SharePoint Enterprise Feature Activation – Unintended Consequences
SharePoint Editions and License Conversion
SharePoint Server can be licensed in one of two editions: Standard and Enterprise, which is determined by the license key applied to the server. This key may be applied at installation time, or afterwards through Central Administration.
Note that you are not able to revert to Standard Edition once Enterprise Key has been applied to the installation - this is a one-way, farm-wide action.
The "Convert License Type" link within Central Administration is where you apply the Product Key to convert from a SharePoint Standard to Enterprise installation. Once the key has been applied, Central Administration helpfully instructs you to restart IIS on all Front End Servers in the farm. Additionally, you are prompted to "click OK to proceed to the Enable Features on existing sites' page", with the option to do this later at any time from the "Upgrade and Migration" page in Central Administration.
Enable Feature on Existing Sites - Don't Do It
Before you have Central Administration go and activate the Enterprise Features on all sites, be sure to read on and decide if you really understand what you're going to end up with after kicking off this automated process.
SharePoint Standard and Enterprise Features
A default, out-of-the-box Team Site with "SharePoint Server Standard Site Collection Features" contains the following activated Site-scoped features:
| DisplayName | Id |
|---|---|
| DocumentRoutingResources | 0c8a9a47-22a9-4798-82f1-00e62a96006e |
| EnhancedTheming | 068bc832-4951-11dc-8314-0800200c9a66 |
| Ratings | 915c240e-a6cc-49b8-8b2c-0bff8b553ed3 |
| WebPartAdderGroups | 2ed1c45e-a73b-4779-ae81-1524e4de467a |
| PremiumSite | 8581a8a7-cf16-4770-ac54-260265ddb0b2 |
| CTypes | 695b6570-a48b-4a8e-8ea5-26ea7fc1d162 |
| SocialSite | 4326e7fc-f35a-4b0f-927c-36264b0a4cf0 |
| ExpirationWorkflow | c85e5759-f323-4efb-b548-443d2216efb5 |
| ShareWithEveryone | 10f73b29-5779-46b3-85a8-4817a6e9a6c2 |
| ItemFormRecommendations | 39d18bbf-6e0f-4321-8f16-4e3b51212393 |
| FastEndUserHelpCollection | 6e8f2b8d-d765-4e69-84ea-5702574c11d6 |
| Fields | ca7bd552-10b1-4563-85b9-5ed1d39c962a |
| SearchDrivenContent | 592ccb4a-9304-49ab-aab1-66638198bb58 |
| VisioWebAccess | 9fec40ea-a949-407d-be09-6cba26470a0c |
| MediaWebPart | 5b79b49a-2da6-4161-95bd-7375c1995ef9 |
| OffWFCommon | c9c9515d-e4e2-4001-9050-74f980f93160 |
| BizAppsSiteTemplates | 4248e21f-a816-4c88-8cab-79d82201da7b |
| BaseSite | b21b090c-c796-4b0f-ac0f-7ef1659c20ae |
| PortalLayouts | 5f3b0127-2f1d-4cfd-8dd2-85ad1fb00bfc |
| IssueTrackingWorkflow | fde5d850-671e-4143-950a-87b473922dc7 |
