1. Sharepoint Interview Questions and Answers
Q 1.What is SharePoint?
Answer : Microsoft SharePoint is an enterprise collaboration and content management platform
which enables users to connect each other and share the information across an organization.
Indirectly this solves the problems in an organization to share the documents, security, business
process, maintaining data etc. SharePoint 2010 has rich UI and plenty of features.
Q 2. What are the types of input forms that can be created for a workflow ?
Answer : You can create four different types of input forms including
1. An association form
2. An initiation form
3. A modification form
4. A task edit form.
Q 3. What is MOSS ?
Answer : Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) is the full version of a portal-based platform
for collaboratively creating, managing and sharing documents and Web services. In MOSS
additional feature add that can not in WSS 3.0.
Q 4. What is a site collection in SharePoint?
Answer :
1. A site collection is a set of web sites.
2. Every site collection has top-level site, created when the site collection is created.
3. There might be multiple site collections in web application and each site collection may have a
multiple child sites.
Q 5. What is WSP (Web solution package)?

2. Answer : When developer does any customization or enhancement in SharePoint, then there are
many items that need to be deployed like assemblies, resource files, features, images, application
pages, site definitions etc. It will be a very tedious task to deploy these items separately on
development, staging and production. So SharePoint introduced a solution package which is
powerful deployment tool. Web solution package is a cabinet file that contains assemblies, resource
files, features, images, application pages, site definitions etc. into single file.
Note: A solution package is stored as a cabinet (CAB) file, with the file extension .wsp. This file
contains all the files to be deployed. If you rename the file extension to .cab, you can open the
solution and explore its content .It can be deployed using the command-line tool stsadm or
PowerShell cmdlets.
Q 6. How will you set up a Platform for Testing SharePoint WebParts?
Answer: We would need to install :
1. WSS 3.0
2. Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 installed.
3. Windows Server 2003 or 2008.
4. Visual Studio 2005 or 2008.
Q 7. What are the various zones in SharePoint?
Answer :
- Zones provide the separate logical paths of authentication for the same web application.
- 5 zones can be created for each web application :
a. Default
b. Intranet
c. Extranet
d. Internet and
e. Custom
Q 8. Whats is SharePoint site collection?

3. Answer : A collection of SharePoint sites that share common administration pages and site settings.
Site collections allow you to share content types, site columns, templates, and Web Parts within a
group of SharePoint sites.
Q 9.What is Business Data Catalog or BDC ?
Answer : It is a shared service that enables Office SharePoint Server 2007 to display business data
from various back-end servers into a SharePoint page. Business Data Catalog or BDC provides built-
in support for displaying data with various webparts and listlist columns that can help in easy
creation of dashboards with data from your SQL, web services, SAP, Siebel, or any other line-of-
business (LOB) applications.
Q 10. What is a Field Control?
Answer : Field controls are simple ASP.NET 2.0 server controls that provide the basic field
functionality of SharePoint. They provide basic general functionality such as displaying or editing
list data as it appears on SharePoint list pages.
Q 11. What are the Methods of Backup and Recovery in SharePoint 2010?
Answer : Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 provides a broad range of levels for performing
backups, including the entire farm, farm configuration information, site collections, subsites, or
lists.
SharePoint Server 2010 uses two different tools to configure backup and recovery.
1. Central Administration : Central Administration provides a user interface where SharePoint
Administrators will be prompted via menu structures to select the information that needs to be
backed up. (see the Image below)
2. Windows PowerShell : Windows PowerShell is a command line tool that provides SharePoint
administrators a way to perform backup and recovery with additional options such as file
compression or working with SQL snapshots.
Q 12.What are Application Pages in SharePoint?

