About the Author: Michael Mayes IncWorx Consulting

My name is Michael Mayes and I am the Business Development Director here at IncWorx Consulting.

Company Bio: 
IncWorx Consulting, winner of Microsoft’s 2010 worldwide partner of the year award for SharePoint Deployment and Planning Services (Microsoft SDPS) and a managed Gold Certified SharePoint Partner, has been focused on delivering solutions utilizing Microsoft tools and platforms since 1998. IncWorx Consulting is considered the premier Microsoft partner for SharePoint architecture, design, development, integration, deployment and support. IncWorx Consulting is a boutique firm specializing in the Microsoft suite of products that support SharePoint including: .NET, SQL, Exchange, Server 2008 and Hyper-V.

With a global network of SharePoint consultants and SharePoint experts, IncWorx Consulting seamlessly helps its customers anytime, anywhere. IncWorx consultants' bring unparalleled technology and delivery expertise – a powerful combination for implementing technology visions that yield business results.

Since our inception in 1998, we have helped 100’s of customers realize their business goals through technology coupled with our proven delivery methods.

IncWorx Consulting specializes in the Microsoft enterprise platform, offering a range of solutions to help your organization optimize its infrastructure, build and integrate efficient Microsoft .NET applications, foster collaboration and better information sharing, and deploy strategic business solutions within your existing environment. Our solutions ensure that you achieve your business goals and create a competitive advantage. We are the go to SharePoint Partner. If you are looking to customize SharePoint, apply SharePoint branding, or even looking for a SharePoint Job we are the place to be. 

Overview of Work
I love my job and I am very proud of my work.
Some of the things that I have done here at IncWorx Consulting are as follows: 

Sales
Contract Design
Public Website Design 
SharePoint Support Services (s3) Document Design
Company Overview and SAS Document Creation 
Signature Creation 
Event Planning  
s3 Microsite Design
Blog Design and Implementation
YouTube Video Creation
Facebook and Twitter Page Creation
Social Media Campaign Development
Viral Video Creation
Sales Presentation Development

Michael Mayes

IncWorx Consulting - SharePoint, .NET, SQL, Exchange

Business Development Director Professional Profile 

W 847.839.9679 ext 201  |  C 517.819.2692 

1901 N. Roselle Road, Suite 1010, Schaumburg, IL  60195

Check out some of my work at: 
www.incworx.com


What is SharePoint?

As a sales representative to a Chicago SharePoint Consulting firm, IncWorx Consulting, I have been asked many questions pertaining to what SharePoint is. I have been told that many people in the Chicago SharePoint Consulting community struggle with the question. Many say it is simply a document repository or a central intranet. SharePoint is so much more than that.

I have been working with the SharePoint platform for over a year now. The most common question people ask is "What is SharePoint?”. Although more and more companies are aware that the platform exists they don't truly understand what the platform can provide for an enterprise. For those of you that have heard of SharePoint but have no idea what the platform is or does MS released a video that explains SharePoint in plain English. This is a great SharePoint video that can explain SharePoint without getting too technical.

Typically this video ends up in a steering committee meeting to understand the capabilities of SharePoint. This is the best way to help sell the idea of SharePoint.

Video Uses: 
Great Introduction to SharePoint Video
Presentation Introduction to SharePoint
Video to get people excited about SharePoint
Understanding the new uses for SharePoint 2010
Understanding SharePoint social computing capabilities
How to get my company to use SharePoint
Explaining SharePoint to the lay person
Explaining SharePoint to my company


Integrating Mobile with SharePoint 2010

Friday, January 13, 2012 by Michael Mayes
IncWorx Consulting has taken leaps and bounds in the mobile arena to integrate mobile devices to SharePoint Server 2010.

Recently mobile devices have become more powerful and easy to use. Laptops, netbooks, tablet PCs, and mobile phones are relied upon to provide workers access to the information and applications that they must have to do their jobs. Additionally, developing applications for mobile devices is now easier than ever. As a result, more and more often business scenarios demand integrating client applications together with business processes and workflows.

Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 and Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 to provide workflow capabilities that enable you to model business processes and integrate them with multiple applications and systems. You can create client applications to extend reach of the workflow and make it available outside the context of SharePoint sites. Creating client applications to access workflows in SharePoint sites requires a client application, networking (services), and integration with SharePoint lists and workflows.

Scenarios

The following scenarios are examples of using mobile devices with SharePoint workflows:

  • An insurance company that uses mobile applications to locate insured assets and file claim reports for customers
  • A company with underground infrastructure, such as a telephone, electric, or cable company, that uses mobile applications to locate underground infrastructure and mark it to ensure it is not damaged during digging
  • A water company that uses mobile applications to record how much water each customer uses
  • A retail company which uses mobile applications as a point of sale application at outdoor events (concerts, sporting events, carnivals, etc)

As the previous scenarios show, the need for rich functionality, data access, and process integration in mobile applications is common. Creating mobile applications that integrate with SharePoint 2010 saves time developing mobile applications that meet these requirements.

This article focuses on integrating client applications together with the SharePoint framework, particularly showing how to read and write data from SharePoint lists to integrate with workflow processes.

Benefits

Extending SharePoint workflows beyond SharePoint sites in a web browser provides several benefits to workflow participants. The benefits include, but are not limited to the following items.

  • Interacting with workflows from a mobile client application (mobile access)
  • Reducing the steps to interact with a workflow
  • Enhancing the workflow process with rich data and functionality
  • Automating parts of the workflow process.

Components

You must create several components to integrate mobile client applications together with SharePoint workflows. These components include the computer that is running SharePoint Server, sites, lists and workflows to store data, define business processes, and define security permissions, the mobile client applications that access the data in the SharePoint lists and workflows, and the services which support communication between the mobile client application and the computer that is running SharePoint Server. The following figure shows these components and how they are related. Rely on our SharePoint Experts to configure these types of scenarios.

Don Funk

(Provided by MSDN)

If you are looking for a Microsoft Gold Partner to help with your SharePoint Deployment to integrate mobile technology than call the experts at IncWorx at 847-839-9679. 

SharePoint 2010 Governance: Information Governance

Friday, January 13, 2012 by Michael Mayes

How do I create a SharePoint 2010 Information Governance Policy?

SharePoint Deployment Governance is one of the most important aspects of SharePoint Server 2010. A good SharePoint deployment will take into account these policies presented to an enterprise from the top down. This is part 1 of a three part series pertaining to SharePoint governance.

Governance Defined: Governance is the set of policies, roles, responsibilities, and processes that guide, direct, and control how an organization's business divisions and IT teams cooperate to achieve business goals.

There are three main areas of focus when planning for a Governance Policy. This blog post will focus on:

  • Information Technology Governance (Part 1) 
  • Information Management
  • Application Management

IT Gov


The first thing to consider is: Are you going to centerally mange SharePoint (within IT) or are you going to locally manage SharePoint (let the divisions manage it)? 

Information Technology Governance: This area is heavily focused on policy management. A main focus is educating internal staff on account creation and assigning roles to govern SharePoint. Organizations have to define the site lifecycle by assigning

  • Expiration Dates on Sites (How long will a team site stay out there for?) 
  • The Service Level Agreement of Site Creation(How long should someone wait for a SharePoint site to be created?) 

You organization must ask the following questions:

Who will we do SharePoint support? Who has the rights to create Sites, Lists, Documents, Records, Wikis, Blogs, Access, Terms and Term Sets and External Data? There is also a focus on how to assign asset classifications. This pertains to the high, low, top secret priority level of a document.

Use IncWorx Consulting to help you set a good IT Governance policy!!!

How do I add a Video web part to SharePoint 2010?

