Essential SharePoint

Adding Document Properties

When you add a document to a library, SharePoint reads the document's Title property and adds that information to the list. To see the title in the default view of the list:

1. Choose Modify settings and columns → All Documents (in the Views section). SharePoint displays the Edit View page.

2. In the Columns section, select Title, change Position from left to 3, and choose OK.

Now when you display the list, the Title property appears as one of the columns. The interesting thing about this is that if you edit the property in SharePoint, it changes in the document as well. Try it:

1. Navigate to the library and choose Edit Properties from the document's Edit menu.

2. Change the Title property and choose Save and Close.

3. Open the document in Word.

4. Choose File → Properties, change the title, and choose OK.

5. Save and close the document in Word.

6. Return to the SharePoint document library and refresh the page to see the change.

Figure 6-7 illustrates the connection between the properties in SharePoint and Word.

Title is the only built-in property that SharePoint maintains in this way, but you can add custom properties in SharePoint to keep additional information synchronized between the library and the documents it contains. For example, to add a Keywords custom property to the library:

1. Navigate to the library and choose Modify settings and columns → Add a new column. SharePoint displays the Add Column page.

2. Enter Keywords in Column Name, select Multiple lines of text and choose OK.

Now ...