This post will cover triggering a flow directly from a SharePoint list or library, for selected items. This can be done using the default OOB Power Automate integration, or by adding custom JSON formatting to create buttons for specific items. I will cover both methods below:

First things first, create a flow with one of the following triggers:

For libraries:

For lists:

Pass in the following trigger parameters:

• Site Address
• List or Library Name

Using the OOB integration:

The list or library you entered in the flow trigger will automatically be displayed in the ribbon. To run it, do the following:

• Select an item from the list or library.
• In the ribbon, click the 3 dots (…).
• Hover over Automate.
• Select the flow name from the menu.
• Select Run flow.
• See screenshots below.

While the OOB method certainly gets the job done and is quicker to set up, it has its inconveniences and limitations. For instance, the number of steps or clicks it takes to run the flow can be a bit much for some users. Understandably so. Selecting an item, then selecting a button from the ribbon menu, then hovering over another button just to be able to select another button that appears, then followed up by one more button to select to run the flow. These days, the less screen navigating, and button clicks the users need to do, the better. That is where the next method has its benefits.

JSON Column Formatting:

This method allows columns to be formatted as a button associated with a specific item. The button will display within the item fields like the rest of the metadata and will open the panel with the Run flow button. Minimizing the amount of clicks a user needs to run the flow.

This method also allows the button to be styled as a link or any way you prefer. Using the JSON formatter. Another neat feature of this method is that you can use conditional formatting based off other columns. In the example below (see screenshot below), the button to run the flow is only visible for items that have an Assigned To. This makes sense for approval workflows. Not allowing approval workflows to be triggered if there is no assigned approver.

To access column formatting, do the following:

• Click on the dropdown of the column you want to format.
• Hover over Column settings.
• Select Format this column.
• See screenshot below.

To add custom JSON, do the following:

• Select Advanced mode.
• Paste in the code.
• Select Save.
• See screenshots below.

In my example above, to get the light-blue button with white text and have it show only on items when the Assigned To column is not empty, use the following code:

{
“$schema”: “https://developer.microsoft.com/json-schemas/sp/v2/column-formatting.schema.json“,
“elmType“: “span”,
 “customRowAction”: {
“action”: “executeFlow”,
“actionParams”: “{\”id\”: \”546e42c3-23fc-41fa-950f-6f7331e7edce\”}”
},
“attributes”: {
“class”: “ms-fontColor-themePrimary ms-fontColor-themeDarker–hover”
},
“style”: {
 “border”: “none”,
“background-color”: “lightblue”,
 “color”: “white”,
“padding”: “5px”,
“border-radius”: “20px”,
“display”: {
 “operator”: “:”,
 “operands”: [
{
  “operator”: “==”,
  “operands”: [
“[$AssignedTo.email]”,
        “”
    ]
},
 “none”,
 “flex”
   ]
},
  “cursor”: “pointer”
},
“txtContent”: “Notify Assigned To”
}

As a pointer for creating your own custom JSON, a neat little hack I find very useful is to use the design mode OOB conditional formatter to intuitively add rules and conditions. This generates JSON underneath, and that JSON can be used as a starting template for add your own customizations to. It is much easier to start with JSON that your SharePoint list already recognizes than it is to start from scratch or find solutions online that need to be completely restructured.

To accomplish this, do the following:

• Select Manage rules.
• Select the column to base your condition off.
• Select the operator of the condition.
• Enter the value the operator should look for.
• Switch to Advanced Mode.
• Copy out the code that was generated.
• See screenshots.

That concludes the pot.

The post Run Flows Directly from SharePoint List/Library Using JSON Column Formatting appeared first on Thrive.

Microsoft offers both OneDrive and SharePoint in its suite of services, and while these file management platforms have plenty in common, there are some key differences between the two, with distinguishing features that help drive business efficiencies.

Ensure a proper approach to file sharing, collaboration, and document management, with Thrive’s customized recommendations of how to deliver a complete file management solution.

