3.2. Working with Web Folders and Web Clients
While SharePoint Designer provides a smart design and development interface for working with remote Web site content, it's not the only interface that you can use for accessing remote Web site content. Windows itself offers you the infrastructure that allows you to access remote Web site content much like a local folder on your computer. In fact, SharePoint Designer and other Office 2007 programs internally use this infrastructure as a basis for providing their remote-authoring features. A problem in this infrastructure can cause the remote-authoring functionality of these programs to fail. The two main components offered by Windows for facilitating remote authoring are the Web Client service and Web Folders.
3.2.1. Understanding client-side components for remote authoring
The Web Client service (also known as the WebDAV Client Redirector) is a Windows service that allows you to access content in Web sites (that support WebDAV) from a client machine in a Windows Explorer–like interface. With this service enabled and running, you can access a folder inside a Web site in Windows Explorer by using a UNC path (\webservernamefoldername). You can also map network drives to folders inside Web sites. It's a really useful tool for accessing Web content on an intranet where you know the name of the Web server where your Web content resides.
The Web Client service is enabled and running by default on Windows XP and Vista client machines. However, it's disabled on a Windows 2003 server. You can enable or disable the Web Client service by using the Services management console. To access the Services console, type Services.msc in the Run dialog box (accessible by choosing Start 
Run). If the Web Client service is disabled, you can enable it by right-clicking on it and then choosing Properties from the popup menu. In the General tab of the WebClient Properties dialog box that opens, as shown in Figure 3.3, select Manual in the StartUp Type dropdown menu and then click Start. This should enable and start the Web Client service on the computer.
Figure 3.3. The WebClient Properties dialog box
To access a folder inside a WebDAV-enabled site in Windows Explorer by using the Web Client service and then map a network drive to that folder, follow these steps:
To map a network drive to a folder inside the Web site, click Start, right-click on My Computer (Computer on Windows Vista machines), and then choose Map Network Drive from the popup menu to open the Map Network Drive dialog box, as shown in Figure 3.4.
Figure 3.4. The Map Network Drive dialog box
Using the Drive dropdown menu, choose a name for this drive.
Type the UNC path ( \servernamefoldername) of the folder in the Folder dropdown menu.
Click Finish. A new drive with the name you chose is created in Windows Explorer. You can now access the content of the folder inside the Web site by clicking on the mapped drive. You can also use SharePoint Designer to modify content inside this mapped network drive by choosing File
Open Site to display the Open Site dialog box. The Open Site dialog box makes available the mapped network drive to be used for opening the Web site in SharePoint Designer.
Because SharePoint sites support WebDAV, the Web Client service can be very useful for accessing document libraries inside SharePoint sites in a Windows Explorer-like interface, which can be used to perform bulk copy/paste operations inside document libraries. Office 2007 programs also use this service to directly open Office documents residing in Web sites for modification.
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3.2.2. Using Web Folders in Windows XP and Windows Vista clients
Web Folders is the other component offered by Windows for supporting remote authoring. Like the Web Client service, the Web Folders technology provides the local infrastructure to open remote sites in a Windows Explorer-like view. However, Web Folders is a relatively older technology, and newer Windows operating systems, such as Windows Vista, don't ship it by default. To create a local Web folder for a Web site on a Windows XP machine, follow these steps:
Open Windows Explorer and then click My Network Places. This interface allows you to create and view Web Folders.
Ensure that the Choose another network location option is selected and then click Next.
Type the complete HTTP address of the Web site in the Internet or network address text field and then click Next.
Specify a name for the Web folder in the Type a name for this network place text field.
Click Next and then click Finish.
Files and folders inside your Web site are displayed in a Windows Explorer-like interface. Also, inside My Network Places is the newly created Web folder in the corresponding section. You can also create and access a Web folder using IE. The Open dialog box in IE (accessible by choosing File 
Open) has the Open as Web Folder check box that allows you to open a Web site as a Web folder.
Web Folders is installed by default on Windows XP machines. On Windows 2003 and Windows Vista, the Web Client service is used by default to implement the Add a network place operation. If the Web Client service is disabled, it falls back to Web Folders (if it's installed).
NOTE
On Windows 2003 and Windows Vista machines, Web Folders isn't installed, but you can use the Web Client windows service instead. However, you can download and install Web Folders on Windows 2003 and Vista machines from www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=17C36612-632E-4C04-9382-987622ED1D64&displaylang=en.
If your Web Folders installation becomes corrupted, you might experience issues where SharePoint Designer fails to open any sites for remote authoring, publish sites, etc. After you install Web Folders on a machine, you can update and repair the associated files by using the webfldrs.msi setup file:
Select all options and then click OK. All the files required for Web Folders to work properly on the machine are now installed and registered.
