You can unlock more potential of your SharePoint experience by utilizing metadata.

In this article, we'll cover what metadata is, why it’s important, and six expert tips to apply it to your SharePoint for streamlined content organization and enhanced productivity.

What is metadata and why does it matter?

In simplest terms, metadata is a piece of information about a document or item. It is a tag that can be used to SORT, GROUP and FILTER your content. This is metadata’s superpower!

With the amount of content created daily only increasing, metadata allows you to refine your search by a specific property to more easily find what you’re looking for.

You may not know it, but you are likely already using metadata in your everyday life. Looking up a song in Spotify by artist? You are searching by metadata. Online shopping on Amazon and filtering by price low to high? Metadata.

Even with AI and the rise of Copilot in Microsoft 365, metadata is still important.

Fundamentally, Microsoft 365 Copilot works by coordinating large language models (LLMs) and content in the Microsoft Graph, such as emails, chats, and documents that you have permission to access. Metadata and content types in SharePoint are how you organize all those sites, libraries and lists across the tenant, and inform how you secure and label content. If everything is uncategorized and unorganized, Copilot may expose content (just like Search will do!) that you don't want to expose to everyone.

AI does not eliminate the need for metadata in SharePoint. Rather, having accurate and precise metadata entries will amplify the capabilities of AI by helping you find, organize and present your content in more innovative and robust ways.

See: Why Metadata is the Secret Sauce of AI.

In SharePoint, metadata is a key component to organizing your content in an efficient and user-friendly way.

Here are 6 tips to consider when applying metadata in your SharePoint environment:

Tip #1. Look at how users group content.

The experts of content are those who access it day in and day out. These are the end-users. Tip #1 is to use what you already have; analyze how your end users are sorting, grouping and accessing their content.

For example, your Accounts Payable staff likely organizes their invoices in folders per year and by vendor. Those are 2 pieces of metadata right there!

Tip #2. Use metadata to reduce folders.

This leads right into the next tip: use metadata to reduce use of folders. By picking out the key categories your end users use to navigate through their content, you can eliminate the hierarchy of folders that usually form in a file drive. Metadata can create a flat system that allows users to easily view their content, while still using the structure they are familiar with to find their documents. This allows the user to access their content in fewer clicks and track where they sourced it from.

AP Invoices library, with vendor and invoice date as two pieces of metadata in this SharePoint library.

In the screenshot above, Vendor and Invoice Date are the two pieces of metadata in this SharePoint library. In this view, the items are grouped by vendor, yet you can still see the invoice dates and filter by those which allow you to target an item without clicking in and out of folders (see screenshot below for filter results).

Tip #3. Migrate metadata with a purpose (avoid lift & shift!)

To really capitalize on the structure metadata can create, it is key to migrate it with purpose.

Migration is an incredible opportunity to reconsider how you are organizing your content. Finding the balance between enough metadata and not using TOO much metadata is key to keeping users happy.

You want to ensure the metadata users fill out provides value to their work, considers their time, and is not overwhelming to complete.

For example, a Finance file drive is sorted by:

> Finance-accounts payable > invoices > open, closed > year > vendor > amount of invoice > date of invoice

This does not mean all these items need to be a metadata column in your new SharePoint library!

As an information manager, it’s important to pick out the categories that are key to day-to-day functionality and not just a “well, we’ve always tracked that” item. Ask yourself and the user: “WHY? Why do you track that? What value does it add?”

If it is hard to explain or there is some disagreement about its importance, that field may not be necessary.

Sometimes the solution is as simple as a naming convention instead of metadata. Focus on the 2-3 pieces that every user uses to categorize their content. We find the sweet spot is 5 and under.

Tip #4. Centralize governance (Content Type Gallery)

Metadata is inputted and viewed through columns.

There are different levels of columns within SharePoint: site column vs. local library column.

We highly encourage admins to create columns at the site level. This can be best managed in the SharePoint Admin Center > Content Services > Content Type Gallery).