Are OneDrive and SharePoint One and the Same?

OneDrive and SharePoint assist in file management, with any documents and data safely stored in the Cloud, giving users the ability to view documents, make changes, and see the version history of the document itself.

Made for those on the go, they both offer mobile-friendly features and syncing of files across devices. With OneDrive and SharePoint in Microsoft Office 365, files are stored in the Cloud, and it’s easy to sync either OneDrive or SharePoint files to a computer.

Think of OneDrive as the best choice for individual employees. Employees can create a document privately, work on a first draft, and manage projects yet to draw in the larger team. SharePoint allows employees to take that next step, uploading a personal draft from OneDrive so the larger team has access to the file. Administrators can set up permissions, too, giving access only to authorized team members. Now, multiple employees can comment, edit, and make changes to the document within the SharePoint system, so everyone is kept up to date with the latest progress.

Working solo? OneDrive is the way to go. Bringing a larger team in for the conversation? SharePoint access will drive productivity.

What are the Key Differences Between OneDrive and SharePoint?

With OneDrive, users have a personal account which keeps them in full control of files they create and upload. Only when a larger team needs access to the file will it be shared from OneDrive, which is a Cloud-based offering.

SharePoint is designed as a work process management platform, and while through Office 365 it offers Cloud capabilities, it can become an on-premises solution, as well. SharePoint allows administrators to create team-specific sites, going beyond the basic personalized interface of OneDrive. These team-specific sites may include easy-to-use dashboards, calendars, project updates, and task lists, ensuring seamless collaboration among all users.

Another major SharePoint advantage is the ability to customize internal team sites and outgoing communications. For example, admins can update an employee portal using the SharePoint interface and team-shared documents. Thanks to SharePoint’s CMS application, it’s easy to update a customer-facing website, too, with the ability to publish documents directly to the site.

Organizations have choices to make when it comes to OneDrive and SharePoint, but the reality is that using a combination of both will benefit businesses. To discover how to best utilize OneDrive and SharePoint and better understand Cloud and on-premises options, get in touch with the experienced team at Thrive today.

The post Microsoft OneDrive vs. SharePoint: Which Platform Do I Need? appeared first on Thrive.

The Power Apps Administration PowerShell Module provides functionality that allows suppression of the consent prompt for end users by instead providing admin consent, essentially pre-approving the necessary access before it would normally be requested of users.

This can be even more beneficial for SharePoint Forms that are customized with Power Apps as the consent prompts feel more inconsistent as not all sites or lists will have these customized forms.

The cmdlet, Set-AdminPowerAppApisToBypassConsent, can be used for this configuration.

The documented example incorrectly identifies the Power App Identifier parameter as -PowerAppName (as of 3/13/21) while the list of parameters includes -AppName. We can quickly check the available parameters using the Get-Command cmdlet, as illustrated below, to confirm the appropriate parameter is -AppName as there is no -PowerAppName parameter.

Shown here are samples of what a user would see with and without the admin consent process. The user will be prompted for permission (A), listing any connectors used with the form or app. When prompted, they must choose to allow the permissions if they intend to use the form. Should they choose not to do so, they will be dropped into an unhelpful blank form (B).

Choosing to allow the permission request, or if the form has been configured with admin consent, the customized form will instead load as expected no surprise prompt. Configuring admin consent changes the experience, so users get what they expect the very first time they load up the form or app.

Aside from access and the appropriate PowerShell module, the App Id of the customized form is all the information necessary to run the bypass PowerShell command. It can be found in either the Power App Service (GUI) or PowerShell Module (CLI).

Within the Power App service, the form details are found by first navigating to a list with a customized form (or create a new one) and selecting Customize forms from the Power Apps drop down menu. After the Edit screen has loaded, move to the File menu, then click the See all versions button. To the left of Versions is the Details pane, which is where we will find the App ID.