Wednesday, January 11, 2012 by Michael Mayes

How to a place a video to my SharePoint 2010 page? 

SharePoint Help: I have been asked by many firms how to attach a video to a SharePoint page. This blog post will give you step by step instructions on how to add video to a SharePoint site. Uploading large video files are typically a bad idea due to the amount of resources they consume. Our SharePoint Consultants recommend using the Remote Blog Storage Service to store these files in remote locations.

Step by Step Instructions:

  • Click Edit
  • Click inside the web part you intend the place the video
  • Click Insert
  • Click Web Part

Adding a SharePoint Video Web Part

Once the web part prompt appears

  • Click Media and Content
  • Click Media Web Part

How to upload a video web part step 2

The media web part will now appear on the site.

  • Click the check box to the left of the Media Web Part Title
  • Click Change Media Drop Down
  • Select From Computer
  • Click Browse
  • Select file
  • Click Open

The video file will now appear on the SharePoint Page. If the video file exceeds the maximum upload size please give us a call.  847.839.9679 Extension 201

IncWorx Consulting, the go to SharePoint Partner!

How do I increase the upload file size in SharePoint 2010?

Tuesday, January 10, 2012 by Michael Mayes

How to change the upload file size in SharePoint 2010?

SharePoint Help: This blog post will give you step by step instructions on how to increase the maximum file size in SharePoint 2010. There are few reasons a SharePoint administrator would want to do this but the reason I wanted to do this is due to the fact I want to upload a large video file to a SharePoint home page. This blog post will show you how to do this. First you will need to remote into the box SharePoint is on and make this edit in Central Administration.

  • Remote into SharePoint Box
  • Enter Central Administration
  • Click Application Management

Once the application management screen appears

  • Click Manage web applications

Step 1

 

  • Click the General Setting Drop down
  • Select General Settings

Step 2

Once the general settings prompt appears change the Maximum upload size.

Step 3

Once the general settings prompt appears change the Maximum upload size.

Step 4

This was a quick and easy way to customize SharePoint to get any file size into a document library.
IncWorx Consulting the go to SharePoint Partner!!!

Win 7 Internet Security 2012 Trojan Virus Fix

Tuesday, January 10, 2012 by Michael Mayes

Win 7 Internet Security 2012 Security Trojan Virus Fix

Symptoms: Win 7 Internet Security 2012 will launch and start scanning, recommends you to update Win 7 Security, Critical Trojan Virus are on your computer, Internet will not work, programs will not open, everything says that it is not recommended to move forward. Your computer will give you pop up after pop up saying that you need to update your Win7 Security. Prompts you for a credit card. 

The following images are related to this virus:

Win 7 Antivirus 2012 Image


Win 7 Virus

Fix:

If the admin account is infected on your system you will need to create a new admin account so that you can delete the .exe file that is currently causing the problem.

How to create a new Admin Account

  • Start
  • Right Click Computer 
  • Click Manage
  • Click Local Users and Groups
  • Click Users
  • Right Click under users: Add New User – Set Users name: Admin Password: Admin
  • Click Back
  • Click Groups
  • Click Administrators
  • Click Add
  • Type Admin – Click Check Name – Click OK – Click OK
  • Capture Computer name by clicking Start – Computer
    • Computer name is on the bottom left
  • Log Out and log into the new admin account
  • If your system is on a network start the log-in with the computer name then backslash then admin account
    • (computername)\Admin

How to get rid of your virus

  • Click Start
  • Click Computer
  • Click C:
  • Users
  • Click the folder of the User that is infected with the virus i.e. the user you were on when you noticed the virus
  • Click AppData
  • Click Local
  • Delete Everything that is not in a folder especially things that end with .exe
    • Delete at own risk but it has been my experience that anything that is not in a folder is malicious
  • Click LocalLow
  • Delete all items not in folder
  • Click Back
  • Click Roaming
  • Delete all items not in folder

The virus should be deleted. Log off this user and back into the user account that has the virus. The easiest way to make sure you get rid of this virus is to do a system restore before your system was infected. You can also use Melwarebytes and Spybot but I recommend doing the Restore. This does not  affect any files you have worked on. It simply restores all settings from the last backup and restore.

