CHAPTER 9

Managed Metadata Concept

In the previous chapter, we discussed all managing permission in SharePoint online. In this chapter, we will discuss managed metadata. Metadata is nothing but information/data about Information/data that plays an important role in quick and most relevant content searching, refining content, and building global navigation that can apply to all sites under one site collection for better user experience. We can create metadata, keywords by tagging, following that ultimately helpful for searching and getting information quickly and most relevantly.

Structure

In this chapter we will discuss the following:

Objective

During the end of the chapter you will get a clear understanding of the following:

Term store administration

Terms can be managed centrally from the Term store present under the SharePoint Admin Center. Under the SharePoint Admin Center you will find option More features, click on that. You will see the Term store, click on Open as seen in the following screenshot. You will be redirected to term store manager page (https://< SharePoint admin center url>/_layouts/15/TermStoreManager.aspx) which is the central location for creating, storing, configuring, and managing taxonomy or metadata:

Figure 9.1: Term Store in SharePoint Admin Center

Creating a new group

The group is the top-level folder that is created based on the usability and to keep related terms at one place. Let’s perform the following steps to create a group under New Group (Employee):

  1. Right-click on Managed Metadata Service (Taxonomy_SBvqjHawxODOt szfaHuoeQ==) or click on the right end side where you will find an option to expand.
  2. Click on the New Group option appeared from the dropdown.
  3. Enter Name of the group as Employee as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.2: Create New Group

  4. New group Employee will be created and right to that you will find another window with options Group Name, Description, Group Manager, Contributors, Unique Identifier as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.3: New Group General Properties

  5. Enter the user name or email ID in the field of Contributors who are authorized to Add or Modify the term set.
  6. Enter the user name or email ID in the field of Group Managers who can do all activities that a user with contributor can do apart from that can Add or Remove contributors. Click on Save finally.

Creating a term set

Under the new group Employee we can create a group of Term Set. Let’s perform the following steps to create a term set under group Employee:

  1. Right-click or Expand the new group created Employee.
  2. Select the option New Term Set from the dropdown.
  3. Enter the name of the term set as Business Unit as seen in below screenshot:

    Figure 9.4: New Term Set

  4. The new term set Business Unit created and right to that you will find another window with options Term Set Name, Description, Owner, Contact, Stakeholder, Submission Policy, Unique Identifier under category GENERAL as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.5: Term Store General Properties Tab

  5. Enter the name or email of one user or group under the field Owner who is/are going to be the owner of the term set.
  6. Enter the name or email of one user or group under the field Stakeholders who will receive notification mail if any major changes in term set happen.
  7. Next option Submission Policy enables who can add terms to the term set. Selecting the option Closed will allows only administrators, contributors, metadata managers to add terms. Selecting the option Open will allow all users to add terms in the term set.
  8. Click on the next tab of category INTENDED USE right to the tab GENERAL. You will find options Term set Usage, Available for Tagging, Use This Term Set for Site Navigation, Use This Term Set for Faceted Navigation as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.6: Term Store Intended Use Properties Tab

  9. Select the checkbox Available for Tagging that will enable that term set to be available for tagging for end users.
  10. Select the checkbox Use This Term Set for Site Navigation which will enable the term set to be available for site navigation.
  11. Next tab side to INTENDED USE is CUSTOM SORT that has options Use default sort order according to current language, Use custom sort order for sorting the terms.
  12. By default, the option Use default sort order according to current language is selected, we can choose Use custom sort order for changing the order as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.7: Term Store Custom Sort Properties Tab

  13. The next tab side to CUSTOM SORT is CUSTOM PROPERTIES. We can add CUSTOM PROPERTIES which are additional information about the term set as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.8: Custom Properties

  14. Custom properties can be used in webpart Term Property. Edit one classic page like Wiki Page or Web Part Page present in page library and click on Webpart under the tab Insert from the ribbon. Click on webpart Term Property present under the category Content Rollup as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.9: Term Property Webpart

  15. Edit that webpart, you will find one option Custom Property where we can use custom properties as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.10: Custom Property Option in Term Property Webpart

  16. Create a few more term sets named Band, Horizontal Tag, Relevant Experience, Skill, Total Experience, Relevant Experience under group Employee.

