Forum Discussion
Best practice for external sharing: Document Library vs Folder
Hello,
I'd like to start a discussion to learn about your point of view regarding best practices for sharing content with external users. I'm currently faced with the following scenario and que...
Here are a few things that make libraries a better choice
- Doc libraries provide a search boundary that folders do not, i.e., you can limit a search to a library, you can't do this with a folder
- you can create custom views in each doc library, Folders only exist in one specific hierarchy, views provide many more options for display
- you can activate different content types in each library
- Different settings can be enabled/disabled in each doc library
- PowerApps and Flows are associated with libraries, not with folders
Dean_Gross wrote:
[...]Folders are very limiting and I don't like using them if at all possible.
Thanks for your input. And this is what I'm pondering about. I don't know what a doc lib can offer what a folder can't in such a scenario.
Of course, logically speaking it would make the most sense to create individual site collections but our requirement it to have it within one.
Here are a few things that make libraries a better choice
- Doc libraries provide a search boundary that folders do not, i.e., you can limit a search to a library, you can't do this with a folder
- you can create custom views in each doc library, Folders only exist in one specific hierarchy, views provide many more options for display
- you can activate different content types in each library
- Different settings can be enabled/disabled in each doc library
- PowerApps and Flows are associated with libraries, not with folders
- Absolutely valid points, thank you. I will take those into consideration, especially the points regarding views and content types. Thanks.
You should find this presentation from SusanHanley helpful http://cloud.snappages.com/b8898dc2c08e137d03449de65b9e82e108c15658/BreakingtheFolderParadigm.pdf