Windows® Administration Resource Kit: Productivity Solutions for IT Professionals

4-2: Manage Document Metadata Using Library and Site Columns

Solution overview

Type of solution	Procedures
Features and tools	SharePoint library and site columns, Microsoft Office applications
Solution summary	Create custom columns to support document metadata at this library or site level.
Benefits	Describing documents with metadata is a core construct of content management that enables views, search, reporting, and other document management functionality.

Introduction

SharePoint columns are what other databases call fields, attributes, or properties. They are data points for a record, where the record is a document in a library or an item in a list. Columns can be managed from a library's settings page—the Customize page—in the Columns section shown in ...