Sharepoint 2010 : Administering Enterprise Content Management - Document Management (part 3) - Metadata Navigation and Filtering, The Content Organizer

1.4 Opening and Saving Documents in a Document Library

The Open and Save functions within Microsoft Office applications are enhanced to work with SharePoint 2010 document libraries. SharePoint 2010 lets you use metadata-based navigation to find and open documents, in addition to letting you leverage metadata-based routing to automatically determine the location to store new documents. Predefined routing rules allow documents to be routed automatically to the correct library and folder based on the metadata profile for an item.

The two features that enable these features to work are

• Metadata navigation and filtering Provides each list in the site with a settings page for configuring that list to use metadata tree view hierarchies and filter controls to improve navigation and filtering of the contained items.

• Content Organizer Creates metadata-based rules that move content submitted to this site to the correct library or folder.

Both of these features, which are discussed in more detail in the following sections, are available at the site level, and the site administrator or site collection administrator can activate or deactivate them as needed from the Manage Site Features page, which you can open by selecting it from the Site Actions, Site Settings menu.

1.5 Metadata Navigation and Filtering

Metadata navigation and filtering features in SharePoint 2010 provide each list in the site with a settings page that allows you to configure a list to use metadata tree view hierarchies and set filter controls to improve navigation and filtering of the items contained in the list. Figure 6 shows an example of metadata navigation as it appears within a library after it has been configured.

Figure 6. Metadata navigation within a document library

To configure metadata-driven navigation for a document library, access the Metadata Navigation Settings page from the Library Settings page. This page allows you to change the settings for the following items associated with a list.

• Configure navigation hierarchies

• Configure key filters

• Configure automatic column indexing

The following sections describe each configuration option in detail and provide specific configuration instructions. When you have configured these settings appropriately for your document library, click OK to close the Metadata Navigation Settings page.

Configuring Navigation Hierarchies

Select from the list of available fields to use them as navigation hierarchies. Selected fields will appear under this list in the Site Hierarchy tree view. You can expand these fields and select one of their values to filter your current view to show only items matching that value.

Fields that are available for use as navigation hierarchies include columns that are one of the following types.

• Content type

• Single-value choice field

• Managed metadata field

Select the hierarchy fields that you want from the available fields and click Add.

Configuring Key Filters

Select from the list of available fields to use them as key filters. Selected fields will appear under this list in the Site Hierarchy tree view. You can use these fields to filter your current view to show only items matching a specific value.

Fields that are available for use as navigation hierarchies include columns that are one of the following types.

• Content type

• Choice field

• Managed

• Metadata field

• Person or group field

• Date and time field

• Number field

Select the key filter fields that you want from the available fields and click Add.

Configuring Automatic Column Indexing

You can use the Navigation Hierarchy and Key Filter columns to specify whether to automatically create indexes that will increase the performance of queries. This property is an option that allows you to specify if the indices should be automatically managed or not. You will see a link called Indexed Columns that lets you view the current list indexing configuration.

1.6 The Content Organizer

The Content Organizer feature, when enabled, allows you to create rules that facilitate the automatic organization of content based on a highly flexible set of criteria, including the evaluation of the content type, multiple property conditions, and a designated target location. When it is activated, the Content Organizer feature first creates a new library named Drop Off Library in the site. Files uploaded to this library are moved automatically to the correct library or folder according to rules created by the owner of the site. Additionally, options available within the Content Organizer configuration allow for the identification of documents being uploaded to a target library for processing.

Figure 7 shows the message presented by the Content Organizer when uploading content to the Drop Off Library, and Figure 8 shows the confirmation page that describes the final location where the uploaded document has been saved.

Figure 7. Notice the Content Organizer message indicating that the document will be moved to the correct library and folder after the required properties are filled out.

Figure 8. Confirmation window showing where the document has been stored

Configuring the Content Organizer

To configure the Content Organizer, visit the target site, open the Site Actions menu, and select the Site Settings option. Note that this feature is enabled as a site feature, not a site collection feature. You may need to activate the Content Organizer feature to make it available. You can do this by selecting Manage Site Features under Site Actions, and then choosing the option to activate the Content Organizer feature. After you activate the Content Organizer, return to the Site Settings page. Click the Content Organizer Settings link, which is located in the Site Administration settings group. Table 2 provides a detailed list of the settings options available for the Content Organizer.

Table 2. Content Organizer Settings

SETTING	EXPLANATION
Redirect Users To The Drop Off Library	When this setting is enabled, users are redirected to the Drop Off Library when they try to upload content to libraries that have one or more Content Organizer rules pointing to them.
Sending To Another Site	When this setting is enabled, Content Organizer rules may specify another site that also has a Content Organizer as a target location.
Folder Partitioning	When this setting is enabled, the organizer can automatically create subfolders when a target location has too many items. Required settings include the maximum number of items allowed within a single folder and a field formatting mask for created subfolders.
Duplicate Submissions	This settings dictates the method used when a file with the same name already exists in a target location. The options are to use SharePoint versioning if it is enabled, or to append unique characters to the end of the duplicate file names.
Preserving Context	When this setting is enabled, the Content Organizer will save the original audit log and properties in an audit entry on the submitted item.
Rule Managers	This setting specifies the user who manages the rules and can respond when incoming content doesn’t match any of the provided rules. A rule manager must have the Manage Web Site permission to access the Content Organizer rules list from the site setting page. Enter users and/or groups using the provided contact picker. Options are provided for sending an e-mail message to rule managers when submissions do not match a rule or when content has been left in the Drop Off Library for a specified number of days.
Submission Points	This setting property provides the Web service URL for the Official File Web service as well as the e-mail address through which other sites or e-mail messaging software may send content to the site.

Setting Up Content Organizer Rules

To have the Content Organizer automate the movement of submitted content, you must provide it the following basic information in the form of rules.

• The type of content to organize

• The property conditions that must be met in order for the content to be organized

• The target location where content meeting the criteria should be sent

Content Organizer rules are managed in a special list that is accessible from the Site Settings page. This list helps you plan how content should be organized. Create rules that ensure that documents submitted are sent to the correct location and have the correct properties. As a site administrator, you may also set an alert on this list to be notified when any rules are created or modified.

Table 3 provides a detailed list of the settings that must be configured when adding or modifying a Content Organizer rule.

Table 3. Content Organizer Rule Configuration Settings

SETTING	EXPLANATION
Rule Name	Describe the conditions and actions of this rule. The rule name is used in reports about the content of this site, such as a library’s File Plan Report.
Rule Status and Priority	Specify whether this rule should run on incoming documents and what the rule’s priority is. If a submission matches multiple rules, the router will choose the rule with the higher priority. This setting may be set to Active or Inactive. If it is set to Active, you must specify a priority between 1 (highest) and 9 (lowest) for the rule. If it is set to Inactive, the rule will not run on incoming content.
Submission’s Content Type	By selecting a content type, you are determining the properties that can be used in the conditions of this rule. In addition, submissions that match this rule will receive the content type selected here when they are placed in a target location. You also can specify alternate names that this content type may have in other sites. Adding the type “*” will allow documents of unknown content types to be organized by this rule.
Conditions	You may specify multiple conditions. To match this rule, a submission’s properties must match all the specified property conditions (e.g., If Date Created Is Before 1/1/2000). Each condition requires a property, operator, and value.
Target Location	Specify where to place content that matches this rule. You can browse to select a location within the current site, or you may specify another site. When sending content to another site, the available sites are taken from the list of other sites with Content Organizers as defined by the system administrator. Select the Automatically Create A Folder For Each Unique Value Of A Property check box to force the organizer to group similar documents together. For instance, if you have a property that lists all the teams in your organization, you can force the Content Organizer to create a separate folder for each team.

Follow these steps to create a new rule for the Content Organizer.

1. Visit the target site, open the Site Actions menu, and select Site Settings.

2. Click the Content Organizer Rules link, which is located in the Site Administration settings group.

3. Open the List Tools menu from the Ribbon, select Items, and then select New Item.

4. Fill out the New Rule form with the appropriate values as defined in Table 3.

5. Click OK.

If submitted content does not meet the criteria of any of the provided rules, the settings may specify that the Content Organizer Rule Managers should be notified and asked to take action to determine the proper place for storing the content. Figure 9 shows the message a user uploading a document would receive if this occurs.

Figure 9. Confirmation showing that a document’s location will change pending action from the administrator