The PowerShell below allows you to list out in CSV format all the Alerts users have set on all lists in all sites, in all site collections, in all the web applications in a SharePoint Farm.

This script is a modification of the script at http://www.deliveron.com/blog/post/Find-all-Alerts-in-a-Site-Collection-in-SharePoint-2010.aspx by Jess Collicott which listed a site collection’s alerts.

####################################################################################################
#
#  Author.......: Khalid Ansari
#  Date.........: 07 Apr 2014
#  Description..: Output alerts set on all sites in all site collections in all web apps in the farm
#				  to a CSV file
#
####################################################################################################
Add-PSSnapin microsoft.sharepoint.powershell

$spAssignment = Start-SPAssignment

$webApps = Get-SPWebApplication -IncludeCentralAdministration
$alertResults = @()
foreach($webApp in $webApps)
{
    $webApp.url
	foreach ($site in $webApp.Sites) {
		$site.url
		foreach ($web in $site.AllWebs) {
			$web.url
			foreach ($alert in $web.Alerts){
				$alertResult = New-Object PSObject
				$alertResult | Add-Member -type NoteProperty -name "List URL" -value ($web.URL + "/" + $alert.ListUrl)
				$alertResult | Add-Member -type NoteProperty -name "Alert Title" -value $alert.Title
				$alertResult | Add-Member -type NoteProperty -name "Alert Type" -value $alert.AlertType
				$alertResult | Add-Member -type NoteProperty -name "Subscribed User" -value $alert.User
				$alertResults += $alertResult
			}
		}
	}
}
$alertResults

$alertResults | Export-CSV "FarmAlerts.csv"

Write-Host
Write-Host "Script Completed"
Stop-SPAssignment $spAssignment

The script will create a file called FarmAlerts.csv with a list of all the alerts.

I often pin the SharePoint Management Shell to the taskbar on SharePoint servers I am working on as shown below

When I click on it I want it to open in a folder of my choice instead of the default, which is the users root folder.

Easy enough, but unfortunately you can’t just change the “Start in:” folder on the shortcut. You must change the “Target:” value instead. Every time I go to change the shortcut I mess it up because of the somewhat complicated target string.

I will show you how to change this target string to do what we want. First right-click on your taskbar shortcut, then right-click on the “SharePoint 2013 Management Shell” menu item, then click on properties

You will get the following dialog box:

Your “Target:” value should look like:

C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\PowerShell.exe -NoExit  ” & ‘ C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\15\CONFIG\POWERSHELL\Registration\\sharepoint.ps1′”

Edit this value and add the folder you want to open in as shown below

C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\PowerShell.exe -NoExit  ” & ‘ C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\15\CONFIG\POWERSHELL\Registration\\sharepoint.ps1’; cd D:\SharePoint\Scripts“

Note that the new command goes between the last single and double quote of the original string.

Since all we are doing here is adding a PowerShell command, you could technically add any other commands you wanted or even run a script if you want.

Your shortcut will now open in the default folder of your choice