The Top 5 Best Practices for Document Management in SharePoint

I get lots of questions on social media regarding best practices for SharePoint document management for the users. The truth of the matter is, there definitely are best practices I can share, however, they are not applicable for end users per se. In reality, users have little control over the document library – usually most have “Contribute” access, which means they can’t do much other than upload/edit docs and use whatever solution has been delivered to them by SharePoint Administrators or Site Owners.

With that being said, I would like to share what I think are the top five best practices for SharePoint document management. I expect my audience to be those who setup sites and have admin control over the site/document library. If you do not have it – it might be useful to discuss below ideas with your administrator as some might really help you improve usability and satisfaction of your document repository. So here it goes:

1. Use Meta tags/Data Columns to tag documents, rather than recreating network drive folders

Stuffing documents in folders is such an old school. Meta tags are the way to go. Not convinced? 

 I led and participated in several SharePoint implementations over the recent years and the number one organizational need I see is document management (file storage, sharing). I believe SharePoint is a superior tool for document management. Yet, it strikes me every time I see people replicating folder structures they used to have on their computers or shared drives.

I will be blunt about it and I know some will disagree with my opinion, but using folders in SharePoint is a really poor practice. The first question I want to ask pro-folder users is why users switched to SharePoint in the first place. If you are using folders in SharePoint, you have one very expensive network drive to administer, maintain and pay licensing fees for!

Here are some of the reasons not to use folders in SharePoint (the list is extensive, I just chose some of the critical ones):

• Impact to search capability when files are hidden in nested folders. You are essentially recreating nested folders you had on network drives
• URL length limitation. Folders increase URL length, which is limited to 255 characters. You are out of luck at that point
• Security at folder level is a nightmare. Don’t even think about doing it
• User experience (navigation, finding documents) just stinks with folders
• File duplication – with folders you can deposit multiple copies of same file – not a good thing when you try to organize documents and data in the first place

So what’s the best practice to store documents in SharePoint? The answer is simple – by tagging them with document properties (columns of Meta Data in SharePoint terms) you can create ahead of migration.

In the next blog post I will expand on this topic and share tips and tricks on how to setup your structure and meta tagging for your next folder-less library.

2. Use Content types for dynamic meta tagging

Go one step further and take advantage of Content Type functionality. It allows you to set dynamic properties/meta tags depending on the document you upload (i.e. if you are uploading Meeting Minutes from last project meeting – you might want to tag them differently comparing to, say, PowerPoint presentation you received from last week’s vendor presentation.

3. Setup an alert for a document library

Do you have hard time falling asleep at night because you think someone will delete the file you uploaded to SharePoint? Or may be you are just a control freak? Then an alert will put your worries aside. Alerts can be configured at a library and document level and will notify the user if files in the library have been deleted or changed by someone else. Alert can be setup by any user, even those without admin rights.

4. Use Version Control/Check-out features only if users require it

Versioning and document check-in is cool, but do you really need it? Yes, versioning allows you to restore previous versions of the document and check-out feature prevents from accidentally modifying same doc by 2 people at same time, but does Business actually need it? The features demand strict adherence and discipline (i.e. same file names) within organization. Unless you are using document repository as records management tool, you might want to think twice about this. If all your users need is some place to store files, you can easily get away from additional frustration.

5. Create Views, many views!

Once you setup your Meta tags, you can do wonders with views! Create all sorts of views (make sure to make them public) and use filter/sort/group function to display what you want. Views can also help manage space on a page. If you have lots of lists and libraries on a page and want to fit it all, make sure to use “simplified’ view with just few columns to capture “important” data. Users can then use rest of views to display other pieces of information.

Do you have other best practices you would like to share? Will be glad to hear from you!