4. Answer : Unlike site pages (for example, default.aspx), a custom application page is deployed once
per Web server and cannot be customized on a site-by-site basis. Application pages are based in the
virtual _layouts directory. In addition, they are compiled into a single assembly DLL.
A good example of an Application Page is the default Site Settings page: every site has one, and it’s
not customizable on a per site basis (although the contents can be different for sites).
With application pages, you can also add inline code. With site pages, you cannot add inline code.
Q 13.What is CAML?
Answer : CAML stands for Collaborative Application Markup Language and is an XML-based
languagethat is used in Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services to define sites and lists, including,
for Eg, fields, views, or forms, but CAML is also used to define tables in the Windows SharePoint
Servies database during site provisioning. Developers mostly use CAML Queries to retrieve data
from Listslibraries.
Q 14. Whats New with SPAlerts in SharePoint 2010?
Answer : In SharePoint 2007, alerts were send only through e-mails, but in SharePoint 2010 users
can also send an alert to mobile devices as SMS Message. A New property DeliveryChannels is
introduced to indicate, whether the alert is delivered as E-mail or as an SMS Message.
Q 15. What is the difference between a Site Definition and a Site Template?
Answer : Site Definitions are stored on the hard drive of the SharePoint front end servers. They are
used by the SharePoint application to generate the sites users can create. Site Templates are
created by users as a copy of a site they have configured and modified so that they do not have to
recreate lists, libraries, views and columns every time they need a new instance of a site.
Q 16.How to Export a Site or List in SharePoint 2010?
Answer : SharePoint Server 2010 provides several new features that provide a granular level of
backup for various components of site content. This includes content at the site, subsite, and list
level.

5. Through Central Administration(Granular level Back-up) a SharePoint Administrator can configure
a backup of a subsite or list. An Administrator can choose a site and a specific list to be
exported.The administrators can also choose to export security and select the different versions
that will be exported with the list.
Q 17.What is LINQ. How is it used in Sharepoint ?
Answer : LINQ is a feature of the programming languages C# 3.0 and Visual Basic .NET. LINQ allows
you to query in an object-oriented way, supports compile-time check, gives you intellisense support
in Visual Studio and defines a unified, SQL like syntax to query any data source. But unlike other
languages and query syntaxes which vary from one type of data source to another, LINQ can be
used to query, in principle, any data source whatsoever. It is commonly used to query objects
collections, XML and SQL server data sources.
The LINQ to SharePoint Provider is defined in the Microsoft.SharePoint.Linq namespace. It
translates LINQ queries into Collaborative Application Markup Language (CAML) queries.
Q 18.What is claims based authentication ?
Answer : Claims is a new authentication method that SharePoint 2010 can utilize. This allows a
single authentication store for multiple types of authentication (Windows NTLM, SQL FBA, LDAP,
etc) which allows all of these types of authentication to access SharePoint under a single URL.
Claims creates a SAML token based on the sign-in, that contains the user’s identity.
Q 19.How will you deploy files such as Css, js in SharePoint 2010?
Answer : The most preferable way to deploy files in SharePoint is by using the solution package. In
SharePoint 2010 you can create an empty project with VS 2010 and then add a new SharePoint
Mapped folder in it. This will give the desired location in 14 hive where you can then add a file to
deploy.
Q 20. What are Parallel and Serial actions ?
Answer : When you have more than one action associated with a condition, the actions can be set
up to run at the same time (parallel) or one after another (serial), the default.

6. Q 21. When should you dispose SPWeb and SPSite objects? And even more important, when
not?
Answer : You should always dispose them if you created them yourself, but not otherwise. You
should never dispose SPContext.Current.Web/Site and you should normally not dispose SPWeb if
IsRootWeb is true. More tricky constructs are things along the line of SPList.ParentWeb.
Q 22.What security levels are assigned to users?
Answer : Security levels are assigned by the administrator who is adding the user. There are four
levels by default and additional levels can be composed as necessary.
*Reader – Has read-only access to the Web site.
*Contributor – Can add content to existing document libraries and lists.
* Web Designer – Can create lists and document libraries and customize pages in the Web site.
* Administrator – Has full control of the Web site.
Q 23.What does a SPWebApplication object represent?
Answer : The SPWebApplication objects represents a SharePoint Web Application, which
essentially is an IIS virtual server. Using the class you can instigate high level operations, such as
getting all the features of an entire Web Application instance, or doing high level creation
operations like creating new Web Applications through code.
Q 24. Difference between SharePoint designer workflows and custom workflows?
Answer :
1. Only sequential workflows can be created in SharePoint Designer; state machine workflows
cannot be created in SharePoint Designer.
2. Deployment and moving is easy in custom workflows when compared to SharePoint
designer workflows.
3. Visual Studio can have code-behind.
4. Visual Studio generates a workflow template which can be easily be deployed, SharePoint
Designer workflows are typically built against specific lists and sites.
5. Visual Studio allows for debugging!!
Q 25. What is Windows Powershell?

