The public beta of SharePoint 2010 is out there for all of us to try who don’t have privileged access, and so now starts the time of deciphering the impact the next version of this very important software package will have on us. One of the things that excites me the most is improvements in the ability to architect information across your entire SharePoint farm with a metadata management service application (formerly SSP), and improvements in navigation by metadata. One thing I was not expecting to improve but has is the use of folders in SharePoint.
The Controversy
SharePoint 2007 brought us great improvements to how we think about storing and viewing information. With powerful options such as extensive metadata options, content types, and countless numbers of lists and libraries there were many options available to us. The folder paradigm to storing information was still present in SharePoint mostly to ease the transition from a file share to a web-based application, and it led to a debate amongst information architects on whether folders were a best practice for storing information in SharePoint.
There were people on different sides such as Paul Culmsee who see the issue differently than myself, but the good news is that SharePoint 2010 adds functionality to alleviate some of my concerns in using folders.
Setting Metadata with Folders
One of the things I was concerned about was that folders would remove the desire to create custom content types and metadata and instead use the folder paradigm that they were used to from the file share. In SharePoint 2010 we can specify metadata for a folder (which has always been a content type), and it will be propagated to the documents contained within the folders.
Setting metadata with folders
Views Without Folders
In SharePoint 2007 was an explicit option to not include folders within a view. This seems to me to be the best balance between those who prefer a folder view to those, like myself, who prefer views that are grouped. I always disliked folders (inside or outside of SharePoint), because I felt it an impediment to optimal findability (have you ever tried to navigate someone else’s document folder?). This strikes the balance between those who like folder views and those like myself who prefer grouped views.
Folder settings for views.
Metadata Navigation
Now navigation can be modified out-of-the-box in SharePoint to allow navigation by metadata and content types. Now I don’t have to mess with the terrible tree view, but now instead I can focus on utilizing metadata to optimize the navigation experience. This adds quite a bit of versatility in constructing the user experience for your end users.
Metadata navigation in 2010
Conclusion
The SharePoint team has improved the use of folders in SharePoint 2010, and they’ve also improved the experience to not use folders if you so choose such as large list throttling so folders don’t become a necessity. I hope you get a chance to play with the next version of this exciting platform.
I am curious to know if the folder metadata can be changed within a data view or datasheet when using 2010. I have spent some time this morning trying to get this to work using a folder content type but to no avail!
Were you able to find how to apply metadata to folders in 2010, which is possible to do it in 2007 using Datasheet view? Or is there a better way to do it?
Thanks
I didn’t know you could do that in datasheet view in 2007. You can apply default metadata for a folder in 2010 so that each document/item added to that folder will get default metadata.
Hi Scott. I just tried to do so, but my virtual machine for some reason isn’t configured for the datasheet view. Another 2010 mystery.
I assume you mean changing the metadata that is associated with documents inside the folder and not actually adding metadata to the folder content type do you? It’s not a good idea to mess with adding to the default SharePoint content types.
The sole reason we found for using folders in SP2007 was for permissions. For example, we have a library which contains files from 4 divisions, and wanted someone from Division A to only see files from that Division. To accomplish this we set up 4 Division folders, with distinct permissions on each. Our default view displays the data without folders, to allow senior management to view data across divisions in one fell swoop. We were hoping that SP2010 would allow for setting permissions based on a Division metadata column rather that on a folder, but we are told this is not the case. Is there a better way of accomplishing this in SP2010?
Thanks Shelley for the comment. I have a question. Do these divisions have their own sites? From what I can tell with your detail, I would’ve been inclined to separate the content into divisional sites.
[…] manner away from folders, and others have tried to tow the line between the two. Even though SharePoint 2010 has made improvements in the way folders can be used, I do strongly believe that folders have outlived their translation. […]