3 Types of Tags for Use in SharePoint

The following are three types of tags to utilize in SharePoint:

1. Microsoft 365 Tags:
• These tags are a newer feature within Microsoft 365.
• One can create and apply these tags to various types of content, including files, Microsoft Lists, Microsoft Forms, and Loop components.
• To create a tag, click the three dots next to the content item, select “Tag,” and either create a new tag or choose an existing one.
• These tags are personal, meaning they are not visible to others, and they are not tied to the Term Store.
2. Keywords in SharePoint:
• While not traditional tags, one can use keywords to label and categorize content.
• One can create keywords such as “Stack break,” “Line too old,” or “Light too high” to describe specific issues or characteristics related to content.
3. Custom Metadata Tags:
• Although not officially called “tags,” one can use custom metadata to achieve similar functionality.
• One can create custom columns in SharePoint libraries or lists to capture specific information about content.
• These columns act as tags, allowing one to classify content based on different criteria (e.g., page type, business function, audience and location).

Top 3 Metadata Terms in SharePoint

The following are the top three metadata terms in SharePoint:

• Taxonomy: Formal classification system that groups words, labels, and terms which describe something, and then arranges the groups into a hierarchy.
• Folksonomy: Informal classification system which evolves gradually as web site users collaborate on words, labels, and terms on a site.
• Term Set: Group of related terms. Term sets can have different scopes, depending on where one creates the term set.

3 Metadata SharePoint Online Tips and Tricks

The following are 3 SharePoint Online tips and tricks related to metadata:

1. Use managed metadata to create a consistent taxonomy - Managed metadata is a way to create a consistent and controlled vocabulary for SharePoint Online sites. This can help to improve the findability of content and make it easier for users to locate the information they need.

Here are some of the benefits of using managed metadata:

• Improved findability: Managed metadata can help to improve the findability of content by ensuring that all of the content is tagged with consistent and relevant terms.
• Increased consistency: Managed metadata can help to increase the consistency of content by ensuring that all of the users are using the same terms to describe the same content.
• Reduced duplication: Managed metadata can help to reduce duplication by ensuring that multiple terms for the same concept are not being created.

2. Use enterprise keywords to tag content - 

Enterprise keywords are a type of metadata that you one use to tag content with additional keywords that are not included in managed metadata terms. This can further improve the findability of content.

3. Use search refiners to filter your search results - Search refiners are a way to filter  search results by metadata. This can help narrow down search results and find the information one needs more quickly.

5 Step Approach to a Metadata – Archive Policy

The following are the 5 steps needed to create a metadata based archive policy:

•      1) Create Content Syndication Content Types that originate from a Content Type Hub. These are housed in an Archive web application. Since these Archive Content Types are syndicated content types it means they can be used on different web applications, and site collections.

•      2) Each site created so that one can leverage an archive policy needs to have content types created and named appropriately:
Example:
Name of Site 1-Year
Name of Site 2-Year
Name of Site 3-Year

•      3) For each content type - create an Information Policy to a Content Type.

•      4) Make sure that the content organizer site feature is turned on so that metadata based rules that move content submitted to a library to the proper location are in place.

•      5) Set-up a workflow then for each site so that when a file meets the policy based on the content type, the site owner gets an e-mail:
Example: This document - [%Current Item:Name%] - has been moved to the Archive document library due to the expiration policy. Click here to view your files and return them from the archive site to your proper site.

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