Improve SharePoint Document Metadata Entry
Changes which were implemented by Microsoft in Office 2016 and SharePoint Online, as well as list view thresholds make entering SharePoint metadata on documents prohibitive.
Office 2016 Desktop Applications:
One significant change in Office 2016 was the removal of the document information panel (DIP). When the DIP displayed in Office applications (pre-2016), it was obvious even to the most casual SharePoint users that there were document properties which should be assigned values, as well as how to enter these values. By contrast, with the DIP removed in 2016:
It is not obvious to the casual user that there are document properties that need to be filled in.
It is not be obvious to the casual user how they would go about entering values for document properties.
It is impossible for any users to distinguish which document properties are of interest to the organization (SharePoint Document Properties), and which are simply standard document properties which are of no consequence ( since both SharePoint Properties and standard document properties are jumbled together in the "Info" screen).
It takes two extra clicks to get to the document properties screen where this information can be entered (The user must click on the "File" tab, then the "Show All Properties" link).
Besides the issues mentioned above, there is presently a bug in Office 2016 desktop applications whereby SharePoint document properties of type "Person" cannot be entered in Office 2016 desktop applications on initial save.
In SharePoint Online:
When selecting "+New-->Word Document" from a document library in SharePoint Online, the new document is opened in Word Online by default (even if your library is configured to "open in the client application"). assuming the user chooses to work with the document in Word Online:
It is not obvious to the casual user that there are document properties that need to be filled in.
It is not be obvious to the casual user how they would go about entering values for document properties.
In situations where there are required fields, the casual user would not enter any values, resulting in the document being stuck in a checked-out state, and invisible to other users.
It takes many clicks to enter metadata on the document, since the user would first have to find the document (potentially through a search/retrieve process), then access the properties via the right click menu.
SharePoint Online also forces users to organize documents into folders because critical operations such as "open with explorer" only works if there are less than 5,000 items in any given container (see https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Manage-large-lists-and-libraries-in-Office-365-B4038448-EC0E-49B7-B853-679D3D8FB784#bkmk_basics ). Expecting users to enter document metadata to organize files, while organizing content into folders to avoid hitting list view threshold issue is not realistic.
In closing:
Practically speaking, these issues prevent many of our users from taking advantage of SharePoint's metadata organization capabilities, and affect the overall adoption of SharePoint in our organization.
Thanks.
Russell Bain
shared this idea
25 comments
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Stephen Faille
commented
Aren't there any third party apps that allow you to manage metadata from a folder on your computer?
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Schneika
commented
Essential Metadata Handling in Word not optimized the last years. Annoying...
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Tammy Miller
commented
Microsoft needs to find a better way to make the entry of metadata while creating the file much easier and user friendly. We are in the process of implementing SharePoint in our organization. I have been putting a lot of effort into convincing departments to use metadata instead of folders to organize their files. Now that the first few departments are starting to create files in SharePoint Online, they are finding the process to add metadata cumbersome and very inefficient. I think they are regretting the decision to use metadata and are thinking of going back to using folders.
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Peter Spiekstra
commented
By removing the option to fill in metadata immediately upon upload, Microsoft has therefore not looked at how people use sharepoint. Microsoft fix this option.
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Carlos Sastre
commented
We are implementing Sharepoint as our document management system at our company. We find this is a crucial aspect to really be able to enforce our metadata structure.
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Anonymous
commented
This is really a huge issue. Without the ability to force metadata prior to save it takes away all governance capability in terms of file management.
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Scott
commented
When is this coming. We have been asking for this for years now. What is the hold up? You are telling us to go modern but yet we can't because you don't support setting required metadata on upload. So we set our SharePoint list to the classic view!
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Anonymous
commented
We are transitioning to SharePoint and we have convinced the powers that be to go with a metadata structure. Now that we are starting to use the system we realized that you can not tag a document as you are creating it. This is causing a huge wave in the organization. I agree with everyone's comments that this issue needs to be resolved to make metadata effective and easy.