How to do a system restore:

  • Click Start
  • Click All Programs
  • Click Accessories
  • Click System Tools
  • Click System Restore
  • Next
  • Click the date that restores your computer pre virus
  • Do the restore

About IncWorx Consulting

IncWorx Consulting is one of the industry leaders in SharePoint Consulting. Their team of SharePoint Administrators and SharePoint Developers are awarded the SharePoint Partner of the Year from Microsoft.

IncWorx Consulting the SharePoint Experts! 


SharePoint Custom Branding: New BrandIt Offerings!!!

Thursday, December 8, 2011 by Michael Mayes
IncWorx Consulting is expanding their SharePoint Design Packages to include the following.
  • Themes: Changes the overall color and font scheme for a SharePoint site.  These are general changes designed to achieve a quick, but effective, overhaul to the color palette of the site.  Starting at $100.
  • Skins: Find-grained control over colors, fonts and imagery.  Skins are designed to provide a more advanced/professional look-and-feel.  Starting at $500
  • Intranet Starter Packages: Includes everything under Skin plus changes to master pages and page layouts, and includes a suite of custom web parts.  Starting at $5,000
  • Custom Branding Engagement: Our design team works with your organization to overhaul the look-and-feel of your SharePoint site to precisely match your branding requirements.  Starting at $20,000

In addition, all BrandIt options are customizable for an additional fee.





IncWorx Consulting has advanced branding experience with companies like Rubbermaid, General Motors, Unilever and Dell. If you are interested in any of the above packages please feel free to contact Michael Mayes at 847-839-9679.

Customize SharePoint with IncWorx... overnight!!!

Quickest way to place an image on a SharePoint 2010 Site

Thursday, December 8, 2011 by Michael Mayes

How do I place an image on a SharePoint Page without uploading it to the assets library first?

SharePoint Help: It can be difficult to place an image on a site by linking SharePoint to an image url. Another approach is to upload the image to the asset library then point SharePoint to that image to place in a web part. The quickest way it to simply select the image you would like to place in a web part from your local machine and allow SharePoint to place the image in the asset library for you. This blog post will give you step by step instructions on how to make this happen.

In the example below I intend to place a banner on a SharePoint 2010 page. This is a quick an easy way to customize SharePoint so that the look and fell aligns better with your company branding. The image currently sits on my local machine and it has not yet been uploaded to SharePoint.

·         Click inside the web part you intent to place the image. The place location will have a flashing cursor in it

  • Click Edit

Edit

  • Click Insert
  • Click Picture Drop Down
  • Click From Computer

Step 2

  • Click Browse
  • Select the image from your local machine aka computer
  • Click OK  

Step 3

The next prompt will allow you to save the image into your asset library automatically.

  • Name the Image
  • Give the image a title
  • Click Save
Step 4

The image will now be placed in the web part where the cursor was flashing.

Final Product


You can further customize SharePoint by editing the web part by using the Picture Tools. I placed a table boarder around the image to give a little character. I have also centered the image by clicking Format Text, selected the image, and used the centered align selecting.

If you need other tips and tricks in customizing SharePoint please feel free to contact us.

IncWorx Consulting the SharePoint Help you need!


Viewing Outlook Calendar in SharePoint 2010 Web Part

Thursday, December 8, 2011 by Michael Mayes

How do I link SharePoint to Outlook where I can view my Outlook Calendar in a web part?

FREE SharePoint Consulting: There has been many times where I see Outlook integrated with SharePoint. Most of these SharePoint Implementations allow users to see a team calendar from Outlook. This blog post will show you have to do the exact opposite. This blog post will show you how to view an Outlook Web App (OWA) calendar in SharePoint through a web part. This is done by linking SharePoint to OWA.

