Spotlight on 2010: The Multilingual User Interface and Language Packs

By Ryan Keller

In SharePoint 2010, Microsoft has created the Multilingual User Interface (or MUI for short), which allows administrators to provide an easy way for users to work with SharePoint in a language other than the default. This can be useful when working with branch offices in multiple countries.

The MUI won’t perform a direct translation of the content of a SharePoint site, but can translate the SharePoint interface -- including some user-specified content such as navigation -- into a number of available languages, provided their SharePoint 2010 Language Pack is installed on the server.

SharePoint Foundation 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010 each have language packs that must be installed prior to using the MUI. If you are running SharePoint Server 2010, you’ll need to download and install both the Foundation and Server language packs. (Visit the SharePoint Team Blog for more information). After installing the language packs, you’ll need to run the SharePoint 2010 Products Configuration Wizard to make them available for use in the farm.

After you’ve installed your desired language packs and run through the configuration wizard, you’ll need to enable the MUI in any pre-existing SharePoint sites. When creating new sites, you’ll have the option to choose the languages you want to make available in the MUI, as well as which language should be used as the default.

Enabling multiple languages is handled on a per-site basis and can be found by navigation to Site Actions > Site Settings > Language Settings. Choose which languages you’d like to make available, and click OK.

Once you’ve enabled some additional languages, users will be able to click the drop-down around their name, then choose Display Language, and pick one of the available languages. Links and menu items will be displayed in the selected language. Some column headers that are automatically provided by SharePoint (such as Title or Description) are also translated. It’s even possible to set up custom navigation translations by opening the Modify Navigation page while using a different language other than the default, selecting the navigation element you want to modify, and specifying your own value. Once set, this will help other users navigate the site more easily, since the navigation items will be translated for them.

SharePoint 2010 Language Packs can make the process of deploying a farm to multilingual users a much less daunting task than it might have otherwise been.

Ryan Keller is a consultant with SharePoint 911

Spotlight on 2010: Workflow Improvements

By Chris Caravajal

Using workflows to automate business processes has become a common theme for successful business enterprise solutions. This ability to move the responsibility for and management of processes off users and on to an application has allowed users to focus on performing their day-to-day activities without having to worry about the underlying details. In addition to increasing user productivity, this allows for business processes to run more effectively by eliminating human error, tracking each activity, and guaranteeing consistency for each process. With SharePoint, this powerful concept is built in and can be leveraged for a wide range of workflow solutions.

Improving upon SharePoint 2007, the upcoming release of SharePoint2010 provides users the additional tools for creating workflow solutions. In the native application, users are no longer limited to associating workflows with just lists and libraries, and can now also target content types and sites. This allows for more flexibility when creating workflow solutions. If your organization has purchased the enterprise license for SharePoint Server 2010, you will also be able to enjoy full integration with Microsoft Office 2010. This will allow users to start workflows from the Office 2010 application they are working in, rather than opening up their browsers to SharePoint sites and then performing workflow activities. With Outlook 2010, users are able to respond to workflow requests and update items by using various workflow options within the application. This is the beginning of a new trend where everything a user needs can be accessed from the Office Ribbon (all Microsoft end-user applications are incorporating the Ribbon into their solutions) in whatever application they are working in.

Workflows have really burst onto the scene in the past few years and their impact on collaborative solutions has no limits. Keeping up with this growing demand, SharePoint 2010 provides organizations the necessary tools needed to create various workflow solutions, as well as the compatibility to work smoothly with other applications frequently used in the workplace.

Chris Caravajal is a consultant with SharePoint911

Mainsoft Brings SharePoint, Outlook into Harmony

Software integration company Mainsoft today is introducing Harmony, software that will enable users to collaborate on documents stored in SharePoint via Microsoft Outloook e-mail.

The solution replaces document attachments with links to those documents stored in SharePoint libraries, reducing the size of the e-mail and making version control easier, according to Yaacov Cohen, founder and CEO of Mainsoft.