The Power Apps Administration PowerShell Module is needed to identify the App ID from the command-line. With the module installed, we can run Add-PowerAppsAccount and complete authentication via login prompt. The account used must be able to grant admin consent and view all Power Apps in an environment, I will use a Global Administrator, other roles may be reviewed for Azure AD and the Power Platform using these resources:

Azure AD built-in roles – Azure Active Directory | Microsoft Docs

Use service admin roles to manage your tenant – Power Platform | Microsoft Docs

Running Get-AdminPowerApp lists all Power Apps in the default or selected environment. With the command-line method, we do not currently know the name nor the App Id. Fortunately, there is a default naming structure for customized SharePoint forms:

ListName on SiteName forms

In the example below, I have created a site, IntegrationForm, and a list, SampleList. The AppName is the identifier needed to grant Admin Consent.

Site: /sites/IntegrationForm

List: /sites/IntegrationForm/SampleList

Using the default naming scheme then identifies SampleList on IntegrationForm forms as the appropriate Power App.

Having identified the App ID through either method, we can now execute the Set-AdminPowerAppApisToBypassConsent command. Ideally, a Code of 200 will be returned, indicating success. Other codes which may be commonly encountered are 403 and 409 noting a lack of permissions or that the app or form has a session locked for editing, respectively. If the session is locked, it should clear up in a few minutes, so long as there is not any active editing. There is also a -ForceLease parameter that could be added to the Set-AdminPowerAppApisToBypassConsent command, though, this doesn’t appear reliable as of version 2.0.110 of the Power Apps Administration PowerShell Module.

Granting admin consent smooths the first-time experience for users but could cause issues for developers. If admin consent has been granted, users who do not access to run Set-AdminPowerAppApisToBypassConsent will not be able to restore past versions of the app or form. Interestingly, it is still possible to save and publish new versions.

The restore failure can be reproduced in both the browser and PowerShell, neither offer a very clear picture without some digging. Starting with the browser, go to your customized form or a canvas app and navigate to the version history as we did when identifying the App Id. Select a previous version and choose to restore it. For testing, I have used an account which is a Co-Owner of an app and a user which has access to edit forms, otherwise, no administrative roles are assigned.

With customized forms, I have only been able to reproduce an error regarding locked sessions. This may be due to a difference in how a customized form and an app are handled on the back end or may simply be tied to the timing of session releases.

Most browsers have developer tools which can be used to debug and investigate what is happening under the hood of a website. The overview for the developer tools available in Microsoft’s Edge browser can be found here. Two invoke entries can be found using the Network dev tool; they contain the error above about a locked session but another and more informative error as well.

This is message is much clearer; the account does not have the appropriate level of access to perform the restore now that admin consent has been configured.

If we instead try to perform the restore using PowerShell, we get the same message, though, only if the -Verbose parameter is included when attempting the restore. Without it, the command will complete silently and we may be led to believe it was successful when nothing has changed.

The Set-AdminPowerAppApisToBypassConsent command suppresses the first-time user prompt for both Power Apps and customized SharePoint forms, making for an expected and consistent user experience. If you choose to configure admin consent in this way, ensure your development team has the necessary permission to handle version restores or that your procedures detail the separation of responsibilities.

The post Granting Admin Consent for Power App Customized SharePoint Forms appeared first on Thrive.

The Thrive team has some suggestions to help you avoid an embarrassing situation and keep shared content flowing smoothly across users.

What is the cause?

The guest user profile has become corrupted and it’s not being recognized leading to error “User not found in directory.”

How to fix it?

The standard way to fix the error is to remove the  guest user and re-add them, essentially re-creating their account anew. This can be a bit tedious and when finished the guest user permissions need to be re-added to all content that they previously had access to.

However, there’s a new functionality that’s been deployed to Azure Active Directory for managing B2B guest accounts. The improved workaround allows for a quick fix and without the need to re-add user permissions to SharePoint online content.