  • Click Edit

Edit

 

  • Click inside the web part you would like to view the Outlook calendar
  • Click Insert
  • Click Web Part

Step 2

  • Select Outlook Web App from the categories list
  • Click My Calendar
  • Click Add

Step 3

 

  • Click open the tool pane
  • Fill in your Mail Server Address {Don’t forget the https://} (You can find this address by opening Outlook 2010 -> File, the address should be in the Account Settings box)
  • Change the Height of web part to something like 600 px

Step 4

The OWA login screen will appear in the web part

  • Enter credentials
The calendar will now appear on your SharePoint Page

Step 5


If you are looking for tighter integration with SharePoint please feel free to contact Michael Mayes at IncWorx Consulting. 847-839-9679 ext 201

IncWorx Consulting the leader in SharePoint Consulting!

Adding items to the SharePoint 2010 left navigation (aka Current Navigation) or top navigation (aka Global Navigation)

Thursday, December 8, 2011 by Michael Mayes

How do I add things to the left or top navigation in SharePoint 2010?

SharePoint Help Tip 69: The left navigation and top navigation on SharePoint 2010 can house a veriety of differnt things including but not limited to; hyperlinks to websites, lists, site, groups of lists, groups of sites or even groups of hyperlinks. This blog post will show SharePoint 2010 users how to add to the left navigation aka current navigation or the top navigation aka global navigation.

From your current SharePoint site you intend to change the left or top navigation to you can customize SharePoint navigation by following the steps below:

  • Click Site Actions -> Site Settings
  • From the Site Settings Page -> Navigation

Once the Navigation prompt appears you can change the global navigation or current navigation to include other sites or websites you deem important. I am going to add to the IncWorx Consulting Blog to the global navigation first. To do this I will do the following steps:

  • Click Global Navigation
  • Click Add link…
  • Title the Link
  • Attach the Hyperlink

Step 1

If you would like to add items to the current navigation follow the following steps:

  • Click Current Navigation
  • Click Add link…
  • Title the Link
  • Attach the Hyperlink
  • Select Open link in new window

The link will now appear in the Current Navigation but will be placed all the way to the bottom of the list. Use the Move Up icon to move the hyperlink to the intended location. For this example I would like the IncWorx Blog to show up at the top of the list.

Once the hyperlink is in the correct location click Save

The left navigation / current navigation displays what I want it to now.

Step 3

If you need more help with understand navigation or need more help with your SharePoint Deployment please feel free to contact a SharePoint representative directly at 847-839-9679 ext 201

IncWorx Consulting the SharePoint Deployment Masters!!!

Microsoft Lync 2010: Screen Sharing / Video Sharing in Lync 2010

Tuesday, December 6, 2011 by Michael Mayes

Posted by IncWorx Consulting: Microsoft Lync 2010 has the ability to share your desktop with anyone. The following blog post will give you step by step instructions on how to do so.

Step by Step Instructions

Start by clicking meet now.

Lync 2010: Meet Now


If do not have the File bar you can access Meet Now by clicking the settings icon dropdown and selecting Meet Now 

 Settings - Meet Now

The following prompt will appear.

Lync 2010: Audio or No Audio

You can use Lync’s audio if you do not already have a conference line. For this example we will select Do not join audio. Then we will select OK.

The normal Lync dialog box will appear. This is the screen in which you can invite either internal Lync subscribers or non Lync users.

To invite non Lync users select the participant drop down and select Invite by Email.

Lync 2010: Invite by Email  

The prompt will appear with a hyperlink for users to send non Lync users a meeting invite. This hyperlink is static and will join the user to your screen.

