Anatol’s blog

OneDrive for Business (formerly SkyDrive Pro) Updates

Anatol N — Wed, 11 Dec 2013 07:07:00 GMT

I know it is always good to have a cheat sheet with the versions of the products you are working with. Therefore, I am starting one for OneDrive for Business/SkyDrive Pro (I hope I will keep it updated).

Some of the updates should be done while updating Office client and those might not be included here. As there is a standalone client, individual updates are also published.

Date	URL	Version	Description	Fixes
August 13, 2013	2817622	15.0.4517	Description of the SkyDrive Pro update: August 13, 2013	Stability and performance improvements.
February 12, 2013	2760214	15.0.4454	Description of the SkyDrive Pro update: February 12, 2013	Client closes on error without notifying the user.
July 9, 2013	2817469	15.0.4517	Description of the SkyDrive Pro update: July 9, 2013	There are more here: × Issue with lookup column (specific name format) × Synchronization of a Document Library fails and templates are queued for download × Storage quota management for user Document Libraries for users added × Different name of the library on the client × Internet explorer load SkyDrive Pro Helper object × String localized × Initial sync fails at 100% without notifications
June 11, 2013	2767865	15.0.4505	Description of the SkyDrive Pro update: June 11, 2013	When opening a local copy of the file synced with SkyDrive Pro, it takes log on a slow connection.
March 12, 2013	2768356	15.0.4481	Description of the SkyDrive Pro update: March 12, 2013	When you try to use SkyDrive Pro to synchronize a file, and the file is throttled by a Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 server, the file remains in the Sync In Progress overlay state. Additionally, you do not receive a notification.
May 14, 2013	2810019	15.0.4505	Description of the SkyDrive Pro update: May 14, 2013	A plethora: × Some strings translated in supported languages × Context menu is greyed out/takes long to appear × Clearing up some displayed error messages × Need to manually disconnect/reconnect × Authorization errors × Client tries to upload even if quota is exceeded × Synchronization not working well × Twice renamed file cannot be deleted
October 8, 2013	2825633	15.0.4535	Description of the SkyDrive Pro update: October 8, 2013	Performance improvements
December 10, 2013	2817495	15.0.4551	Description of the SkyDrive Pro update 2817495: December 10, 2013	Stability and performance improvements
April 8, 2014	2863864	15.0.4605	Description of the OneDrive for Business update 2863864: April 8, 2014	Here we have a few mentioned also: × Some special characters issue solved upon opening folders × A folder created with the same name fails to sync × Issues with large file renaming while syncing × Issues with the display of the icon in the notification area × Sync issues with a file that was deleted then restored by someone else from the site Recycle bin

SkyDrive Pro Quota (SharePoint Online)

Anatol N — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 06:41:00 GMT

SkyDrive Pro is a product offered to sync a library from SharePoint, it is also used to define/name the space allocated to a user on his personal site to store his data (see more in What is SkyDrive Pro?, it also explains the difference between SkyDrive and SkyDrive Pro. For more definitions and how it works see Overview of SkyDrive Pro in SharePoint Server 2013).

There is a level of confusion with the quota and I will try to bring some light.

Let us start with some info about the quota:

(1) The user has 25GB available space for his SkyDrive Pro files (this one refers to the library on the personal site, the URL looks like this: https://TENANT-my.sharepoint.com/personal/UESE_TENANT_onmicrosoft_com/Documents)
(2) 500MB is allocated per user for the tenant (let's call it Tenant Quota - see Storage base per tenant in SharePoint Online: software boundaries and limits)
(3) You can buy more space and use it for your Site Collections or got SkyDrive

Along with the fact that the quota was increased to 25GB (from 7GB), the possibility to add even more storage to individual user was added (Some articles are outdated about this - SkyDrive Pro Limits and Workarounds). And here comes the confusion - we have a page that allows you to edit the quota for users, and it is not so easy to understand.

The above page allows you to change the quota for users, but why it is showing only 13.33 GB available when I have 20 users, that would mean at least 500 GB of SkyDrive Pro storage? This is not true, the SkyDrive Pro quota is only on individual basis, you cannot take a part of the 25 GB allocated to a user and give it to another. The only space you can play with is the Tenant Quota (2) and the additional space you bought (3). Moreover, you can change the quota for a user (1) only with these values/amounts: 25, 50 or 100 GB (so in the picture above, I will not be able to give additional space to anyone, as I need at least 25 GB available to increase to 50 GB, or 50 GB to increase from 50 to 100).

So, you will check if your Tenant available space (see the circle 2), has at least 25 GB available to make a change. If yes, you look for a user and change the storage limit and press save.

I think it is a good idea to add a line in this page specifying if you can do any changes, like: "You can increase the quota from 25 to 50 GB for X users, or you can increase the quota from 50 to 100 GB for Y users".