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Anonymous
commented
We would prefer to have the DIP (at the top of a new document) back. If you have to wait until you save a document to get a document properties prompt then it take the user longer and the process does not flow
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Renier Eggink
commented
Seriously cannot wait for this to be fixed.... i have a few Sharepoint projects running with no valid explanation that any + New button creates a document and allows the user to save the document without adding any REQUIRED!! metadata... then to top it off the item stays in checked out status...
Now it would be brilliant if the + New button opens the client application because that will prompt the user to fill in the required Metadata and also reminds the user when closing the document that it can be checked in....
I keep on asking myself how items like this doesn't get any real priority because it really causes headaches with the end users...
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Rochelle H.
commented
Completely agree with the comments. If there is mandatory metadata fields then a nice clean 'form' should pop up when a document is added to the library so the user can fill out the metadata. The information pane is so cluttered and ugly and not at all user friendly for the casual user. I'm flabbergasted that I can't find a way to force this in modern document libraries!
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Johan
commented
This is top priority!
Since users can drop documents without knowing whether they need to add metadata or not - it is impossible to use the modern experience!!! -
james
commented
Totally agree - this is a mess. Multiple versions numbers every time you update a Property, not user friendly or clear for average user, cluttered way of showing it doc info vs SharePoint properties - this fundamentally breaks the concept of metadata that powers search, list/document sorting/grouping or even list and column views because the metadata won’t be there to drive it!
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Anonymous
commented
In addition to the issues already listed, if metadata is required, then the user can only open files that have been synced locally in view only mode. The only way to require metadata, and enable editing when locally synced, it to require check in and check out, which eliminates the ability to collaborate. All of these seem to conflict with the message of O365.
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james
commented
Yes this is a major step back..what’s the point of enhancing your search features, when the very documents being searched for have incomplete metadata due to removing DIP and ignoring default methods of enforcing required fields. The whole point of SharePoint vs sticking it just on a drive is the ability to smartly organise your data with metadata, we’ve many content types which has quick parts in and was really easy for a user to create a new document by just completing the DIP.
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Donia Strand
commented
This is stopping us from moving from Classic to Modern (UI) sites in many cases - as has been mentioned, users don't realize they need to fill out document properties and it is many clicks to get around in the information panel. This has become a cumbersome process. The current process is a large step backwards from previous functionality - and end users are not happy with the user experience in adding metadata.
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Brandon
commented
Yes to all of the online requests. Uploading a document to a library in modern has become quite cumbersome, especially with metadata. For basic users it would be great to not have to root around for the properties option and either have it on the top navigation bar with the other quick items, or have it auto appear like classic when metadata is required. Launching in a forms dialog is super helpful as we have a number of sites that we would prefer to use.
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Martin Coupal
commented
We should also have the possibility to disable the information panel metadata editing. When using PowerApps with list to do metadata entries, the information panel gives to possibility to bypass PowerApps that could integrate validation logic. I think this could be implement using the "Launch forms in a dialog" list/library advanced options, where "Yes" would force to use the form and disable the metadata update using the information panel. Customizing forms with PowerApps is also supposed to be available for library...
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mayur.nagda
commented
Also, we are facing issues with multi value field in SharePoint not syncing in template but shows up on uploaded document.
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Martin Coupal
commented
Metadata entry in modern page is a non sense. When you open the information panel for a document/list item and edit the properties, each property that you update increment your version number (so when you add a new document, if you have 4 properties to fill out, the version number will start at 5. Completly ridiculous!). If you use the "edit all" option, you need to be very carefull when filling out the properties because if you click outside the properties pane, the panel will close and you will loose your properties updates. This is very frustrating for end user if one of your property is a description and loose the info because you click outside the panel. This add up to other user comments in this thread and there are other issues with modern experience for metadata entry but I will stop here. So my question is: What is all this mess with the modern experience? How come there are not more complaints (are the 100 billons users licenced are really using modern experience with SharePoint libraries? I guess not… so probably why Microsoft is doing nothing about this…). This is unacceptable. Period.