Creating a term

Under each term set we can create a group of terms. Let’s perform the following steps to create the term:

  1. Right-click or expand the term set Business Unit.
  2. Click on Create Term from the dropdown option.
  3. Enter the name as BFSI as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.11: Create Term

  4. Similarly create few more terms like ECM, MARKETING, SALES, LEGAL under term set Business Unit.
  5. Similarly create terms MAS, DIGITAL, INSURANCE, FINANCE under term set Horizontal Tag.
  6. Similarly create terms SHAREPOINT, OFFICE 365, WINDOWS, DATABSE, STORAGE, NETWORKING, AZURE under term set Skill.
  7. Similarly create terms 0-3, 3-6, 6-9, 9-12, under term set Relevant Experience.
  8. Similarly create terms 0-3, 3-6, 6-9, 9-12 under term set Total Experience.
  9. Similarly create terms A, B, C, D under term set Band. Under term, A creates more terms A1, A2, A3. Similarly create terms further under each term B, C, D as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.12: All Term Set and Terms Created

  10. Click on one term (Database) you will find 2 tabs GENERAL and CUSTOM PROPERTIES. Under the tab, GENERAL select the option Available for Tagging which will make this term available for tagging.
  11. You will find the field Default Label as the term name (DATABASE). You can give another fort label under the field Other Labels (DB) as seen in the below screenshot:

    Figure 9.13: Term Properties General Tab

Reuse terms

Since we are putting the same terms for both Relevant Experience and Total Experience we can reuse terms of another term set. If we want to use the terms present under Relevant Experience in Total Experience then we can follow the steps below:

  1. Right-click on the term set Total Experience, select term Reuse Terms.
  2. You will get a dialog window Term Reuse, navigate to the term set Relevant Experience present under the group Employee.
  3. Select one term and click OK. The term will be added to the term set Total Experience. Similarly, we need to select each term one by one and click on OK to add multiple terms as per the requirement as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.14: Reuse Terms

Copy term set

Another option we can use is the Copy Term Set that is used to create another term set. Let’s perform the following steps to copy the term set:

  1. Right-click on the term set Band.
  2. Click on Copy Term Set.
  3. You will get a message Copying this term set will make a new term set that will include reused version of the terms. The source terms will remain in the original term set. To proceed select OK otherwise select Cancel. Click on OK.
  4. New term set Copy of Band will be created including terms present in the term set as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.15: Copy Term Set

  5. Similarly, if you want to copy the terms, then right-click on one term A under term set Band.
  6. Select the option Copy Term with Children will create another term Copy of A including all child terms present under term A as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.16: Copy Term Set with Children

Merge terms

We can merge 2 terms using this option. Let’s perform the following steps to merge terms and see how it works:

  1. Right-click on term Copy of A.
  2. Select the option Merge Terms.
  3. You will get another dialog window select term to merge into (D) where you need to select the term to which terms will be merged.
  4. After selection of term, you see the terms are merged with D. Under the term D, you see child terms both A and D as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.17: Merge Terms

Move term set

We can move the term set from one group to another group using this option. Let’s perform the following steps to move the term set:

  1. Right-click on term set Copy of Band.
  2. Select Move Term Set.
  3. You will get another dialog box term set move, where you need to select the location to which term set will move.
  4. Select a different group Departments as the location to move and click on OK.
  5. You see the term set is moved to the new group Departments including all terms present in the term set as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.18: Move Term Set

Creating a metadata column

We created a group, term set, and terms. Now we will see how these are usable on-site. We can use these in the library or list by creating a metadata column. There are two conditions Submission Policy Closed and Submission Policy Open. Few settings are enabled by making the Submission Policy Open. Let’s create a metadata column and will see in both cases the difference.

Metadata column with submission policy closed

First, we need to verify the settings selected for the Submission Policy. Navigate to Term Store and check Submission Policy for term set Business Unit which is selected Closed by default as seen in the following screenshot:

Figure 9.19: Submission Policy Settings

Let’s create a metadata column in a list. Let’s perform the following steps to create metadata column with submission policy closed:

  1. Navigate to List Settings of any list.
  2. Click on Create column (https://<site url>/_layouts/15/fldNew.aspx? List=**) present under the option Columns as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.20: Create Metadata Column

  3. Enter Name of the column as BU India and choose column type as Managed Metadata as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.21: Managed Metadata Field Type

  4. Keep options under Additional Column Settings as default as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.22: Additional Column Settings

  5. Keep the options Multiple Value Field and Display Format selected as default as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.23: Display Format

  6. Next, select the option Use a managed term set under the option Term Set Settings.
  7. Expand the group Employee and select the term set Business Unit as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.24: Term Set Settings

  8. Next option Allow 'Fill-in' choice is selected No as default and notice the option is disabled. Later I will tell you the reason for this. Finally, click on OK as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.25: Allow Fill-in Choice