How to create/recreate default SharePoint groups for a site

Anatol N — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 05:30:00 GMT

After a query on the internet, it seems that it is not so easy to find this information, unless you receive an error like: "The groups required to manage users for your site are missing" (this was observed in the SharePoint Online - the version on the servers is 2010, moving to 2013 now – when trying to share the site with external users). If you will look for the error, you will find the best way of doing it - using the direct URL: /_layouts/permsetup.aspx (in the KB article: https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2632494 - Error when you invite external users to your site: "The groups required to manage users for your site are missing").

Some other solutions can be used too:

Going to a created group, then in Settings you can choose the Make
Default Group (I am not sure you can create a default Visitors group, but the Members
seems to work)
For the on premises (not online), the CreateDefaultAssociatedGroups method of the SPWebobject can be used to recreate them
- check MSDN for details: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.sharepoint.spweb.createdefaultassociatedgroups.aspx - SPWeb.CreateDefaultAssociatedGroupsmethod
- or how to use it with STSADM: https://blog.falchionconsulting.com/index.php/2009/04/creating-default-site-groups-after-creating-site-collections-using-stsadm/ - Creating Default Site Groups After Creating Site Collections Using STSADM

The above recommendations can be used for: SharePoint Online, SharePoint 2010, SharePoint 2013 (Foundation or Server, I did not test in 2013)

After adding a "file://" link to My Links you will not be able to access the My Links page

Anatol N — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:34:00 GMT

You can try this out:
1. Go to a SharePoint site (from a farm where you have My Links)
2. Go then to "My links > Manage Links"
3. On the MyQuickLinks.aspx page, click “Add Link”
4. Here, put a link like file:/// and press “OK”
5. After the steps above you will not be able to access the list any more
The only way I found to solve this issue (by now) is to delete that entry. Now, how can we do it.
I have created a small script that could help in this situation. It contains actually two parts:
- display the available links (so we would be able to identify it)
- delete a link we specify

The script is created in PowerShell, you will need to install it on your MOSS server.

First one: ListLinks.ps1

[void][reflection.assembly]::Loadwithpartialname("Microsoft.SharePoint") | out-null
[void][reflection.assembly]::Loadwithpartialname("Microsoft.Office.Server.Search") | out-null
[void][reflection.assembly]::Loadwithpartialname("Microsoft.Office.Server") | out-null

$servercontext=[Microsoft.Office.Server.ServerContext]::Default
$profilemanager = new-object Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.UserProfileManager($servercontext)
$profile = $profilemanager.GetUserProfile("domain\user")
$qlinkmanager = new-object Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.QuickLinkManager($profile)
foreach ($link in $qlinkmanager.GetItems())
{
Write-Host $link.id " " $link.Url
}
Write-Host "Done"

The second one will delete the link we specify

[void][reflection.assembly]::Loadwithpartialname("Microsoft.SharePoint") | out-null
[void][reflection.assembly]::Loadwithpartialname("Microsoft.Office.Server.Search") | out-null
[void][reflection.assembly]::Loadwithpartialname("Microsoft.Office.Server") | out-null

$id = 214
$servercontext=[Microsoft.Office.Server.ServerContext]::Default
$profilemanager = new-object Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.UserProfileManager($servercontext)
$profile = $profilemanager.GetUserProfile("domain\user")
$qlinkmanager = new-object Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.QuickLinkManager($profile)
foreach ($link in $qlinkmanager.GetItems())
{
if ($link.id -eq $id)
{
$link.Delete()
break
}
}
Write-Host "Done"

2008 December Cumulative Update package contains all from SP1

Anatol N — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 04:22:00 GMT

It is much easier to get the SharePoint farms up to date. Now the RTM version needs on top the SP1 packages and the December Cumulative Update, it is clear that we need to install these on all the servers of the farm, however - now it is smaller effort.

So now the packages that we need to get the SharePoint farms to the latest builds are (you can findhere the descriptions and the links to download):

- https://support.microsoft.com/kb/942388 - Issues that are fixed in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 by Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Service Pack 1

- https://support.microsoft.com/kb/942390 - Description of the SharePoint Server 2007 issues that are fixed by the 2007 Microsoft Office servers Service Pack 1

- https://support.microsoft.com/kb/959644 - Description of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 hotfix package (Sts.msp): December 16, 2008 (to download the entire package - language packs, core, previous upates included - use the following link https://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=960010&kbln=en-us)

- https://support.microsoft.com/kb/959637 - Description of the SharePoint Server 2007 hotfix package (Coreserver.msp): December 16, 2008 (to download the entire package - language packs, core, previous upates included - use the following link https://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=960011&kbln=en-us)

Thanks to Joerg to keep us up to date and to give us this great news. (Read about it on Joerg's blog - https://blogs.msdn.com/joerg_sinemus/archive/2008/12/17/the-december-cumulative-update-for-wss-v3-and-moss-2007.aspx)

* Note: Now we need to take in consideration that the December CU is no more available - Joerg has a post for this too (https://blogs.msdn.com/joerg_sinemus/archive/2009/03/26/moss-december-cu-960011-is-not-available-anymore.aspx). THe recommendation is to install the February CU, or even better SP2 and April CU after that.