1. Go to your Azure Active Directory portal (https://portal.azure.com/)
2. Go to Users and lookup your guest
3. Go to Identity > Invitation Select manage

4. Change Redemption status to Yes and confirm you want to reset the invitation status.

5. The guest user will receive an email on behalf of your organization asking them to accept the invitation. They will be asked to sign in and this will fix their guest account. Immediately after, the guest can once again  access previously shared SharePoint sites and content.

Still need help? Or, do you need help deploying, managing, and scaling your business’ Microsoft 365, SharePoint or Teams? Contact the Thrive experts today to handle your Microsoft suite of collaboration tools so you can focus on your core business.

The post Oops! SharePoint User Not Found In Directory Error appeared first on Thrive.

As the capabilities in the Microsoft Power Platform have matured over the last couple of years, Thrive has spent considerable time delivering business process automation solutions using the tools in the platform. With Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power BI, the platform allows us to accelerate the digital transformation process for our customers using the low-code capabilities in the platform. However, when requirements get complicated, a better approach may be to build your form using the SharePoint Framework (SPFx). This is especially true if you are dealing with large amounts of data, fast load time of the form is critical, or the UI requirements are complicated. Using SPFx does require development experience, but with the right skills, you can quickly build out custom forms that can provide a better solution.

The table below provides a detailed comparison of building your form in Power Apps versus using the SharePoint framework. We have also provided a summary of our findings at the end of this post.

Detailed Comparison

Summary

Use Power Apps if…

• You do not require storing more than 5,000 records
• The speed of the forms is not a significant consideration
• Your forms are relatively basic, without complex repeating sections or business logic
• You do not need to promote the forms through Development, Test, and Production environments
• You do not have complex conditional or validation logic
• Your forms do not need to redirect to a custom location upon completion
• Responsive design across numerous browser configurations is not critical
• You have power users who can maintain and modify basic forms and functionality

Use SharePoint Framework if…

• You need to store larger amounts of data
• Fast form load and navigation time is critical
• There is complex logic and/or UI design involved
• You need to support a full Software Development Lifecycle or migrate the form to various locations
• You want complete control over the responsive design to support various browser configurations
• Having seamless integration into Teams and/or SharePoint is important

The post Power Apps vs. SharePoint Framework for Forms appeared first on Thrive.

An intranet is a great way to improve communication, collaboration, and knowledge sharing within your organization. 

A modern SharePoint intranet takes it a step further. By leveraging SharePoint and incorporating efficient Office 365 applications – including OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, Power BI, Yammer, Flow and PowerApps – you can dramatically improve internal communications and increase employee efficiency. 

Before your team can fully realize the benefits of a modern SharePoint intranet though, you need to build it properly. We put together some tips to help you get started. 

1. Identify The Purpose For Building A SharePoint Intranet

Before you start building your SharePoint intranet, it’s important to identify the key business use cases for which it will be used. Ask these questions as you start the project: 

• What are some of the outcomes your organization aims to achieve once the intranet is in use? 
• Which kind of intranet is best for your use cases — a hub site? Communicate site? Or team site? 
• Which departments will be using it? HR? Finance? Internal Comms/PR? Everyone?
• What information and applications do users access on a regular basis? Calendars? Tasks? Reporting?

It’s imperative that the use of the SharePoint intranet is aligned with the needs of the business. IT can no longer stand-alone.  An intranet should be driven by the user community with input from all key departments (Marketing, HR, Legal, Finance, C-Level, and Communications).

A solid commitment to business and IT alignment, where you include all your IT and business stakeholders, is critical for success and user adoption.

Before building your intranet, set meetings for planning and discussions to pinpoint the purpose then to align all parties involved in the process. By understanding your stakeholders’ specific requirements and clearly communicating why an intranet will benefit them, you will be on the right path to better collaboration and buy-in.

2. Focus On Functionality And Usability

One of the strengths of a SharePoint intranet is how visually pleasing you can make the site. It can look like an actual website that people want to visit every day! 

However, a ‘Build it and they will come’ perspective doesn’t work with this type of solution.

While you’re in the planning stage of your project, consider the various use cases of your employees who will be using the SharePoint intranet. What content and applications will they access? How can the intranet be personalized to each employee? 

