Book Review: SharePoint 2010 Plain & Simple


SharePoint 2010 Plain & Simple is a "SEE-HOW guide to SharePoint" and a good book for IT Pros or developers who are absolute beginners to SharePoint 2010. The book assumes that you already have all the required software installed & some Features activated.

It shows how to perform the following 140+ Tasks with step-by-step instructions and screen-shots -
  • Create a Site Based on the Team Site Template
  • Create a Document Workspace 
  • Change the Title and Description of Your Site
  • Turn Off the Quick Launch Bar
  • Change the Color Theme of the Site
  • View All Site Content
  • Save a Site as a Template
  • Open Site Columns
  • Browse Site Columns
  • Create a Site Column
  • Edit Site Columns
  • Access Content Types
  • Inspect Content Types
  • Associate a Document Template with a Content Type
  • Associate a Workflow with a Library
  • Start a Workflow
  • Check the Status of a Running Workflow
  • Create a List or Library
  • Delete a List or Library
  • Add a List Item
  • Edit a List Item
  • Delete a List Item
  • Create a Folder to Organize Items in a List
  • Create a Column in a List
  • Edit Column Settings
  • Add a Validation Rule to a Column
  • Add a Validation Rule to a List
  • Sort a List
  • Filter a List
  • Create a List View
  • Select a List View
  • Sort a List View
  • Filter a List View
  • Create a Document Library
  • Modify the Document Template  for a Document Library
  • Modify the Document Template for a Content Type
  • Upload Multiple Files with Internet Explorer
  • Upload Multiple Files with Windows Explorer
  • Display the Check Out Status on a Document Library View
  • Check Out a Document
  • Check In a Document
  • Require Document Check Out on a Library
  • Enable the Document ID Service for tracking Documents
  • Configure Document ID Settings
  • Locate the Document ID on a Document
  • Use the Find By Document ID Web  Part to search for a document
  • Use the Send To Menu
  • Add a Custom Send To Location
  • Enable the Document Sets Site Collection Feature
  • Configure Document Set Options
  • Enable Document Sets on a Document Library
  • Create a Document Set
  • Enable the SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure Feature
  • Enable the SharePoint Server Publishing Feature
  • Create an Asset Library
  • Enable Enterprise Keywords
  • Enable Metadata Navigation
  • Tag Files with Windows Explorer
  • Upload Files to an Asset Library
  • Connect an Asset Library to Office
  • Insert Pictures or Video into PowerPoint
  • Insert a Picture from SharePoint
  • Insert a Video with the Media  Web Part
  • Enable Auditing
  • View an Audit Report
  • Enable Document Labels
  • Insert a Label in a Document
  • Enable Document Bar Codes
  • Insert a Barcode in a Document
  • Enable an Expiration Policy
  • Create a Project Task List
  • Add a Project Task
  • Update Multiple Tasks with the Datasheet
  • Zoom the Gantt View
  • Configure Task Columns
  • Create a Calendar List
  • Switch Calendar Views
  • Schedule a Meeting
  • Create an Issues List
  • Configure Issue Categories
  • Create a Discussion List 
  • Start a Discussion Thread
  • Reply to a Discussion Thread
  • Sync MS Project 2010 with a Tasks List
  • Manage Synchronization Fields
  • Add a Quick Link to a SharePoint Site
  • Save a Document to a SharePoint Site
  • Manage SharePoint Site Quick Links
  • Connect a Calendar List to Outlook
  • Copy or Move SharePoint Calendar Items to Outlook
  • Add Outlook E-Mail Messages to a Discussion List
  • Create a Slide Library
  • Publish Slides from PowerPoint
  • Copy Slides from a slide library to a PowerPoint Presentation
  • Broadcast a Slide Show
  • Import a Spreadsheet to SharePoint
  • Export a List to Excel from SharePoint
  • Export a Table from Excel to SharePoint
  • Opening a SharePoint List in Access
  • Create a SharePoint Workspace Account
  • Sync to SharePoint Workspace
  • Create a Blog Site from Your SharePoint Profile
  • Change Your Blog Picture
  • Edit Your Blog Description
  • Create a New Category within a Blog
  • Edit a Category
  • Create a Blog Post
  • Publish a Blog Post Previously Saved as a Draft
  • Add a Comment for a Blog Post
  • View, Edit, or Delete Comments
  • Publish a Blog Post from  Microsoft Word
  • Add People to Groups
  • Create a Group
  • Grant an Individual  Permissions
  • Break Inheritance to change an object’s permissions 
  • Grant Access to a List or  Library
  • Grant Access to Individual  Items
  • Remove Someone from a  Group
  • Remove a Group’s Site Permissions
  • View Permissions on a Library
  • Upload Content to Your My Site Shared Documents
  • Upload Content to Your My Site Personal Documents
  • Add a Colleague to My Site
  • Edit Colleague Information
  • Remove a Colleague
  • Update Your Status
  • View Colleague Status
  • Create a Note on Content Within SharePoint
  • Add the SharePoint Tags And Notes Tool to Your Favorites
  • Add a Note to Content on an External Site
  • View Notes
  • Create a Search Center
  • Access a Search Center
  • Perform a Search with Search Center
  • Create a Search Scope
  • Add Rules to a Search Scope
  • Use Refiners
  • Create a Best Bet
  • Subscribe to Search Results as an RSS Feed
  • View Search Feeds in Internet Explorer 8
  • View Search Feed in Outlook 2010
  • Use Advanced Search

It doesn't get into the details of what practical scenarios these tasks could be useful for.

At 250+ pages, this is probably the slimmest book on SharePoint 2010. It does a good job of explaining the commonly used out-of-the-box features in SharePoint 2010 in plain-English. I recommend this book to beginners who may be daunted by the complexity of SharePoint 2010.  It provides enough information to find your way ahead.

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