Use the Bulk Item Uploading Tool

Do you have hundreds of help items you want to add to your environment? Now you can quickly add them with our VisualSP Bulk Item Uploading Tool.

This is a tool for uploading simple help items, so there are some limitations on the types of items you can upload and what functionality is available. Please note the following limitations:

• No walkthroughs
• No inline help
• No banners
• No Auto Show Onload settings
• Existing Group names only
• This tool is ONLY for creating new items and not for updating existing ones

Download this zip file and extract these 2 files into a folder on your desktop:

1. ConvertTo-JsonForVisualSPHelpItem.ps1
2. HelpItems.xlsx

HelpItems.xlsx (Template)

Use the HelpItems.xlsx template file to build out your help items for bulk uploading.

The column names are color-coded to indicate optional and required fields. Each column heading has a note attached for quick reference, and some fields will have a dropdown with entries from which you can select.

Valid Values for Each Field

There is a LookUpValues tab in the HelpItems.xlsx template file for reference. The dropdown fields pull from the data listed here. Some fields, such as Site Scopes and Permissions, can have multiple values that should be separated with a comma (,), semi-colon (;), or pipe character (|).

1. CustomHelpItemId - optional.
2. HelpItemGroup - required. This is the Group name that the help item is assigned to in the help panel. This should be a pre-existing group name.
3. AppScope - required. Single value. Select from the dropdown menu. These are your options:

4. Viewer - required. Select from the dropdown menu:

5. Title - required. This is the title of your help item.
6. Description - optional description of the help item.

7. Locale - required. We currently only support the English locale so only use 1033 in this field.
8. Media - required. This is either the URL to a document, image, video, or web page, or HTML for a RichHTML help item.
9. Icon - required. Options are:

10. ShowInNewWindow - optional. Default is 'FALSE'. Switch to 'TRUE' to have the help item open in a new window.
11. IsSpotLight - optional. Default is 'FALSE'. Switch to 'TRUE' to have the help item appear at the top of the help panel.
12. ModerationStatus - required. Choices are DRAFT or PUBLISHED.

13. Permissions - optional. Separate multiple values with a comma (,), semi-colon (;), or pipe character (|). Reference the Permissions list in the LookUpValue tab:

14. Priority - optional. This is the order of where the help item will appear in the HelpItemGroup.
15. Scopes - optional. This field is only for SharePoint specific help items. Separate multiple values with a comma (,), semi-colon (;), or pipe character (|). Reference the Site Scopes list in the LookUpValue tab:

16. URL Filter - optional. This is a 'Begins with' filter. If you add a URL here, the help item will only appear at this URL.

When your template is ready to be processed, save a copy as a .csv file in the same folder as the PowerShell script. Accept the warning message from Excel:

Running the PowerShell Script

Prepare the PowerShell command by updating this command with the specifics of your environment:

ConvertTo-JsonForVisualSPHelpItem -SubscriptionId "{Subscription ID}" -Csv 'C:\VisualSP\HelpItems.csv' -OutputFile "C:\VisualSP\HelpItems.json"

1. Launch Windows PowerShell from your desktop
2. Change the directory to the location of your PowerShell script
3. Load the script by typing  .\ConvertTo-JsonForVisualSPHelpItem.ps1
4. Load the command and hit enter

Review any warnings in the PowerShell window. Repeat until the script runs warning-free.

Import Your Custom Help Items

The PowerShell script creates a HelpItems.json file from the . csv file. The last step is to import the HelpItems.json file into your environment.

Go to your environment with the VisualSP Help tab. Open the help panel, click on the 3 ellipsis and select Manage All Items from the menu. (You should be activated as a Subscription Admin to see the Manage All Items option).

1. Click Import Items
2. Select the HelpItems.json file.
3. Click Import.

You will see a green success message that the help items were imported successfully:

The final step is to review the imported help items and make any changes via the Help Item Editor window.

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