Groove and SharePoint

I recently blogged about OneNote and SharePoint. Today, we will see how Groove works in conjunction with SharePoint. Click here to learn more about Groove 2007. Groove is a collaboration software that helps teams work together in an effective manner. Users can work online or offline and anywhere they like. There are a number of pre-built tools available in Groove that can help users in increasing their productivity. Following tools are available in Groove:

1. Calendar
2. Chess Game
3. Custom
4. Discussion
5. Files
6. Forms
7. InfoPath Forms
8. Issue Tracking
9. Meetings
10. Notepad
11. Pictures
12. SharePoint Files
13. Sketchpad

With all these tools, working and collaborating on projects has become extremely easy. You don't have to worry about the whereabouts of your team members. Every one can contribute to the project. In this walk through, we will cover "SharePoint Files" tool and see how Groove works with SharePoint.

1. If you have Groove properly installed and configured, you will be asked to log in before accessing Groove's services.

2. You see notifications after logging in. Notifications window show any files pending for synchronization.

3. To create a new shared workspace, select File > New > Workspace.

4. Enter a name for your workspace and select Standard as workspace type.

5. Click your newly created workspace from Active workspaces if it's not visible.

6. Click Add Tools from "Common Tasks" to add SharePoint Files tool.

7. Select SharePoint Files from the list and click OK.

8. Following screen with a setup button will open. Click the Setup button to select the SharePoint library.

9. If you know the URL of the document library, you can type it in the Address box. You can search for the SharePoint libraries from the options available on the left side. You must have appropriate permissions in SharePoint in order to browse these sites and libraries in this interface. Select a library from a list of available libraries in the site you selected and click the Select button. Clicking the Select button without selecting the library will give you an error.

10. Documents from the SharePoint library will appear in Groove. Groove will take care of the synchronization.

Let's see how Groove synchronizes files. Click Add Files... button to add a file in Groove. Select a file from the system and click the Open button. The uploaded file will immediately appear on the right side.

11. Click the Synchronize Now... button to sync the files.

12. Preview Synchronization screen will show you all the pending files that need to be synchronized. Click on the file to see the summary of changes in the  box below. Click Synchronize Now button to start synchronizing the files.

13. Go to your SharePoint library to see if the files have been synchronized. You will notice that new files appear with a "new" icon.

14. Now, add a file in SharePoint library and go back to the Groove application and click the Synchronize Now button. The Preview Synchronization window will show you the new file that was added in the SharePoint library with "Get File" message in the "Action" column. Click the Synchronize Now button and the file will be added to the Groove.

15. You can also check out files from SharePoint libraries. There is a button (Manage files checked out from SharePoint) in the toolbar. Click it to view the options it has. Select a file first and then click Check Out from SharePoint to check out the file and your username will immediately appear in the "Checked Out To" column.

16. There are other option available as well. For example, you can save the files in Groove to other locations like your system or other shared folders on your network which shows how useful Groove is for sharing and collaborating.

More Features

1. Click View Workspace Properties in the "Common Tasks" to see the properties of the workspace you created in Groove. There are four tabs:

> General
> Alerts
> Roles
> Permissions

There are three roles available in Groove:

> Manager
> Participant
> Guest

There are five types of permissions in Groove:

> Invite
> Uninvite
> Add Tool
> Delete Tool
> Cancel all outstanding invitations

2. You can add other computers to your Groove network and invite users to join your workspace in Groove.

3. You can chat online with other users in your network.

4. You can send messages to other users.

5. You can also view system and presence information. :)