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.

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