  9. A metadata column is created. Now create a list item in which the metadata column is created. Fill the details in the list. Notice the filed Enterprise Keywords where you entered a keyword (BU).
  10. In the metadata column, if you type the term and present in the global term set will appear as suggestions. Else click on the icon tag as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.26: Tag from Auto Display as Drop Down Suggested

  11. Another dialog box will open. Select the term BFSI, click on Select and finally click on OK to apply the selection as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.27: Tagging

  12. The Enterprise Keywords, we entered, is stored under Keywords in taxonomy term store as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.28: Enterprise Keywords

Metadata column with submission policy open

Now let’s perform the following steps to create metadata column with submission policy open and will the difference:

  1. Navigate to Term Store and check the Submission Policy for the term set Business Unit which is selected Closed by default. Change to Open and click on Save as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.29: Submission Policy Opened

  2. If submission policy is open, then during creating metadata column you will find the option Allow 'Fill-in' choices as Yes as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.30: Allow Fill-in Choice Enabled

  3. When you will select the option Use a managed term set after following steps 1 to step 10 as described in the above section Metadata Column with Submission Policy Closed, you will notice an option Add New Item enabled. This option Add New Item enables to create term from here as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.31: Add New Item Enabled

Creating local term set

We can create terms from site collection as well that are usable for all sites present under that site collection for which we are calling it as local term set. Let’s perform the following steps to create a local term set:

  1. Follow the same step 1 to step 5 as described in sections above the Metadata column with submission policy closed for metadata column creation.
  2. Next step to that, select the option to Customize your term set under the option Term Set Settings. The moment you select the option Customize your term set, a term set with the same name (BU India) as of metadata column name will be created.
  3. We can create terms from there following the same procedure discussed before as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.32: Create Local Terms

  4. When we are creating terms under this Customize your term set, these are called local terms sets because these are created, and its application limited within site collection and below the hierarchy.
  5. If you want to see the terms created, then navigate to Site Settings (<_layouts/15/settings.aspx>).
  6. Click on Term store management (https://<site url>/_layouts/15/termstoremanager.aspx) present under Site Administration as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.33: Term Store Management

  7. You will notice a new group created with site collection name Site Collection - spmcse.sharepoint.com-sites-BPB-ModernTeamSite as seen in the below screenshot:

    Figure 9.34: Local Term Sets Created Under Site Collection

  8. Similarly, if any local term set created under subsite present under site collection then the term set will be available under this site collection group and applicable for the site collection and below the hierarchy, as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.35: Local Term Sets Created Under Subsite

Creating a global term set from the site collection

We created a term set navigating from SharePoint Admin Center | More Features | Term Store (https://<sharepoint admin center url>/_layouts/15/TermStoreManager.aspx) directly which we call as global term set and created terms during metadata column creation which we call as local term set. Users having permission can create a global term set from site collection as well following the steps below. Let’s perform the following steps to create a global term set from site collection:

  1. Navigate to Site Settings (<_layouts/15/settings.aspx>).
  2. Click on Term store management (https://<site url>/_layouts/15/term storemanager.aspx) present under Site Administration as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.36: Term Store Management

  3. User will be redirected to the Term Store Manager page to create Term Set, Term following the same procedure as discussed before as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.37: Global Terms Created

Metadata navigation settings

We can use the metadata term set, terms for navigation, and filtering. We will see the application of these metadata in navigation. We will activate one feature, create site content type, create site metadata column, and add columns to the content type. We will configure to allow content type in the library, add existing columns to the library, and configure metadata navigation settings from library settings.

Activate feature first

We need to activate one site feature to make available the option Metadata Navigation Settings under library settings otherwise you will find this setting missing in library settings. Let’s perform the following steps to activate the site feature:

  1. Navigate to Site Settings (<_layouts/15/settings.aspx>) and click on Manage site features (<_layouts/15/ManageFeatures.aspx>) present under Site Actions:

    Figure 9.38: Manage Site Features

  2. Identify the feature Metadata Navigation and Filtering and activate the feature:

    Figure 9.39: Activate Site Feature

Create metadata site columns

We already created a metadata column in the section Metadata column with the submission policy closed. Follow step 3 to step 8 for metadata column creation once navigated to Site Settings (<_layouts/15/settings.aspx>) and click on Site Columns present under Web Designer Galleries.

We are creating site columns and it’s the best practice to create site columns to make it reusable. Create metadata column with names Band, Business Unit, Horizontal Tag, Relevant Experience, Skill, Total Experience.

