What you need for this book

To follow all the recipes in this book, you will need the following software:

You will need to have access to a "My Site" and will need various SharePoint 2010 permission levels from Reader up to Site Administrator. If you have another version of SharePoint 2010 (Foundation, Standard) or lower access permissions you will still find many of the recipes in the book useful. Details of the software and permissions levels that you require and the SharePoint versions that it will work with are included in each recipe.

SharePoint 2010 is both an application and a development platform. It allows for extensive post-installation customization and development. The recipes in this book have been tested and verified on a vanilla SharePoint 2010 Enterprise Edition installation. It is possible that your installation may look or behave differently depending on the amount of customization that has been applied.

If you don't have access to SharePoint 2010 Enterprise Edition but would like to try all the recipes in this book, Microsoft has a 180-days' evaluation version that you can download and install. However, SharePoint is a heavyweight server product, so make sure your machine can meet the hardware prerequisites before you do. Find the evaluation download at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/ee388573.aspx.

During the production of this book, Microsoft released Office 365, including the latest version of their SharePoint Online offering. All the recipes in this book have been tested against the Office 365 E4 service plan.

SharePoint Designer is a free download located at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=d88a1505-849b-4587-b854-a7054ee28d66.