Custom Errors in SharePoint 2010

I was getting errors in SharePoint 2010 when trying to run an audit report, but the error message was not helpful. It told me I needed to turn off custom errors in the web.config file, but didn't tell me where that file was located. Fortunately, with the help of the Internet and a blog article by Greg Galipeau, I found the answer.

The file is located here on the web front end servers: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\web.config

I made the change, ran iisreset /noforce, and SharePoint errors were suddenly much more descriptive.

How to create a "New Document" link for SharePoint 2010 document libraries

I needed to create a link on a SharePoint site that users could click on to launch a document template that is associated with a document library. This would be much easier than using the "Documents" tab and then clicking the "New Document" button.

Thankfully, Srini Sistla posted instructions on how to create new document shortcuts for Word 2010, Excel 2010, and PowerPoint 2010 on his blog: http://www.srinisistla.com/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=214

It worked great for me and I was able to put a shortcut on our team sites home page to allow users to open a new Word document template without going to the document library first. This definitely saves time and makes it easier to create documents.