When the user clicks the hyperlink they will be prompted to download Silverlight if they do not already have it. Once the user downloads Silverlight, or if they already have it installed, the following prompt will appear for them:

Lync 2010: Joined Meeting

The following prompt is what the user and the sender will see. Once the user has joined  the meeting as a Guest, as an attendee, he will wait in the lobby until being admitted.
Once the user has joinded the meeting youwill see their name above yours.

Lync 2010: User Joined

To share your desktop select Share and select Desktop.

Lync 2010: Share Your Desktop

You know you are sharing your desktop by the top box indicating you are "currently sharing".

Lync 2010: Currently Sharing

I hope this step by step guide was useful. For help with other Microsoft technologies please feel free to check out or offerings at www.incworx.com

About IncWorx

IncWorx Consulting is primarily known for SharePoint consulting and Custom .NET consulting. Recently, IncWorx has expanded their offering to include Microsoft Lync consulting, Microsoft Commerce Server and Microsoft BizTalk consulting

IncWorx Consulting is the SharePoint Consulting Guru

SharePoint On-line through Office 365 vs. SharePoint in-house?

Tuesday, December 6, 2011 by Michael Mayes
How do I know to go with SharePoint On-line through Office 365 or
bring SharePoint in house? 

Office 365 Logo
I have been asked this question many times and my answer depends on the following areas:

Budget
What type of budget are you working with? Although I would love for all organizations to get SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise and host it internally, this is just not feasible for some companies. If you are considering SharePoint internal some of the costs associated with it are as follows:
  •   SharePoint Server License: $5,000
  •   SharePoint Standard Client Access License (CAL): Around $90-100 each
  •   SharePoint Enterprise Client Access License (CAL): Around $80-90 each

This is just for SharePoint software alone, you will need to get SQL Server up to 2005 SP3 or SQL Server 2008 R2.

SharePoint On-line through Office 365 is only $6- $30 a month.

Customizations
SharePoint On-line limits you to all out of the box feature ONLY for SharePoint deployment, they include some things like InfoPath Services but it is a very "watered down" version of SharePoint. You cannot add custom code to SharePoint On-line unless you follow a very stringent Microsoft protocol. Fat and skinny is that you can't do any of the cool things you would be able to if you "owned" your SharePoint Implementation. Using SharePoint on-line is "renting" SharePoint. Adding custom code would be like remodeling a rental unit. They won’t let you do this unless you check with the owner first and get everything pre-approved. When you get SharePoint On-line you are not buying the "Application Platform" that Microsoft markets to you. (Sorry for the over use of parenthesis)

Branding
Unless you like the look of SharePoint out of the box you are stuck with it, you cannot customize SharePoint. Yes, you can change the branding a little by changing the theming and you can add a logo but you can't change the way SharePoint looks. This would fall under the customizations realm.

If you intend to customize SharePoint than I would lean towards owning SharePoint. If you are simply trying to throw up an intranet and don't care about all the bells and whistles that come with custom code I would go the On-line route. Either way, SharePoint is a great tool and by using a GREAT SharePoint partner like IncWorx Consulting you will be very happy with your decision. 

Free Content Organizaer Tool for Post Migration: DocAve 6

Tuesday, December 6, 2011 by Michael Mayes
IncWorx Consulting has a great partnership with AvePoint, the creator of the DocAve platform. This blog post will link you to the beta DocAve 6 tool so you can restructure your SharePoint content past migration for FREE. Many times when you move document libraries around version history is not moved with it. The DovAve Content Organizer will allow you to move content around as you please.  This product is currently in beta.


DocAve 6 simplifies the deployment, monitoring, and enforcement of Microsoft SharePoint 2010 governance policies. As a fully integrated platform, DocAve 6 enables centralized or delegated management of SharePoint farms hosted on-premise, or in private and public clouds such as Microsoft Office 365. Manage development, test, and production farms with ease, and govern solution and component deployment with DocAve's application lifecycle management tools.

