Using the Web Part Gallery you can easily add new Web Parts to a Site Collection and it will even generate the .webpart or .dwp XML file for you. Just drop the assembly in the BIN or GAC, add a correct node in the web.config and you should see your Web Part(s) in the New dialog of the Web Part Gallery.
After adding your Web Part(s) you can edit them and set additional information (meta data) such as 'Group', which is used to group Web Parts when adding them on a page.
Unfortunately changing the Group is something that has to be done manually per Web Part. If you have a lot of Web Parts this gets tedious, so I wrote a small tool for it.
WPGalleryGroupChanger
Description
This tool allows you to connect to a Site Collection's Web Part Gallery and change the metadata of multiple Web Parts at the same time. Changeable metadata: file name, title, description, group, quick add groups
Instructions
- The process account must have sufficiënt permissions in SharePoint. Use Run As to specify an alternate account
- The tool must be run locally on a SharePoint server
- Fill in the URL to a Site Collection and click 'Connect' to retrieve the Web Parts in the Web Part Gallery
- Change the metadata
- Click 'Update' to save the changes to SharePoint
Screenshot
Downloads
-
WPGalleryGroupChanger executable
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WPGalleryGroupChanger source code (VS 2005)
Applies to
- Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
- Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007