7. Answer : Windows PowerShell is Microsoft’s task automation framework, consisting of a
command-line shell and associated scripting language built on top of, and integrated with the .NET
Framework. PowerShell provides full access to COM and WMI, enabling administrators to perform
administrative tasks on both local and remote Windows systems.
Read more: http://www.bukkas.com/soft-skills/interview-tips/sharepoint-interview-questions-
and-answers.html#ixzz2bcQwU0bH
_______________________________________________________________________________
What do you mean by MOSS ?
- MOSS stands for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server.
- It is the complete version of a portal-based platform for collaboratively creating, managing and sharing documents and Web
services.
2. Explain the following: a.) SPSite b.) SPWeb
a.) SPSite -
i.)It is a site collection and an be represented as SPSite class in the object model.
ii.)SPSite object is a primary entry points to the server object model.
iii.)It is used frequently in SharePoint application development.
b.) SPWeb -
i.) It is a specific site under site collection in Sharepoint.
ii.) It is represented as SPWeb class in the server object model.
3. Explain the following:
a.) Site template -
i.) Site template provides the basic component and layout of a new site to be created in SharePoint.
ii.) It contains specific design information about a site which includes -
- the list that is part of the site,
- web part pages used in the site,
- the site’s themes and borders,
- changes to the quick launch bar,
- some site content like document libraries
iii.) It allows to build the SharePoint applications to be instantiated time and again.
b.) Site definition -
i.) Site definition is a collection of XML or ASPX files which contains all the necessary components.
ii.) It contains three files - webTemp.xml, onet.xml, default.aspx.

8. ii.) It contains information of web parts, lists, libraries, features, and navigation bars to be included in the site which are packaged in
SharePoint solution files (.wsp).
iii.) Everything packaged into a single file makes the transportation of everything easy .
c.) ONET.xml -
- Onet.xml file specifies all the components contained in a site. It is considered as the core of a site definition.
- It is present at following location: %SharePoint Root% TEMPLATESiteTemplatesXMLOnet.xml
4. What are the various classes in Server Object Model from development point of
view?
Following are the classes in Server Object Model from development point of view:
-SPFarm
-SPWebApplication
-SPSite
-SPWeb
-SPList
-SPListItem
-SPDocumentLibrary
5. Which class is used to retrieve data from multiple lists?
- SPSiteDataQuery class is used to retrieve data from multiple lists.
- It queries the data from multiple lists across different sites in a collection.
- Usually it is used in list aggregation, where list data from team sites or other subsites is collated and presented in a single
interface.
- It aggregates the data from SharePoint lists only while ignoring data from external lists.
6. What do you mean by WSP?
- WSP stands for Web Solution Package. It is a cabinet file that contains assemblies, resource files, features, images, application
pages, site definitions etc. into single file.
- Whenever any customization or upgradation or updation is carried out in SharePoint, various items like assemblies, resource files,
features, images, application pages, site definitions etc. are required to deployed.
- It becomes difficult to deploy these items separately in development, staging and production. This called for a powerful deployment
tool in the form of WSP.
7. a.) How is AllowUnsafeUpdates used?
- When a developer updates the content database without requiring a security validation AllowUnsafeUpdates property is set to
true.
- One the operation is carrried out, the property is again set to false .
b.) What is CAML?
- CAML - also called as Collaborative Application Markup Language is the custom XML language in SharePoint.
- It is used to define key objects such as lists, columns, and content types.
8. Which is better - SPS or STS?
Before we begin - let us see what do these two abbreviations stand for.
- SPS means SharePoint Portal Services
- STS means SharePoint Team Services

