Microsoft® SharePoint® Server 2007 Bible

Integrating Outlook Features with SharePoint

There are several excellent integration points with Outlook in this new version SharePoint. Probably the most useful integration is the ability to take tasks, lists, and documents offline and to synchronize changes seamlessly between Outlook and SharePoint. This offline integration will eliminate the need to purchase third-party products that provided this capability in the 2003 edition. Since this functionality is similar to the synchronization provided by Groove, organizations that already have the 2007 Office system should consider which products to purchase and roll out based on other factors such as full offline collaborative functionality.

The improved calendar functionality and integration make it much easier to coordinate individual and group events and activities. This section will describe and show examples that help to illustrate these new integration points.

Outlook integration with SharePoint tasks and contacts

Chapter 4 explored the various lists and libraries that are available in SharePoint. Lists are a very powerful feature of SharePoint that allow the tracking of sales, projects, small business inventory, and many other useful activities. In the 2007 release of Outlook, it is now possible to synchronize task and project tasks lists with Outlook, making the offline access and maintenance of tasks as easy as working with e-mail.

Exploring Tasks list synchronization

To explore how this functionality works, create a few ...