Forum Discussion
How is the '+ New' menu populated in document libraries?
By default, mine includes:
Fig 1
Now I was under the impression that each entry represents a content type?
So why, when I enable 'allow management of content types' in 'Library settings > Advanced settings' is there only one content type listed - Document? And why when I go to 'Change new button order and default content type' is there only one entry listed - Document? Surely every entry should have its own content type which I should be able to delete, modify and reorder?
If I add a second content type, in this example I've gone with 'Leon' because I'm a narcissist, the number of entries is reduced to:
Fig 2
This actually makes more sense to me, the 'Leon' content type is shown in addition to the original 'Document' content type. Two content types, two menu entries (we'll ignore Folder/Link). If I then delete the 'Leon' content type, things revert back to Fig 1.
I'm really confused and can only summise that the default shown in Fig 1 is some kind of bespoke and uneditable variety of the menu that's only available when the Document content type is used on its own.
Does anyone know how to get to the +New, if you accidentally made everything unavailable on it by unticking everything?
the +New has disappeared entirely and I dont know how to get it back!
thanks
Hi JulieG1974 and others in the thread, I hope this info helps.
Introducing a new content type to a library, first you go to settings and "Allow management of content types". This "mode of operation" is what replaces the generic office templates in the "New" menu with the newly introduced content type(s) and allows you to assign a specific content type to documents in your library.
Once this is done, and if you have sufficient rights, you should be able to choose New > Edit new menu option and re-select the "lost" office templates.
In certain cases, if you have introduced only one custom content type to the library, which you've also set to be the default CT for all documents - you can go to library settings and revert "Allow management of content types" back to "No". This will reverse the process and re-introduce all the generic templates in the "New" menu whilst retaining the ability to assign your default custom content type to new docs. Remember though, this alternative is useful if you have only one custom content type which you have also set as default.
Hope his helps someone.
- If you only have the default document content type then the new button will default to the 4 basic documents that can be created in Office Online server. If you add custom content types then the assumption is that each custom content type has a custom template associated with it. So then the New button will default to showing you the different document templates associated with each content type. This is all by design,
Hi, I've been playing around with Documents Sets and don't agree that everything is working by design, compared to the classic view.
This all might make sense if you are using a custom content type that represents a document, but it doesn't fit if it's document set.
Classic Experience:
- Single Content Type: Document Set
- You can only add "Document Set" at the top level
- You can add "Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote" file within a document set
New Experience:
- Single Content Type: Document Set
- You can add "Document Set" and "Link" as content types at the top level
- You can again add "Document Set" and "Link" as a content type within the document set itself
To me the "new experience" doesn't make any sense, when I imagine an information worker that is supposed to "only work" within Office 365 and Office Online. How are we supposed to create documents in the document set, without using other tools (e.g. Uploads) ?
One additional correction. I just removed the extra content type from my document set so its just document (the default) and now when inside the document set the new button shows Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and folder. Which is what I think you were expecting. Not sure why you are seeing something different.
In other words, there's no way to edit the '+ New' menu. You cannot reorder items, nor can you remove items. If you want to modify the '+ New' menu you must have two or more content types associated with the library.
If you don't use custom content types then there is no way to edit the menu. In tht case it will show the 4 default document types available in Office Online. If you do use custom content types then the menu will reflect the list of content type templates in the order that you specify in the content type list in the library. You can specify the order of the content types when you add them to the library. You can also hide content types from being displayed on the New button.
Digging further into the issue, I compared the source code of the two different configuration options. First with the default setting (but with allow management of content types: yes) and the second one with my custom content type.
As expected, my new content type is rendered as a JSON-object on the page itself, which (naturally) isn't present without the custom content type. But that is the only thing that differs. Everything else on the page source code is equal.
On an unchanged Document Library, only the default “Document” content type is shown in the source code, but not visible on the “New” button. You see “Word-document” but nut the actual content type “Document” in the library. But wait! What’s happening here? This can’t be right? Can it?
My guess is equal to my previous comment, that the source is different. If you haven’t made any changes to the document types, they don’t show. They are replaced from a different source, since they aren’t present on the page itself. Interestingly when creating a new document library selecting Document Template to “None” or “Microsoft Word Document” (which is default), you get the list of office document template to choose from. Select any other document template, you see the actual content types. Kind of ambiguous, I think.
So the recommendation would be to always add your own content type on new document libraries to avoid possible confusion among our users.
Deleted and Leon Summerfield-Kehoe - I was thinking that I should create content types in my content type hub with default templates for Word, Excel, PPTX, OneNote. Those Content Types could be added to libraries if people wanted equivalent options after turning on 'Allow management of Content types'. I suppose I should stop thinking and just do it and then test the experience. Would this work around work for you? Greg
Without knowing, my guess is that these Office documents including the Excel Survey comes from a different source. When you haven't added custom content type(s), they show up to enable users to create office documents without an installed client application.
But when you actually configure you doc lib, then these default office content types are removed. Hopefully this can be clairyfied soon.
Great question!
