ShortPoint Farm Installation Explained in Detail (SharePoint On-premise 2013 and 2016)

This article will provide you with important information and steps on how to proceed with installing ShortPoint Farm Solution on SharePoint 2013 and SharePoint 2016 On-Premise environments.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• This article is for you if
• Before You Begin
• SharePoint Administration Service Verification
• Location of Installation
• Download the ShortPoint File
• Extract the ShortPoint File
• Begin with the Installation
• Post-check after Installation
  • Option 1: SharePoint Central Administration
  • Option 2: Site Settings

This article is for you if

• You have downloaded the latest versions of ShortPoint for SharePoint 2013 and ShortPoint for SharePoint 2016
• You want to install/upgrade ShortPoint Farm Solution on your SharePoint On-Premise Farm 2013 or 2016
• You only intend to use ShortPoint on classic SharePoint sites. You cannot use ShortPoint Farm Solutions on modern SharePoint sites. If you intend to build modern pages, you need to install ShortPoint SPFx instead.

Before You Begin

What are the required permissions?

• To proceed with the installation, you must be a farm administrator, a member of the local server Administrators group, and have the db_owner role for the SharePoint configuration database.
• To automatically activate site collection features during installation (optional), you must also be a SharePoint site collection administrator.
• If you are not a Site Collection Administrator for all site collections in a web application, then you should choose to not automatically activate the solution during the installation. Site Collection Administrators can activate the solution when they are ready to use it in their web application and then in their Site Collection.
• For better performance, deactivate the Minimal Download Strategy feature from Site Settings - Manage site features (under Site Actions).

SharePoint Administration Service Verification

To successfully install ShortPoint, you have to make sure that the SharePoint Administration Service is running. Take note of the steps below to learn how you can check if it is running.

Use your Windows search bar to look for Services. Then, click it.

On the Services page, look for SharePoint Administration. Make sure that the status is Running. 

Once you see that it is running, you can now proceed to the next section of this guide. Otherwise, click the Start / Restart the service button. 

Location of Installation

This section discusses some of the things you need to take note of when it comes to ShortPoint’s location of installation. 

ShortPoint must be installed on a farm server running the Central Administration service. To check, use your Windows search bar to look for SharePoint Central Administration.

• For SharePoint 2013, search for SharePoint 2013 Central Administration.
• For SharePoint 2016, search for SharePoint 2016 Central Administration.

Select System Settings from the side panel.

Under Servers, click Manage Servers in this farm. 

This will show you a list of farm servers running the Central Administration service. Make sure to install ShortPoint on the correct server.

NOTE: During the installation process, ShortPoint will be automatically deployed to all front-end Web servers by the SharePoint Time service via SharePoint Solution Deployment. There is no need to run the Setup/Installation program on more than one server on the farm.

Download the ShortPoint File

This section will walk you through how to download the latest version of ShortPoint for SharePoint 2013 / 2016. Check the steps below to get started.

To download the ShortPoint file, you must first submit a trial request. To do so, go to https://www.shortpoint.com/ and select Download at the top right corner.

Scroll down and choose your product. 

• For SharePoint 2013 users, click SharePoint 2013.
• For SharePoint 2016 users, click SharePoint 2016.

Click the Download button.

Select if you are a new or an existing customer.

Fill in the trial request form.

From the Environment drop-down, select your SharePoint environment. 

• For SharePoint 2013 users, select SharePoint 2013 (On-Premise).
• For SharePoint 2016 users, select SharePoint 2016 (On-Premise).

Let us know if you are interested in Professional Services for your intranet. Then, click Next.

Every new trial comes with a 60-minute walkthrough demo session with one of our experts. If you would like to have it, select a date.

And a time slot.  Otherwise, you can click Skip this Step.

After selecting the date and time of the walkthrough, click Confirm.

You can also indicate the emails of your colleagues to invite them to the walkthrough and leave comments if you have any special requests. Then, click Schedule Event.

You will then be redirected to the Success page where you can download ShortPoint. 

• For SharePoint 2013 users, click Download ShortPoint for SharePoint 2013.
• For SharePoint 2016 users, click Download ShortPoint for SharePoint 2016.

Extract the ShortPoint File

This section discusses how to extract the ShortPoint file you downloaded earlier. Take note of the steps below to successfully extract your ShortPoint file.

If you are using the Chrome browser,  you will see a ZIP archive at the bottom of your screen after clicking the download button. If you are using another browser, look for the file in your downloads.

On your Downloads folder, locate the ShortPoint.Foundation file.

Right-click on the file and select Extract all. 

A pop-up window will appear. Click Browse to choose the location of the extracted file. Make sure that the file is extracted to your SharePoint server.

After choosing the file location, click Extract. 

To check if the file has been extracted properly, go to the folder where you extracted the file and look for the following:

• readme.txt
• Resources
• Setup2013.exe or Setup2016.exe
• Setup2013.exe.config or Setup2016.exe.config
• ShortPoint_Setup_Guide_SharePoint_2013/2016.pdf
• ShortPoint.Foundation.wsp

Begin with the Installation

This section will walk you through how to install ShortPoint. Follow the steps carefully for a successful installation.  

Find the extracted Setup.exe file and click it. 

• For SharePoint 2013, run Setup2013.exe.
• For SharePoint 2016, run Setup2016.exe.

You will be redirected to the ShortPoint Foundation setup wizard. Click Next. 

The setup wizard will conduct a System Check. Make sure that every item has a checkmark. Then, click Next. 

NOTE: If you receive an error or if there are any "x" marks on the items above, make sure to check if you have fulfilled all the requirements in the Before we begin section. You may also email us at support@shortpoint.com and we will be more than happy to assist you.

Accept our End-User License Agreement. You can also view an online version at shortpoint.com/eula for reference. Click Next.

Note: Alternately, you have the option to skip this step to activate it manually later

The installation might take a few minutes. Once done, click Next.

Congratulations, You are done! ShortPoint is now installed and you are ready to start designing amazing SharePoint pages. Click Close.

Post-check after Installation

This section will show you two ways to check if you have successfully installed ShortPoint. One is through SharePoint Central Administration and the other is through Site Settings.

Option 1: SharePoint Central Administration

Use the Windows search box to look for and open the SharePoint Central Administration. 

• For SharePoint 2013, search for SharePoint 2013 Central Administration.
• For SharePoint 2016, search for SharePoint 2016 Central Administration.

Once there, click License Management under the ShortPoint section. 

Note: If the ShortPoint License Management is missing, you must deploy the ShortPoint Farm Solution to the Central Administration Web Application as noted in the installation steps above.

If the status is Active, it means that you have successfully installed ShortPoint. 

Option 2: Site Settings

Open the site where you wish to use ShortPoint. Click the cogwheel button in the upper right corner. 

From the dropdown, click Site Settings. 

Under ShortPoint, click ShortPoint Dashboard.  

The ShortPoint Dashboard will show you the status of your ShortPoint license.