What do you use to organize your electronic documents with SharePoint: folders or metadata? If you’re one of those who still use folders with SharePoint, it’s time to change! It is not because you have been taught to use folders that you must continue to do so. On the contrary!

Here’s why using folders with SharePoint is not good practice in document management and, most importantly, how to fix it with metadata.

Whether with SharePoint or another document management tool, the goal is to save time by accessing the documents you need faster. And folders are far from the most efficient way to get there!

Folders are created and nested according to the personal logic of a user or group of users. In other words, if the recruit on your work team is looking for a document and is not yet familiar with the file structure, she may lose a lot of time! Not to mention that some subfolders can hide data or make it more difficult to locate. In fact, even the person who has mounted the folder structure may have trouble finding a file by multiplying the subfolders. Imagine!

Add to this puzzle the duplication of files. You know, the kind of situation that happens when several members of a team file the same file in two or three subfolders . Not easy to know which version is the right one!

This is inevitable: using folders with SharePoint will sooner or later cause URL problems. First, be aware that SharePoint limits the length of each URL to 255 characters. Until then, no worries, you will say to me. Difficulties start when you add a lot of subfolders. As you can imagine, the URL is limited in the number of characters and does not reflect all the information found in the subfolders.

But that’s not all. If you want to move a file from one folder to another, the URL of that file will be changed. Not very convenient for your colleagues who have saved this URL in their favorites or who have created a shortcut on their desktop!

One of the most popular features of SharePoint is certainly sorting and filtering to generate different forms of data views.

By using folders on SharePoint, you greatly limit the sorting and filtering capabilities available to you (unless you sort and filter in each folder.

Choosing metadata will give you the ability to create an unlimited number of SharePoint views based on the properties you have configured (eg, by date, project, customer, etc.). Go read our Metadata: a documentary revolution ,which clearly revolutionize document management.

Another reason to abandon folders with SharePoint: the cumbersome procedures for data privacy. With records, it’s almost a full-time task to give or restrict access to certain documents. Everything must be done manually. Do you see all the time lost? Fortunately, it’s very easy to manage security settings with metadata on SharePoint!

Also consider the change of folders (folders), which is very long, compared to the change with metadata that can be done in bulk. Another big argument in favor of SharePoint metadata!

The last reason – and not the least – why SharePoint folders are not the idea of the century is certainly the user experience. We all have, one day or another, dealt with folders, subfolders and sub-subfolders that never stopped finishing! And what about the painful navigation from one file to another … Admit that it is a long and tedious task that we all want to avoid.

It’s so 1990s, the folders! The SharePoint user experience is significantly superior with metadata. Both browsing and searching documents is simplified. We love it!

The question to ask yourself is: why did you choose to migrate to SharePoint? Certainly to take advantage of its many benefits and features that result. So why use folders rather than metadata on SharePoint?

If you really want to make your investment with SharePoint profitable and adopt best practices in document management, stay away from folders! Otherwise, you will come back exactly where you were before implementing SharePoint. My advice: be smarter and opt for metadata, you will gain in efficiency, it is assured.

Ready to switch to metadata with SharePoint? We’re here to accompany you. At LS2, we help companies across Quebec implement and use SharePoint efficiently and harmoniously. Make you more productive, it’s right in our ropes! Contact us pour voir comment nous pouvons vous guider avec SharePoint.