A content type can be viewed as the metadata and behavior template for a particular document or item. Each content type contains references to one or more site columns. You can also associate workflows, information management policies, and document templates with content types. Content types should be used when content structure such as document format needs to be repeated across a single site collection. If a content type is required to be used across multiple site collections, the Content Type Hub feature is required.
Suppose you define a content type as a Contract, the metadata and actions associated with a contract might include:
- Columns named Customer, Amount, and Final Effective Date
- An approval workflow
- A retention policy linked to the Final Effective Date field
- A Word template for a contract document
It would be labor intensive to manually create this functionality in multiple sites and lists, so content types were introduced to SharePoint 2007.
To create a new content type in a site collection, the following steps should be applied:
- Click on the Site Settings link on the Sites Action menu.
- In the Galleries section of the Site Settings page, click on the Site content types link.
This will display a list of currently defined content types for this site collection.
- Click on the Create link.
- Enter a Name and Description.
- Select a Parent Content from the drop-down list.
If your contract document type is a Word document, the Parent Content type should be Document Content Types and the Parent Content Type should be Document.
- Choose the group of the content type, or create a new group.
- Click OK.
A new Content Type has been created. This Site Content Type will now be displayed:
On this page you can edit and add to its functionality, such as workflows, policies, and columns.
Tip
It is possible to upload multiple document templates so that when you can create a new document from a template in the library it is saved into the library that it was created from. An advantage of this is that users are more likely to save the document in the correct location.
To add a content type to a list or library, the following steps should be taken:
- In the list or library, click on the ListLibrary Settings on the ribbon.
- In the General Settings section of the Document Library Settings page, click on Advanced Settings.
- In the Content Type section click Yes.
- Click OK.
You have just configured this library or list to have multiple content types in a list or library.
To add content types, follow these steps:
Content Types are discussed in detail in Chapter 5.