Create and manage a Document Workspace site

A Document Workspace site helps you to coordinate the development of one or more related documents with other people. The site provides tools to share and update files and to keep people informed about the status of those files.

In this article

Overview

Create a Document Workspace site from a document in a library

Create an empty Document Workspace site

Add a document

Add a user

Add a task

Add an announcement

Add a link to the Links list

Create an e-mail alert for a task

Publish a document back to a library from a Document Workspace site

Delete a Document Workspace site

Overview

By using a Document Workspace site, you and your colleagues can coordinate the development of one or more related documents. The site provides tools to share and update files and to keep people informed about the status of those files. You and your colleagues can work together on a Document Workspace site to develop a document in the following ways:

• Work directly on the copy located on the Document Workspace site

• Work on a local copy and update the copy regularly on the Document Workspace site

You and other workspace members can also use a Document Workspace site to publish announcements, assign tasks, share relevant links, and receive alerts about changes to site content. You can create a Document Workspace site for a short-term project and delete the site when the project ends or keep the site permanently.

By default, site owners have the required permission level to create Document Workspace sites within an existing site. If you are a site owner and want to enable other site members to create Document Workspace sites, you can grant permission to create sites to the Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services group that the team members belong to.

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Create a Document Workspace site from a document in a library

You can create a new Document Workspace site from a document that is already in a library on the site. Depending on the program, you may also be able to create a new Document Workspace site from within a program that is compatible with Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services, such as Microsoft Office Word 2007. For more information, see Help in that program.

1. Open the document library where the document is stored.

2. Point to the name of the document, click the arrow that appears, point to Send To, and then click Create Document Workspace.

   Note: If the Create Document Workspace option is not available, you do not have permission to create a workspace on that site. Ask the site owner to give this permission to you or to create the workspace site for you.

3. Click OK.

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Create an empty Document Workspace site

If you want to create a Document Workspace site but do not want to base it on an existing document in a library, you can create an empty Document Workspace site and add one or more documents later.

1. Open the site where you want to create a Document Workspace site.

   1. Click View All Site Content, and then click Create on the All Site Content page.

      Tip: In most cases, you can use the Site Actions menu instead to complete this step.

   Note: You may need to ask the site owner to give you permission to create a Document Workspace site.

2. In the Web Pages list, click Sites and Workspaces.

3. Enter the information about the Document Workspace site that you want to create, such as the title and the last part of the Web site address.

4. In the Template Selection section, click the Collaboration tab, and then click Document Workspace.

5. In the Permissions section, do one of the following:

   • If you want all members of the parent site to be members of this workspace, click Use same permissions as parent site.

   • If you want only a specific set of people to be members of this workspace, click Use unique permissions.

6. If you want the top link bar from the parent site to appear on pages on this new site, verify that Use the top link bar from the parent site is selected in the Navigation Inheritance section.

7. Click Create.

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Add a document

Regardless of whether you create a Document Workspace site from an existing document or you create an empty Document Workspace site, you can add new documents to the Document Workspace site at any time.

1. On the home page of the Document Workspace site, click Shared Documents.

2. Do one of the following:

   • To create and add a new document, click New.

   • To add an existing document, click Upload, and then click Browse to find the file that you want to add. Select the file, and then click Open. If a document with the same file name already exists in the library and you do not want to overwrite the existing document, clear the Overwrite existing files check box.

3. Click OK.

You can also add a linked copy of a document from another library to the Shared Documents library of the Document Workspace site by creating a Send To destination. When the original document or the linked copy is updated, you can update the copy in the other location easily. Find links to more information about adding linked copies of documents to other libraries in the See Also section.

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Add a user

To add users to a Document Workspace site, you must have permission to add members to the parent site or the Document Workspace site. If you cannot add users to the Document Workspace site, contact the owner of the parent site.

1. On the home page of the Document Workspace site, in the Members list, click the name of the group to which you want to add a user.

2. On the New menu , click Add Users.

3. In the Add Users section, type the name, group name, or e-mail address of the user or group that you want to add. If you add more than one user, separate each name with a semi-colon (;). You can also click Browse to search for and select the person from the directory.