Here you can create content types, factoring in records management needs, type of content etc. and link site columns to a content type that can be used across various sites in your environment. This allows metadata to be applied to an entire container (such as a document library or list) and is managed at an organization level.

The benefit is a centralized governance structure where an Admin can reuse metadata fields, allowing for less oversight and more consistency throughout the user experience/UI.

Screenshot above shows an example of the Content Type Gallery in the SharePoint Admin Center.

As seen in the screenshot above, you can add multiple metadata columns for every content type.

Learn more about using content types here: Why you typically need many content types — Gravity Union

Tip # 5. Use closed options (i.e. pickers, pre-filled options) because open-ended options are error prone!

Creating metadata at the site level is elevated by how you display the metadata and if it is auto-filled. This can be controlled through the TYPE of column you create in the Content Type and setting a default value.

One of our favourite types is the managed metadata column. The managed metadata feature takes a choice column one step further by adding increased governance, which is done through the Term Store via the Content Type Gallery. Within each term set, an administrator can add new terms (i.e. a choice to the list), deprecate, delete or rename a term.

Managed metadata columns can be used across an organization’s tenant, which creates further consistency and easier governance in that SharePoint environment. Any changes made to the managed metadata term set via the Term Store will apply to wherever that term set is being used across SharePoint sites. That means, any changes (e.g. renaming a term) are automatically updated in SharePoint where the term set is being used!

Screenshot above shows 14 types of columns to choose from!

The managed metadata column acts like a choice column by providing pre-determined values that appear to the user, which they can then select from that pre-determined list. Open-ended column types are error-prone, such as a single line of text. Pre-filled options or choice lists save users time and create consistency across the organization and user experience. From the user interface, choice columns and managed metadata columns appear very similar, however, choice columns do have some downsides:

Limited reusability: choices are limited to the list or library where the choice field is defined. They cannot be reused across sites.
No hierarchy: unlike the Term Store where you can create a hierarchical structure within one term set, choice fields lack this option for a hierarchical organization.
Changes are more difficult to manage: updates can cause cascading issues for list items. If you change a choice within a choice column (e.g. rename it), items where this previous choice was used would need to be reviewed and updated manually again.
Size control: if there are 8-10 or more choice options, and items will need to be added frequently in the future, choice columns can be harder to manage and make for a more clunky user experience compared to a managed metadata column.

Screenshot above shows Recipe Category, an example of a choice column in action.

This option prevents something as simple as spelling mistakes from occurring and affecting how your content is grouped/sorted/filtered. However, in certain cases, managed metadata is the more appropriate choice.

Want to level up your column game? Choose a managed metadata column.

In the example of the Invoice content type (shown in screenshot above), we have the managed metadata column “Vendor.” The items in this column are added in the Term Store and managed at the Admin level for greater control and to reduce human error... no more typos!

Tip #6 – Automate, automate, automate.

People are more likely to complete metadata when defaults reduce the manual effort.

One of the ways to pre-fill metadata fields with default values is based on context. For example, use location, owner, business process, or date:

Location-Based Defaults: auto-populate the “Region” field based on the site or document library location.
Owner Defaults: set the document owner based on the uploader’s profile.
Business Process Defaults: populate fields related to project phases or document types.
Date: a date field can be automatically populated with ‘today’s date,’ or a Month and/or Year column can be auto-filled based on a date selected in another date column.

Taking it further, SharePoint Premium automates metadata by analyzing the contents of the document and using AI and ML to apply the right data. Learn more in our guide to SharePoint Premium content processing (previously Syntex).M365 has several ways to automate day-to-day processes that improve the user experience and saves time in various levels of information management; from IT to RM to end-user.

Follow these 6 tips and you just might find your users falling in love with metadata and their day to day-to-day SharePoint experience!

Keen to delve deeper? Explore the Gravity Union Blog for more insights and tips on SharePoint and content management!

Our team of SharePoint experts is ready to assist your organization with Microsoft 365 migration, EDRMS, and more. Reach out to us with any questions!