9. i.) Document management system in SPS is better than STS.
ii.)The search engine in SPS is better, more efficient and possesses the capability to crawl multiple content sources in comparison
to STS.
iii.) If Document Management is not required, STS is easier to manage for team environment while SPS is better for an organization
where Document Management is required.
9.a.) Name the various input forms that can be created for a workflow ?
- Association form
- Initiation form
- Modification form
- Task edit form.
b.) Differentiate between CustomMasterUrl & MasterUrl?
- MasterUrl is used to change the layout of all end user pages while CustomMasterUrl is used for changing the layout of admin
pages.
10. What are the various zones in SharePoint?
- Zones provide the separate logical paths of authentication for the same web application.
- 5 zones can be created for each web application :
a. Default
b. Intranet
c. Extranet
d. Internet and
e. Custom
11. Explain Farm in SharePoint.
- Farm is a collection of SharePoint servers with same configuration database.
- All the required information to run the farm is carried in Configuration DB. There exists only one configuration database for each
farm.
- Central administration is used for the administration of each farm.
12. Explain WebApplication.
- WebApplication is a IIS website. Content database is created for each WebApplication
- WebApplication can be created from central admin.
- Once a web application is created, it can be extended to different zones.
13.a.) Differentiate between WSS 3.0 and MOSS 2007.
- WSS 3.0 is freely available with Windows Server while MOSS 2007 is a paid product.
- MOSS 2007 has some more features like Enterprise Search, Business Data Catalog(BDC), User Profile, Excel Services, Single-
Sign on, additional Workflows, My site feature etc. in addition to those in WSS 3.0.
b.)What tools can be used to back up a SharePoint 2010 environment?
- SharePoint farm backup and recovery
- SQL Server

10. 14. Explain a.) BDC b.) BCS
a.) BDC also called Business Data Catalogue is used to connect to an external database and read it in SharePoint.
b.) BCS also called Business connectivity Services is new in SharePoint2010. BCS aids in reading and writing into the external
Database.
15. Explain Content types in Sharepoint.
- A content type is a WSS type definition which is flexible and reusable.
- It is used to define the columns and behavior for an item in a list or a document in a document library.
16. a.) Differentiate between Library vs List.
- Library is used to store the document whereas Lists are the container of similar items in the form of rows and columns.
- Core documents like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint can be created using a Library while you can not create a document in a List.
List can be used to attach a document.
b.) What do you mean by Field Control ?
- Field controls are ASP.NET 2.0 server controls. They provide basic field functionality in SharePoint.
- They also provide basic general functionality such as displaying or editing list data as it appears on SharePoint list pages.
17. a.) What are the various types of input forms that can be created for a workflow?
Four tyes of input forms can be created for a workflow:
1. Association form
2. Initiation form
3. Modification form
4. Task edit form
b.) Explain an ancestral type. How is it related to content types?
- An ancestral type is the base type that the content typed is derived from.
- It defines the metadata fields included with the custom content type.
18. Explain Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server?
- SharePoint Portal Server is a portal server that connects people, teams, and knowledge across business processes.
- It integrates information from various systems into one secure solution through single sign-on and enterprise application integration
capabilities.
- It provides flexible deployment and management tools, and facilitates end-to-end collaboration through data aggregation,
organization, and searching.
- It enables users to quickly find relevant information through customization and personalization of portal content and layout as well
as through audience targeting.
19. Explain a.) Custom action.
- It Represents a link, toolbar button, menu item, or any control that can be added to a toolbar or menu appearing in the UI.
- Custom actions are defined through a custom action element within a feature definition file. Custom actions can be bound to a list
type, content type, file type, or programmatic identifier (ProgID).

11. b.) Event receiver.
- Event receivers can be defined by using a receiver element within a feature definition file.
- They evaluate an event and define the behavior of an application.
20. Explain Module in Sharepoint
- A module is a file or collection of file instances which define the location where the files are installed during site creation.
- They are used to implement a Web Part Page in the site.
- Modules can be defined by using a module element within a feature definition file.
1. What is SharePoint?
SharePoint is Microsofts enterprise information portal. It can be configured to run Intranet, Extranet and Internet sites..............
Read answer
2. What is Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server?
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 is a collaborative enterprise portal that is built upon WSS 3.0. MOSS 2007 allows people,
teams and expertise to connect and collaborate. Unlike WSS, SharePoint Server is not.............
Read answer
3. How is SharePoint Portal Server different from the Site Server?
It becomes difficult to keep a track of the large amount of documents with the growth of companies. SharePoint lets these be stored
centrally. So instead of having them shared via emails.............
Read answer
4. How is security managed in SharePoint?
Authentication
SharePoint can run under various IIS modes to authenticate its users. The modes include: Anonymous, Basic, Integrated Windows
or Certificates Authentication (over SSL)..............
Read answer
5. What is Windows SharePoint Services?
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 is the platform on which all SharePoint Products and Technologies are built. It is suitable for small
teams, projects and organizations...............
Read answer
6. What is a SharePoint site definition?
SharePoint sites consist of numerous Web pages, just like an ASP.NET 2.0 application..............
Read answer
7. What is CAML?
CAML stands for Collaborative Application Mark-up Language.
CAML is used to define tables in the Windows SharePoint Services database during site provisioning..............
Read answer