Create a site content type

Since we are planning to categorize and filter based multiple content types, we will create multiple content types. Navigate to Site Settings (<_layouts/15/settings.aspx>) and click on Site content types (https://<site url>/_layouts/15/mngctype.aspx) present under Web Designer Galleries:

Figure 9.40: Site Content Types

We already discussed how to create content type before, follow the same step. Create site content type with names Business Unit, Horizontal Tag, Skill, Total Experience, Relevant Experience as seen in the following screenshot:

Figure 9.41: New Content Type

Add columns to content type

Once the content type is created, then we need to add the site column to content type so that when we add that content type in the library those columns will also be added to the library. Let’s perform the following steps to add columns to content-type:

  1. Open site content type Business Unit, click on Add from existing site columns present under content type settings as seen in the following screenshot:

    Figure 9.42: Add from Existing Site Columns

  2. Select the site column Business Unit, Horizontal Tag, Skill, Total Experience, Relevant Experience, Band from next window, click on Add and click on OK finally to apply the changes.
  3. Metadata site columns Business Unit, Horizontal Tag, Skill, Total Experience, Relevant Experience, Band are added to content type Business Unit as seen in the screenshot below:

    Figure 9.43: Metadata Columns Added

  4. Click on Manage publishing for this content type, you see option Publish is selected. Click on OK to publish the content type as seen in the screenshot below:

    Figure 9.44: Publish Content Type

  5. Similarly, add metadata site column Band to content type Band, add metadata site column Horizontal Tag to content type Horizontal Tag, add metadata site column Skill to content type Skill, add metadata site column Relevant Experience to content type Relevant Experience, add metadata site column Total Experience to content type Total Experience and publish those content types:

Allow management of content types in the library

First, we need to allow the management of content types in the library. Let’s perform the following steps to allow content type in the library:

  1. Open one document library Documents, navigate to Library Settings.
  2. Click on Advanced Settings present under the General Settings category.
  3. Select the checkbox Allow management of content types as Yes and click on OK.

Add site content types to the library

The next step is to add content types to the library. Let’s perform the following steps to add site content type in the library:

  1. Under library settings (https://<site url>/_layouts/15/listedit.aspx? List=**) click on the option Add from existing site content types (https://<site url>/_layouts/15/AddContentTypeToList.aspx?List=**) present under category Content Types.
  2. Select the site content types Business Unit, Horizontal Tag, Relevant Experience, Skill, Total Experience that we created from another window, and apply changes by clicking OK.
  3. All content types will be added and under columns and you will find all metadata columns that are present in the content types are available in library columns.

Configure metadata navigation settings

Next, we need to configure the actual settings present in the library for metadata navigation. Let’s perform the following steps to configure metadata navigation settings:

  1. Navigate to Library Settings (https://<site url>/_layouts/15/listedit.aspx?List=**).
  2. Click on Metadata Navigation Settings (https://<site url>/_layouts/15/MetaNavSettings.aspx?List={**}) present under the category General Settings as seen in the screenshot below:

    Figure 9.45: Metadata Navigation Settings

  3. From Available Hierarchy Fields select Content Type, Business Unit, Skill, Band, Horizontal Tag, Relevant Experience, Total Experience and click on Add as seen in the screenshot below:

    Figure 9.46: Selected Hierarchy Fields

  4. From Available Key Filter Fields select Content Type, Business Unit, Skill, Band, Horizontal Tag, Relevant Experience, Total Experience, and click on Add. Finally, click on OK to apply changes as seen in the screenshot below:

    Figure 9.47: Selected Key Filter Fields

Testing metadata navigation settings

We created the metadata navigation and filtering. Let’s perform the following steps to see how metadata filtering works:

  1. Now upload documents in the library.
  2. Select one item and click on Details Pane. Click on Edit All properties as seen in the screenshot below:

    Figure 9.48: Edit All Propertied From Details Pane

  3. All document properties will open which you need to fill up. You will see all the metadata columns that we created are present and can be selected as seen in the screenshot below. Upload more documents and select terms for all fields present in the library:

    Figure 9.49: Metadata Properties of Item

  4. Now open the document library and click on Filter Pane from the command bar. You will see all metadata properties are available as seen in the screenshot below:

    Figure 9.50: Metadata Properties Filtering

  5. Click on any of the metadata properties to filter files based on Content Type, Business Unit, Skill, Band, Horizontal Tag, Relevant Experience, Total Experience as seen in the screenshot below:

    Figure 9.51: Filter Items Based on Content Types

  6. We can filter by selecting multiple metadata properties like select content type as well as skill to check the items matching that criteria.
  7. If you switch the library to classic mode, you see navigation like this as shown in the screenshot below. You can filter based on any properties by selecting them:

    Figure 9.52: Classic Experience Metadata Navigation Filtering

Metadata navigation

We can use the term set as navigation which widely used as global navigation in SharePoint sites. Let’s perform the following steps to see how metadata navigation works.

