Lists and Libraries in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

Lists and libraries are two key components of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 environment. They allow users to manage documents by uploading them to libraries or to manage rows and columns of information in a list, which is similar to a spreadsheet in many ways. This section reviews the basic features of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 document libraries and lists. As the name suggests, a document library is designed to store documents, and each document can have metadata attached to it. This metadata allows a visitor to the library to get a sense for when the document was added or modified, by whom, and to better understand the purpose or content of the document in question. A Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 list is essentially a “spreadsheet on steroids” and is designed to store data in much the same way as an Excel spreadsheet does. The following sections provide an overview of the capabilities of these two key components of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.

Libraries in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

Many users wonder what the difference is between simply continuing to store their files in a file share on a network server, keeping them on their local hard drives to make sure they are close at hand, or emailing them to people when needed. Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 document libraries offer a variety of features that have proven to be useful to a wide range of users and projects and that empower the site administrators to customize the storage and collaborative features of the library and enhance user productivity. Some of the advantages provided by a SharePoint document library include the following: