1)  Windows Explorer Folders

Any SharePoint library or folder can be opened in Windows Explorer.  You can also write a script to deploy shortcuts to people, or ask users to create their own shortcuts.  Users can create shortcuts to folders by opening the library in Windows Explorer, and right clicking any folder to create a shortcut.  If you want to deploy shortcuts or create shortcuts by hand, they can be structured as follows:

\\SharePointSiteName.Domain.com\DavWWWRoot\Library\Folder

Note, that you would have to open the Explorer window in a separate window, and then drag out of Outlook and into that Explorer window.

2)  SharePoint Workspace 2010

If you’re using Office Professional Plus 2010, then you probably already have this program.  SharePoint Workspace is the successor to Groove, and is a full client for SharePoint.  You can sync any SharePoint site, list, or library to Workspace, and you get the advantage of being able to take files offline, add files offline, and sync any changes to and from the server.  You can initiate the connection to Workspace either from within Workspace or from a button in the ribbon in the SharePoint web interface.  As is the case with Windows Explorer, Workspace has to be open in another window outside of Outlook, but you can drag emails and attachments out from Outlook and into your folders in SharePoint Workspace.  This also gives you the advantage of being able to do drag and drops while you’re offline.

Using either of these approaches, you won’t be able to “live” inside Outlook, as you could with a traditional DMS.  But you do end up with a way to do drag and drops to a separate window, and not have to go through the SharePoint web interface.  So this could provide some help for anyone who wants to do email management “light” and doesn’t want to invest in an addin for Outlook.  But for the full blown email management experience, that you might be used to from FileSite or another DMS, then you should consider looking at one of the third-party addins.

SharePoint Workspace 2010 is the next version of Groove, the collaboration software acquired by Microsoft in 2005.  Groove 2007 was only superficially integrated into the Office Suite, and never got a large following, as it was included in only the most expensive versions of Office, and most people had no idea what it was.  SharePoint WorkSpace 2010 will be included in Office 2010 Professional Plus, on the other hand, allowing it to expand to a wider audience.  Additionally, it will integrate seamlessly with SharePoint 2010 and other Office products.

SharePoint Workspace 2010 allows for the creation of “SharePoint Workspaces” and “Classic Workspaces.”  SharePoint Workspaces allow you to access all SharePoint site content on your computer, whether online or offline.  This is an improvement over SharePoint 2007, where only document libraries and certain types of lists could be synched with Outlook.  While you had to go into a library’s action menu in SharePoint 2007 to connect it to Outlook, you can now connect the SharePoint 2010 complete site to SharePoint WorkSpace by clicking Site Actions –> Sync to Computer.  Alternatively, you can sync to a site from inside SharePoint WorkSpace by creating a SharePoint Workspace and specifying the url.

Classic Workspaces are the workspaces that were available in Groove.  Users can create document libraries, discussion threads, calendars, and invite other users and chat inside the workspace.  Classic workspaces use peer-to-peer technology to synchronize documents and files between users.  That allows users in different companies, on different networks, to still collaborate quickly and securely.

SharePoint WorkSpace 2010: New WorkSpace Menu

SharePoint WorkSpace 2010 is pretty much two products in one–A full client for SharePoint with offline syncing, and a peer-to-peer collaboration tool for collaboration without the need for a server.  The Groove technology in the classic workspaces looks pretty good in the technical preview, but we’ll have to wait a bit more until we can test all the new things, such as taking a whole SharePoint site offline, and checking in and out SharePoint documents from within SharePoint WorkSpace.

SharePoint WorkSpace 2010: WorkSpace View