That’s why it’s critical to speak with stakeholders and employees who will be using the tool daily. Think about the type of content you will be presenting and make sure you have the stakeholders in place to ensure your content will remain fresh with constant ongoing updates. 

How will the pages be structured? How will users navigate? How can we make it easier to find information? 

Gathering answers and mapping your project plan to these use cases should be your top priorities. Focus more on the functionality at the beginning of the intranet build project and incorporate visual branding elements later.

Intranets vary by customer, but consider if/how you may want to use some of these components:

• News
• Quick links
• Social Features
• People Search
• Social Features
• Calendars and Events
• Company Classifieds
• Employee Directory / Organization Chart
• Business Process Automation (Expenses, Vacations/ time off, Onboarding, etc.)

3. Nail Your Information Architecture

It’s not the most exciting aspect of building a SharePoint intranet, but ensuring you have a well-defined information architecture (IA) and site structure is crucial to success. 

When applied intelligently, the right IA combined with structured metadata helps your employees find documents faster using SharePoint’s powerful search engine. However, if it’s overly complicated to add metadata, or your chosen terms are too vague, then employees will give up on their search and will revert to their old habits of using the wrong tools to find information or to collaborate. 

Want More? 

Our team mapped four more best practices for you to follow and implement when building a SharePoint intranet. Get access to them here in this free guide.

Bottom Line On Building An Intranet

With a solid plan in place, building your modern SharePoint intranet can be an easy and seamless process, and you’re on the road to improved communications, collaboration, and operations.

Download the full, free guide of best practices for building a modern SharePoint intranet for your organization. 

And let us know if you have any questions or need any help.

The post 3 Things To Do Before Building A SharePoint Intranet appeared first on Thrive.

The successful completion of another SPTechCon Boston is under our belt.

As I like to do after these events, I stop and think about the people I talked to in the industry, the problems, and challenges they are encountering with various aspects of Office 365 tools and their businesses, plus what they hoped to achieve by attending the conference.

One of my main goals at SPTechCon is to speak with attendees and understand why they came to the event.  Most people come with some problems or ideas and hope to get more direct-human feedback on technology issues. 

Here are the big takeaways, challenges, and trends that I uncovered from conversations throughout the week:

Takeaways and Trends from SPTechCon 2019

1. Collaboration and Automation Are The Future

Microsoft Teams, Flow, PowerApps are the big winners over the past year and continue to lead today into the future. The desperate need for a powerful workflow engine to replace classic SharePoint features has put us in the driver’s seat to create real-world applications in SharePoint Online.

Microsoft Teams has been such a needed addition to the toolset that it’s no surprise how quickly it has taken off.  Users have switched over almost entirely to this tool for communication and collaboration, relying on classic SharePoint features for more process-based on document and information management.

2. Change is Constant in the Office 365 Ecosystem

Office 365 users have a difficult time making sure their team (often a team of one) can keep track of the features being updated and introduced by Microsoft. 

From small changes that derail a training exercise to whole new applications becoming available to an entire organization, changes to the platform are constant and can have a huge impact on how teams do business.

We, collectively, haven’t fully converted from the classic installation, service pack, and major revision model of yesterday. In the past, users and admins could review the release notes, understand the changes, test the installation, and release several feature changes on our schedule. Now, enhancements come in an unsteady stream.

This is a scary proposition to those who try to build and maintain the confidence of business while offering cutting edge capabilities.

It’s one of the reasons I publish the Timlin Office 365 Monthly Buzz Newsletter every month with updates, trends, and goings-on related to Office 365 and SharePoint. If you’d like to receive it, sign up here.

3. Understanding the Longer Microsoft Roadmap is Challenging at Best

Microsoft has never done a great job at helping us build a 3-5-year technology plan based on their feature and release roadmap – the guidance just isn’t cohesive enough. 

