5 Ways to Manage Documents in SharePoint & Office 365

sharepointmaven.com @gregoryzelfond
5 WAYS TO MANAGE
DOCUMENTS IN SHAREPOINT
GREGORY ZELFOND

sharepointmaven.com @gregoryzelfondsharepointmaven.com @gregoryzelfond
About Me
 Gregory Zelfond
 10+ years of experience with SharePoint
 SharePoint advocate, blogger
 Love to solve business problems using code-free, out of
the box SharePoint configurations
 Owner of SharePoint Maven (sharepointmaven.com)

About SharePoint Maven
I HELP ORGANIZATIONS TO UNLOCK
THE POWER OF SHAREPOINT
MIGRATION CONSULTING TRAINING

1. Explain 5 available options for document
management in SharePoint
2. List Pros and Cons for each method
This presentation will…

What are the Options?
In SharePoint, you have 5 unique
ways to store documents
1. Folders
2. Metadata
3. Folders + Metadata combo
4. Document Sets
5. Managed Metadata

Which option is right for me?

Let’s take a look…

Option 1: Folders

F O L D E R S…

Folders: Pros & Cons
PROS
 Effortless Migration (just drag the files from
fileshare)
 Minimum change management to worry
about for end users from user experience
standpoint
CONS
 Lots, see next slide

12 Reasons for NOT using Folders
1. Usability
2. URL length limitation
3. Moving File URL
4. Security
5. User experience
6. File duplication
7. 1 Lonely View
8. Can’t Sort & Filter
9. Change is hard
10. Lost documents
11. Navigation
12. Cost
For more info and detailed description on above
reasons, check out this blog post
http://sharepointmaven.com/12-reasons-folders-sharepoint-bad-idea/

Option 2: Metadata

Metadata – organize data anyway you like…
For more info and detailed instructions on how to
setup metadata, check out this blog post
http://sharepointmaven.com/document-management-in-sharepoint-without-
folders-introduction-to-metadata/

Metadata: Pros & Cons
PROS
 Greater control over documents
 Sorting, filtering, grouping, custom views
CONS
 Change in user experience
 Requires organization to “think through”
taxonomy before migration can begin

Convinced that Metadata is the way to go?

Option 3: Folders + Metadata
+ =

Want to use folders & metadata together?
 When creating a view, you can specify
whether items are to be viewed with (inside
of) folders or without

Folders + Metadata: Pros & Cons
PROS
 Combines best of both worlds
 Pacifier of sort for users who can’t live without
folders
CONS
 Might be confusing to end users
 Taxonomy and administration are a challenge

Option 4: Document Sets

Document Sets explained
Document Set = “folder”
for related set of
documents with its own
“Home Page”.
Great for standardization
(i.e. each document set
[project] to have same
templates)
In addition, Document Set Version
History feature allows to capture set
of documents (versions) at a point of
time (i.e. going from one phase to
next)

Document Sets: Pros & Cons
PROS
 Folder-type user experience
 Great for repeatable processes/projects,
standardization
CONS
 Might not be applicable to “non-project” type
usage
 Organizations must be “process and
methodology-oriented” for document sets to
work successfully

Option 5: Managed Metadata
+

What did he just say?

Managed Metadata requires high level of organizational
“SharePoint” and “Collaboration” culture & maturity

Managed Metadata definitions
 Definition: Managed metadata is a hierarchical
collection of centrally managed terms that you can
define, and then use as attributes for items in across
SharePoint
 Term – a specific word or phrase that you associate
with an item
 Term Set - group of related terms
 Term Store Management Tool – SharePoint
functionality that allows administrators to centrally
define terms and term set hierarchies

More on Managed Metadata
 Taxonomy – a formal classification system. A
taxonomy groups the words, labels, and terms
that describe something, and then arranges
the groups into a hierarchy
 Folksonomy – an informal classification
system. It evolves gradually as web site users
collaborate on words, labels, and terms on a
site (via tagging)

Managed Metadata Example
Tag SelectionType-ahead search/navigation

Term Store Management Tool
Term Set Term

Managed Metadata: Pros & Cons
PROS
 Promotes consistent terminology across
enterprise
 Great for search and data filtering
 Social aspect of “tagging”
CONS
 Requires high degree of collaboration within
organization

GOT IT?

Need help with SharePoint?
 SharePoint Site Configuration and Customization
 Document Migration to SharePoint
 SharePoint Implementation Strategy
 SharePoint Training
 SharePoint User Adoption
 SharePoint Governance
 SharePoint Project Management

THANK YOU!
Visit: sharepointmaven.com
Email: greg@sharepointmaven.com
Follow: @gregoryzelfond
Connect: linkedin.com/company/sharepoint-maven
View: www.slideshare.net/gzelfond
Get in touch if you have questions

5 Ways to Manage Documents in SharePoint & Office 365

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