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Tasked with setting up a shared document library in SharePoint? 

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Feel free to share this video with your staff.  Instead of using the traditional folder method, try using metadata (information about the files in your library) to organize and sort your files instead. Setting up a SharePoint library isn't as hard as it seems! 

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Tasked with setting up a shared document library in SharePoint? Instead of using the traditional folder method, try using metadata (information about the files in your library) to organize and sort your files instead. Follow these steps:

1. Let's set up a document library in which to store all of our vendor files (bills, vendor agreements, check stubs, etc.). Within your SharePoint site, navigate to the Site Contents. 



2. Click add an app.



3. Choose Document Library.



4. In the box that opens, enter a name (ex. Vendor Files) and click Create.



5. Click add an app again, this time choosing Custom List. 



6. Enter a name (ex. Vendor Tags) for the list where you will store your library's metadata and click Create. 



7. The new document library and list are both visible within Site Contents. Click on the Vendor Files document library to open it. 



8. Click the gear icon in the upper right hand corner of the screen and choose Library Settings.



9. Scroll down to the Columns settings and choose Create column. 



10. Enter a column name (ex. Tags) and choose Lookup for the column type. 



11. The Additional Column Settings should be as follows:

Require that this column contains information: No
Get information from: Vendor Tags
In this column: Title (linked to item)
Allow multiple values: Checked 
Allow unlimited length in document libraries: Unchecked
Add to default view: Checked

When all of your settings are complete, click OK. 



12. Navigate back to the Vendor Files document library. Click Upload > Files to upload the vendor files you want to store in this library. 



13. In another tab, navigate to the Vendor Tags list and click edit this list.



14. Enter any tags you will want to use to organize your files, such as dates and vendor names (Ex. 2015, 2016, JCP&L, Verizon). When you're done, click Stop editing this list.



15. Back in the Vendor Files document library, right-click on one of your files and choose More > Properties. 



16. Click Edit Item.



17. Double click on applicable tags to assign them to the chosen file. When finished, click Save.



18. Repeat steps 16-18 until all of the files in your document library have tags assigned to them. 

19. One of the largest benefits of setting up a document library in this way is that it allows you to sort files by more than just their company (which using folders does not allow you to do easily). For example, if you want to view all the bills you paid in 2015, you can very easily sort by that year.

To do this, click on the Tags column > Filter by > 2015. 



Now all of the bills tagged with "2015" are displayed for you.



20. To remove any applied filters from the document library, click on the Tags column > Clear filters.