In this chapter, we will describe the basic terminology and concepts of metadata, and where and how to apply it. We will take a look at how metadata is managed with the Term Store Management Tool console and how it is applied using the SharePoint and Office 2010 User Interface (UI).
We will cover:
- What is metadata?
- Benefits of metadata
- Taxonomies
- Folksonomies
- When to use managed vs. normal metadata?
- How to apply metadata to content?
- Searching and navigating with metadata
Note
While the search engine in SharePoint can do full-text search on the contents of a document, you often want to base your search on information about the document, such as its creator, the last person to modify the document, or the dates of creation or edits. This information about a document is called metadata.
For documents where the content is not searchable, such as audio and video, metadata becomes even more important for providing users with richer search results.
Metadata is everywhere in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. For example, metadata helps you navigate SharePoint document libraries, add tags to wikis and blogs, and apply terms to documents stored on SharePoint from within the document or from Backstage.
The following images (clockwise from upper left) illustrate using metadata to navigate a document library, applying metadata in Word 2010, viewing metadata in Office 2010 Backstage, and applying tags on a SharePoint 2010 website:
For most organizations, SharePoint has become a mission-critical content repository to store documents, customer information, employees' skills, and areas of expertise.
So, it is vital that users have a quick and easy way to retrieve the information stored in SharePoint. Whether that requires finding a customer-ready presentation about a product, a spreadsheet with pricing information for a distribution partner, or a contract to be signed by a client, being able to find the most accurate and up-to-date information using SharePoint's search tools is critical.
The most important advantage of using managed metadata is that it makes it easier and faster to find information stored in SharePoint. Using managed metadata in SharePoint 2010 improves search results, reducing multiple search iterations and consequently the time it takes to find what you are looking for.
Another important benefit of managed metadata is that it can be used as a navigation tool in libraries and lists. Instead of investing time and effort in creating and naming folders, and then moving documents into folders, you can take advantage of the managed metadata hierarchy as a navigational tool with much less effort. By simply adding managed metadata to documents as you create them, you are fitting them into the hierarchy. Unlike using folders, the managed metadata hierarchy is shared, and will be consistent across SharePoint sites and site collections.
When documents are stored in SharePoint, metadata can be applied in a systematic way using the Managed Metadata tool. This tool is the vehicle for defining a taxonomy, or hierarchical list of the terms that can be applied to documents.
Note
Normal metadata, of course, can always be applied in non-managed fields for adding dates, usernames, and calculated values, for example.
Consider that before tools such as SharePoint, we tried in a very primitive way to include metadata about files on our hard drives or in file shares. But, the tools in that environment, namely the filename and the directory folder name where the file was saved, were clearly very limited. The obvious problems with those tools were and still are:
- Size limitation (after all, how big a file or folder name do you really want?)
- Inconsistencies in naming
- The lack of a robust search facility to retrieve information (even if you can squeeze it into the file or folder name)
In general, metadata refers to terms applied to documents to provide information about those documents beyond their actual contents. Full-text search tools can help you find information in a document, while providing metadata terms to identify attributes of documents enhances the results that can be provided by search.
In SharePoint, metadata refers to the information about an item other than the content of the item itself. Metadata can be stored with a document in SharePoint. The document properties stored with Office files are examples of metadata, but SharePoint can store information about a file beyond what may already be captured with document properties.
For Microsoft Office documents, many properties are automatically saved with the file. However, you may have additional keywords or descriptive items you want to save with the document to give an easier way for people to find it when searching.
For example, if you are working on a customer proposal for a law firm, you might want to add metadata indicating that it has to do with legal services. You may also want to include information about other people working on the proposal, or the type of area of legal service the proposal relates to by including terms such as real estate law or contracts. The metadata management capabilities of SharePoint 2010 allow you to easily include such metadata with a document file stored on SharePoint.
This is important for non-Office files that may not contain their own fields for document properties. SharePoint can store many different items or file types: a Word file, a PowerPoint presentation, an Excel spreadsheet, but also PDF files, photographs, and even videos.
Note
Besides Microsoft Office files, the file formats supported by SharePoint 2010 include: .pdf, .rtf, .tif, .txt, .ascx, .asp, .cmd, .css, .eml, .exch, .html, .msg, .nsf, .odc, .php, .url, and .xml.
The disadvantages of not having managed metadata become obvious once you begin to apply it. Without managed metadata, users had to create their own ways of classifying documents. The tools for doing this were document names, folders, and moving documents into folders. That was more time-consuming, inconsistent across libraries and sites, and did nothing to improve search results or navigation.
Users normally supply metadata using the document properties of the file, or keyword fields in SharePoint. With SharePoint 2010, users can also tag documents or add their own ratings. This metadata is unmanaged in the sense that it is not pre-defined. Users can add new terms. Unmanaged metadata is often inconsistent, with multiple synonyms for a similar term.
Managed metadata refers to a hierarchical collection of centrally managed terms that you can define and use as attributes for items in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. The main difference between managed and unmanaged metadata is that managed metadata provides a way to standardize terms and provide a consistency across documents. The advantage is that users can then search and navigate with the standardized terms.
In Microsoft SharePoint 2010, enterprise metadata management is a set of features that enable taxonomists, librarians, and administrators to create and manage terms and sets of terms across an organization.