Enable term set for site navigation

First, we need to enable one setting from the term store. Let’s perform the below steps to enable:

  1. Navigate to the term set Skill term store.
  2. Click on the tab INTENDED USE.
  3. Select the checkbox present under the option Use this Term Set for Site Navigation and click on Save to apply changes as shown in the screenshot below:

    Figure 9.53: Enable Term Set For Site Navigation

Set term driven pages

The next step is to configure Term Driven pages. Let’s perform below steps to configure term driven pages for all terms and child terms:

  1. Once settings Use this Term Set for Site Navigation is enabled as discussed above, you will find another tab TERM DRIVEN PAGE is enabled for the term set Skill.
  2. Click on the tab TERM DRIVEN PAGE and select the checkbox Change target page for terms in this term set.
  3. Enter Site Page URL (/sites/BPB-ModernTeamSite/Pages/Skill.aspx) created under the library Pages and click Save as show in screenshot below:

    Figure 9.54: Term Driven Pages

  4. Click on the term AZURE and click on the NAVIGATION tab.
  5. Select option Navigation Node Type as Term-Driven Page with Friendly URL.
  6. You see the filed Navigation Node Title is showing with same name AZURE as off term under term set Skill as shown in the screenshot below:

    Figure 9.55: Term Driven Pages with Friendly URL

  7. Click on the tab TERM-DRIVEN PAGES.
  8. Click on the checkbox Change target page for this term. Enter Site Page URL (/sites/BPB-ModernTeamSite/Pages/Azure.aspx) created under the site-library Pages.
  9. Under option Configure Friendly URL for this term you will find the friendly URL /azure and click on Save as shown in the screenshot below. When you click on term AZURE from navigation you will be redirected to the URL https://spmcse.sharepoint.com/sites/BPB-ModernTeamSite/azure.

    Figure 9.56: Target Page Settings

  10. Click on the child term Azure L1 present under the term Azure.
  11. Click on the checkbox Change target page for this term. Enter Site Page URL (/sites/BPB-ModernTeamSite/Pages/AzureL1.aspx) created under the site-library Pages.
  12. Under option Configure Friendly URL for this term you will find the friendly URL /azure/azure-l1 as shown in the screenshot below. When you click on term Axure L1 from navigation you will be redirected to the URL https://spmcse.sharepoint.com/sites/BPB-ModernTeamSite/azure/azure-l1:

    Figure 9.57: Target Driven Page for Terms

  13. Similarly configure setting Change target page for this term for all other terms and child terms.

Configure site navigation settings

Next will discuss configure navigation settings. Let’s perform the following steps to configure site navigation settings:

  1. Navigate to Site Settings (<_layouts/15/settings.aspx>).
  2. Click on Navigation (https://<site url>/_layouts/15/AreaNavigationSettings.aspx) present under the category Look and Feel.
  3. From Global Navigation, select the option Managed Navigation: The navigation items will be represented using a Managed Metadata term set as shown in the screenshot below:

    Figure 9.58: Global Navigation

  4. Keep the option Current Navigation as default for the moment as shown in the screenshot below:

    Figure 9.59: Current Navigation

  5. From the option Managed Navigation: Term Set, select one term set Skill and click OK to apply changes as shown in the screenshot below:

    Figure 9.60: Managed Navigation Term Set

  6. Open site home page, you see metadata navigation is created based on the terms as shown in the screenshot below. Click on any term will redirect to respective configured term driven page:

    Figure 9.61: Metadata Navigation

  7. Now change the option for Current Navigation from default to Managed Navigation: The navigation items will be represented using a Managed Metadata term set and click OK as shown in the screenshot below:

    Figure 9.62: Current Navigation with Metadata Option Selected

  8. Now you will notice under left navigation metadata navigation is created as shown in the screenshot below:

    Figure 9.63: Left Navigation Using Metadata

Conclusion

In this chapter we discussed metadata all about, term store. How to create groups, term sets, terms from Term Store present at SharePoint admin center as well as from site collection. Understood global term sets and local term sets. Created metadata column and understood and how it’s reusable and applicable in metadata navigation filtering. Created metadata navigation and discussed its application. Next in Chapter 10: SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure Feature will discuss all publishing features in SharePoint.

Points to remember