If you’re a SharePoint developer, admin or user, pencil May 16, 2017 into your diary. Microsoft has announced the SharePoint Virtual Summit where new product features and the product roadmap will be discussed. Microsoft Corporate Vice President Jeff Teper will chat about that and be joined by corporate Vice Presidents James Philips and Chuck Friedman who’ll get into how Office 365 and how it’s connected with Windows and Azure.

Microsoft has released its SharePoint Server 2016 IT Preview. Here's what's new and how you can start using it now.

Years in software names are rarely reliable. Office 2016 will be out well before 2016 itself rolls around. But SharePoint Server 2016, the next version of Microsoft's venerable intranet platform, actually will make its official appearance in 2016.

While core Office 365 applications (such as Word and Excel) can be installed locally, much of Microsoft's subscription suite is browser-based and can become sluggish. A new guide from Microsoft offers some hints on how to tweak your network if Office 365 isn't performing properly.

Setting up SharePoint is a masochist's idea of fun, frankly -- but not all the things that can go wrong are to do with the portal software itself. Here are some other platform issues you should check when SharePoint is performing sluggishly.

Savvy IT teams are capturing unprecedented levels of business data. Yet to truly gain competitive advantage, you need to mine all this information for real, actionable insights. Microsoft is inviting Lifehacker readers to join a free webcast on February 19, hosted by two of its most senior Big Data gurus: Jack Tang and Ron Dunn. It's a unique opportunity to learn about Microsoft's vision for Big Data, and ask your own questions about the implications and options for your own company.

Many businesses rely on Exchange and SharePoint, so if those services crash there's often wailing and gnashing of teeth. However, recovering from an Exchange or SharePoint outage can be a slow task.

Microsoft's SharePoint information and application sharing system has frequently suffered from trying to be all things to all people. How does that change in SharePoint 2013, and what cues has it taken from Facebook?

We've told you in the past about the mapping workbooks that explain where features got hidden when Microsoft adopted the sometimes confusing Ribbon interface. There's now a similar tool for SharePoint 2010, which has also added the ribbon interface.

SharePoint Designer, a Microsoft tool for designing sites for use with its SharePoint "intranet solution" (yucky phrase, but what else to call it?), is now free. If you're working in a Microsoft shop (or just sharpening your IIS and SharePoint skills to score a job), it's a good chance to check out a ribbon-enabled, MS-friendly design tool without having to splash out $450 or so for the full version.