Tracy van der Schyff

#Office365Challenge – Office 365 Changes to Document Libraries. The changes to the SharePoint Document Libraries have a lot of people talking. Not just about the actual changes, but also what it indicates for the future. As I recently changed my release preferences to “First Release”, I was greeted by a very unfamiliar environment a couple of days ago – and actually felt like a first time user. Unsettling to say the least – but here we are. This blog is not just about sharing these changes with you – but as always – for me to learn and hopefully come to grips with these enhancements.

First let’s take a look at what the libraries currently look like. Keep in mind that most of you will still be working on the old version for quite a bit. In the old library we still had the Ribbon at the top with the Files and Library Tab. The ellipses on the document also opened the rest of the menu items you might need:

Below I’ll go through all the changes I’ve noticed and describe it as best I can.

• No Ribbon
• Logo and Site name in different position
• New Toolbar with New, Upload, Sync and an ellipses with Quick Edit and Alert me.
• All Documents dropdown on the right allows for quick change of the views and opening in Explorer View.

Take note when a document is selected, the toolbar shows extra items: Open, Share, Get a link, Download and Delete

Click on the ellipses to get the other menu items. Something new is Pin to top and Move / copy to:

Pin to top allows you to “tag” documents to appear in the top of the library as “thumbnails”. Only 3 is allowed. This is great to put focus on specific documents:

The Details Pane on the right opens the “old” document properties box with some extra goodies. Here you’ll see a preview of the document as well as the properties of the document:

Recent Activity can also be viewed here:

Join me tomorrow where we’ll take a look at how to work in this new document library environment.

Overview of my challenge: As an absolute lover of all things Microsoft, I’ve decided to undertake the challenge, of writing a blog every single day, for the next 365 days. Crazy, I know. And I’ll try my best, but if I cannot find something good to say about Office 365 and the Tools it includes for 365 days, I’m changing my profession. So let’s write this epic tale of “Around the Office in 365 Days”. My ode to Microsoft Office 365.

Keep in mind that these tips and tricks do not only apply to Office 365 – but where applicable, to the overall Microsoft Office Suite and SharePoint.