IncWorx Consulting can help you migrate enterprise content by using one of the following approaches:
  • In-place Upgarde
  • Database Attach
  • Hybrid Approach 1
  • Hybrid Approach 2
  • Custom Migrator Tool
  • Third Party Migrator Tool
IncWorx Consulting is one of the best SharePoint Experts in the nation. Contact us today to help you with your SharePoint migration. 847-839-9679

Adding a Page Viewer Web Part to a SharePoint 2010 Site

Tuesday, December 6, 2011 by Michael Mayes

How do I add a web part to a SharePoint page that allows you to view a website?

FREE SharePoint Help: This blog post will give you step by step instructions on how to allow a SharePoint page to view another live website. Why would someone need to view a webpage from SharePoint? Great question, believe it or not some organizations do not allow employees to surf the web. This day in age it is few and far between but let’s just say that this is possible and you needed a way to access a site. This is assuming that the network team will allow access to this site from your organization. Every SharePoint implementation and network security is different.

Step by Step Instructions:

I created a blank new page by going to Site Actions and click New Page. A black page will appear and the cursor should be blinking inside the only web part on the page.

  • Click Insert
  • Click Web Part

Adding a webpage viewer web part

The add web part prompt will appear, from this prompt do the following:

  • Click Media and Content from the Categories Tab on the left
  • Click Page Viewer
  • Click Add
Adding Page Viewer Web Part: Step 2

The Page Viewer web part will appear in the black content area where the cursor was blinking earlier. If you need to place this web part on a page that isn’t black, make sure that you click on the area you would like to place the webpage viewer web part before you click insert. You can customize SharePoint to allow web part height and width so this page viewer can be as large or small within a web part you desire. The blinking cursor indicates where the location of the web part will be placed.

  • Click open the tool pane
  • Enter the url you would like the page viewer web part to be placed in
  • Adjust the height of the web part so that the viewing area is larger than what is preconfigured by default. I have chosen to do 800 px.
  • Click OK

Page Viewer Web Part: Step 3

The website will now appear on your SharePoint page.

Webpage Viewer Web Part Final Product

If you need more help with the webpage viewer web part please feel free to contact us.

IncWorx Consulting the go to SharePoint Partner!

New IncWorx SharePoint branding template

Wednesday, November 30, 2011 by Michael Mayes
The beta version of SharePoint Branding product "BrandIT" is projected to hit the streets on 1/1/11!!!

SharePoint Branding


IncWorx Consulting has done custom SharePoint branding projects for companies like DELL, General Motors, Rubbermaid and Unilever. This branding product has been a culmination of all the user feedback the company has received over the years from many SharePoint implementations. This is a quick and easy way to customize SharePoint without having to jump through all of the development hoops typical in a SharePoint project.

IncWorx Consulting is currently selling reduced pricing seats into the Beta Version of the BrandITproduct. Incworx is looking for specific environments to test the product in. If you are interested in SharePoint custom design please feel free to submit an e-mail to michael.mayes@incworx.com to obtain consideration into the program.

Features Include: 
  • Custom Announcements
  • Custom News & Blog
  • Custom Activity Feeds
  • Custom Weather Widget
  • Weather and Marketing Display
  • Customized User RSS Display

There are many other features within the product offering, this is just of what is to come.

IncWorx has been working with SharePoint since 1998 when the platform was named Site Server. IncWorx is considered the industry leader when it comes to design, implementations, customizations and getting the most out of SharePoint. 

If you would like to learn more, please feel free to reach out to
IncWorx Consulting at 847-839-9679.

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SharePoint 2010: Adding folders to document libraries?

Monday, November 21, 2011 by Michael Mayes

How do I add a folder to a SharePoint 2010 folder?

Many organizations will try to mimic the folder structure that is found on their shared drives. Although there are many different ways to create this structure, this blog post will simply give the user the ability to add folders inside of folders much like the file share. Although, this post will show the user how to do so, IncWorx Consulting suggests using meta data and creating meta columns to help consumers of data better understand the content of the document in a snap shot.