“It’s the evolution of the e-mail experience,” Cohen said. “People want things like SharePoint extended into their day-to-day work. But there is not enough integration bringing SharePoint to the end user instead of making the end user go to SharePoint.”

From within Outlook, users can click on an icon to launch Harmony, and a list of documents appears alongside the Outlook e-mail inbox, Cohen showed SPTechReport in a demonstration of Harmony. Users can then create a new e-mail file, drag a link to the document file into the e-mail, and send it to the user, who then gains access to that document under terms set by the sender. For instance, the recipient of the document might have read-only access to a document for review, Cohen explained. Similarly, Outlook users can take attachments they’ve been sent and drag them into Harmony, so the next time the user wants to share that document with a team member, he can simply drag the link into a new e-mail, Cohen demonstrated.

Harmony also works with Google Docs, Cohen said, and also supports Adobe PDF and Microsoft Word formats.

-- David

Exclusive Webcast for SPTechCon Attendees!

Because of some really bad weather back East during last month's SPTechCon, one of our most popular speakers, Dux Raymond Sy, could not be with us for the first day of classes. So, as an extra added bonus for all of our attendees, Dux will present his session, "Best Practices in SharePoint User Management," via Microsoft LiveMeeting. Join us on March 9, from 2 pm to 3 pm Eastern time. There is no charge to attend, and all are welcome!

TITLE: Best Practices in SharePoint User Management

DESCRIPTION: SharePoint's empowering capability to create collaborative sites allows site owners to define membership and user permissions easily. However, it can be a double-edged sword, especially if these permissions aren't well-managed. In this presentation, you will learn the fundamentals of SharePoint membership and permissions; effective techniques in identifying user communication and information needs; how to map a communications plan to SharePoint site membership; and best practices in managing SharePoint user permissions.

TECHNICAL LEVEL: Basic
AUDIENCE: Project managers, business users, power users, IT administrators

DATE AND TIME: March 9, Tue, 2pm-3pm EST

HERE'S THE LINK TO ATTEND!

Spotlight on 2010: When Is the Right Time to Dig Into the New Product?

By Jennifer Mason

One of the primary comments I heard at SPTechCon last month was that even though people were excited about SharePoint 2010, they had no plans for upgrade and felt like it wasn’t worth the investment to spend time learning about all the new features that they wouldn’t be able to use for a very long time.

While I can see where they are coming from, I definitely view the situation differently. I truly believe that by looking at and exploring what is available in SharePoint 2010 we will be able to build better solutions in 2007 that will help us as we migrate to SharePoint 2010. After all, if information is available today that will make our life easier tomorrow, then we should be soaking in as much as we can.

Among the key reasons to learn about 2010 is that you don’t develop a custom solution today in SharePoint 2007 that can be done out-of-the-box in 2010. Knowledge of 2010 might able you to build 80% of a requested solution in 2007 and then build the other 20% with tools available out of the box in SharePoint 2010 when you migrate. Further, having information on 2010 might be the ammunition you need to present a business case for speeding up migration planning.

I don’t think everyone should invest hours upon hours of learning the new product if they won’t be using it immediately, but I do recommend that everyone at least get started. With the wealth of information available, it shouldn’t be hard for you to start gathering information. Here are some of my favorite places to find information:

• · Office Microsoft SharePoint Site
  

• · Describing SharePoint 2010 in 1 Sentence, 8 Categories and 40 Feature Areas

• · SharePoint 2010 System Requirements

• · Community Forums

• · Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog

• · SharePoint Designer Team Blog
  

• SPTechBlog

If you still don’t know where to get started, I recommend looking at your biggest pain points to see how they are improved or eliminated with the release of 2010. From there I would start looking at your wish list of things you have always wanted to do in SharePoint but just haven’t had time. The third area I would look at would be the list of things that you are currently doing that you wish your users could do for themselves. Just getting started with these areas can help you begin to develop a clear framework that can be used for strategy planning. This framework will help you better understand and plan for both your current and future needs. By starting to gather information now, you can avoid the “I wish I would have known this before I started this project in SharePoint 2007!” scenarios.

Jennifer Mason is a consultant with SharePoint911