4. In the Give Permission section, click the group to which you want to add the user.

5. Click OK.

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Add a task

You can use the Tasks list on your Document Workspace site to assign work items to yourself or other members of the workspace. Members can then update and share the status of their assigned tasks easily. By using the Tasks list, you can set priority and due dates for tasks, as well as task status and percent complete. As the owner of the Document Workspace site, you can also add custom fields to the Tasks list, just as you do with any other list on a SharePoint site. Find links to more information about customizing lists in the See Also section.

1. On the home page of the Document Workspace site, under Tasks, click Add new task.

2. Type a name for the task in the Title box.

3. In the Priority list, click the priority of the task.

4. In the Status list, click the status of the task.

5. To assign the task to someone, do one of the following in the Assigned To section:

   • Type the e-mail address of the person to whom you want to assign the task.

   • Type the full name of the person to whom you want to assign the task, and then click Check Names . If the person is found in the directory, the name resolves to that person's e-mail address. If the person is not found in the directory, the message No exact match was found appears.

   • Click Browse to search for and select the person from the directory. When you finish, click OK.

6. If necessary, type a brief description of the task in the Description box.

7. In the Start Date box, enter the date when the task begins.

8. In the Due Date box, enter the date when the task must be completed.

9. Click OK.

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Add an announcement

Use the Announcements list to post important messages about the project for team members, such as deadlines and changes in deliverables, introductions to new team members, and other information.

1. On the home page of the Document Workspace site, click Add new announcement.

2. In the Title box, type a title for your announcement.

3. In the Body box, type the full text of your announcement.

4. If you want the announcement to automatically expire after a certain date, type the date in the Expires box.

5. Click OK.

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Add a link to the Links list

You can use the Links list to share links that are useful to team members. The list can provide quick and easy access to related information and resources such as other Web sites.

1. On the home page of the Document Workspace site, click Add new link.

2. In the URL section, type the address of the Web page or other type of resource to which you want to link, and then type a description for the link.

   The text that you type in the Type the description box appears as the name of the link in the Links list. You can include notes about the link in the Notes section, but this information does not appear in the default view of the Links list that appears on the home page of the Document Workspace site.

3. Click OK.

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Create an e-mail alert for a task

After you create tasks and assign them to workspace members, you can choose to receive e-mail alerts notifying you of any changes to items in the Tasks list. Members can also create their own alerts to receive e-mail notification of changes to other items of interest to them.

Note: You can create e-mail alerts for tasks only if your server administrator has enabled the server running Windows SharePoint Services to send e-mail.

1. On the home page of the Document Workspace site, click Tasks.

   If the Tasks list does not appear on the home page, click View All Site Content, and then click Tasks.

2. On the Actions menu, click Alert Me.

3. In the Alert Title section, type a name for your alert.

4. In the Send Alerts To section, your name is included by default in the Users box. You can send alerts to other members by adding their names to the Users box, separated by a semi-colon (;).

5. In the Change Type section, select the type of changes to which you want to be alerted.

6. In the Send Alerts for These Changes section, select a filter to receive changes based on certain criteria.

   Tip: You can also choose to receive alerts for items shown in a particular view of the Tasks list.

7. In the When to Send Alerts section, select how frequently you want to receive alerts.

8. Click OK.

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Publish a document back to a library from a Document Workspace site

If your Document Workspace site is based on an existing document that was stored in a library, you can update the original copy with changes that were made to the copy of the document on the Document Workspace site.

1. On the Document Workspace site, open the library that contains the document.

2. Point to the name of the document, click the arrow that appears, point to Send To, and then click Publish to Source Location.

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Delete a Document Workspace site

After the documentation project is finished, and final versions of the documents are moved to other locations, you can choose to delete the Document Workspace site. To delete the site, you must have the Full Control permission level. By default, site owners have this permission level.

Important: Be sure to publish all documents to another location before you delete a Document Workspace site. When you delete a Document Workspace site, all documents, libraries, lists and list data, site settings, permission levels, and security information contained on the Document Workspace site are destroyed permanently.

1. On the home page for the site, click the Site Actions menu , and then click Site Settings.

   On a site for which the Site Actions menu is customized, point to Site Settings, and then click the settings that you want to view.

1. In the Site Administration column, click Delete this site.

2. Click Delete, and then click OK to confirm that you want to delete the site.

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