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jrauman's avatar
jrauman
Iron Contributor
Oct 21, 2024

Configure SPO to view SP Properties by default for Word documents

How do we configure Word and/or SPO to always view SharePoint Properties when opening documents from a SharePoint Document Library?  This was the default behavior in SPS 2016, but in SPO, any Word document that is opened in the desktop application has to have the Properties enabled by clicking 'View' followed by the 'Properties' button (in the SharePoint section).   it seems like if you use metadata in your SharePoint Document Library, you'd want to view that metadata by default, and not have to manually click through extra steps to view it after each file opening.  

SharePoint
  • Kidd_Ip's avatar
    Kidd_Ip
    MVP
    Oct 23, 2024

    jrauman 

     

    Take this:

     

    1. Enable the Document Information Panel:

      • Go to your SharePoint Document Library.
      • Click on Library Settings.
      • Under Advanced Settings, ensure that Allow management of content types is set to Yes.
      • Go back to the library settings and click on Document under Content Types.
      • Click on Document Information Panel settings and ensure that the Always show Document Information Panel on document open and initial save for this content type option is enabled.

    2. Configure Word to Show Properties by Default:

      • Open Word and go to File > Options.
      • In the Advanced section, scroll down to the Display section.
      • Ensure that Show all formatting marks is unchecked (this is just to ensure the display settings are not interfering).
      • Go to File > Info and ensure that the Properties pane is visible. This setting should persist across sessions.

    3. Use PowerShell to Apply Settings Globally:

      • If you need to apply these settings across multiple libraries or sites, you can use PowerShell scripts to automate the process. Here’s a basic script to get you started: 
        Connect-SPOService -Url https://<your-tenant>-admin.sharepoint.com
$sites = Get-SPOSite -Limit All
foreach ($site in $sites) {
    $libraries = Get-PnPList -Web $site.Url | Where-Object { $_.BaseTemplate -eq 101 } # 101 is the template ID for document libraries
    foreach ($library in $libraries) {
        Set-PnPList -Identity $library -ContentTypesEnabled $true
        $contentType = Get-PnPContentType -List $library -Identity "Document"
        Set-PnPContentType -Identity $contentType -DocumentInformationPanelTemplateUrl "https://<your-tenant>.sharepoint.com/sites/<site-name>/DocumentInformationPanelTemplate.xsn"
    }
}

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