Creating and accessing my My Site

This recipe shows you how to access your My Site. The content of your My Site is created the first time you access it.

Getting ready

This recipe works for:

• SharePoint 2010 Standard Edition

• SharePoint 2010 Enterprise Edition

• SharePoint 2010 Online (Office 365 Edition)

My Sites must be configured and active in the SharePoint installation. You can run this recipe from any SharePoint 2010 site that you have access to.

How to do it...

1. From within any SharePoint site. Click on your name (top right of the page). Select the My Site link from the menu that is displayed.

2. You are presented with the generic My Newsfeed. Once you have created your My Site and started tracking colleagues, this is the page where you will see their updates.

3. To actually create your own individual My Site (or access it again if you created it earlier), click on the My Content link at the top of the page.

   Note

   There may be a short delay while your My Site is created.

4. Your My Site is created and the My Content page is displayed.

How it works...

Your My Site is a special SharePoint site designed especially for you. It is the site where you can store private documents, videos, and other SharePoint content, or where you add content that you want to share with others. You can use your My Site to access and update your User Profile (information about yourself), track your colleagues, reference the information that you have tagged on other SharePoint sites, and so on. Think of your My Site as your LinkedIn or Facebook site in the enterprise. Your My Site is the hub of your interaction with the many SharePoint 2010 sites that you will eventually be granted access to. It is also the site where you are likely to have the highest permission levels, so it makes it a great place to try out the other recipes presented in this book.

Note

Some organizations shy away from implementing My Sites because they worry that the functionality might be abused by their staff. To my mind, this is a bit like owning a Ferrari and then leaving it parked in the garage. My Sites are central to SharePoint 2010's communities and collaboration functionality—I strongly recommend that you make use of them.

There's more...

If you know the URL where the My Sites have been created in your SharePoint installation, then you can access your My Site directly without needing to first visit another SharePoint site. The address might be something similar to http://my.sp2010cookbook/default.aspx. Access your My Site using this recipe and then have a look at the address displayed in your web browser to see what format has been used in your system.

See also

• Updating my user profile

• Tracking colleagues using my My Site

• Viewing the SharePoint sites I am a member of

• Tagging a SharePoint page so I can find it again later

• Creating a blog in my My Site, Chapter 5