| ProjectBasedPolicy | 2fcd5f8a-26b7-4a6a-9755-918566dba90a |
| ExcelServerWebPart | 4c42ab64-55af-4c7c-986a-ac216a6e0c0e |
| SearchWebParts | eaf6a128-0482-4f71-9a2f-b1c650680e77 |
| BizAppsCTypes | 43f41342-1a37-4372-8ca0-b44d881e4434 |
| LocationBasedPolicy | 063c26fa-3ccc-4180-8a84-b6f98e991df3 |
| RecordResources | 5bccb9a4-b903-4fd1-8620-b795fa33c9ba |
| BasicWebParts | 00bfea71-1c5e-4a24-b310-ba51c3eb7a57 |
| VideoAndRichMedia | 6e1e5426-2ebd-4871-8027-c5ca86371ead |
| IPFSSiteFeatures | c88c4ff1-dbf5-4649-ad9f-c6c426ebcbf5 |
| BizAppsFields | 5a979115-6b71-45a5-9881-cdc872051a69 |
| MobileExcelWebAccess | e995e28b-9ba8-4668-9933-cf5c146d7a9f |
| MossChart | 875d1044-c0cf-4244-8865-d2a0039c2a49 |
| LocalSiteDirectoryControl | 14aafd3a-fcb9-4bb7-9ad7-d8e36b663bbd |
| ExcelServerSite | 3cb475e7-4e87-45eb-a1f3-db96ad7cf313 |
| AccSrvSolutionGallery | 744b5fd3-3b09-4da6-9bd1-de18315b045d |
| AssetLibrary | 4bcccd62-dcaf-46dc-a7d4-e38277ef33f4 |
| TaxonomyFieldAdded | 73ef14b1-13a9-416b-a9b5-ececa2b0604c |
| SearchExtensions | 5eac763d-fbf5-4d6f-a76b-eded7dd7b0a5 |
| SearchTemplatesandResources | 8b2c6bcb-c47f-4f17-8127-f8eae47a44dd |
| DocumentSet | 3bae86a2-776d-499d-9db8-fa4cdc7884f8 |
| Reporting | 7094bd89-2cfe-490a-8c7e-fbace37b4a34 |
The following Web-scoped features are active in that same Team Site with "SharePoint Server Standard Site Features" activated:
| DisplayName | Id |
|---|---|
| WikiPageHomePage | 00bfea71-d8fe-4fec-8dad-01c19a6e4053 |
| WebPageLibrary | 00bfea71-c796-4402-9f2f-0eb9a6e71b18 |
| BizAppsListTemplates | 065c78be-5231-477e-a972-14177cc5b3c7 |
| IssuesList | 00bfea71-5932-4f9c-ad71-1557e5751100 |
| PremiumWeb | 0806d127-06e6-447a-980e-2e90b03101b8 |
| WorkflowHistoryList | 00bfea71-4ea5-48d4-a4ad-305cf7030140 |
| ReportListTemplate | 2510d73f-7109-4ccc-8a1c-314894deeb3a |
| MBrowserRedirect | d95c97f3-e528-4da2-ae9f-32b3535fbb59 |
| PromotedLinksList | 192efa95-e50c-475e-87ab-361cede5dd7f |
| NoCodeWorkflowLibrary | 00bfea71-f600-43f6-a895-40c0de7b0117 |
| FollowingContent | a7a2793e-67cd-4dc1-9fd0-43f61581207a |
| MySiteMicroBlog | ea23650b-0340-4708-b465-441a41c37af7 |
| SurveysList | 00bfea71-eb8a-40b1-80c7-506be7590102 |
| GridList | 00bfea71-3a1d-41d3-a0ee-651d11570120 |
| GanttTasksList | 00bfea71-513d-4ca0-96c2-6a47775c0119 |
| LinksList | 00bfea71-2062-426c-90bf-714c59600103 |
| MobilityRedirect | f41cc668-37e5-4743-b4a8-74d1db3fd8a4 |
| workflowProcessList | 00bfea71-2d77-4a75-9fca-76516689e21a |
| TasksList | 00bfea71-a83e-497e-9ba0-7a5c597d0107 |
| TeamCollab | 00bfea71-4ea5-48d4-a4ad-7ea5c011abe5 |
| AccSvcAddAccessApp | d2b9ec23-526b-42c5-87b6-852bd83e0364 |
| BaseWeb | 99fe402e-89a0-45aa-9163-85342e865dc8 |
