How to auto-tag documents with metadata based on folders in SharePoint

[@SharePointMaven]

💻 Want to confidently navigate SharePoint and Microsoft 365? Enroll in my revamped On-Demand SharePoint and Microsoft 365 Academy 👉 academy.sharepointmaven.com/

[@lornarettig3215]

Exactly what I needed - very simple to follow and clearly explained. Many thanks!

[@SharePointMaven]

My pleasure, happy to hear, Lorna!

[@paulmcnally4994]

Fantastic video! A real compromise between the folder and flat camps! And your correct in saying that this will really work, provided you have discipline/ control and governance within your content management 👏

[@SharePointMaven]

Thank you, Paul, appreciate the feedback

[@ErwinBoogaard]

Thank you!! The tip to create a view without folders was very helpfull. I didn't know this was possible.

[@SharePointMaven]

You are welcome!

[@alanhankinson9598]

Great way of presenting and love the accent. Thank you.

[@SharePointMaven]

Great! I will keep it then

[@NeoThabo]

Nice! The no folders view is a neat and useful trick. Thanks!

[@SharePointMaven]

You are welcome!

[@neilamacd]

Thanks as always for your informative videos. Personally I use metadata to allow files to be differentiated whilst coexisting in to same library without sub folders. If only you could map key parameters within a document to metadata, it would make tagging so much more efficient and effective!

[@SharePointMaven]

Thanks, Neil, agreed!

[@phyoga7645]

@@SharePointMaven I've no idea how easy it is to do (I've only heard of it), but I believe this is kind of the aim of Microsoft's first offering from Project Cortex, called SharePoint Syntex - using AI to auto-tag with the required metadata.

[@SharePointMaven]

@@phyoga7645 Yes, correct

[@silverpod]

This is absolutely brilliant. Thank you so much for sharing!

[@SharePointMaven]

You are welcome

[@karlstenator]

I've implemented this recently, with one minor difference, where I created a three folder deep structure - and noticed that as I started creating the structure and applying the column values, that the values themselves would then write to the nested folder - which then interestingly, removed the nested folders from being able to be configured with their own mappings. The Folder icon went from the typical Yellow Folder, to a White Folder with a file being dropped into it. They still behaved as folders, but could not be configured with further mappings. I managed to resolve the issue for the short term by deleting the nested folders - creating them outside of the space, then moving them into the nested location which allowed them to avoid the parent folder mapping - but still, would be interested in yours or other administrators thoughts.

[@SharePointMaven]

Thanks for sharing. Interesting. Never envounetred this scneario. It almost sounds like a bug. Never seen it before as the Column Default Value Settings is quite a unique feature and not widely used. I did set up several levels of folders previously and did not experience the behavior you described.

[@sophiearcher7375]

Thank you this is so helpful!!!!

[@SharePointMaven]

You are welcome!

[@1310darian]

This is what i needed! Thanks a lot !

[@SharePointMaven]

My pleasure, Eric, thanks for being my loyal follower!

[@renatobeltrame5403]

Hello, nice video! Thanks! Do you know if there is possible to auto-tag a new document its file name? Thanks!

[@SharePointMaven]

Thanks. Yes, possible, but you need to build Power Automate workflow for this

[@ElainaCammaroto]

great video! Is there a way to apply metadata to document already on a sharepoint ? I have about 2000 files that need tags but they already live on sharepoint.

[@SharePointMaven]

Absolutely, you can always create a column and apply metadata tag at any time

[@kennyanaedozie4126]

Very helpful. Thanks

[@SharePointMaven]

You are welcome!

[@peanut71968]

Good one Dude! Thank you!

[@SharePointMaven]

You are welcome!

[@yogibearstie]

Wow. Great information. Thanks

[@SharePointMaven]

You are welcome!

[@AnthonySchattenberg]

Thank you very much 🙂

[@SharePointMaven]

You are welcome!

[@scottfromoahu2896]

This is great! Thanks for sharing

[@SharePointMaven]

You are welcome, Scott!

[@claralamy]

thank you so much !!!!

[@SharePointMaven]

You are welcome!

[@ramisolipe7001]

That is perfect Sir,

[@SharePointMaven]

Happy to hear!

[@IainSteven-s6x]

Can you set this up in a way that it also applies to existing files within the folder and not just files that are uploaded?

[@SharePointMaven]

No, not possible using this technique. Perhaps via Power Automate...

[@chadcadieux8759]

Thanks for this video. Is there a way to copy the folder structure and use it as a template? I tried to do this but it does not maintain the default column value settings?

[@SharePointMaven]

You have to use Power Automate for this

[@chadcadieux8759]

@@SharePointMaven Thank you. Is there a tutorial ?

[@SharePointMaven]

@@chadcadieux8759 probably someone created on on KZbin

[@hannabugajewska8645]

Thanks for sharing all your great knowledge on SharePoint, your tutorials have helped me survive the first months of my work :) I was wondering if you know a way to automatically tag files within a newly created and tagged folder? Meaning, if a user creates a new folder and tags it with, for example, "In progress", then each file uploaded or created in this folder is also tagged with "In progress". Is this possible? I'd appreciate any advice on this

[@SharePointMaven]

My pleasure, Hanna, thanks for being my loyal follower! I can't think of an easy way to achieve this. Probably some automation using Power Automate/coding?

[@hannabugajewska8645]

@@SharePointMaven Thanks a lot, I'll look into that :)

[@PaulBailey3]

I have this same issue and trying to figure it out with PowerAutomate. I would think someone would have solved this by now...

[@paulalvarez1476]

Great stuff - I'm trying to do the same thing but with Content Types: Need to assign a specific Content Type to any files uploaded to a specific folder. Is this possible? thanks!

