SharePoint Solution Applications
Client-based solutions that extend the functionality of
collaboration and content management applications for SharePoint
Colligo Contributor™ Add-In for Outlook®
Colligo Contributor™ Add-In for Outlook® is an easy-to-deploy .NET client application that boosts professional productivity, improves content management, and increases the number of emails and documents classified in Microsoft® Office SharePoint®. It delivers instant access to SharePoint libraries and lists - all from within the Microsoft® Office Outlook® interface. Users can drag-and-drop content such as emails and attachments into document libraries and folders, instantly capturing critical metadata.
How it Works
Colligo Contributor™ Add-In for Outlook® is an easy-to-deploy .NET client application that boosts professional productivity, improves content management, and increases the number of emails and documents classified in Microsoft® Office SharePoint®. It delivers instant access to SharePoint libraries and lists - all from within the Microsoft® Office Outlook® interface. You can drag-and-drop content such as emails and attachments into document libraries and folders, instantly capturing critical metadata. Colligo Contributor Add-In 3.0 works with Microsoft® Office Outlook® (2003 or 2007), Windows SharePoint® Services (WSS 3.0 or 2.0), Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server (MOSS 2007), and Microsoft® SharePoint® Portal Server (SPS 2003) sites.
Once Colligo Contributor Add-In has been installed on your laptop, you can select the document library, folder, or list you wish to sync by selecting it through Internet Explorer. Contributor then retrieves the content available and links it into a folder tree in Outlook in online-only or cached modes. You can then read, add, and edit content such as documents and emails from lists and libraries synchronized to your laptop. Contributor Add-In has a special capability to streamline the addition of emails, attachments, and associated metadata to document libraries. Content that is added or edited offline is automatically synchronized to the SharePoint server when you are online.
Step 1 - Synchronize Content to Contributor Add-In
To synchronize SharePoint content to Contributor Add-In, simply select the "Connect to Outlook" botton on the Internet Explorer toolbar from any SharePoint 2007 (MOSS 2007 or WSS 3.0) document library or list.
The Contributor Add-In will use the credentials you entered to access the SharePoint site and link the library, folder, or list into Outlook. The subfolders and content synchronized will be "security trimmed", meaning that you will only be allowed to download content that you are authorized to download.
Next, select "Make this list or library available offline" if you want to cache the content to your local data store. Or simply click "Yes" to sync the document library or list in online-only mode. If you opted to take the list or library offline, content from SharePoint will be automatically synchronized to Outlook.
A tree-view showing folders and sub-folders will be added under the Colligo for SharePoint folder in the left-hand navigation pane of Outlook. The naming convention is the site name and document library name - at any time you can personalize these folder names.
If you choose to sync the list or library in online-only mode, the browser view will be shown in the right-hand pane of Outlook. The content of the list or library will not be cached locally, however, file drag-and-drop operations to folders continue to work when offline.
Colligo Contributor Add-In synchronizes with standard and custom lists in the same way.
Step 2 - Add Content to Document Libraries
Emails and attachments that are dragged-and-dropped into the Outlook folder tree from your inbox or other folder are immediately synced to SharePoint if online, or cached for later synchronization if offline. This works the same way for online-only or cached document libraries. If you left-click on an email, it will be moved from the Outlook folder to SharePoint. By right-clicking, you can select whether you want to perform a move or copy operation.
If the target document library is properly configured, email message fields (such as To, From, Date, Subject, etc.) will be automatically extracted and mapped to SharePoint metadata. A unique filename (.msg) is also generated for the email and attachments. When you drop an email into a document library, a metadata editor pops up, enabling you to view and edit metadata associated with the content type you select. In the example below, the extracted email metadata is shown, but administrators often hide these columns so users cannot edit them. You can also add custom metadata at this point and set the content type to enhance the classification of emails.
Step 3 - Select Views or Edit Content & Metadata
You can use views online and offline to easily organize and find content in document libaries and lists. If offline, view drop-downs work the same way as a SharePoint site.
Metadata for documents and list items can be edited or added to one or multiple items at a time with a simple right-click action. Multi-value lookups to lists are supported for selecting metadata values. Files can be dragged-into and out of document libraries and folders from Outlook folders, emails, and your desktop. This can be particularly useful for managing attachments.
Step 4 - Resolve Conflicts
Changes that you make offline are automatically synchronized to the SharePoint server, while new content on the server is downloaded to your laptop. If working online, changes made in Contributor are automatically synchronized in the background. If a conflicting change is made on the server to content that you changed while offline, you will be notified of a conflict error by a yellow alert box on the Contributor icon in the system tray. Clicking on the icon will bring up a dialog box that will enable you to resolve the conflict. If you then click on the error, you can: (1) select the local version, (2) select the server version, (3) open the local version and use "save as" to create a new version, or (4) use Word Compare & Merge to merge the changes from both documents.
Step 5 - Lock Documents for Editing
For cached libraries and folders, Contributor Add-In features basic support for check-out and check-in. You can track your own document checking activities performed in Contributor. To check-out documents, simply select the documents, right-click, and select "Check Out." To unlock a document, simply select "Check In" to save your changes to the server, or select "Discard Check Out" to discard your changes.
