I experienced a few problems today using our internal Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 server and it’s Sharepoint v2 implementation. The first issue was that files weren’t checking in and out properly – as when I checked a file out, Sharepoint didn’t recognise me as the correct user – instead flagging the file as being checked out by an odd variant of my own user account (i.e. richard.tubb@netlinkit.co.uk instead of richard.tubb@netlink-it.com)
So I ‘phoned my "go to" guy for Sharepoint issues – Mr. Sharepoint himself, Andy Parkes. Conveniently, Andy was with fellow Sharepoint guru Vijay Riyait and both were on their way to a Sharepoint Seminar in London – and what’s more, Andy himself had tackled a similar problem to my own that morning!
The fix? Within companyweb, use the Site Settings menu > View Information about Site Users > Click Username > Edit User Information – where I updated the e-mail address of the account in question, and after logging off/on the workstation I was using, the correct Check In/Check Out procedure worked! Andy also suggests that deleting and re-creating the user account will also work if the above doesn’t.
Then I had to tackle some issues using Sharepoint v2 with Office 2007. Specifically when browsing to a companyweb Document library, no icons were being displayed for Office 2007 files, when you went to open those files from Sharepoint – Internet Explorer prompted you to save or download, and most irritatingly, you couldn’t edit those files directly from companyweb – the error…
“Server document: A newer version is available. To modify this document, open the latest version or save a copy”
… appearing every time.
Thankfully, the ever helpful Dave Overton had already drawn together all the bits of information I needed to fix these issues over at his excellent blog under the article "How to get Companyweb (Windows SharePoint Services v2) to work with Office 2007".
The only things I’d add to Dave’s document are:-
- When the article refers to copying files to C:Program FilesCommon FilesMicrosoft Sharedweb server extensions60, do this on the server – not the client’s workstations experiencing the issue.
- Make sure to copy the relevant .gif files from one of the folders (gif-dark, gif-light) into C:Program FilesCommon FilesMicrosoft Sharedweb server extensions60TEMPLATEIMAGES to make sure 2007 (.docx, .xlsx, etc) files show a correct icon within companyweb.
- Also, stop/restart IISAdmin on the server after these changes to make them "stick".
Huge thanks to both Andy Parkes and Dave Overton for their assistance – it’s really appreciated guys.
Why am I suddenly taking an interest in using Sharepoint internally at Netlink IT anyway? All will be revealed shortly – let’s just say I’m having to radically change my way of thinking about how I store useful information, as it isn’t necessarily me alone wanting to view this stuff anymore… 
One of my favourite sites is Martin Lewis’ excellent 
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