Online Training Videos Sign up for a free 1 month trial subscription at Pluralsight using code 607-2213-JQZ4-7FRA to view my SharePoint, SharePoint Online, and Office 365 courses available from Pluralsight. Sign up for a free trial subscription at Pearson to view my Windows Server Identity with Windows Server 2016 course available from Pearson. Sign up for a free trial subscription at LinkedIn to view my course on Migrating from SharePoint 2013 to SharePoint 2016. You can also view this course on Lynda.com. Please visit the Microsoft Virtual Academy to view my Microsoft SharePoint and SQL Server courses. You can visit the ComputerWorld site to view my monthly SharePoint blogs. Thanks for visiting! Brian
Continue ReadingStaying Aware of SharePoint Online and O365 Changes
Are you overwhelmed, confused, or maybe even caught off guard when changes are made in SharePoint Online? Well, you aren’t alone. This ever-evolving product that is near and dear to our hearts is being updated regularly and if you aren’t paying close attention you may not be able to keep up with the changes or understand what changes are happening or may have already happened. I have good news for you, not only can you be informed of upcoming changes to SharePoint Online, you can also read about the changes that have already taken place. Let’s begin by looking back at what you may have missed. Microsoft maintains a Web… Read More
Continue ReadingSharePoint Server 2016 Feature Pack 2 ‘Lite’ released by Microsoft
When Microsoft launched SharePoint Server 2016, they said you’ll no longer have to wait for the next major release of SharePoint to obtain new features and functionality introduced in SharePoint Online. They are following through with this concept by releasing SharePoint Server 2016 Feature Pack 2 in early September of 2017 nearly a year after Feature Pack 1 was released. Microsoft also just re-released Feature Pack 1 again in August of 2017 which is KB4011049. Personally, it seems like a long time in between feature packs considering how many changes have been made to SharePoint Online. Feature packs, also called Public Updates or PUs, include all previous updates for SharePoint Server 2016 including… Read More
Continue ReadingJoin me at the European SharePoint Conference in Dublin
Making ESPC as Easy as 1.2.3 Europe’s Largest SharePoint, Office 365 & Azure Conference is approaching fast. Here’s a few handy tips on how to make the most of your time at the conference. Find out who’s going Check out Twitter #ESPC17 to find out who’s going or visit the ESPC17 delegates page. If you would like to be added to this page, email your image and details to [email protected] There’s no better time to network with your peers, connect with new prospects, or touch base with customers than ESPC17. Don’t bank on running into them at the conference, reach out to them before and arrange a meeting. Plan Ahead Take a look… Read More
Continue ReadingMay 2017 SharePoint Summit Overview
Microsoft’s first SharePoint Virtual summit was held today Tuesday, May 16, 2017 and there were several fgreat announcements made. I’ve included about ½ dozen of these announcements. For the full story with the details from the summit, please visit the following site: SharePoint Summit May, 2017 Also, information regarding SharePoint Server 2016 Feature Pack 2 was introduced today, which will be released in the fall of 2017, and it was noted that SharePoint Server 2016 there are no plans to make SharePoint Server 2016 the last on-premises version of SharePoint. You can read more about this announcement by visiting the following site: SharePoint Server 2016 Feature Pack 2 In the meantime,… Read More
Continue ReadingOffice Online Server April 2017 Update Released
Microsoft’s Office Online Server (OOS), formerly known as Office Web Apps (OWA), recently released the second significant update to OOS. This April 2017 update includes changes and improvements in the following seven functional areas of OOS: Support on Windows Server 2016 Performance improvements to co-authoring in PowerPoint Online. Equation viewing in Word Online. New navigation pane in Word Online. Improved undo/redo in Word Online. Enhanced W3C accessibility support for users who rely on assistive technologies. Accessibility checkers for all applications to ensure that all Office documents can be read and authored by people with different abilities. Like the previous major update it does require that you uninstall the previous version… Read More
Continue ReadingOffice Online Server Update Released
Office Online Server Update Microsoft released Office Online Server (OOS), formerly known as Office Web Apps (OWA) earlier this year, and recently announce the first significant update to it. First the good news and that is that this November update provides improvements in the following eight functional areas of OOS: Performance improvements to co-authoring in Word Online Improved picture resizing in Word Online Improvements when working with tables in Word Online and PowerPoint Online, including better drag-and-drop support Support for showing spelling errors inline in the PowerPoint editor Copy and paste improvements in PowerPoint Online Support for embedded Power View sheets in Excel Online Support for shapes in Excel Online… Read More
Continue ReadingSharePoint 2016 Feature Pack 1 Released
Microsoft promised! Microsoft delivered! During the launch of SharePoint Server 2016, Microsoft said you no longer are going to have to wait for the next major release of SharePoint to obtain new features and functionality introduced in SharePoint Online. Guess what? They followed through by releasing SharePoint Server 2016 Feature Pack 1 in early November 2016. A feature pack is similar to a CU, or Cumulative Update, in the sense it includes all previous updates for SharePoint Server 2016, which means you don’t have to install them before you install Feature Pack 1. But a Feature Pack also includes the new features and functionality that have been deployed and tested… Read More
Continue ReadingShrinking Ginormous SharePoint Database Transaction Log Files
I’m sure by now most of you have encountered SharePoint databases that have a SQL Server database data file (.mdf) at a size that is as little as several hundred MB’s, yet the associated log file (.ldf) is ginormous and may be GB’s in size. This ginormous transaction log file will continue to grow until the drive containing the transaction log (t-log) runs out of disk space. At this point there is no room for transactions to be added to the t-log, so users cannot perform insert, update, or delete actions in SharePoint. This restriction is applied because every type of SQL data modification is first written to the transaction log and… Read More
Continue ReadingRenaming the GUID-Challenged Central Administration Database
The Central Administration content database that is created during the installation of your SharePoint farm is probably the second most important database, with the SharePoint Configuration database being the first most important, so it is imperative that you are able to easily reference this database when performing administrative tasks. If you perform the SharePoint installation using the GUI the Central Admin database is created with a not-so-user-friendly name that includes a Globally Unique Identifier (GUID). This name makes it challenging to work with when writing scripts that reference the database because of the GUID included in the name of this database. You can avoid the GUID from being applied to… Read More
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