SharePoint is a complex (not quite complicated), document management solution. It's grown quite a bit over the years, so its architecture can be confusing to newer adoptees. However, understanding a few of the higher-level SharePoint concepts can help uncomplicate things for most people. For simplicity, imagine moving some local computer files to SharePoint. How could … Continue reading SharePoint: Understanding | Content Architecture
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SharePoint Online: JSON Formatting | Hide ‘Add shortcut to OneDrive’ Button
SharePoint Online [SPO] is a modern, cloud-based service accessible from any modern browser. Emphasis on modern service and modern browser. Still, because of many legacy business processes, end-users flock to sync their SPO files the first chance they get. They ultimately achieve the same purpose, but there are actually two ways they can sync their … Continue reading SharePoint Online: JSON Formatting | Hide ‘Add shortcut to OneDrive’ Button
Office Scripts: Generate Custom GUID(s)
Office Scripts in Excel is an automation alternative to Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). Macros are still recorded as a series of actions, but now, these steps are performed using TypeScript, which a superset language of JavaScript. Assuming everything is licensed and configured correctly, everyone should see an Automate tab along the top of their … Continue reading Office Scripts: Generate Custom GUID(s)
Power Automate: Application Lifecycle Management | Housekeeping
Power Automate cloud flows are environment specific when they're created. Power Platform application lifecycle management controls the management of cloud flows as solution assets, and proper management guides the deployment and maintenance of these solutions. Whether the solutions are managed or unmanaged, flows are deployed from one environment to another. Typically, makers create and test … Continue reading Power Automate: Application Lifecycle Management | Housekeeping
Power Apps: Canvas App | Merging Data Sources w/ AddColumn()
Scenario: There is a canvas app with a text box, two radio choices, a vertical gallery, and two data sources. Toggling the radio button changes which data source is filtered and used to populate the gallery. Problem: The data sources don't have any data columns in common and Power Apps doesn't like that. Solution: Create … Continue reading Power Apps: Canvas App | Merging Data Sources w/ AddColumn()
Power Apps: Canvas Apps | Office365Users – Profile Errors
The Office365Users connector gets tricky when makers are working with incomplete user profiles. Especially when trying to display user profile photos. Does everyone have a picture? Even the contractors? Unfortunately, everyone isn't guaranteed to have an uploaded profile photo. Making the assumption that they do only invites future problems. To be proactive, default to the … Continue reading Power Apps: Canvas Apps | Office365Users – Profile Errors
SharePoint: Access Issues | Authentication vs. Authorization
SharePoint access issues are sometimes tricky. Simplifying things though, access issues ultimately fall into two categories: authentication or authorization. Authentication asks a very simple question. Are they permitted/ allowed to access the content? If yes, then they can open SharePoint. Otherwise, they get an access denied screen. Figure 1 - Account not authorized, but able … Continue reading SharePoint: Access Issues | Authentication vs. Authorization
SharePoint: Prevent Folder Move
SharePoint is a collaboration platform that also encourages self-governance. Sure, the IT department could deploy and manage all things SharePoint, but that isn't always best. In an ideal, balanced partnership, IT would just handle the administrative tasks and empowered users would provision their own site collections, manage their own site access, and create their own … Continue reading SharePoint: Prevent Folder Move
Power Apps: SharePoint | Delegation + AddColumn()
So yeah, this won't work for everyone, but it was a creative delegation workaround for me. In my scenario, I used several SharePoint Online (SPO) lists as data sources and needed to filter on a multi-line column of employee Names, separated by a semi-colon: Figure 1 - SharePoint Online new item form. This example SPO … Continue reading Power Apps: SharePoint | Delegation + AddColumn()
Power Automate: Understanding | mod()
Modulus (or modulo) is another of the math expression available in Power Automate. Similar to the add(), sub(), mul(), and div() expressions, mod() accepts two parameters, but instead only returns whole numbers, so no decimals. Likely an over-simplified explanation, but in computing, modulo is essentially the calculated remainder of a division calculation. Figure 1 - … Continue reading Power Automate: Understanding | mod()
Power Automate: Generate Custom GUID(s)
Yes, there is a guid() expression available in Power Automate. The provided expression doesn't accept parameters though, so for some people, there isn't an easy way to control the GUID formatting. With that in mind, it might be worth creating your own GUID value: Figure 1 - Power Automate cloud flow logic. After the cloud … Continue reading Power Automate: Generate Custom GUID(s)
SharePoint Online: Understanding | Document Sets
Likely an oversimplification, but document sets are essentially collections of files and folders bundled together with shared metadata. A holdover from earlier versions of SharePoint Server, document sets aren't enabled by default in SharePoint Online [SPO], but can be enabled as a feature at the site collection level: Figure 1 - SharePoint Online site collection … Continue reading SharePoint Online: Understanding | Document Sets
Power Apps: Canvas Apps | Data Refresh – Manual v Timed
Canvas apps are Microsoft's low-code business apps of the Power Platform, capable of interacting with data from a variety of data sources. Keeping that in mind, app makers should design their apps with data refreshes in mind because after the initial app start, users are working with copies of the loaded data, not live data. … Continue reading Power Apps: Canvas Apps | Data Refresh – Manual v Timed
Power Platform: Data Sources | SQL Tables or SPO Lists
The Power Platform is Microsoft's collection of low-code, citizen developer solutions. Being low-code, makers don't need coding experience to build their apps, bots, automations, and/ or dashboards. Even so, makers still need to decide where their data should ultimately live. For most people, SQL is typically the go-to data storage consideration. And honestly, SQL isn't … Continue reading Power Platform: Data Sources | SQL Tables or SPO Lists
Power Apps: Build a Game… !NeRdlE!
!JeOpArDy was my last canvas app game, so it's been a while. Working on another canvas app, I wanted to give "Nerdle" a try. Important to note though, I'm only replicating maybe 80% of the game. With this in mind, puzzles are hardcoded and not loaded from an external source. Also, keeping this post from … Continue reading Power Apps: Build a Game… !NeRdlE!
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