Forum Discussion
Can document library properties be protected from reupload and copying?
We are looking at using a document library in SharePoint to hold Excels which need to be approved and then taken through a process which is carefully controlled. Intended to use properties (fields/columns) to hold extra data describing the document and its status. However, if the user downloads a document A and renames it B and uploads document B then document B contains all of document A's properties copied in and we don't want that. Also don't want an existing document's fields/columns/properties to be replaced on a reupload but still want to be able to reupload as needed.
So, is there a way to turn off updating/replacing properties on a copy or re-upload of an item in a document library? We want the properties/fields/columns to be independent of the Excel regardless of whatever metadata the Excel happens to be carrying.
Thank you,
Peter D
- Peter_D_123 - I would spend some time training users how to open the file directly from SharePoint so that they are not changing any properties and they can then be used for the process documentation you are describing. SharePoint will manage version history to track any changes and who made them if changes are added and then you can use the properties to trigger workflows to update properties in the approval process.
One would need more details on your use case, but there are many different ways to handle approvals and file uploads and what does and doesn't get updated. You may need to use a Power App to manage this for you where the Power App handles what gets overwritten and what doesn't in the metadata columns. I'm not sure we have enough information on what you are trying to do in order to give you a full solution here.
