12 killer freebie SharePoint add-ons

SharePoint's popularity as a collaboration tool has exploded. So the time was right to look at add-on products for expanding its usability, management and customization. I was surprised, but happy, to find that many add-on tools for SharePoint is free. So, as I was combing through the options of which to test for this list, I decided to concentrate solely on the free tools.

My search took me to Microsoft's SharePoint site, some blogs run by SharePoint MVP's, third-party developers and Microsoft's open source site Codeplex. (Not surprisingly, most of these free tools are hosted on Codeplex, by the way.) All told, I examined more than 120 SharePoint tools to bring you this list of 12 that represented a good blend of customization and easy management. In order to make the cut, all the tools on this list are easy to roll out. I used myself as the test case – as in, if it was easy for me, it would be easy for most folks. Although I have worked with SharePoint for a while, I am not a SharePoint developer. (So, no, you will not find any projects on these sites with Ron Barrett's name attached to them.) But thanks to these great projects and third-party tools, no one has to be a SharePoint developer to be able to deploy great looking sites that will make a SharePoint deployment rock. Let's start with the AJAX Control Toolkit.

Index 12 Free SharePoint add-ons

AJAX Control Toolkit | Silverlight Control Toolkit | Podcasting Kit | Community Kit for |
30 Features | Learning Kit | Tool Basket | Smart Tools | Role-Based Templates for My Sites | Branding Tool | Imtech Mobile | Colligo Reader

• Microsoft

• AJAX

• Ajax control kit

• Colligo Reader

• Imtech Mobile

• mobile SharePoint

• role--based templates

• SharePoint

• SharePoint Server 2007

• Silverlight

• Silverlight for SharePoint