Access Frequently Used or Recently Viewed Work Items, Queries, and Reports

You can quickly access the work item queries, documents, reports, and team project nodes that you use frequently by adding them to Favorites in Team Web Access or My Favorites in Team Explorer. You can also organize these items into folders and subfolders so that you can easily find and retrieve them.

Note

For information about supported Web browsers, see Managing Work Using Team Web Access. To find work items by using the search text box, see Work Item Search Syntax (Team Web Access).

In addition to Favorites, in Team Web Access, you can access many features and recently viewed items from the quick launch areas that are located on the left side of the navigation pane and on the Home page.

Note

Queries, folders, and subfolders under My Queries or Team Queries appear the same across Team Web Access and Team Explorer. However, queries, folders, subfolders, and other elements added to the Favorites area in Team Web Access will appear differently than those added to My Favorites in Team Explorer because the elements for these two areas are maintained as two separate lists for Team Web Access and Team Explorer.

In this topic

You can perform any of the following procedures:

• Opening Recently Viewed Items in Team Web Access

• Accessing and Organizing Information Using Team Explorer

• Organizing Favorites in Team Web Access

  Note

  For information about how to organize My Favorites in Team Explorer, see Organize and Set Permissions on Work Item Queries.

Required Permissions

To perform these procedures, you must be a member of the Readers group or have your View work items in this node permission set to Allow. To view reports, you must have the Read permission on the SQL Server Reporting Services server set to Allow. Other restrictions may apply when you open team queries. For more information, see Organize and Set Permissions on Work Item Queries and Team Foundation Server Permissions.

Opening Recently Viewed Items Using Team Web Access

To open recently viewed work items, queries, documents, or reports

• In Team Web Access, perform one of the following procedures:

  Note

  You can add or remove areas from the quick launch area and change the number of items that are listed in each area. For more information, see Customize the Appearance of Team Web Access.

  Area	Procedures
  Favorites	Click a query, folder, document, or report to open it. Click the arrow to the right to Organize Favorites, or to access additional items stored under Favorites.
  New Work Item	To add a new work item, click the type of work item that is listed that is of the type you want to create. Note Links to types of work items are only listed if you have added new work items using Team Web Access. To add a new work item of a type that is not listed, click the arrow to the right, and then click the type of work item that you want to create. A new work item form of that type appears.
  Queries	To open a query that is listed, click it. To create a query, manage queries, or open My Queries or Team Queries, click the arrow to the right and select an option from the menu.
  Reports	Click a report to open it. Click the arrow to the right to either Organize Reports or to select a report that you recently viewed from the list.
  Work Items Summary	Displays a summary of work items that are assigned to you based on the type of work item. The list is generated based on a default query. If you want to change the default query, click Customize to change the query to another stored query. Note If you have lots of work items assigned to you, a message displays which alerts you that the query operation will time out. To view the list of work items based on type, click the active link (the number) that is associated with each type of work item. To refresh the view, click Refresh.
  Recently Accessed Work Items	Lists work items that you have recently viewed. Click the down arrow on any work item to select from the menu options that enable you to manage the work item.

Accessing and Organizing Information Using Team Explorer

To access and organize information when using Team Explorer

• In Team Explorer, queries, documents, and reports appear in a tree view under each team project. You can perform any one of the procedures that are in the following list:

  General Operations:

  Action	Procedure
  Expand a node	Click Press one of the following keys on the numeric keypad to expand the node: the RIGHT ARROW, or the asterisk (*), or the PLUS SIGN (+).
  Expand all the nodes	Press the asterisk (*) key on the numeric keypad, or the equals (=) key on the keyboard to expand all the nodes.
  Collapse a node	Click Press the LEFT ARROW key or the MINUS SIGN (-) key on the numeric keypad or on the keyboard to collapse a node.
  Open a work item query, document, or report	Double-click the item that you want to open to select it.
  Update the data cache that is stored for a node	Right-click a node and click (Refresh)to update. For more information, see Refresh Your Team Foundation Client.
  Add a folder	Right-click My Queries, Team Queries, Reports, or a folder or subfolder, and click New Folder to add a folder. For more information, see Organize and Set Permissions on Work Item Queries.
  Copy, rename, or delete a folder	Right-click the folder that you want to modify and then click Copy, Rename, or Delete.
  Move a folder	Use the drag and drop feature to move the folder that you want to the new location. When you move a folder to My Favorites, a copy of the folder is created. Alternatively, you can use the Cut, Copy, and Paste menu buttons to complete the move.
  View information about the server that hosts the corresponding object	Right-click a node and click Properties to view its information.

  Team Project Operations:

  • Right-click the team project and click the associated selection:

    Operation	Menu selection
    Open the project portal	Show Project Portal
    Access process guidance for the team project	Team Process Guidance
    Set project alerts	Project Alerts
    Remove the project from Team Explorer	Remove
    View or set permissions, create, add, or remove groups, set area and iteration paths, and other properties used by the project portal and source control	Team Project Settings

  Work Item Operations:

  • Right-click Work Items under a team project and click the associated selection:

    Operation	Menu selection
    Open a work item for which you know the ID	Go to Work Item
    Access process guidance for work items	Team Process Guidance

  Managing Queries:

  • Right-click My Queries or Team Queries and click the associated selection:

    Operation	Menu selection	Related topic
    Add a new query	Add Query	Finding Bugs, Tasks, and Other Work Items
    Open Office Excel that is connected to the team project and add work items	Add Work Items with Microsoft Excel	Managing Work Items Using Microsoft Excel Bound to Team Foundation Server
    Open Office Project that is connected to the team project	Add Work Items with Microsoft Project	Scheduling Tasks and Assigning Resources Using Microsoft Project

  Query Operations:

  • Right-click a query andclick the associated selection:

    Operation	Menu selection	Related topic
    Open the query or view the query results	Open or View Results	Finding Bugs, Tasks, and Other Work Items
    Open the work items contained in the query in Office Excel	Open in Microsoft Excel	Managing Work Items Using Microsoft Excel Bound to Team Foundation Server
    Open the work items contained in the query Office Project	Open in Microsoft Project	Scheduling Tasks and Assigning Resources Using Microsoft Project
    E-mail the query results to another team member	Send Mail with Microsoft Outlook	Share a Work Item Query
    Rename or delete a query.	Right-click a query and then click Rename or Delete.	Save, Copy, Rename, and Delete Work Item Queries
    Add a query to My Favorites	Add to My Favorites	Organize and Set Permissions on Work Item Queries

Organizing Favorites in Team Web Access

To organize Favorites

1. In the Team Web Access quick launch area, click the arrow to the right of Favorites, and then click Organize Favorites. 

2. Perform one of the following procedures:

   Action	Procedure
   Add a folder	Click New Folder. In the Create Favorite Folder dialog box, type the name of the new folder that you want, and then click OK.
   Rename a folder	Point to a folder that you want to rename, click the down arrow, and then click Rename. In the Rename Favorite Item dialog box, type a new name for the folder, and then click OK.
   Delete a folder	Click the down arrow next to an item that you want to remove, and then click Remove from Favorites. Click OK.
   Move a folder	Click the down arrow next to an item that you want to move, and then click Move to Folder. In the Move favorite item dialog box, use one of the following procedures: Click the folder to which you want to move the favorite item. Click New Folder, and in the New Folder dialog box, type a name that you want for the new folder, and then click OK. Click the new folder that you just created. Click Move.

See Also

Tasks

Organize and Set Permissions on Work Item Queries

Customize the Appearance of Team Web Access

Concepts

Artifacts (Agile)

Artifacts (CMMI)

Work Item Search Syntax (Team Web Access)

Finding Bugs, Tasks, and Other Work Items

Working with Team Foundation Clients

Other Resources

Managing Work Using Team Web Access