Forum Discussion
How we can handle sub-departments when using document sets
We want to implement a document set to store our departments documents, currently we need to start with those departments and sub-departments:-
IT (Development sub-department + Project management sub-department)
Marketing (Customer sub-department + Internal sub-department)
Finance (Private sub-department + Public sub-department)
PMO (Private sub-department + Public management sub-department)
so now i am planning to create 4 document sets:-
IT
Marketing
Finance
PMO
and 4 content types which have built-in documents content type as its parent:-
IT Document
Marketing Document
Fiance Document
PMO Document
and define those custom content types inside the related document set content type based on the related department. so for example the IT Document content type will be defined inside the IT document set as so on..
but what i am not sure about is how we can implement the sub-departments? should they be completely separate document sets? or we can define sub-document sets to be defined inside another parent document set? any advice?
Thanks
SharePoint doesn't natively support creating sub-document sets within a parent document set through the UI. However, there are some workarounds, but I never tried those options:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/1811109/can-we-create-document-set-within-another-documentAccording to my knowledge, you can follow below two options if they fully meet your requirements:
Creating Folders within Document Sets: You can create folders inside a document set to organize content for sub-departments. This approach maintains a hierarchical structure while working within the limitations of SharePoint.Separate Document Sets at Parent Level: Alternatively, you can create separate document sets for sub-departments at the same level as the parent document set. This keeps each sub-department's documents organized while providing flexibility in managing permissions and metadata.
Best Regards,
Viren
I successfully create folders for new document sets. I've found I have to create a file to be able create a folder then delete the file with power automate after. This is within the settings of the document sets.
Folder creation is possible inside the document set, but Sub Document Set is not possible using out of the box approach