Deny editing SharePoint pages in SharePoint Designer

Anatol N — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 05:34:00 GMT

I was looking for a while for a way to do it. All started in the moment when a customer reported that the permission Use Remote Interfaces is disabling a lot of other features.

With a little luck and the information that you cannot do it on permission level the reponse appeared:

https://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/940958 - How to prevent SharePoint Designer 2007 users from changing a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 site or a SharePoint Server 2007 site

https://blogs.msdn.com/sharepointdesigner/archive/2008/11/25/locking-down-sharepoint-designer.aspx - Locking Down SharePoint Designer

The first resource describes how we can do it by editing the Onet.xml file. The second one is more complete.

- the first section (Options for locking down SharePoint Designer) should be in a table like this:

SCOPE	OPTION	PERMISSIONS REQUIRED TO ENABLE OR DISABLE
At the server level per site definition	ONET.XML — Prevent all users from opening all sites created from a specific site definition (such as all team sites or all publishing sites) by modifying ONET.XML for that site definition.	Server administrator — You must have an administrator account on the server to modify this file.
At the Web application level for all users	Permissions in Central Administration — Prevent all users from opening or editing all sites in a Web application by removing the permissions in Central Administration.	Site Collection Administrator — You must be a Site Collection Administrator to add or remove permissions in Central Administration.
At the Web application level per user or group	Policy in Central Administration — Prevent specific users and groups from opening or editing all sites in a Web application by removing the permissions in Central Administration.	Site Collection Administrator — You must be a Site Collection Administrator to manage permission policies in Central Administration.
At the site level per user or group	Policy in Central Administration — Prevent specific users and groups from opening or editing all sites in a Web application by removing the permissions in Central Administration.	Site owner — You must have the Manage Permissions permission to configure site permissions. In SharePoint Server 2007, by default only the Full Control and Manage Hierarchy permission levels include this permission.
At the site level per user or group (not a security feature)	Contributor Settings — Guide trusted users toward performing the right tasks in the right place by disabling features and UI in SharePoint Designer 2007. Contributor Settings cannot override permission settings at the site level or in Central Administration.	Site owner — You must have the Manage Permissions permission to turn Contributor Settings on or off. In SharePoint Server 2007, by default only the Full Control and Manage Hierarchy permission levels include this permission.
Per computer or per user	Group Policy — Use policy settings to disable menu commands and their corresponding toolbar buttons in the UI of Office programs, including SharePoint Designer. You can also disable keyboard shortcuts. Settings can be applied to a specific computer or user.	Windows administrator — You must be a member of the Domain Administrators security group, the Enterprise Administrators security group, or the Group Policy Creator Owners security group.

There should be other tables to make it easier to see the information. But at this moment we will try to understand it this way (if it will be really needed let me a comment, or two and I could do all the tables)

Automatic refresh in SharePoint Document Libraries

Anatol N — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:19:00 GMT

It was very interesting to find out that the list of documents refreshes only once automaticaly in the browser window. The issue is if you open for editing an Office document it should appear as checked out for editing. Now if you edit the document and durring this time you will change the focus on the browser window where you have the list of files, then at the momet you save the file and check it in from Office application, if you will look in the browser you will see that the file is still checked out. If you will do a refresh the file will be diplayed correctly.

This is the way I tried to explain this behavivor:

The data from any server (and a SharePoint server too) is sent to the client only when the client is asking for it and only then. In our case the clients would be the browser (Internet Explorer) and the Office application (let's say Microsoft Office Word).

If the client is not asking to refresh the page the question would be then – and why sometimes it happens to the page to be refreshed? It is because the SharePoint page contains a javascript code that perform a request to the server, and now we should see when this request is made and what do we do to start it.

The request to refresh the page is made first time we are focusing on the browser window again after opening a document in Office.

To test it you can follow the following steps:

1. Open a SharePoint document library in the browser

2. Open an Office file by just clicking on it

3. Switch back the focus to the browser and you will see that the page is refreshing

So if a user want to be sure that he will be able to see the document status correct without pressing F5 (refresh) he should consider the following – don't switch the focus to the browser window until the moment you made the modification you want to see it on the page.

Now we know that the server cannot force the client (browser) to refresh the page even if he received from another client application (Word) the confirmation that the file status was modified. And the "automatic refresh" of the page is actually not made by the server, it is made by a javascript code running on the client side.

We could say that that javascript which makes the first request for refresh can do it:

- On every focus on the browser window

- Every 1 minute (or another amount of time)

These ideas are not acceptable because they will generate an extra loading of the network bandwidth.

For the first idea let's imagine that we have a user that switches the window with Alt+Tab and he gets all the time on our browser window, or you can imagine other situations where a lot of users are just getting back to the page and the server receives requests over and over to respond with the a fresh rendered page.

For the second idea we have the same considerations – one hundred users just keeping the page open will generate one hundred requests every minute (or period of time that could be established).

The only possibility to change this behavior would be to change the javascript code used by the page, however this approach will make the product not supported.