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How to create a dynamic “this week’s menu” button for your intranet

People jokingly (or not) sometimes tell me the only reason for which they use the intranet is the cafeteria menu. So on a recent draft of a redesigned homepage, I introduced a prominent “Menu” button that would always be linked to the most recent menu uploaded by dining services.

menu

Previously people would click a link which took them to a document library where the current menu lived, and would open it there. 2 clicks.

I had two goals for this project.

  1. Get it down to 1 click.
  2. Never have to manually update the link for the button. Set it, forget it.

Note: this could easily be applied to newsletters, updates, meeting minutes, etc. Anything that is published on a regular basis that could benefit from an always-current hyperlinked button.

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Automatic iCal (.ics) hyperlinks for SharePoint calendar items using calculated column

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Updated 12/22/19

Important: This concept of using calculated columns will only work as a one-time trick. After adding the column, links will be correct. But because [ID] isn’t meant to be used in calculated columns, it removes itself from the formula if an item is edited after the column has been added. This method is only ideal for one-time uses, or for lists that are not expected to have content additions or changes. See this other post about how to get the same hyperlinks through workflow instead, for a more reliable method.

This project allows users a quick option to save something they see on a SharePoint calendar to their own calendar. Spend 5 minutes on these few instructions and your users will have a convenient way to get involved going forward.

Note that in modern calendar experiences, there’s a built-in “add to calendar” option for event items. This post is for classic experience calendars and calendar items/events.

Basically we’re going to add a calculated text column called iCal which will use the list’s GUID (easy to get, don’t worry) and the specific calendar item’s default ID number to generate a clickable .ics (iCal) file link. Let’s get started!

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Remove select/de-select checkmark column, column headers, edit/new options, and border in SharePoint list view web parts

tooltiplinkedtitlesIn a recent post, I discussed hyperlinking URL title text and adding tooltips. I used the above screenshot which also illustrates what we’ll accomplish in this post which is to remove the select/deselect checkmark column, column headers, toolbar edit/new options and chrome border. This leaves us with a simple title and list. Pick and choose what you’d like to remove for your specific needs, and let me know if you run into any issues.

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Creating hyperlinked titles with tooltips in SharePoint link lists using SharePoint Designer workflow

tooltiplinkedtitlesLet’s put those link lists to good use. I wanted one master or parent link list with a number of views. I would then use those views in different list view web parts across my site, removing the toolbar (view/edit/add options), column headers, chrome border and select/deselect checkmark column so that essentially I had a section of my page with a header/chrome title like “HR Forms” (removing default link to “parent” list) and then just a list of hyperlinked form titles with tooltips providing more info on each form as seen above. This post will cover how to get the hyperlinked title text with tooltip. Another post coming soon will cover the “clean-up” of the list view web part so that you’re left with a title and list items alone. Continue reading “Creating hyperlinked titles with tooltips in SharePoint link lists using SharePoint Designer workflow”