[@SharePointMaven]

Not possible

[@anonymousdictator]

This is super helpful, thanks so much! I'm running into a problem though - is there no option to make partial searches return with hits? For example, for my choice column I created "company" and then listed several options (Facebook, Google, Taco Bell). I've found that if i drop a file into the Taco Bell file and type "Taco" or "TacoBell", the items don't show up as a result. Is there a way to make partial matches return?

[@SharePointMaven]

This is by design. When you type in metadata value into the search box, it has to be an exact name.

[@AquaCul2R]

Very nice, well done! I want to have a column that will reflect the metadata that is embedded in the photo before it's uploaded to the library; how to do that?

[@SharePointMaven]

This is not possible

[@AquaCul2R]

@@SharePointMaven Well I actually finally got it but now I can’t remember how I did it

[@SharePointMaven]

@@AquaCul2R OK

[@AquaCul2R]

@@SharePointMaven tried so many things, now I'm looking back through the site trying to figure it out. I have no idea what I'm doing but have managed to make the site useable. I think I created a Enterprise keyword column and named it tags and left everything else blank. The keywords embedded in the photos come up and were searchable. But weirdly, my other choice columns disappeared from the view even though they were checked too be visible. When I check a file and look at the right side information panel I see that the place to enter the choices are still there but they do not show up as a column on the list. Further down the information panel is a list labeled as Enterprise keywords with a box containing the keywords with a little x beside them and the ability to enter more words. But when I enter a new word I get a msg "No result found". Anyway, I have learned a lot from your videos and thought you might be interested in this Discovery although this 65-yr-old brain still can't wrap completely around it all. Keep up the great work! 👍

[@SharePointMaven]

@@AquaCul2R Thank you, Skip, for the kind notes. I am a bit younger, but also can't remember things. That's why I blog :)

[@owencoyle2841]

Hi, is it possible to have multiple names for a single choice? And is there a way to have data that is already in folders named this way as well?

[@SharePointMaven]

Yes, you can have multiple tags

[@owencoyle2841]

@@SharePointMaven is it possible to do that through the connect like when you showed “Notices”

[@murroford]

too bad this option is not available for lookup metadata. Do you know why?

[@SharePointMaven]

Not sure, probably because of performace. My guess

[@dougfowler2809]

When I use your method described here to tag files with metadata and then filter files based on the tags, I tried to copy the filtered files to a new folder. I get an error indicating that I cannot copy files at different levels. I need to do each of them individually. Frustrating! What I would like to do is based on my selection criteria, Project kickoff, I would like to filter all the files tagged as kickoff from the different folders that I have and copy them to a customer folder for that new project. Do you have any ideas?

[@SharePointMaven]

I never tried this particular scenario, but most likely it is by design since tagged files reside in different levels/folders and when you filter it is more of a query across folders. So most likely there is no workaround here.

[@kumnegerholdings]

What is the easiest way to get rid of nested folders in a document library and to have a flat architecture? Currently have a document library with too many folders and nested folders but like to put all documents in one doc library without a folder

[@SharePointMaven]

There is no easy way. Either you have to do this manually or via a 3rd party Migration Tool.

[@kumnegerholdings]

@@SharePointMaven Thank You!

[@tizianofi]

Hi thank's a lot for your video and posts on your blog. Regards to "Auto-tagging does not work with Move or Copy commands" I read it on your blog, is there a solution about this ? Possibly without using PowerAutomate ? If I move or copy a file from one Dep folder or library I'd like that Department metadata, for example, adjust automatically based on destination. Thank's

[@SharePointMaven]

Thanks, Tiziano, for following my blog and videos. No, there is no solution to this OOTB

[@ignacekervyn]

What a pro this man is! But I'm stuck. With my company, we have built a structure for our folders. And we would like, that when we upload files in the destination folders, these files automatically take (as tag or keywords) the different folders names to access. Let me explain. We have a master folder = Customers in this mother folder, several sub folders = EU / USA And one more sub level = 2020 / 2021 So if I put my file in the 2021 / USA / Customers, I would like this file to have the following tags or keywords = 2021 USA customers But I don't need to see it in the columns. Can you reference me or redirect me to one of your great videos? Kind regards

[@SharePointMaven]

You have to create the metadata columns) first on that library and then you can use instructions per the video to auto-tag

[@rubenvaneupen7327]

How can I create a different set of metadata colums for each level of the folder hierarchy?

[@SharePointMaven]

That's what I explain in the video

[@bf6209]

Is it possible to have multiple tags related to one file. So that if a user is looking through multiple files instead they can select set of tags to get the exact file that will have this data.i.e I am looking for shopping file, I want shoe shops

[@SharePointMaven]

Yes, possible

[@bf6209]

@@SharePointMaven thank you! Is this covered in one of your videos?

[@SharePointMaven]

@@bf6209 Not sure

[@WEareTheWORLD23]

does it work with managed metadata?

[@SharePointMaven]

Yes

[@timshinkle2782]

So, how do you force the metadata to be updated when moving to a target folder with different default metadata. I think keeping the source metadata is fine by default, but if a different set of defaults is set then I'd argue this is a design flaw to not update the document in the target location with the different default metadata. How do you force the document to get the new default metadata in the target folder? Any ideas? Thank you.

[@SharePointMaven]

This is not possible, Tim. At this point, you probably need to create an alternate solution (i.e. Power Automate workflow) to change metadata accordingly

[@timshinkle2782]

@@SharePointMaven Ok. thank you so much for replying and so quickly. I'll look into a Power Automate approach. Thx, Tim.