For example, if we knew that InfoPath and Workflow were going to be abandoned and replaced with PowerApps and Flow, we could have planned for it in advance. Also, the new versions of these tools don’t have feature parity, so they aren’t completely compatible as replacements.

This is a frustrating proposition for CIOs and technology leaders to recommend a plan, not knowing if the technology will be abandoned, what its possible replacement may be, and if something else will take its place within 2-3 years. 

The strategy, training, and political clout required to correctly implement these tools are too high to guess and hope.

4. Using Strategy and Governance Helps Identify the Right Tool(s) for the Job

The features in the Office 365 Suite contain several overlapping and interconnected capabilities.  Organizations struggle to understand how set the proper guidance, support, and train people down a path they are comfortable managing.

When there are too many ways to manage tasks, it becomes almost impossible to severely limit the choices, so many organizations turn to a “free for all” approach.  This methodology can increase initial user adoption, but almost always creates major problems if the platform takes off.

Organizations should consider when to use which tools and how to set the stage to provide solutions to their internal business problems in a well-orchestrated capacity. Information architecture, business analysis, governance, training, and ongoing support are all crucial to the success of user adoption and achieving digital transformation. 

5. Guaranteeing Proper User Adoption Isn’t Easy

Hopefully, you are noticing a theme here.  Most of these issues stem from similar problems.  Without the time or resources, you often have one of two paths to choose, or possibly both paths at the same time:

1. Pick and choose high-value problems/solutions and solve for those.
2. Open the spigot and let people use the tools in whatever way works for them.
   

Both approaches have their pros and cons, but I talked to a lot of frustrated business analysts and administrators that were expected to make these tools useful for thousands of people with no help beyond their knowledge of the platform.  This is not a good recipe.

6. Limited Time and Resources for Management and Maintenance are Commonplace

The obvious final piece of the puzzle is there isn’t enough time to make the impact these professionals want to make on their businesses.

For example, if an organization decides it needs a new ticket tracking system, it will create a team, spin up the plan, work it through to completion, provide training, support, and ongoing resources for management.  They will then require that all new tickets come through this system, thus ensuring its viability.

When organizations start using Office 365, they treat it much differently.  They bought it for email, Microsoft Office, and possibly OneDrive, and go into it assuming these are essentially desktop/individual tools.

The mindset and business approach to implementation are entirely different. Unlike a mandated/required ticketing system, many of the capabilities and solutions within Office 365 are not a pure requirement to complete work.

Instead, they are optional tools designed to create efficiency and error reduction.  You must think ahead, build solutions, and entice or require people to perform certain activities within these tools to solve specific problems.

The Roadmap Ahead In The Office 365 Industry

As you will note from these takeaways, the world, and the businesses that thrive within it, are changing.

Where we used to work so hard to create process, efficiency, and predictability, the new methods of succeeding are based on adaptability, flexibility, and some bravery to embrace and accept that the world around will be adjusting a pace that we’ve never seen before. 

Information (and misinformation) is given to the entire world in seconds, ideas, concepts, and features show up without warning. 

The classic IT mentality has been tested and appears to be failing in a world that needs something different.

In conclusion, Office 365 and SharePoint continue to help organizations harness the power of technology to improve operational efficiency. As with any technology that has numerous, regular updates, it can be challenging to keep up, though, but it’s worth it.

Reach out if you need any help as our team is very well versed in all of Office 365’s tools and capabilities.

The post 6 Takeaways, Trends, and Observations from SPTechCon 2019 appeared first on Thrive.

Next week, the annual SPTechCon Boston Conference is returning for another exciting year of training, problem-solving, and networking. 

SPTechCon will cover a wide range of SharePoint and Office 365 topic areas and attendees will walk away with practical knowledge that they can apply immediately within their organization We’re excited to be a Gold Sponsor of the conference again this year.

There’s a lot happening during the week so read through this guide to make sure you attend the most important sessions and meet the right people while you’re in Boston for SPTechCon. Get all the important details, dates, and insider tips below. 

