Free Backup Software

Back in October 2006 I decided to create a free backup software utility and called it "Backup".

You can download this free backup software utility now by pressing this link: Download Backup Now.

You can also read more details about Backup from the CodeProject web site from this link: Multithreading Backup Utility Article.

The CodeProject web site is a community based application for software developers and IT professionals to share software and software content. You can also download the free Backup software from the CodeProject but you need to create an account first and then log in.

I wrote the Backup software in a programming language called VB.NET so I could learn all about threading and multithreading, and also demonstate how to use multithreading, but it also turned out to be a handy backup utility that I have not stopped using ever since it was first written.

Here is what Backup looks like:

Some of Backup's main features are:

• A simple interface where you browse to the "from path" and then browse to the "to path"and then press the "Go" button and you are done.
• It also does not copy any files that have been copied before but have not changed since the last copy. This makes copying faster if you do regular backups.
• A logging feature will write copying results and errors to a log text file.
• A "mirror" feature will allow you to ensure the files in the source path are the same as the files in the destination path.
• A help file in PDF format is available after you install the application.

Sharepoint 2010 AD Groups Email from Task List

After searching I found that you need to do a few things to make Task lists email AD groups:

1. Add the AD groups as Distribution Lists (DL's) into MS Exhange 2010. To add an AD group as a DL first go to AD and make the AD groups "universal" or Exchange will not see them.  Then use MS Exchange and add a DL as normal except that when you see "New Distribution Group" in MS Exchange you will have the option to select an "existing group". So select "existing group" and browse to the AD group you want to add as a DL and hit "Next" until the wizard ends. Note that the AD group will still be an AD group but it will also double as a Distribution Group (DL).

2. After step 1 above and if you are using AD groups in Sharepoint (as opposed to SharePoint Groups) you will need to delete the AD Groups from SharePoint and re-add them so that SP2010 will pick up the email property. Otherwise the email property will remain blank and will not work when you try to email to the AD Group/DL. Go to "Site Settings" and select "people and groups" and then click "groups" from the side menu and then click on the AD group and delete it. Then go to "Site Permissions" and press the "Grant Permissions" button to re-add the AD group. Then check the properties and you should now see the email address from step 1.

3. Now go to MS Exchange 2010 and click on "Recipient Configuration". A list of email accounts will appear. Right click your AD groups and select "properties". Then press the "mail flow settings" tab. Then click on "Mail Delivery Restrictions" and uncheck the "require that all senders are authenticated" checkbox. If this is checked SP2010 will not send emails to AD groups.

This is the original thread:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/sharepointworkflow/thread/3757921a-8656-4188-bfc5-298a34d30e30/

SharePoint 2010 Convert Column Type to Lookup

In Sharepoint 2010 I had a list that I created by importing it from a spreadsheet. One of the problems when creating a list from a spreadsheet is that Lookup column types are changed to singleline, (the data value is retained of course).

I wanted to convert this column back to a lookup data type by selecting it from the Library Settings and editing the column settings, but "lookup" is not available, although the "choice" data type is, and selecting the choice data type lists all the original values from the original lookup but its now a choice data type so that won't do if you really want to change it back to a lookup data type.

I found a way to do this by copying and pasting in data sheet view, although there may be a better way, this works just fine:

1. Assume we have a column called "Industry Type" that we want to convert to a lookup data type.

2. Go to the Library Settings and change the column name in question to "Industry Type Old".

3. Create a brand new column as a lookup column with the original column name ("Industry Type" in this example) and in the process reference the required column in the lookup list.

4. Switch to "DataSheet View" for the list.

5. Select the "Industry Type Old" column heading to highlight the whole column and then right click the mouse and select "copy".

6. Select the "Industry Type" column heading to highlight the column and then right click the mouse and select paste.

7. If you did step 6 correctly all your data values should now be in the new lookup column ("Industry Type" for this example). So now just delete the original column (Industry Type Old) from the Library Settings menu and you are done.

Sharepoint 2010 multiline to single line column data type conversion

If you create a Sharepoint list by importing a spreadsheet you will find that in Sharepoint 2010 all free text columns are converted to the multiline data type by default.

This is a problem if you want to filter the multiline columns in a list by clicking on the column heading because column filtering will only work if the column is a single line data type.

So to change a multiline data type column to a single line do this:

1.  Browse to the "List Settings" for the list.

2. Click on the multiline column:

3. Change the Rich Text property to Plain text and press OK. Press OK again when warned:

4. Select the same column again as in step 2.

5. You should now see an option to change the data type to Single line of text. Press OK when done and press OK to the warning:

You can also do this in Sharepoint 2010 Designer but you must first change the Rich text setting to Plain text and save the changes, then change from multiline to single line, click off the column, OK the warning then save again.