How to Use SharePoint Metadata with Word Documents

Track Technology Coverage with Custom Document Properties in Word Documents

Since mid-2018, I have published nearly 1,500 articles on this blog and perhaps another 500 articles on other sites, notably Practical365.com, which is where I publish long-form articles (more than 1,200 words).

I’m often asked how I track what I write to make sure that I cover the full breadth of Microsoft 365 instead of remaining focused on just one or two applications. Given my history of writing about Exchange Server, it would be easy to stay engrossed in Exchange Online. Personal bias and interest results in some applications receiving more attention than others from any author, but I do try to cover a reasonable mix of topics drawn from across Microsoft 365. Apart from anything else, writing about a new topic is a great way to become acquainted with that technology.

Using SharePoint Metadata

Keeping track of articles isn’t difficult. The source text for articles are in Word files stored in a document library in a SharePoint Online site. The only change to “normal” document processing is some additional columns to capture metadata that helps track the areas of technology covered by an article and the publication where the article appears.

The custom columns are defined in library settings (Figure 1). The Publication column stores the name of the web site hosting the article and the Published date column captures when the article is online. The Technology column stores the major technical focus (like SharePoint Online), while the Technology sub-area property captures an additional level of detail, if needed.

Newly updated columns are available immediately to the SharePoint web app, and that’s where most updating occurs using the details panel (Figure 2). Usually I wait until the text is finalized and published before completing the details to make sure that the data is accurate.

You can see that I use retention labels and sensitivity labels in the document library. The document library has a default sensitivity label and a default retention label to make sure that everything is protected.

Updating SharePoint Metadata in Word

It’s also possible to update SharePoint metadata in the Word (Win32) app (not the web version). After adding or modifying a column, the Word application must download the new metadata from the document library. This process can take a little time and it’s often easiest to force a download by exiting the document and reopening it.

Access to document properties is through the Quick Parts option of the Insert menu. Click Quick Parts and choose Document Property to see the list of available properties, including the custom columns added to the library (Figure 3). The majority of the properties shown are defined in Word and have no connection to SharePoint Online.

While possible, I don’t suggest that you update custom document columns using this method unless you want the text stored in the column to be part of the document content. The problem is that Word treats the property like any other quick part (such as a field used for figure or table numbering) and includes it in its text. Figure 4 shows updating a choice property in Word.

Because it’s a quick part, Word supports updating of the property at any time. Following an update, SharePoint learns about the new value and updates its metadata.

Generating Output from the Custom Metadata

The advantage of adding custom columns to a SharePoint Online document library and populating the columns with data is to create the basis for reporting. The easiest way is to use the Export to Excel feature to create a worksheet or CSV file. In both cases, the custom columns are in the exported data (Figure 5).

The file can be analyzed or imported into Power BI for visualization, or even imported into PowerShell for analysis and reporting there. I do that, but I suspect that most will be happier to remain in Excel.

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