a user control with a hyperlink, and will change the title of the hyperlink and its navigation url in the page load of the code file.
The steps are:
1. Create the Web user Control (ascx) along with the code file.
Open Visual Studio and Create a new web application project.

Add a Web User  Control in your project.

In the ascx file add a hyperlink control.( like below)

Now, lets add few lines in our code behind file. See the below image.

Ok we are done adding the stuff. Now lets build the Project. Oh wait! we didn’t sign the project, since we are going to throw the .dll for this project  into GAC, we need to sign the project with a key.

2. Signing the Project  -
firstly, let create a key that we need for signing. To do this browse to the VS tools command prompt (See below ).

Now, create the key using the command below.

Now build the Project.
After you have done this, we need to make one little modification to the ascx file so that it uses what we have written in the code behind. We usually do not deploy .cs or code files along with our ascx or aspx pages in Sharepoint, instead the ascx file accesses the code file, by inheriting from the .dll of the project. so lets change the Inherit tag in the ascx file to something like below :
Inherits=”MasterPageUserControlDemo.MasterPageUserControl1, MasterPageUserControlDemo, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=0745576964bce313″
Now build the Project once again.
3.  Deploy the Control -
To add the control in SharePoint context, Open the project folder and just  drag and drop the control into controltemplates folder of SharePoint 12 hive.
I mean add this under this path : “C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\CONTROLTEMPLATES”
Next, drag and drop your signed assembly into GAC or C:\WINDOWS\assembly folder.

4.  Now, we are ready to add our user control in our master page -
So, lets start with registering the user control in the master page . To do this, open your SharePoint site in SharePoint designer and check out the master page.  Now, add the line below
on the top the page. See the Image below.
<%@ Register TagPrefix=”ouruc” src=”~/_controltemplates/MasterPageUserControl1.ascx” TagName=”OurSitesLink” %>

Now lets just add the control anywhere on your page.  I added the below line in the footer of the page . See the image below.
>ouruc:OurSitesLink id=”Footerlink” runat=”server”/<

Now check in the page and approve it.
The Result should be something like below.