Hi, I just want to show a quick solution to add metadata to a document. There are many ways to get this job done. One option is to use default Settings for folders. This option has some limitations, we will discuss later.
First, we will create a Document Library:
Then we add two new columns. One Enterprise Keyword column and later a self-managed metadata column.
Now we modify the default view for AllItems.aspx to visualize the default values effect.
The result looks like this:
The standard behavior is that only Name, Modified and Modified by are filled by default.
Now we create a simple folder:
The result looks like this:
Now we choose the option “change default column values”. In the Settings page for default values we will see our Document Library folder structure:
Navigate to the folder where we will set default values:
Now just click on the column you want to set a default value. See the samples:
The result looks like this:
Now we are able to add a document by dragging and dropping into out folder with default settings:
After uploading is finished, we see that our document have the default values adopted.
So what do you expect if you will change the default settings? Just try it.
Now we have an additional Default Value for the column Enterprise Keywords.
First, we will have a look what will happen when an item changed after the Default Settings are changed. Therefore we Check Out our sample document and Check In again.
This update of the item have no effect on the Enterprise Keywords. The new default values are not published to a changed item.
So we will try it with a new document.
As you can see, the Default Settings for the folder only works for new items.
For more Information about organize documents have a look at this earlier posts:
Part I – Best Practice I: Organize documents in SharePoint
Part II – Best Practice II: Organize documents in SharePoint
Part III – Best Practice III: Organize documents in SharePoint
Part IV -Best Practice IV: Document Sets in SharePoint
