Essential SharePoint 2007, 2nd Edition

Chapter 5. Creating Libraries

Libraries organize content within a site. Technically, libraries are a special type of list that provides these key features:

• Templates for creating new documents

• An optional approval status field that indicates whether the document is pending, approved, or rejected

• Storage for previous versions of documents

• The ability to reserve documents by checking them in and out

• Synchronization between list columns and properties stored in the document

• Integration with Microsoft Office products like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

Just about anything you can do with a list, you can do with a document library, so the topics covered in Chapter 4 apply equally to libraries. I won't repeat those here. Instead, I will talk about the features that are unique to libraries and explore their use. At the end of the chapter, I'll apply what you've learned and show you how to use document libraries for project, task, document control, and archive applications.

Tip

If you need help adding columns, lookups, or views to a library, see Chapter 4. If you need help working with libraries from Microsoft Office, see Chapter 2.

Using the Built-in Library Templates

SharePoint provides a set of built-in library templates that you can use as a starting point. Table 5-1 and Table 5-2 describe the library templates that come with SharePoint.

Table 5-1. Built-in library templates

Category	Library	Use to
Libraries	Document Library	Collect and share Office documents and other files.
	Form Library	Publish InfoPath ...