SPTechCon Schedule At A Glance

Sunday, August 25th: First day of the conference. Tutorials, Hands-on lab, happy hour.

Monday, August 26th: Technical sessions, sponsored sessions, Microsoft Keynote, networking breaks, round tables, reception in Exhibit Hall (at 5:45 pm). 

Tuesday, August 27th: Technical sessions, general sessions, networking breaks, prize announcement in Exhibit Hall, SharePoint.

Wednesday, August 28th: Technical sessions & general sessions. Conference closes. 

For a complete list of sessions and descriptions click here.

Don’t Miss These Exciting Events And Sessions

Office 365 Hands-On Kitchen

When: Sunday, August 25th — 9 am – 5 pm

Join a select group of “chefs” (speakers) as they create recipes for collaboration challenges with cooks (you!). There will be up to five teams led by two master chefs to guide them through the solution cooking process using all the ingredients available in Office 365!

Planning a Successful Migration to Microsoft Teams and SharePoint Online

When: Monday, August 26th — 9:15 – 9:45 am

Senior Consultant of Timlin Enterprises, Nick Bisciotti, is sharing his top tips for executing a successful migration to Microsoft Teams and SharePoint Online. During this presentation, you will develop a plan and identify tools to make your migrations a smooth and seamless process.

Microsoft Keynote on Monday Morning 

When: Monday, August 26th — 10 am

Join Dan Holme, Director of Product Marketing, as he shares the latest innovations and solutions for content collaboration, security, teamwork, process transformation, employee engagement & communications, and knowledge sharing & discovery. Learn how the experiences in Microsoft 365–including SharePoint, OneDrive, Yammer, Stream, PowerApps, Flow–integrate to power collaboration and the intelligent workplace across devices, on the web, in desktop and mobile apps, and in the hub for teamwork, Microsoft Teams.

Stump the Experts – Win a Microsoft Surface Go!

When: Tuesday, August 27th — 5 pm

Timlin is hosting this flagship SPTechCon event for the second year in a row! Ask clever, challenging questions of Microsoft experts. The person with the best question will win a Microsoft Surface Go!

This will be an open discussion where you can test your knowledge against some of the best, discover answers to troubling SharePoint and Office 265 topics, and take your turn at winning this awesome prize. 

#TimlinTrivia — Join Us On Twitter

Join us every morning on Twitter from Monday to Wednesday for a round of #TimlinTrivia!

Before the morning keynote each day, we will tweet a tricky Office365 or SharePoint question. The first attendee to respond with the correct answer will win an Amazon gift card!

How To Get the Most Out Of Your SPTechCon 2019 Experience

• Preparation is key! Be sure to draft your conference schedule in advance and highlight the events that interest you the most.
  Leave some free time during the day to recharge, grab a bite to eat, and network with others. Conferences are often jam-packed with back to back sessions and information, so it’s important to soak in as much information as you can without burning out by the end of each day.
• Find the right sessions for you with filters. Use the robust filtering system on the SPTechCon program agenda to identify the right sessions to add to your schedule. You can filter by topic, session type, session category, level, and date.
• Set goals for yourself and your experience. Decide on whether your priority is networking or building your skillset, and make that your priority during each day. Make a list of things you’d like to learn and people you’d like to connect with. Discover the complete list of this year’s speakers. 
• Meet the many sponsors and companies in the industry who are changing and challenging the status quo with their Office 365 and SharePoint solutions. Meet the Timlin Enterprises team and learn more about our Center of Excellence approach by stopping by booth #209. 
• Join in on the fun on social media. A great way to network and connect with the conference is by chatting on Twitter under the official conference hashtag #SPTechCon. 

We’re excited to experience the 2019 SPTechCon with you! Let us know if you’d like to connect during the conference by sending us a message on Twitter at @TimlinEnt.

The post The Ultimate Guide to SPTechCon Boston 2019 appeared first on Thrive.

You may have noticed recently that your lists and libraries in SharePoint Online had changed from the Classic Experience to the Modern Experience. While Microsoft continues to push the use of the Modern Experience, these changes may become more frequent.

