Document Set is a special kind of folder that allows to group documents together with a folder structure. You can define characteristics and metadata that can inherit to each file created or uploaded into the document set. In other words, Document Set is nothing but a special content type to organize files in a folder structure and provide common metadata to the documents added in the document set. This feature helps to define allowed content types that can be used within the document set (Ex: file, image, video), define shared metadata, and assign workflows. For more information, see Introduction to Document Sets.
Follow the below steps to enable the Document Sets feature, create and configure a Document Set content type and add it to a Document Library.
- Enable Document Sets feature in Site Collection
- Create a new Document Set content type in Site Collection
- Add metadata columns to the Document Set content type
- Add and Configure Document Set content type in a Document Library
- Create a new Document Set and Upload Files in the Document Library
Enable Document Sets feature in Site Collection
We need to first activate the Document Sets feature if it isn’t already activated in the site collection. You must be a Site Collection Administrator to activate the site feature. Follow the below steps to activate the Document Sets feature in a SharePoint Online site collection.
- Navigate to the site collection root, click the Gear Icon (Settings icon) in the top-right and select Site information.
- Click on View all site settings.
- In the Site Settings page, under Site Collection Administration, click Site collection features.
- Scroll down to Document Sets and click on the Activate button. Wait for a few seconds to activate, A button labeled Active appears after the feature is activated.
Create a new Document Set content type in Site Collection
As already said, the Document Set is nothing but a special content type, we need to first create a content type in your site before starting to use it in your document library. If the Document Sets feature is already activated on your site, follow the below steps to create a new Document Set content type.
- Navigate to the site, click the Gear Icon (Settings icon) in the top-right and select Site information.
- Click on View all site settings.
- In the Site Settings page, Under Web Designer Galleries, click Site content types.
- On the Content type gallery page, click Create content type.
- In the Name box, type the name to your new Document Set (ex: Project). This is the name that users will see when they create a new instance of a Document Set in a document library.
- Under Select parent content type from, click Document Set Content Types. (If the Document Set Content Types option is not listed, the Document Sets feature may not be activated for this site collection).
- Click Create button to create the new Document Set content type. Now you can configure and add columns in the newly created content type.
Add metadata columns to the Document Set content type
Once you successfully create a document set content type, you can add required site columns to the content type by following the below steps.
- Go to the Site Settings page, Under Web Designer Galleries, click Site content types.
- On the Content type gallery page, search and find the content type by name (in our case, the content type is Project), click the name of the Document Set content type to configure columns.
- Add required Site columns by creating a new site column or selecting existing site column. In my case, I have just added two columns (Project Title and Project Manager).
Add and Configure Document Set content type in a Document Library
Once you created a Document Set content type in a Site collection by following the above steps, you can now add it to any document library within the Site collection. Follow the below steps to add and configure the document set content type in SharePoint Online site document library.
- Navigate to the document library where you want to add the document set feature. Click the Gear Icon (Settings) in the top-right and select Library settings.
- In the Library Settings page, under the General Settings section, click on the Advanced Settings link.
- In the Advanced Settings page, under Content Types section, choose Yes to Allow management of content types, click OK at the bottom of the screen to save the settings. This will allow us to add custom content types.
- As a result of the above change, you will see the section Content Types on the Library Settings page. Under Content Types section, click the “Add from existing site content types” link to proceed next.
- In the Add Content Types page, select your document set content type (In my case, “Project”) and click Add button to move into the right panel, click the OK button to save the changes.
- Now the document set content type is successfully added to the library.
- In the Library Settings page, you can see the new content type under Content Types section, click on the new content type name (ex: Project) to configure settings.
- On the next page, click Document Set Settings to configure Shared and Welcome page columns.
- In the Document Set Settings page, scroll down to Shared Columns section, you can select the required columns to propagate the metadata details to the files uploaded into the document set. Also, you can configure the Welcome Page Columns, the columns to show on the welcome page for the Document Set.
- Finally, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click OK to save the changes.
Create a new Document Set and Upload Files in the Document Library
Once you created and configured a document set content type in a document library, follow the below steps to create a new instance for the document set in the document library.
- Navigate to the document library main page, click the New button and select your document set (In my case: Project) to configure.
- On the next screen, type the name and the metadata details for this document set. If Shared columns configured in the document set settings, the metadata properties will be automatically added in the files that are uploaded into this document set. Finally click Save button.
- Now the new Document Set will be created in the library, you can click on the document set name to create and upload file documents inside the document set.
