Using metadata also allows a file to be placed in multiple categories. A choice field can be set to allow a user to enter their own terms, or restricted to the predetermined list of terms. The difference in the way views were displayed were quite different – I much preferred how views were listed in the left-hand column in 2003.

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Sign up to receive exclusive content and analysis from the SharePoint, Office 365 & Azure community, as well as the latest conference updates and offers. data: 'action=postratings&pid=' + post_id + '&rate=' + post_rating + '&postratings_' + post_id + '_nonce=' + post_ratings_nonce, cache: false, success: function() { Users, and even members of the intranet support team, sometimes struggled to find what they wanted. I use views a lot, but I’ve always found them to be quite clunky to set up and use, particularly in SharePoint 2010. Yes, search solved some of these problems – but some users still preferred to browse, particularly if they weren’t exactly sure of the file name. http://sharepointmaven.com/12-reasons-folders-sharepoint-bad-idea/. I have even written a song about it.

Many people initially prefer a traditional folder hierarchy as it’s a filing system most of us are familiar with, having used (or still use) physical folders, network drives or Windows File Explorer. '); And there are no practical ways for handling duplicate documents. With over 2,500 eBooks, webinars, presentations, how to videos and blogs., there is something to suit everyone’s learning styles and career goals.

jQuery('#espcstar'+i).addClass('active'); If you are used to working with folder structures, you need to figure out if you need to upgrade to a “folder-less” structure using metadata. jQuery('.espcstars').removeClass('active'); In the previous iteration of the intranet (SharePoint 2003), corporate documents were spread across many libraries, folders and sites. Again, not that easy to find if you’re not used to looking there….
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They’re surprised when they realise that they can click on a column title to filter or sort their files.

Not an obvious feature! In 2010 they are difficult to find – and confused a lot of our users – as shown below: The SharePoint 2010 document library: Views can be found by clicking on the (tiny) drop down arrow in the title breadcrumbs.
dataType: 'html',

xhrFields: {withCredentials: true},

A lot of it comes down to the culture of an organisation – its openness to change. Even within a sophisticated document library, with extensive metadata for each file, it can be difficult to locate a single item.

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Too many metadata options can over-complicate things and too many files can increase load times. [gravityform id="97" title="false" description="false" ajax="true" tabindex="50"], By using our website you agree to our use of cookies in accordance with, Why Developers Should Attend ESPC20 Online, Why Business Decision Makers Should Attend ESPC20 Online, http://sharepointmaven.com/12-reasons-folders-sharepoint-bad-idea/, AI-Powered Folders in OneDrive for Business. For example, a document could be categorised as relevant to the topics of ‘health and safety’ and ‘human resources’, giving users two possible ways of finding the document. The SharePoint 2010 document library: Views can also be accessed from the ribbon, under the ‘Current View’ section.

My vision was use the content types and library metadata functionality to their full potential. I created views based on each team, document type, category and so on, but even when choosing a view, it would often contain more than 100 documents, meaning the user had to click through multiple screens (using the tiny, not obvious arrows!). Enhancing a library with extra fields, for categorising and grouping files, allows for a lot more flexibility in display and search.

The larger the library, the more difficult this becomes.