Review

Target Audience: End Users
Difficulty : Beginner

Who should buy this book?
Buy this book, if you want to learn to work with Windows SharePoint. If you are new to SharePoint and maybe not an expert with computers and want to know how to use the various default features provided by SharePoint, then this book is for you.

Review Summary:
This book is a quick introduction to SharePoint for the absolute beginner. It mainly deals with using the various aspects of the default WSS installation. Although it does not cover SharePoint Portal Server, the concepts learnt with WSS are very similar and can easily be applied to use the additional features present in SharePoint Portal Server 2003. Some of the chapters are very elementary, while many other chapters teach you to do things the SharePoint way. Wondering how to setup your own document library, or how to set up events in SharePoint? This book will show you very precisely what, where and how to solve your problem.

There is no code or programming involved, and everything is taught in very simple, clear steps for the end user to quickly come to grasp with the SharePoint way of doing things. Definitely worth a buy if you want to learn to use SharePoint quickly. If you are a tech savvy guy with good expertise with computer software but are new to SharePoint, you can still find this book valuable as it will get you running with SharePoint like a pro in just a matter of hours

Pros:

Short concise lessons
Lots of hands on exercises provided with nice screenshots
Covers integration of Office and SharePoint
Cons:

Not for advanced users
TOC at Glance

1. Introduction to SharePoint 2003
2. Accessing SharePoint Sites
3. SharePoint Site Collections Demystified
4. Introduction to Web Parts
5. Document Library Basics
6. Picture Library Basics
7. Using the Links, Contacts, and Events Lists
8. Using the Tasks and Issues Lists
9. Introduction to Metadata
10. The Datasheet and Explorer Views
11. Modifying and Creating Views in Libraries and Lists
12. Alerts and Document Versioning
13. Using Word with SharePoint
14. Using Excel with SharePoint
15. Summary of the Role of Site Administrator
16. Managing Site, Library, and List Security
17. Home Page Configuration Basics
18. Adding and Linking Web Parts
19. Creating Libraries and Lists
20. Creating Custom Lists and Importing Spreadsheets
21. Creating Basic and Web Part Pages
22. Forms in SharePoint. Understanding SharePoint Forms
23. Creating Sites
24. Backup Strategies
25. Migrating and Moving Data