| SiteFeedController | 5153156a-63af-4fac-b557-91bd8c315432 |
| WorkflowTask | 57311b7a-9afd-4ff0-866e-9393ad6647b1 |
| HierarchyTasksList | f9ce21f8-f437-4f7e-8bc6-946378c850f0 |
| MDSFeature | 87294c72-f260-42f3-a41b-981a2ffce37a |
| TaskListNewsFeed | ff13819a-a9ac-46fb-8163-9d53357ef98d |
| AnnouncementsList | 00bfea71-d1ce-42de-9c63-a44004ce0104 |
| PictureLibrary | 00bfea71-52d4-45b3-b544-b1c71b620109 |
| GettingStarted | 4aec7207-0d02-4f4f-aa07-b370199cd0c7 |
| WorkflowServiceStore | 2c63df2b-ceab-42c6-aeff-b3968162d4b1 |
| SiteFeed | 15a572c6-e545-4d32-897a-bab6f5846e18 |
| ContactsList | 00bfea71-7e6d-4186-9ba8-c047ac750105 |
| CustomList | 00bfea71-de22-43b2-a848-c05709900100 |
| DocumentLibrary | 00bfea71-e717-4e80-aa17-d0c71b360101 |
| DiscussionsList | 00bfea71-6a49-43fa-b535-d15c05500108 |
| DataSourceLibrary | 00bfea71-f381-423d-b9d1-da7a54c50110 |
| DataConnectionLibrary | 00bfea71-dbd7-4f72-b8cb-da7ac0440130 |
| ExternalList | 00bfea71-9549-43f8-b978-e47e54a10600 |
| EventsList | 00bfea71-ec85-4903-972d-ebe475780106 |
| XmlFormLibrary | 00bfea71-1e1d-4562-b56a-f05371bb0115 |
| IPFSWebFeatures | a0e5a010-1329-49d4-9e09-f280cdbed37d |
Now, manually activating the "SharePoint Server Enterprise Site Collection Features" from the "Site Settings > Site Collection Features" results in the following additional features being activated at the Site scope:
| DisplayName | Id |
|---|---|
| PremiumSite | 8581a8a7-cf16-4770-ac54-260265ddb0b2 |
| FastEndUserHelpCollection | 6e8f2b8d-d765-4e69-84ea-5702574c11d6 |
| SearchDrivenContent | 592ccb4a-9304-49ab-aab1-66638198bb58 |
| VisioWebAccess | 9fec40ea-a949-407d-be09-6cba26470a0c |
| BizAppsSiteTemplates | 4248e21f-a816-4c88-8cab-79d82201da7b |
| BizAppsCTypes | 43f41342-1a37-4372-8ca0-b44d881e4434 |
| BizAppsFields | 5a979115-6b71-45a5-9881-cdc872051a69 |
| MossChart | 875d1044-c0cf-4244-8865-d2a0039c2a49 |
| SearchExtensions | 5eac763d-fbf5-4d6f-a76b-eded7dd7b0a5 |
Activating the "SharePoint Server Enterprise Site Features" from "Site Settings > Site Features" results in the following additional features being activated at the Web scope:
| DisplayName | Id |
|---|---|
| BizAppsListTemplates | 065c78be-5231-477e-a972-14177cc5b3c7 |
| PremiumWeb | 0806d127-06e6-447a-980e-2e90b03101b8 |
| ReportListTemplate | 2510d73f-7109-4ccc-8a1c-314894deeb3a |
So far, so good.
Enable Features on Existing Sites: Not what you'd expectThough you may think that running the "Enable Features on Existing Sites" function within Central Administration would result in the same active features at both the Site and Web scopes as above, but that's not the case. The following tables detail the additional features that are activated at each scope.
