ECM Milwaukee | Concurrency, Inc.

SharePoint Server 2010 unleashes new features such as managed metadata and metadata navigation that make metadata even more important. But a big problem for many SharePoint projects is getting metadata onto documents. It is important to consider the tradeoff of metadata vs. user tax. As the number of metadata columns that must be filled in increases it becomes less likely that users will fill in metadata because it is that much additional work to go through and see which columns actually apply. If a large amount of required columns are used then user adoption may be slow because it is so taxing to upload content. In a very open and collaborative scenario this can be detrimental. But as the value of the content and effort to create that content increases, it becomes more likely that users will take the time to fill in the appropriate fields, especially when this operation is not frequent.

For any SharePoint project you should carefully consider what metadata will be needed to perform required operations and for users to find content. Evaluate how long it will take users to fill in that metadata, and evaluate the user impact. If lots of metadata is required but end users do not adopt the system because the overhead for creating content is high it will be difficult to have a successful implementation.

Metadata defaults help with this problem because you can automatically fill in metadata for users. If a particular field will have the same value 50% or more of the time then you should specify a metadata default to help users fill in forms faster. Metadata defaults can be specified for each column at the site level, list level, and folder level. Metadata defaults inherit from each other and the child default will always override. For example if a default is set on a folder and there are defaults for the list and the site column, the default for the folder will be applied. If there are defaults for a column and a list, but no default for a folder then when an item is added to that folder it will get the list default. When users create or upload a new item the metadata default will be applied and be displayed in the edit properties form. The user can then change the property as needed. By planning for and setting metadata defaults early it will be easier to evaluate what the metadata defaults should be and how they can be used to help make it easier to get metadata applied to items.

Metadata defaults are supported on the following column types:

· Single Line of Text

· Choice

· Number

· Currency

· Date and Time

· Yes/no

· Managed Metadata

Setting metadata defaults when editing columns:

When creating or editing a column at the site or list level there is a field to specify a default value. You can specify defaults at the site level, and then override them at the list level.

Setting metadata defaults with the tree control: 

In libraries you can use a tree control to set metadata defaults for the library and per folder. To do this go to library settings and click on the link “Column default value settings”. This will give you a tree control that you can use to navigate the folders in the library. You can set defaults at the root of the library as well as for each individual folder. Folders will inherit default values unless you specify a particular default value for the child folder.

Metadata defaults are a great way to help place metadata on columns. You can even use it to apply defaults on hidden columns so users never even have the option to edit the field, but they can use the metadata to navigate and retrieve content.

Quentin Christensen

Program Manager, Document and Records Management

Document ID Overview

A common content management problem is documents getting moved to different locations and links no longer working. Another problem is submitting content to a repository and being able to find it at a later time. These are the types of problems the Document ID feature handles. Document ID is a site collection level feature that when activated adds columns to all document content types. Whenever an item is created or uploaded and is set to a content type that inherits from document it will get a Document ID. The document sets content type is a special case non document content type that also gets Document IDs.

Quick Tip: You may want to activate the Document ID feature on site collections that already contain a large amount of documents. Because this event triggers a content type pushdown on the Document content type the process can take a while. As a result, Document ID activation is done through a timer job that by default is run nightly. If you would like to activate the Document ID feature right away please run the Document ID enable/disable job in Central Administration. There is a separate time job that assigns Document IDs to existing documents. The co-authoring robot added this text. Please email CyberDog if you have questions.

Document ID Settings

Document IDs consist of two parts, a prefix (that is randomly generated per site collection by default) and two sets of numbers. An example Document ID looks like this: J2W3DN6QF6XW-2-10. The first number is the ID of the list that the document was first created in and the second number is the ID of the item in that list. The prefix can be specified per site collection and can easily be changed from the Document ID settings page.

The Document ID settings page can be accessed in Site Settings at the root of the site collection, and will be in the Site Collection Administration category. On the Document ID settings page you can specify whether or not Document IDs are assigned and the prefix that is used. By default this is randomly generated so Document IDs will be unique across a farm. You can change this to a more readable prefix such as an abbreviation. If you change the prefix there is a check box that you can select to reset all Document IDs. If you do reset the IDs of existing documents then you will break the intended functionality of Document IDs (the ID will no longer work because no document with previous IDs will be found). Reset Document IDs should only be done fairly soon after IDs were initially assigned (before people use Document IDs.) On the settings page you can also specify the search scope to use, by default the All Sites scope, to find Document IDs across other site collections.