However, there are definitely some instances where you may want to remain on the Classic Experience for the time being, branding being one of the biggest reasons. Customization of any kind that was developed in Classic SharePoint using Content Editor Web Parts, Script Editor Web Parts, Master Page changes, etc. will not carry over into the modern sites.

The same applies to any sort of custom web parts that may have been developed for SharePoint. Any custom development that was not constructed using SharePoint Framework would not be supported or carry over easily.

So, here is a quick and easy way to use PnP PowerShell to revert all your lists and libraries back to Classic.

The Code to Revert Back to SharePoint Online Classic

The code we use is less than 40 lines and will return all the lists and libraries back to the way they were. The code does need to be run per site collection, as it will grab each subsite and their respective subsites under them and collect the lists and libraries to change back. If you are in an environment that tends to lean toward separate site collections for most aspects of your intranet, the script can be slightly modified to first grab all site collections (using and storing Get-PnPTenantSite in a variable while connected to your admin SharePoint center) and executing this same code in a loop through that variable. The code is as shown in the following screenshot.

The Process Behind the Code

The code shown will connect to your site collection via Connect-PnPOnline and the -UseWebLogin flag.

1. First, while we are connected to the root web, we can grab all of its lists and store them in $rootLevelLists.
2. Then, we loop through each list, check if it is already in Classic Experience and if not, use the Set-PnPList command to set it to “ClassicExperience”. You’ll notice we don’t have to use the -Web flag here as we are already in the context of where these lists live in the root.
3. On line 3, we can gather all of the subsites under the root using Get-PnPSubWebs. The -Recurse flag will ensure we also get every subsite nested within a subsite.
4. From there, we can iterate through each site, get and store all of the respective site’s lists in $subWebLists.
5. We then iterate through each list, check if it is already in Classic Experience and if it is not, use the Set-PnPList command to set the List Experience to “ClassicExperience”.

The code could be refactored a bit and thrown into a function, but in this format it may be a bit easier to read. Depending on the amount of site collections, sites, lists, and libraries you have this could take 5-10+ minutes to run.

Once completed, all lists and libraries across your tenant should now be set to Classic Experience. Should you want to change this at any point in time, you can replace all of the “ClassicExperience” strings in the code to either “Auto” or “NewExperience” and re-run the script.

If you have any questions on this process or anything else related to SharePoint Online, let us know. We support literally everything SharePoint.

The post How to Revert All Lists and Libraries Back to Classic in SharePoint Online appeared first on Thrive.

However, with the move to the cloud, Designer-based solutions have struggled.

Not only do Flow and PowerApps dominate the headlines, but they also enjoy nearly all of Microsoft’s R&D dollars for no/low-code solutions in Office 365.  SharePoint Designer has been stagnant with no new releases since the 2013 version.  Mainstream support for the product ends on 7/13/2021.  It is actually quite surprising that the tool is still used as much as it is.

There also have been recent advisories where Designer solutions could not be opened or edited for several days. And I have personally witnessed Designer blow away an entire section of a workflow when the desktop application suddenly crashed. Unfortunately, the version restoration capabilities available for Designer solutions running in on-prem environments does not work for SharePoint Online.

As risk continues to increase for Designer-based solutions, advancements in Flow and PowerApps make these the new, go-to tools for new solution creation at Timlin.

We have recently engaged with a number of customers with complicated SharePoint designer based solutions where we have rebuilt those solutions using the Flow and PowerApps tools.  With the recent innovations in Flow and PowerApps, the time is right to look closely at retiring SharePoint designer based solutions.  Thus, we recommend performing an inventory of your SharePoint environment and noting all Designer solutions and develop a rebuild strategy.

If you have any questions or need assistance, you can reach out to our team here and we will happily give guidance on performing a SharePoint inventory.

The post Timlin’s Shift from SharePoint Designer to Flow & PowerApps appeared first on Thrive.