12. SharePoint 2010 interview questions and answers
8.What is the main purpose of Microsoft Sharepoint 2010?
9.What are the use-cases involved in Microsoft Sharepoint 2010?
10.How is Sharepoint 2010 capable to handle multiple organizations on a single server?
12.What are the different management concepts used in Sharepoint 2010?
13.Why is Sharepoint 2010 preferred over other platforms?
14.What is the use of Extranet, Internet and Intranet sites in Sharepoint 2010?
15.What is web-based configuration being in Sharepoint 2010?
16.How is the custom add-ons integrated in Sharepoint 2010?
17.How is it possible to integrate the service applications in Sharepoint 2010?
18.What is the use of site in Sharepoint 2010?
19.What are the roles defined of Lists and libraries in Sharepoint 2010?
20.What is the function of Web-parts used in Sharepoint 2010?
21.Why are pages useful in Sharepoint 2010?
22.What are the compliance, standards and integrations involved in Sharepoint 2010?
23.Architecture of Sharepoint 2010
24.Why are Farms used in Sharepoint 2010?
25.What is the purpose of Web applications in Sharepoint 2010?
26.What is the use of site collections in Sharepoint 2010?
27.What are the service applications used in Sharepoint 2010?
28.What are the administration and security aspects there in Sharepoint 2010?
MOSS interview questions - Microsoft office sharepoint server 2007
Sharepoint interview questions - posted on September 30, 2009 at 15:50 AM by Vidya Sagar
What is SharePoint?
What is Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server?
How is SharePoint Portal Server different from the Site Server?
How is security managed in SharePoint?
What is Windows SharePoint Services?
What is a SharePoint site definition?
What is CAML?
What is SharePoint?
SharePoint: A collection of products and software elements which includes InternetExplorer based collaboration functions, modules
of process management, search modules and a platform for document management. Share Point can be used for web hosting web
sites which access the shared workspaces, information stores and documents, and host defined applications such as blogs.

13. What is Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server?
MS SharePoint Portal Server is an integrated suite from server side, to help improve organizational effectiveness with the help of
providing
- comprehensive content management
- enterprise search
- accelerating shared business processes
- facilitating information sharing across boundaries
- Provides platform which includes server administration, application extensibility and interoperability for IT professionals.
How is SharePoint Portal Server different from the Site Server?
SharePoint Portal Server:
- Web site creation for information sharing and document collaboration is treated as services by SharePoint Portal Server.
- SharePoint server services are key information worker infrastructure that provides additional functionality to the MS Office system
applications. Site Server:
- Manages websites with multiple technologies
- Content management, product management, order processing , advertisement serving are some of the functionalities
How is security managed in SharePoint?
Share point uses digital dashboard technology that provides an interface for the purpose of creating web parts and making them
appear them on dash boards. The security is applicable throughout the organization.
What is Windows SharePoint Services?
Creation of websites for information sharing and document collaboration will be enabled by Windows SharePoint Services. It
provides additional functionality for MS Office system and other desktop applications. It also supports like a platform for the
development of applications.
What is a SharePoint site definition?
A SharePoint site definition is a combination of files which reside on the Web server and defines a unique SharePoint site. Every
template on the web site tab of New dialog box is utilized a site definition. For example, one site definition defines the Team site,
Bank site and another site definition defines the Meeting workspaces like Basic Meeting Workspace, Decision Meeting Workspace,
and Social Meeting Workspace etc.
What is CAML?
CAML is an acronym for Categorical Abstract Machine Language. CAML is statically typed, strictly evaluated, and uses memory
management automatically. LISP is the first CAML implementation. CAML Light was implemented in C. CAML Special Light is
added a powerful module system to the core language, in addition to complete rewriting, Objective CAML is the current
implementation of CAML, which adds an object layer.
Also read
How to display information from data source in SharePoint site?
Here, we will learn to apply nice formatting to data that is displayed on our page. We will learn to do this by making use of
Cascading Style Sheets. We will also learn how to format our data automatically, depending on the data values (a technique known
as conditional formatting). Then we will learn to filter and sort our data, use formulae to perform calculations, and how to split our
data up into multiple pages.