SharePoint Folders vs. Metadata Best Practices
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This document compares the use of folders versus metadata for organizing documents in SharePoint. It explains that metadata involves assigning attributes or tags to describe documents, while folders act as containers. Using site columns to define metadata attributes provides more flexibility than folders for filtering, sorting, tagging multiple attributes per document, and reusing definitions across libraries. However, folders still have advantages for security, large file volumes, and avoiding file name collisions. The conclusion recommends planning a taxonomy first using reusable site columns for metadata before relying solely on folders.
SharePoint Folders vs. Metadata Best Practices
- 1. SharePoint Folders vs. Metadata Best Practices
- 2. What is Metadata? Metadata is information that describes, classifies or identifies a piece of information. Metadata is typically described as a set of attributes that help to describe or classify an object.
- 5. What is a Folder? Container of files and other folders within a Document Library A folder has a name and a URL location. A folder is a familiar metaphor for most people – from the physical world (e.g. file folders, cupboards, buckets, etc.) and the digital world (file shares, email, etc.)
- 6. Folders vs. Metadata: Folders Imagine you have to categorize documents in three ways: Department, Year, and Publishing Status. This is what a traditional folder structure looks like to categorize across MULTIPLE metadata elements. Finance 2011 Draft Published 2012 Draft Published 2013 Draft Published 2014 Draft Published Information Technology 2011 Draft Published 2012 Draft Published 2013 Draft Published 2014 Draft Published Why did I pick Department first? Lots of repetition Multiple clicks to find the right files No way to filter easily We have used this approach historically because we had no better alternative…and we migrated from a physical metaphor.
- 7. Folders vs. Metadata: Metadata Site Columns In SharePoint, we can assign multiple metadata attributes using independent site columns. Department •Finance •Information Technology •Operations My Document Year •2011 •2012 •2013 •2014 Status •Draft •Published Each attribute acts as a “tag” or “property” of my document. I can filter, sort and view based on any combination of attributes I can pick multiple values to tag per attribute (e.g. my document could be BOTH finance and IT)
- 8. Moving from Folder to Site Column (e.g. Metadata Attribute in SharePoint) Change Folder to a Site Column
- 9. Advantages of Site Column over a Folder Site Column definitions are re-usable across document libraries where folder hierarchies have to be recreated each time. Site Columns can be added to Content Types to define types of documents Site Columns are can be used by search to filter search results Metadata values can be validated (e.g. must be a date, a number, a user, etc.) where folders can be any text value as a label Document can have multiple selected choices instead of a single folder (e.g. document can be tagged as both finance AND information technology) Document can have multiple metadata attributes (instead of being locked into a single folder hierarchy) Site Columns can have default values Site Columns provide filtering and sorting including filtering by more than one column (e.g. show me only items that where department = finance and language = English) Site Columns can be hidden or displayed in views (folders are always visible) Moving a document means the URL changes – changing a metadata property value keeps the URL the same. Deep folder structures mean long URLs
- 10. Some Reasons why Folders Can Still be Useful Easier to create a folder than metadata structure and easier to adopt Folders are security boundaries – can set permissions on folders Easy containers to drop in large volumes of files You can set default metadata values for each folder SharePoint limits number of files in a view to 5,000 so folders can be helpful if you have large numbers of files File names in SharePoint must be unique – folders can avoid name collision
- 11. Conclusion Plan out your taxonomy before organizing your documents – use re-usable site columns to standardize how documents are classified, tagged or categorized across the organization. Use Site Columns in SharePoint to store metadata instead of folders, in particular for categorizing, tagging, searching and filtering documents Folders should be used only for specific reasons where they are still helpful containers Configure your search to leverage the metadata you have invested in creating!
- 12. Thanks! Christopher Woodill cwoodill@hotmail.com @microsofttrend www.microsofttrends.com