Using document libraries

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Shared Documents

Your company's internal Web site, which is based on Windows® SharePoint® Services, includes document libraries where you and your co-workers can create, share, and review documents and other files. By default, there are five document libraries, each containing a sample document. You can create new document libraries to meet your needs.

When you open a document library, documents appear as a list of links, with columns that display data about each document. Moving your mouse pointer over a document link enables you to access a list with several options, such as Edit properties, Delete, and Discuss. The latter option enables you to insert review comments into the document, provided it is saved as an HTML file. Clicking a document link opens the document in the same Microsoft Internet Explorer window. In the left pane, you can modify the view of a document library, as follows:

  • Columns. You can select columns in which to track information about documents in the library. For example, you can use columns to track author, size, title, and number of pages. You can add or delete columns and change the order in which they appear.
  • Filters. You can filter content based on certain criteria. For example, in a document library view that shows only one person's sales proposals, you can use a filter to show only those proposals written in May by that person.
  • Views. You can define the views in a document library and enable others to change those views. For example, a document library for sales proposals might have a view for banks, a view for real estate companies, and another for law firms. You could also decide to view sales proposals by salesperson; for example, you could display Jack's proposals in one view and Jill's proposals in another.

The left pane also enables you to configure alerts, which can be useful when tracking documents within a document library. When you configure an alert, you receive an e-mail notification when changes are made, and you do not have to repeatedly check the document library for changes. For example, if you configure an alert on a document library called Sales and a new document is added to the Sales library, you receive an e-mail message notifying you of the document.

You can set different alert schedules for different document libraries. For example, you might want to be notified weekly about one document library, daily on another, and "immediately" on yet another.

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