You can set up SharePoint alerts for different types of information and get notified of changes that happen in your site. In SharePoint you can set up alerts for library, folders, list or list items and files. Before you receive any alerts, you need to create alerts permissions in order to receive updates and changes made to your website.
SharePoint allows you to receive updates and changes made to your your site inform of email-alerts and RSS feeds. If you want to stay updated on all the changes made to documents and items in your site, you must either receive updates as email alerts or as RSS feed, if you have an RSS reader. Both RSS feeds and email alerts inform you about changes made in your site and both allows you to customize the information you would like to receive.
The Difference Between Alerts and RSS feed
- RSS feeds come at a periodic interval and can only be viewed with an RSS reader. RSS are best used to manage subscriptions of different updates and news of a SharePoint site.
- SharePoint alerts comes inform of an email at an interval that you specify and they let you know about specific changes or updates made to items. It much easier to view alerts with an email rather than using an RSS reader. If you want to get notified fast, you can download an email notifier from your email provider and get notified when someone adds new files to a library.
- While RSS feeds can only be viewed with an RSS reader, RSS uses a good technology that enables you to get updates from several sharepoint sites at once.
- Alerts appear as messages in your email inbox and you can set them to notify you to changes ranging from single updates to changes that occur when new files are created.
Creating SharePoint Alerts
How to Set Email Alerts for SharePoint Site-Access
- If you want to perform this action, log in to your sharepoint website with your log in credentials and then browse to “Actions”. Click on the action-button to connect to view RSS feed , outlook, and change your site alert settings.
- Choose “Alert-Me” from the available list of options in order to modify your e-mail notifications.
- Choose a suitable title for the alert and select the e-mail address that you want to receive SharePoint alerts with.
- Click on “Change-Type” to select what you would like to be alerted about. Include items modifications, item deletions and new added items if you want to be notified about your site access.
- Select when you would like to receive the alerts and how often you should be emailed. Click on “OK” and you will receive all alerts for the specified changes that are made to your site.
How to Create SharePoint Alerts for a File, Folder and List Item
If you want to track changes made to your site, create alerts to notify you when items, documents in a library and lists are modified. In an advanced scenario, you can set up alerts to notify you about changes of an event in site calendar or task list. A sharepoint website admin can also create alerts for another person by simply typing the user information on the users box.
1.To perform this action, log in to your sharepoint website with your log in credentials and then browse to the library where the list, folder, item or file is located. Select the list item that you would like to create an alert for. To select that item, click on the icon that represents it and check on the marker-box that appears on your screen.
2. After that, click on files and navigate to “Alert-me” then to “set-Alert-On-This-Document”. Depending on your SharePoint site settings, the name for tabs such as picture libraries, calender lists and task list may vary from the above instructions. To avoid confusion, just locate the file that you would like to receive alerts on and click on “alert me”.
3. In the “Alert-Title” section of the new alert page, change the title and rename it to a suitable name that you will find it easy to understand when you receive e-mail updates. The title of the file usually becomes the subject in your alert email that you receive.
4. If you want to send alerts for a number of specified users and email addresses. click on “Send-Alerts-To” and type the email addresses and usernames that would like to send alerts to.
5. In the “Delivery-Method” section of setting the alerts, select the method of delivery. If you want to receive alerts on your phone, type the phone number in the “Number-Box”.
6. If you can’t find the phone delivery options, contact the site administrator to make changes that will enable this option to be available for you.
7. In the “Change-Type” section is available, select the type of changes that you would like to receive. For example, you can set alerts for changes when files are deleted.
8. In the “Send-Alerts-For-These-Changes” section, select and specify whether you would like to be alerted on all changes or just some specific changes.
9. In the “when-To-send-alerts” section, select how frequently you would like to receive the e-mail alerts.
10. Click on OK to finish the set up process.
How to Set SharePoint Alerts for a Shared Folder
You can set alerts for unread behavior in all shared folders of your site by selecting some particular options in the Work-Space properties dialog-box.
- Log in to your Workspace with your log in credentials and then browse to the “Launch-bar”. Right-click the shared-folder and then click on Properties.
- Click on the Alerts-tab.
- Drag the slider in order to change the alerts settings
- Choose “Auto” if you want sharepoint to determine the appropriate alerts for unread information
- “High”- choose this option if you want to receive alerts with an audible chime in the windows-notification-area
- Medium- to display only unread marks
- “Off” -If you don’t want to set SharePoint alerts on unread information
- If you want to played a particular sound file on every alert you receive, set the alert level to be “High”
- Click on “Apply” and “OK” to finish the set up process
If you follow the above procedures, you will find it very easy to set up SharePoint alerts for your site. Alerts help to notify you about the latest developments on your site and they remind you of important tasks or procedures that should be carried out at a particular time. Always use SharePoint alerts in your site and you will never be astonished when you see new changes.