Author: amitvasu

Microsoft at “The Future of SharePoint” event Microsoft announced new ShaerPoint Framework which supports client-side development and it itegrates well with microsoft graph and Microsoft new experience story around SharePoint Onilne and OneDrive for Business.

Idea behind the SharePoint Framework is to empower SharePoint developers both inside and outside Microsoft. Microsoft engineers are building Office 365 modern experiences using the SharePoint Framework. Now we can use the same technology, tools and techniques we use to build more productive experiences and apps that are responsive and mobile-ready from day one.

The SharePoint Framework will be available to existing SharePoint sites, and you will be able to host client-side web parts developed with the new SharePoint Framework on existing SharePoint pages.

One of the core components of the SharePoint Framework is the new, modern SharePoint Page experience. In the new SharePoint user experience, pages can be technology independent and can be constructed using any client-side JavaScript and templating framework. This page structure provides a number of new opportunities, in addition to the ability to host web parts, add-ins and more.

You can read about this announcement and introduction video at the following URL.

https://blogs.office.com/2016/05/04/the-sharepoint-framework-an-open-and-connected-platform/

For anyone that is not following Microsoft Flow went to public preview. Microsoft Flow is a product to help you set up automated workflows between your favorite apps and services to synchronize files, get notifications, collect data, and more.

Using Microsoft flow you can connect to your favorite services like Twitter, Dropbox, Google Drive etc.

You can sign up for free at the following URL and check it out.

https://flow.microsoft.com/en-us/

This looks very promising and I am hoping that on May 4th Microsoft provides more insight into this product.

Microsoft recently rolled out document library updates for some tenants in SharePoint Online. (Office 365). If you have not read about this then Ben have done a really good job providing all the details. You can read his blog here.

http://en.share-gate.com/blog/changes-in-sharepoint-document-library

One thing to note this change is not rolled-out to everyone. It is just to the tenant who selected to participate in preview features.

So if you want to have these changes and any future updates rolled out to your tenant as soon they are available then you follow the steps below.

1) Go to your SharePoint Admin page.
2) On your SharePoint Admin page click Settings.
3) On the settings page scroll down and select Enable Preview Features under Preview Features section.
4) Click OK.

Now after you perform these steps it could take up-to 72 hours for changes to rolled out. So be patience and eventually you would see a message on your document library page about the changes.

I hope this helps someone.

Today Microsoft rolled out the new Office 365 admin center. The idea behind new Admin Center is to allow users to manage Office 365 quickly.

Its dashboard UI provides on the fly updates on some of the key areas like Health, Billing, Reporting etc.

Aside for showing frequently performed tasks one thing I really like is to have a search feature. Thought this search feature is limited at this time but this will have lot of new features in near future.

I am really excited with the changes MS have implemented. I am looking forward to updates on Admin Center.

Read full article here.

https://blogs.office.com/2016/03/04/announcing-the-new-office-365-admin-center/

 

When you are thinking of migrating to SharePoint Online (Office 365) from either file share, SharePoint 2007 or SharePoint 2010 there are couple of things you should consider. When it comes to Office 365 you are not just stuck with SharePoint sites. You can also use Office 365 Groups for your collaboration or document work-space. With proper security, users can create their own groups and start collaborating. Groups is bit different then transitional SharePoint team sites. An Office 365 group can be public or private and you can use it based on your use case. You can read all about it here.

Some of the key points about Office 365 groups are

• A group has its own mailbox so all group emails are easy to locate and manage. In Outlook Web App, you can also have a conversation with group members by posting and replying to short messages.
• A dedicated group calendar helps all members coordinate their schedules. Everyone in the group automatically sees meeting invites and other events.
• Sharing content, such as files and folders, is a hallmark of group collaboration. Shared content can live elsewhere in Office 365, but One-drive for Business makes it convenient to view and edit files regardless of the actual location.

Learn about Office 365 groups

 

I get asked this question quite a lot and hence decided to blog about it.

If you or your organization is new to Office 365 and looking for some free training then check the following links out. These training are available from Microsoft Virtual Academy.

I have added other links as well.

Office 365 Fundamentals

Office 365 for End Users

End user training resources for Office 2013 and Office 365

Here is the list of all the training on Office Support blog.

Office 365 training

I hope this helps.