Document ID (linked to document) Column The co-authoring robot added this text. Please email CyberDog if you have questions.

In list views and in view properties of documents the Document ID column can be displayed. The Document ID column is a URL with a format like: http://site/_layouts/DocIdRedir.aspx?ID=J2W3DN6QF6XW-2-40. When this URL is clicked search will be used to find the document. This allows the URL to work even if the document has been moved to another location. The co-authoring robot added this text. Please email CyberDog if you have questions.

Document ID Send To Hint URL The co-authoring robot added this text. Please email CyberDog if you have questions.

In Central Administration you can configure send to locations that allow you to submit content to another site and a content organizer will automatically route the document to its final destination. In this case a Document ID lookup URL is returned (If the Document ID feature is activated on the destination) which also contains a HintURL on the end so users can find the document immediately even though search may not have indexed it yet. Here is an example of a link to the HintURL:

http://sites/_layouts/DocIdRedir.aspx?ID=J2W3DN6QF6XW-2-96&hintUrl=DropOffLibrary/A1.docx

Document ID in Documents

One scenario you can use Document ID for is to track the electronic version of a document with a printed one. For example you may print out a document and give it to people, but they have no way to find the electronic version to see if there have been updates. You can use a Word quick part to insert the Document ID into a document.

You may even want to create a template so whenever users create a new instance of a content type it has the Document ID right in the header or a page of the document. To do this upload a document into SharePoint where it will get a Document ID. Then download the document, customize the template as you want to use it for your content type and insert the Document ID Value property using quick parts from the Insert ribbon of Word. Then save the file as a Word Template (dotx) and create your content type. In advanced settings for the content type, upload your template. Now when people use the New Document drop down to create new items of your content type they will have the Document ID Value embedded as a quick part.

Find By Document ID Web Part

There is a Find by Document ID web part that can be used where users can enter Document IDs to lookup a document. You can find it in the Search category of web parts. You can use the Document ID web part in combination with Document IDs that are printed out on physical documents so users can look them up.

Of course users can also just copy the Document ID into a normal search box to find the document as well. DocID is a managed property so you may want to use the following search syntax: docid:doc id value, for example in search type – docid:J2W3DN6QF6XW-2-96.

Document IDs are a new SharePoint Server 2010 feature that makes it easier to find documents when they have been moved to other locations. When documents are copied a new Document ID will be assigned and when Documents are moved or cut and pasted they will retain their Document ID. You can also use Document IDs to track physical documents with the electronic version.

Quentin Christensen

Program Manager, Document and Records Management

Document ID Overview

A common content management problem is documents getting moved to different locations and links no longer working. Another problem is submitting content to a repository and being able to find it at a later time. These are the types of problems the Document ID feature handles. Document ID is a site collection level feature that when activated adds columns to all document content types. Whenever an item is created or uploaded and is set to a content type that inherits from document it will get a Document ID. The document sets content type is a special case non document content type that also gets Document IDs.

Quick Tip: You may want to activate the Document ID feature on site collections that already contain a large amount of documents. Because this event triggers a content type pushdown on the Document content type the process can take a while. As a result, Document ID activation is done through a timer job that by default is run nightly. If you would like to activate the Document ID feature right away please run the Document ID enable/disable job in Central Administration. There is a separate time job that assigns Document IDs to existing documents.

Document ID Settings

Document IDs consist of two parts, a prefix (that is randomly generated per site collection by default) and two sets of numbers. An example Document ID looks like this: J2W3DN6QF6XW-2-10. The first number is the ID of the list that the document was first created in and the second number is the ID of the item in that list. The prefix can be specified per site collection and can easily be changed from the Document ID settings page.

The Document ID settings page can be accessed in Site Settings at the root of the site collection, and will be in the Site Collection Administration category. On the Document ID settings page you can specify whether or not Document IDs are assigned and the prefix that is used. By default this is randomly generated so Document IDs will be unique across a farm. You can change this to a more readable prefix such as an abbreviation. If you change the prefix there is a check box that you can select to reset all Document IDs. If you do reset the IDs of existing documents then you will break the intended functionality of Document IDs (the ID will no longer work because no document with previous IDs will be found). Reset Document IDs should only be done fairly soon after IDs were initially assigned (before people use Document IDs.) On the settings page you can also specify the search scope to use, by default the All Sites scope, to find Document IDs across other site collections.

