top 10 best practices for document libraries in sharepoint administration
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27/05/2015 Top 10 Best Practices for Document Libraries | SharePoint Administration content from SharePoint Pro
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Jul 20, 2009
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Top 10 Best Practices for Document LibrariesDan Holme | SharePoint Pro
Recently, I was asked to summarize my top 10 bestpractices for document libraries. Anyone who knows meknows that I can be verbose, so summarizing is not easy!Plus, there are probably 15 to 20 best practices.
See, I'm already digressing. So, I'm rising to the challengeand trying to summarize in one page the 10 most importantthings you need to know about implementing SharePointdocument libraries correctly.
These aren't in order of importance—they're all important! And, unfortunately, as often isthe case, the default configuration of an outofbox document library is rarely going tomeet your needs—you really have to make changes! What didn't make the Top 10 list thatyou can think of? Let me know at [email protected].
These are the things you really must do for every document library:
AshleyRogers
MAY 2, 2015
APR 30, 2015
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1. Require Check Out on any document library where multiple users might make changes.Check out is supported by, but not enforced on, document libraries unless youmake it that way!
2. Add the Checked Out By column to the default view of the library.That way users can see easily who has a document checked out. If you hover overthe Checked Out icon, it tells you in a tip, but that's not exactly a "discoverable"little gem.
3. Train users how to check out, check in, and discard check out.Be sure they understand that the changes they make can't be seen by other usersuntil checked in.
Do they understand the purpose of Keep document checked out after checking in?They check in the document to make their changes visible, but maintain an editoriallock to make more changes.
If there is a required column (property/attribute/metadata) that's blank, thedocument can't be checked in. Train users how to deal with this. This is particularlychallenging if you're using Internet Explorer (IE) to upload documents. You canupload them, but they won't be visible to others until checked in, and they can't bechecked in until required columns are complete. So after uploading, open theSharePoint document library in IE and fill in those columns! What solutions haveYOU found in your organization to this problem? I've yet to uncover a really greatanswer. DO YOU HAVE ONE?
4. Create a permission level that gives someone the Override Checkout permission.Take the burden off of yourself and your IT team to check documents in when usersforget to do so before going on vacation.
Train your "check in managers" and your users so that they know what it meanswhen a document has been checked in "on behalf" of someone else. If that someoneelse was using Microsoft Office 2007's SharePoint Drafts folder, there are likely tobe changes in the local copy of the document that were not included when thedocument was checked in. At some point, the two versions (the server's copy andthe user's local copy) will need to be reconciled.
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If you want more detail about any of these best practices, see these resources:
And speaking of best practices, we're just weeks away from the next Best PracticesConference in Washington, DC, on August 2426. This really great, unique event is one ofmy favorites. One of the most exciting developments is that they've added tracks on SQLServer and business intelligence (BI). This is truly an opportunity to learn the bestpractices of implementing collaboration, portal, database, custom development, and BItechnologies. While many of the top speakers presenting have spoken at the BestPractices Conference previously, several top new speakers have been added to the list.Additionally, they've announced that Arpan Shah of the Microsoft SharePoint productgroup will be delivering the keynote address. To see the full agenda, go tohttp://www.bestpracticesconference.com/agenda.
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5. Decide whether to use versioning.If you want to restrict who can see drafts, use minor versions. Most of the time yourprocesses will require that. If not, there's no real point in using minor versions.
6. If you're using versioning, set retention limits.By default, SharePoint keeps all versions, and these aren't bitwise differentialversions—they're the full version. With large documents, even a small but activelibrary can eat up your database in a hurry!
7. Configure views that will help users navigate libraries effectively and find the documentsthey require.
Then there are things that take a bit more time and configuration but really pay off:
Use folders only if you need to scope unique permissions on documents or if youneed to make a subset of documents easily offlineable by Microsoft Outlook.
If your library has more than 2,000 items, be sure you remove the outoftheboxdefault view, which shows all items. Add views with filters so that no view returnsmore than 2,000 items. Paging and grouping doesn't count. You must use a filter.(BTW, in its sneak peek of SharePoint 2010, Microsoft announced that SharePoint2010 will have largelist support, so this won't need to be done much longer.)
8. Create content types for documents that belong in a library, and upload a template forthat document into the content type. Users can then click the NEW button on the library,choose the document type, and a new document with the right template appears.
9. Push navigation aids to users: Add Favorites to users' Internet Explorer (Group PolicyShortcut Preferences) and Network Places (XP) or Network Locations (Vista), which canbe created by an administrator (separately for XP and Vista), uploaded to file shares, thendistributed by copying into users' systems (%userprofile%\nethood in XP and%appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts in Vista).
10. Integrate custom columns (metadata) into Microsoft Word 2007 documents using QuickParts. You can "link" content in your document with SharePoint metadata.
The Office & SharePoint Pro website. I've written detailed columns on most of thesepractices over the past three years.
The book Windows Administration Resource Kit by yours truly. Chapter 4 has tons ofdetail about SharePoint document libraries. The rest of the book is a gold mine for anyonewho administers a Windows and Active Directory (AD) enterprise.
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dlgross on Oct 7, 2010
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I think that adding the Title field to every view should be on this, this is an invaluable and oftenoverlooked . Getting users to put in good titles greatly improves findability and search resultpresentation.
27/05/2015 Top 10 Best Practices for Document Libraries | SharePoint Administration content from SharePoint Pro
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