This might seem like a very easy thing to do but I have been asked how to do this task, by clients, twice this week. I will offer up this free SharePoint help.

Step by Step Instructions

  • First, start in the document library you would like to add the folder to
  • Second, select the Documents tab under Library Tools
  • Third, select New Folder

Adding a folder to a SharePoint 2010 document library

If you are looking for more in depth SharePoint support please feel free to reach out to IncWorx Consulting. IncWorx has had in depth SharePoint experience since 1998. Call us today if you are looking for a team of experts at your fingertips that can consult your company on how to better use the software. We can help you create a folder structure that is compliant with Microsoft bets practices.

Logging time in JIRA

Wednesday, November 16, 2011 by Michael Mayes
How do I log my time in JIRA? 

This blog post will give you a step by step guide in how to log time in JIRA. JIRA is a great way for keep track of all the step by step items needed when implementing SharePoint 2010.

This is the profile page Sammy Dev. Click the number of issues to launch the Issue Navigator

Sammy Dev JIRA Profile

Issue Navigator screen appears, click Bug fixes to launch “Bug Fixing Issue”

 JIRA: Issue Navigator

The “Bug Fixing” issue will open:

JIVA Issue User Interface


To log time, click more actions and log work:

Log Time in JIRA

The log work prompt will appear, enter time here:

 JIRA: Log Work Interface

This is a quick and easy way to keep your SharePoint Deployment on task.

IncWorx Consulting: Bringing the pain to SharePoint problems since 1998.

SharePoint 2010: How do I check in and check out a document

Tuesday, November 15, 2011 by Michael Mayes

How checking in and checking out documents in SharePoint 2010 works

One of the most basic uses of SharePoint is the check in / check out document management features.  The purpose of this feature is to allow one true copy of the document to reside within the document library. This blog post with review this function and allow users to better understand the icons and prompts SharePoint gives the user. No SharePoint experts needed here!

Below is a typical document library:

Normal SharePoint 2010 Document Library

If the user double clicks BlogCompPlan_2011 the following prompt will appear:

Read Only or Edit prompt SharePoint 2010

This will indicate to the user if they would like to “Read Only” = (not check the document out) or “Edit” ability to check out the document and make edits.

For this example we will use the selection “Edit” and select OK.

The document will appear. You will know that the document is checked out by a refresh icon above the save icon. This lets you know that the document will be saved as a newly edited document and will "refresh" the SharePoint document. 

SharePoint 2010 Refresh icon

If another user were to enter the same document library and try to double clienk the document and select the “edit” button the following prompt will appear.

Error prompt that the document is already being edited

As you can see SharePoint locks out all other users from editing the document.

Another quick way to check out the document is by using the dropdown and selecting check out. This is the preferred way to check out document due to the fact that it places a checked out icon on the document so that other users know it is checked out.

Checked out icon

I hope this explanation, of how checking in and check out documents work in SharePoint 2010, was helpful. If you would like more SharePoint Support please feel free to reach out to us.

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Error while preparing to send sharing message : Outlook 2010

Monday, November 7, 2011 by Michael Mayes

Outlook 2010 shared calendar error

In Outlook 2010 you can share your calendar so that other people can see if you are busy. To do this you can select the Share Calendar icon in the ribbon:

Shared Calendar Icon in Ribbon

Once you select this, the following prompt appears:

Calendar Request Prompt

This blog post will show you a work around if you are getting an “Error while preparing to send sharing message”.


This is what the message looks like:

Error Message

My work around is by going directly into calendar permissions and assigning the individual rights to view my calendar.

Calendar Permissions

Once Selected the following prompt appears.

Calendar Properties Prompt

From this prompt you can add the individual by selecting add and assign the appropriate fields you would like to share with the shared calendar recipient.    

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