At the moment I am using SharePoint 2013, but by the end of the year we will be migrating over to Office 365. We have a Office 365 tenant at the moment and I am just getting to know the feel of it. I tried to open some sites with SharePoint Designer, but get this message ‘The folder name is invalid’, I have seen this message before with on premise when leaving in the ‘Pages/Home.aspx’ and not just using the site. I have checked in the site collection and it is set to allow SharePoint Designer, also exhausted Google Search but with no avail. In my last job I done some work on Office 365 and had no problems when creating workflows, so I am not sure what could be causing this problem. Any help would be appreciated.
SharePoint Designer provides an intuitive interface for the underlying SharePoint platform and a staggering range of development possibilities. You can, of course, develop and configure sites, pages, lists, and libraries, but you can also go deep into advanced functionality, including building custom page layouts, developing workflows, and creating branding. SharePoint Designer is one of the most useful tools for developing on the SharePoint platform.
The SharePoint platform stores its content and configuration information in a number of SQL Server databases. Because those databases hold all the crucial goods, you can’t just crack open Windows Explorer and start looking at files in SharePoint. You need a tool that allows you to peer into the databases and work with the SharePoint platform. SharePoint Designer is just such a tool.
The following methods to open the tool:
- Press the Windows key and type SharePoint Designer into the search box.
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Click Start→All Programs→SharePoint→Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2010.
When you open SharePoint Designer, the Backstage View appears. Because SharePoint Designer is designed to work only with SharePoint, you must connect SharePoint Designer to an existing site or create a new site in an existing SharePoint environment. If you’ve already connected to a site, then that site shows up in the Recent Sites section — you can simply click the name of the site to connect and start developing.
If you’re a newcomer to SharePoint Designer, check out the following tips on what SharePoint Designer can do:
You can use SharePoint Designer to work with SharePoint. Because SharePoint stores all of its content and configuration information in a database, it would be very difficult to modify the database directly.You can develop a horde of SharePoint components. Develop pages, lists, libraries, data sources, content types, views, forms, workflows, and external content types — all without having to write any code. SharePoint Designer spans a large swath of development capabilities.You can keep using SharePoint Designer when you go deeper into SharePoint development. You can work on master pages, page layouts, CSS, and JavaScript.
And here’s what you can’t do:You can’t use SharePoint Designer as a more general web-development tool. If you don’t have a SharePoint site to develop, then you have no need for SharePoint Designer (or, really, anything for it to work on). If you need a more general web-development tool, check out Microsoft Expression Web. Expression Web is similar to SharePoint Designer, but it isn’t tied to SharePoint sites.
You can’t write .NET code. When your SharePoint site calls for .NET code, switch to Visual Studio.
SharePoint Designer 2010 works only with SharePoint 2010. If you are using Office 365, then you are in luck because SharePoint Online in Office 365 is based on SharePoint 2010. If you’re working with SharePoint 2007 (and not SharePoint Online, which is part of Office 365), install SharePoint Designer 2007 instead.
