sharepoint folders vs. metadata

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sharepointmaven.com @gregoryzelfond SHAREPOINT FOLDERS vs. METADATA GREGORY ZELFOND

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Page 1: SharePoint Folders vs. Metadata

sharepointmaven.com @gregoryzelfond

SHAREPOINTFOLDERS vs. METADATA

GREGORY ZELFOND

Page 2: SharePoint Folders vs. Metadata

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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)

Page 3: SharePoint Folders vs. Metadata

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About SharePoint Maven

I HELP ORGANIZATIONS TO UNLOCK THE POWER OF SHAREPOINT

MIGRATION CONSULTING TRAINING

Page 4: SharePoint Folders vs. Metadata

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What’s wrong with folders?

1. Usability (finding files)

2. URL Length limitation

3. File URL & Sharing

4. Security

5. File duplication

6. 1 lonely view

7. No filtering/sorting/grouping

8. Change is hard

9. Lost documents

10. No breadcrumb

11. 5,000 item limit threshold

12. Cost

13. Empty folders

14. Data Integrity

Page 5: SharePoint Folders vs. Metadata

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Reason # 1: Usability

Can you (easily) make sense of this folder structure?

Would you be able to find the document easily?

Every person has their own “mental” map on how to organize files & documents

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Reason # 2: URL Length limitation

https://company.sharepoint.com/SharedDocuments/

Clients/Projects/Year/Agenda.docx

Folder Folder Folder File

The total length of URL (server name + list name + all folders + file name)

cannot exceed 256 characters!

Server List

Page 7: SharePoint Folders vs. Metadata

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Reason # 3: File URL

Moving file from one folder to another means change of file URL!

Example:OLD: https://company.sharepoint.com/SharedDocuments/Clients/Projects/Year/Agenda.docx

NEW: https://company.sharepoint.com/SharedDocuments/Clients/Projects/Agenda.docx

Did you share the file with someone by sending URL to the file?– When you move file from one folder to another, “old”

URL is no longer relevant…

Page 8: SharePoint Folders vs. Metadata

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Reason # 4: Security

Managing security at a folder level is an administrative nightmare!

20 folders in a library = 20 different security configurations!!!

Also, each time you break the security inheritance from site/document library, your SharePoint performance is impacted!

Page 9: SharePoint Folders vs. Metadata

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Reason # 5: File Duplication

Each folder can contain 1 “unique” file name

That means same file can be in multiple folders in same document library

Which one is the right document?

No single source of truth…

Page 10: SharePoint Folders vs. Metadata

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Reason # 6: 1 lonely view

With folders, not much choice

for viewing files…

Page 11: SharePoint Folders vs. Metadata

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Reason # 7: No filtering, sorting or grouping

…In contrast to metadata, where you can group, sort & filter

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Reason # 8: Change is hard!

Changing set folder structures is hard

They just become deeper and wider with time

“Restructuring” folders is a challenge and is rarely done anyway

Metadata allows for quick and easy change

Page 13: SharePoint Folders vs. Metadata

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Reason # 9: Lost documents

With folders, documents can easily become “lost” in nested folder hierarchy

This leads to frustration for users and unnecessary file duplication

Page 14: SharePoint Folders vs. Metadata

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Reason # 10: No breadcrumb

Can you tell which library or folder I am in?

There is no way for users to know current folder hierarchy

Limited breadcrumb for navigation (does not show full path)

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Reason # 11: 5000 item limit threshold

View cannot contain more than 5,000 items (folders + files) Displaying a folder with > 5,000 files will cause issues Metadata and indexing resolve the issue To learn more, read this blog post: http://sharepointmaven.com/how-

to-overcome-sharepoint-5000-item-limit-threshold/

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Reason # 12: Cost

If you use folders in SharePoint, you essentially converted SharePoint into an expensive file share or DropBox– “We have always done it this way” mentality

– You might be better off going back to file share

Page 17: SharePoint Folders vs. Metadata

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Reason # 13: Empty Folders

Can you tell which folders contain files and which are empty? With folders, you can’t

Metadata allows you to see how many files belong to certain metadata property (in parenthesis, when you group)

Better user experience!

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Reason # 14: Data Integrity

What’s the difference between 2 folders?– Client A

– Client A, Inc.?

If you rely on folder name to carry important piece of information (i.e. company name), you are prone to data integrity issues

Possible issues– Folder names can be misspelled

– No single naming convention

– You have to recreate same names somewhere else

Page 19: SharePoint Folders vs. Metadata

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Should I never use folders in SharePoint?

Folders are great for:– Small teams– Informal file organization– Short projects

Metadata is great for:– Larger teams– When documents need to be shared with lots of people– When there are a lot of content contributors (users who

generate/upload files) and consumers (users who find/access files)

– Any time you need to easily find documents

Page 20: SharePoint Folders vs. Metadata

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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

Page 21: SharePoint Folders vs. Metadata

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THANK YOU!

Visit: sharepointmaven.com

Email: [email protected]

Follow: @gregoryzelfond

Connect: linkedin.com/company/sharepoint-maven

View: www.slideshare.net/gzelfond

Get in touch if you have questions