What is SharePoint?
Microsoft SharePoint is an application designed to make it easier for people to work together online. Using SharePoint, you can set up your own Web site to share documents with your classmates, as well as create discussion boards, blogs, and wikis to keep in touch with each other.
Microsoft SharePoint comes with the following pre-defined list and library definitions, including:
- Announcement Lists
- Blogs
- Contacts
- Discussion Boards
- Document Libraries
- Custom lists
- Pages
- Surveys
- Tasks
- Wikis
SharePoint comes with the Microsoft Office Web Client, so it isn't necessary to have Microsoft Office installed on your computer to use it.
Access and Setup
Western University students can access these SharePoint tools at https://mydocs.westernu.edu. If you are using Internet Explorer as your browser, you will need to log in using your WesternU email address and password. (NOTE: Other Web browsers don't need the entire email address, just your username).
It is recommened that you use Internet Explorer version 7 or higher as your browser and make sure ActiveX is enabled. (To learn how to enable ActiveX on your computer, go SharePoint's Training site at https://mydocs.westernu.edu/sp-training.) If you are using other Web browsers like Firefox, Safari or Google Chrome, some of SharePoint's features may not be available because of incompatibility with ActiveX.
It is also recommended that you install the Microsoft Silverlight plug-in for Windows or Macs in order to have access to all of SharePoint's features. The link to download Silverlight is http://www.microsoft.com/getsilverlight/Get-Started/Install. (SharePoint looks for Silverlight on your computer. If it does not find it, the link for installation will be provided.)
To set up a personal SharePoint site, refer to the following tutorial.
Once you have set up your personal Sharepoint site, you can access it either by going to https://mysite.westernu.edu/, or by going to any SharePoint Web page on https://mydocs.westernu.edu/ and selecting your name in the upper right hand corner.
Resources
The SharePoint Training Site at https://mydocs.westernu.edu/sp-training has more helpful hints, training courses and videos on the use of SharePoint tools.