Wednesday 8 December 2010

Uploading multiple files in a document library

Problem: In a SharePoint 2010 document library, the "Upload Multiple Document" option behaves differently in Internet Explorer (IE) in the User Interface (UI) on end user machines.  Either the "Drag and Drop" or the "multi tick tree view upload view" is shown in IE for multiple file uploads. 
Initial Hypothesis
1.> I originally thought Silverlight was responsible for the different displays, I remove Silverlight from the client machines and I still see the working drag and drop control.  Therefore the difference has nothing to do with Silverlight.  Additionally, this is not an IE version issue.
2.> Removing Silverlight and restarting the browser/machine has no effect, I still can use the drag and drop control. The ActiveX control that performs the upload must be responsible for the UI.  More info. 
3.> Only IE has the option to "Upload Multiple Document".   The "Upload Multiple Document" is not available in FireFox or Chrome.
4.> The Office ActiveX plug in is STSUPLD.DLL.  I found the file on my client machine located at  e:\Program Files(x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\STSUPLD.DLL.  My version is obviously part of the Office 14/Office 2010 release. 
5.> Removing the  e:\Program Files(x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\STSUPLD.DLL file and restarting IE results in the "Upload Multiple Document" option being disabled (greyed out).
6.> Replacing the STSUPLD.DLL with the Office 2007 STSUPLD in the Office14 or Office12 directory does not fix the issue it merely still greys out the "Upload Multiple Document" option.

Resolution:  The behaviour is part of the version of Office installed on the client machine.  The multi upload option is only available in IE if the client has the ActiveX control installed with Office.  I believe it comes down to the last office product installed so if you have Office 2010, you get the drag and drop UI however if you install SharePoint Designer 2007, you will see the tree view as you will be using the STSUPLD.dll from Office 2007.  Functionality is really out of your control as it comes down to the client machine setup.  You can do javascript to check the plug-in version and change default display if you need to.

Check your version by finding the STSUPLD.DLL (I think you can do it in IE also), the details of the 3 versions are shown below:
 
Office VersionDll VersionDll Size
Office 200311.0.5523.0?
Office 200712.0.4518.101422kb
Office 201014.0.4761.100078kb

Tip: The ability to use Windows Explorer to upload files to a SharePoint document libray relies on the Os being 32bit.  So on the x64 bit Windows Server, you can't upload files using Windows Explorer.


This control is currently disabled - Document library

Problem: Upload Multiple Documents is disabled with the message "This control is currently disabled.".  If the new documents and various other documents on the ribbon are disable and showing the same message.

Initial Hypothesis:  The Authentication provides have not been configured to Enable Client Integration.

Resolution: CA > Manage Web Applications > Select the WA > Authentication Providers > Select the zone > Enable Client Integration = Yes.

 

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

I only have 3 client machines to manage - each of which is only really used by a single user. How can I force IE to use the 2010 version of this add-in manually?

Paul Beck said...

The last office application installed with determine if you use the version 12 or version 14 of STSUPLD.DLL. Install Office 2010 and you will have the version 14 STSUPLD.DLL file on your client machines.

Beatnyama said...

But what if the option of installing Office 2010 is not an option whats the other workable solution?

Paul Beck said...

Hi Beatbyama,

If you have any other version of Office installed you should have the "multi tick tree view upload control", only if you have insalled any office 14 product last will you see the "silverlight drag and drop control".

You can always use Windows explorer to drag multiple files into you SharePoint library.

regards, paul

Jagjot said...

hi
i'm facing the issue that the multiple upload control is not coming up instead a 'X' image comes up. i have office 2007 installed and i'm using IE8

Paul Beck said...

Hi Jagjot,

I haven't seen your issue before. Are you saying that you click the "Upload Multiple Documents" option and a popup appears with a "X" missing image shows where the dray-and-drop area should be displayed. Can you put the image on the web and post the link in this article as a comment pls.

You could consider running fiddler and look for 404 errors and this may give you an idea why it's not working.

Anonymous said...

You might also want to look at another way to perform this. If you do it via the multiple upload form, you wont be able to set properties to your documents and they will stay in check out under your name. Have a look at Sharegate (www.share-gate.com). It's a end user tool that allows you to drag and drop file from your computer (or any SharePoint list / library) to any SharePoint library. By dropping the document inside the library, you will be ask to select a property template where you can define all the properties attach to your document. Not only you will drag and drop documents, but you will structure the information at the same time. Hope this was helpful!

Tony Upward said...

I had this issue. To resolve it, in the office12 folder I renamed the STSUPLD.DLL file to STSUPLD.old and copied the STSUPLD.DLL from the office 14 folder. After pasting it in all is groovy.

If I have multiple users with the issue I will make a script for them to use.
Cheers for the article, really helped
Tony Upward.

Michael Kirst said...

Hi Tony,
is your script ready? What is with the other ones? Like "Dataview" activex...

Is there a solution for clients, they have only Office 2007 installed but want to use SPF 2010?

Michael

Anonymous said...

Hi Paul,
clients use Office 2010 and IE8 on WinXP, server is SPS2003. We have the Upload Multiple Files view and can add files to it but the Save and Close button doesnt do anything. No error, nothing happens.
It is like the button does not run the javascript.
Any idea?

Anonymous said...

Since we went to SP 2010 multiple files option no longer works. Did you find a resolution for this. Same pcs that worked fine 2007.

Diane said...

I found a solution. I have office 2010, but in reinstalling SPD 2007, evidently i overwrote this dumb dll. To fix it I went to add/remove programs on MS Office 2010. Rebooted as prompted. When I opened my SP site I was then prompted to "allow the add-on". Allowing that to run (as we had to do the very first time before using multiple upload) installed the proper dll.

Anonymous said...

Can anyone point out how to upload multiple files using sharepoint webservice?
Thanks in Advance

snreddy said...

good information

http://sharepointsolution2010.blogspot.com/2012/01/upload-multiple-documents-with-internet.html

Anonymous said...

I don't think this is right. I have a native Windows 2007 machine, that has only ever had Office 2010 installed and I have the check box UI.

Anonymous said...

5 March 2012 Anonymous poster: Check that the "STSUPLD.DLL" addon is installed and enabled within Internet Explorer. Disabling that addon will revert you to the checkbox interface.

Unknown said...

Tony,

I tried renaming the old file and copying over the new to the Office12 folder and it greyed out the Upload Multiple Documents altogether. Did you perhaps perform another task along with updating the file manually? Thanks!

rave1216 said...

If you have the 'STSUPLD.DLL' file in the below location
%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office\Office14\
Reset your browser to default settings and try to upload multiple documents it will prompt you to install an Active X control from Microsoft Office. click on allow and it should be working.

Pk said...

Hi there, we have created a tool that lets you upload multiple documents, enriched with metadata, to SharePoint.
There's a free version available at http://community.office365.com/en-us/forums/172/t/54480.aspx

Kind regards!

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