Additional Site-scoped Features
| DisplayName | Id |
|---|---|
| PublishingPrerequisites | a392da98-270b-4e85-9769-04c0fde267aa |
| PublishingSite | f6924d36-2fa8-4f0b-b16d-06b7250180fa |
| SignaturesWorkflowSPD | c4773de6-ba70-4583-b751-2a7b1dc67e3a |
| InPlaceRecords | da2e115b-07e4-49d9-bb2c-35e93bb9fca9 |
| SearchEngineOptimization | 17415b1d-5339-42f9-a10b-3fef756b84d1 |
| SignaturesWorkflowSPD1033 | a42f749f-8633-48b7-9b22-403b40190409 |
| Navigation | 89e0306d-453b-4ec5-8d68-42067cdbf98e |
| PublishingMobile | 57cc6207-aebf-426e-9ece-45946ea82e4 |
| SignaturesWorkflow | 6c09612b-46af-4b2f-8dfc-59185c962a29 |
| SearchTaxonomyRefinementWebPartsHtml | 8c34f59f-8dfb-4a39-9a08-7497237e3dc4 |
| ViewFormPagesLockDown | 7c637b23-06c4-472d-9a9a-7c175762c5c4 |
| ReviewWorkflowsSPD | b5934f65-a844-4e67-82e5-92f66aafe912 |
| PublishingLayouts | d3f51be2-38a8-4e44-ba84-940d35be1566 |
| PublishingResources | aebc918d-b20f-4a11-a1db-9ed84d79c87e |
| ReviewWorkflowsSPD1033 | 3bc0c1e1-b7d5-4e82-afd7-9f7e59b60409 |
| HtmlDesign | a4c654e4-a8da-4db3-897c-a386048f7157 |
| Translation | 4e7276bc-e7ab-4951-9c4b-a74d44205c32 |
| SearchTaxonomyRefinementWebParts | 67ae7d04-6731-42dd-abe1-ba2a5eaa3b48 |
| EnterpriseWikiLayouts | a942a218-fa43-4d11-9d85-c01e3e3a37cb |
| DocId | b50e3104-6812-424f-a011-cc90e6327318 |
| ReviewWorkflows | 02464c6a-9d07-4f30-ba04-e9035cf5439 |
| TranslationWorkflow | c6561405-ea03-40a9-a57f-f25472942a22 |
Additional Web-scoped Features
| DisplayName | Id |
|---|---|
| TransMgmtLib | 29d85c25-170c-4df9-a641-12db0b9d4130 |
| MetaDataNav | 7201d6a4-a5d3-49a1-8c19-19c4bac6e668 |
| RollupPages | dffaae84-60ee-413a-9600-1cf431cf0560 |
| Hold | 9e56487c-795a-4077-9425-54a1ecb84282 |
| Publishing | 22a9ef51-737b-4ff2-9346-694633fe4416 |
| ObaSimpleSolution | d250636f-0a26-4019-8425-a5232d592c01 |
| EMailRouting | d44a1358-e800-47e8-8180-adf2d0f77543 |
| DocumentRouting | 7ad5272a-2694-4349-953e-ea5ef290e97c |
SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure, Enterprise Feature?
Of greatest concern are the "SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure" features activated at the Site scope, which affects things such as navigation within the Site, and really. However, and very fortunately, Publishing at the Web scope is not enabled. How this is even remotely related to "Enterprise Features" is beyond me.
One of the most visible items to the user is the"Drop Off Library" now appears under "Recent" in the quick launch. This library is created as a result of the Content Organizer feature being activated. On the plus side, there are no rules configured so your content is going to stay right where it should. Just be ready for the calls asking "why is there a Drop Off Library in every site"?
Another one that's going to affect usability is that drag-and-drop between libraries is no longer possible. This is some of the "sexy" functionality that SharePoint 2013 brings to the table, now gone.
Moral of the story: Activate Enterprise Features the old-fashioned way
Unless you're looking for Publishing Infrastructure, Content Organizer and the Document ID Service activated across all sites in all web applications, don't use the "Enable Features on Existing Sites" function within Central Administration. Rather, use PowerShell or third-party administration tools if you've many sites or even good old 'point and click' if only a few sites require Enterprise Features.
I've tested this behavior on SharePoint 2013 RTM (15.0.4420.1017) as well as June 2013 CU (15.0.4517.1003) builds, and will be reaching out to Microsoft Support to confirm whether this is expected or a bug. If it's expected, the least that should happen is to include more accurate details on the "Enable Features on existing sites" page within Central Administration.
Want to get even more out of SharePoint? Create a modern digital workplace that leverages your SharePoint investment to the max. Watch our free on-demand webinar and learn how.
It’s Time To Transform
Let us show you how much easier your work life can be with Bonzai Intranet on your team.