Microsoft SharePoint took the world by storm in the 2000s and then didn’t seem to change a whole lot in the 2010s. And now, Microsoft has stepped on the accelerator again, and SharePoint is off to the races with new features and experiences. Shifting development to a cloud-first strategy, Microsoft has put the online versions of the product in the forefront.

This book covers SharePoint Online as of the calendar year 2019 and also covers the SharePoint Server 2019 product itself. You can think of SharePoint Server 2019 as a snapshot of SharePoint Online that is designed to be installed by large IT departments at your organization. SharePoint Online, on the other hand, is the online service–based version of SharePoint that Microsoft delivers to you over the Internet. SharePoint Online is constantly changing. SharePoint Server is a glimpse of SharePoint Online at a specific point in time.

It is important to note that if your organization uses an on-premises version of SharePoint, you need to check what version you are running. On-premises means your IT team members have installed the software and they are the ones who manage it for you. It’s common for an organization to be running an older version of SharePoint when it is installed on-premises. So be sure to check what version you are running. Past versions of SharePoint On-Premises include SharePoint Server 2010, SharePoint Server 2013, and SharePoint Server 2016.

If your organization is running SharePoint Online, then you automatically have the latest version of SharePoint and this book is for you. If your organization is running, or planning to run, SharePoint Server 2019, then this book is for you, too.

Microsoft understands that people are attached to their smartphones, and as such, they created a SharePoint Mobile App to accommodate everyone. The SharePoint Mobile App is covered throughout the book and is a new addition to SharePoint. In addition to the SharePoint Mobile App, you will also find new service integration for creating workflows using Microsoft Flow (Chapter 14), building forms with Microsoft Forms (Chapter 15), building your own mobile-based apps with PowerApps (Chapter 16), and creating data dashboards with Power BI (Chapter 23). All of these are new since the last edition of this book. Don’t let the complexity of these types of features fool you. SharePoint is intended to be a self-service environment, and this book helps you get the most out of the platform without the need for years of experience.

We’re not saying that SharePoint is easy; in fact, like any enterprise software system, you can expect to have a bit of a learning curve. However, if your organization uses SharePoint Server 2019 or SharePoint Online, you have a wealth of solutions to solve your particular needs, and you don’t need a degree in computers to do it.

About This Book

This book is intended for anyone who encounters SharePoint or is curious about using the product. SharePoint is a vast software application with many nooks and crannies, and no single book can cover everything. This book is designed to provide an introduction and an overview of the platform. It shows you how to get the most out of the product, whether you have never used SharePoint before or are deeply familiar with specific aspects it.

Others who may benefit from this book include

• Developers: This isn’t a development book, but the best SharePoint developers are those who understand the product. The exciting aspect of SharePoint development is that you don’t need to write programming code to develop business solutions in SharePoint. If you can work with a web browser to develop a web presence in a site like Facebook or LinkedIn, then you can develop and administer your own SharePoint site.
• IT professionals: This isn’t a book that explains how to set up SharePoint Server for your organization. However, this book helps you understand what features your end users may want to see in SharePoint and how you can make it happen.
• Managers: If you manage a department or business unit, you need to understand how to get the most out of SharePoint. If your company has made significant investments in SharePoint deployment, it’d be a shame if you didn’t know how to leverage that investment.

Foolish Assumptions

Because SharePoint is such a huge topic, we have to make some assumptions about your configuration and starting knowledge, such as

• You have access to some version of SharePoint Online or SharePoint Server 2019. If you don’t have access to SharePoint, then sign up for SharePoint Online. After the free trial period, it costs as little as $5 a month. If you want to try to install SharePoint yourself for on-premises environments, a trial license is available for 30 days. Just download it from the Microsoft download center and get started.
• You’re a contributor or administrator. Of course, many of the scenarios in this book require only that you be a contributor. So long as you know who your administrator is, you can ask that person for elevated permissions. And if you want to be master of your own SharePoint universe as an administrator, you can sign up for SharePoint Online and control all aspects of your SharePoint environment in a fairly intuitive interface.
• Ideally, you have a sandbox or test environment where you can try different scenarios. It isn’t the best strategy to lock down security on your human resources site only to find out nobody in your entire organization can get to their pay stubs. You need a test environment or test site where you can play around with SharePoint, and then take that knowledge to your department site. Luckily, if you have access to SharePoint, you have your own personal site that you can explore. Another alternative is to use SharePoint Online. (Yes, you can buy a single license.)

Icons Used in This Book

A handful of icons are used in this book. Here’s what they mean:

Tips point out a handy shortcut, or they help you understand something important to SharePoint.

This icon marks something to remember, such as how you handle a particularly tricky part of SharePoint configuration.

This icon is our chance to share with you details about the inner workings of SharePoint. Most of the information you find here pertains to some aspect of SharePoint that requires configuration at the server. That means you can point out the stuff beside this icon to IT and ask IT to make SharePoint do that.

Although the Warning icon appears rarely, when you need to be wary of a problem or common pitfall, this icon lets you know.

Beyond the Book

In addition to what you’re reading right now, this product also comes with a free access-anywhere Cheat Sheet that describes some common SharePoint site templates, apps, and Web Parts, among other things. To get this Cheat Sheet, simply go to www.dummies.com and enter SharePoint For Dummies Cheat Sheet in the Search box.

Where to Go from Here

All right, you’re all set and ready to jump into the book. You can jump in anywhere you like — the book was written to allow you to do just that. But if you want to get the full story from the beginning, turn to Chapter 1 — that’s where all the action starts. (If you are already familiar with SharePoint, you might want to flip ahead to Chapter 2, where you can get your hands dirty with creating a site and developing it to fit your needs.)