SharePoint 2007 Notes & Oddities

Since working with SharePoint for a couple of weeks, I've noticed a few oddities that I think are worth mentioning. Some I have an explanation for, others I don't.

Oddity #1 - Rich-Text Editor for Web Parts doesn't work properly on 64-bit Internet Explorer.

I get a scripting error when I try to use the rich-text editor and when I edit a wiki page on a machine using 64-bit IE, I get the HTML code instead. This is a known issue with "Level 2" browsers - of which 64-bit IE (7 or 8) is considered. TechNet details out the compatibility issues. This issue still appears to remain with SharePoint 2010 according the compatibility table for that version as well.

Oddity #2 - I can't link SharePoint calendars to my Outlook 2007.

This seems to be a problem that only affects my user account at the moment and it follows me from computer to computer. I have two machines at work 64-bit Windows 7 with Office 2007, and Windows XP SP3 with Office 2007. In both instances, if I select the option to "Connect to Client" I get the prompt to accept the connection and then nothing happens. No link to the calendar, no sharepoint.pst is created, no mention of calendar link in the Sharepoint Lists under account settings. Outlook 2007 reports an information event in the application log - Event 27: The operation failed.

I've had two other people test the functionality with no problems, so this is bizarre for sure. But I want to work out why this is a problem before rolling SharePoint out across the board. If I want to get rid of public folder calendars, everyone needs to be able to link SharePoint calendars into their Outlook. Even me.

Special Note #3 - Make sure the SharePoint site doesn't launch in Protected Mode.

Protected Mode blocks a lot of the functionality of ActiveX, so the drop down Action menus won't work for users in this mode. I noticed this when I accessed the site from Terminal Services RemoteApp. I'll need to adjust some of the policies and IE security features on terminal services to make sure regular users have the same experience they would in the office.