Document ID (linked to document) Column 

In list views and in view properties of documents the Document ID column can be displayed. The Document ID column is a URL with a format like: http://site/_layouts/DocIdRedir.aspx?ID=J2W3DN6QF6XW-2-40. When this URL is clicked search will be used to find the document. This allows the URL to work even if the document has been moved to another location.

Document ID Send To Hint URL 

In Central Administration you can configure send to locations that allow you to submit content to another site and a content organizer will automatically route the document to its final destination. In this case a Document ID lookup URL is returned (If the Document ID feature is activated on the destination) which also contains a HintURL on the end so users can find the document immediately even though search may not have indexed it yet. Here is an example of a link to the HintURL:

http://sites/_layouts/DocIdRedir.aspx?ID=J2W3DN6QF6XW-2-96&hintUrl=DropOffLibrary/A1.docx

Document ID in Documents

One scenario you can use Document ID for is to track the electronic version of a document with a printed one. For example you may print out a document and give it to people, but they have no way to find the electronic version to see if there have been updates. You can use a Word quick part to insert the Document ID into a document.

You may even want to create a template so whenever users create a new instance of a content type it has the Document ID right in the header or a page of the document. To do this upload a document into SharePoint where it will get a Document ID. Then download the document, customize the template as you want to use it for your content type and insert the Document ID Value property using quick parts from the Insert ribbon of Word. Then save the file as a Word Template (dotx) and create your content type. In advanced settings for the content type, upload your template. Now when people use the New Document drop down to create new items of your content type they will have the Document ID Value embedded as a quick part.

Find By Document ID Web Part

There is a Find by Document ID web part that can be used where users can enter Document IDs to lookup a document. You can find it in the Search category of web parts. You can use the Document ID web part in combination with Document IDs that are printed out on physical documents so users can look them up.

Of course users can also just copy the Document ID into a normal search box to find the document as well. DocID is a managed property so you may want to use the following search syntax: docid:doc id value, for example in search type – docid:J2W3DN6QF6XW-2-96.

Document IDs are a new SharePoint Server 2010 feature that makes it easier to find documents when they have been moved to other locations. When documents are copied a new Document ID will be assigned and when Documents are moved or cut and pasted they will retain their Document ID. You can also use Document IDs to track physical documents with the electronic version.

Quentin Christensen

Program Manager, Document and Records Management

One of the most talked about capabilities since the launch of SharePoint 2010 is the Managed Metadata Service.  For those of you who aren’t already familiar with this service and the support it provides for modeling and deploying a rich corporate taxonomy, I’d recommend reading Pat’s post Introducing Enterprise Metadata Management.  For those of you who are familiar with the great taxonomy capabilities in SharePoint 2010, I’m sure many of you have spent time looking at an empty term store wondering where to start.  If you’re lucky, you already have a well defined corporate taxonomy and should by now have leveraged our import capabilities to pre load SharePoint with the vocabulary you want your users to leverage for tagging and finding content.  On the other hand, you could be like many customers I talk to who don’t even know where to start when it comes to developing a taxonomy, or have spent years in conference rooms debating what the right taxonomy should be.  You’ve probably even head someone say “I’m sure someone has already solved this problem”, and if that’s the case, that someone was the smartest person in the room for two key reasons.  The first is that there are professional taxonomists who have already modeled most business domains and the second is that the people responsible for creating content in your company have already developed a community vocabulary or folksonomy that they use extensively.

If you happen to be one of those customers who is stuck looking at an empty term store then I’ve got great news for you.  The SharePoint team have teamed up with WAND, a leading provider of Enterprise Taxonomies, to make their General Business Taxonomy available as a freely available download.  The General Business Taxonomy consists of around 500 terms describing common functional areas that exist in most businesses.  The General Business Taxonomy can be imported in to the SharePoint 2010 term store within minutes and provides a great starting point for customers looking to build a corporate vocabulary and take advantage of the Managed Metadata Service.  In addition to this freely available download, WAND provide a range of taxonomies covering a variety of domains including Products and Services, Local Search, Enterprise, Jobs, Travel, Medical, Lifecycle, Finance and Records Retention.

Download the General Business Taxonomy today and start to explore the benefits that taxonomy can bring to your business and your people. 

If you’re new to taxonomy and the benefits it can brings to your business, take a look at the following sites:

• TechNet – Managed Metadata and Taxonomy Resource Center
• Dan Kogan (Senior Lead Program Manager) – SharePoint 2010 Metadata Webinar
• WAND – Taxonomy 101
• WAND Blog

Ryan Duguid
Senior Product Manager
Microsoft Corporation