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Jon Lyall's avatar
Jon Lyall
Copper Contributor
Nov 02, 2017

Modify base content type

Hi

 

What are the risks involved in modifying a SharePoint base content type - eg document?

 

Is there any official Microsoft guidance on this?

 

many thanks in advance

  • Sunny Rajpal's avatar
    Sunny Rajpal
    Brass Contributor

    And in case you modify the default content type and in future you need support from Microsoft then it may be a challenge as you modified content type against the Microsoft guidelines. So, its better to create a copy of the default content type. 

  • Hi Jon Lyall,

     

    I wouldn't!

     

    If you add a field called "VeryImportant"  and Microsoft adds a field "VeryImportant" in the future then you might find that you get some trouble. It would be better to create a new content type called "Company Document", although I've seen in the past this creating a managerial mess too as you will need to update the content type every time you create a new library.

     

    I wonder if this is the reason why Microsoft is making it easier to add new list columns on modern lists and with this ignoring the whole content type model. 

      • Matt Coats's avatar
        Matt Coats
        Steel Contributor

        Jon, in addition to creating a new content type as Pieter suggested, you also have the ability of removing the default content type from a library after adding another one in. If there's something about the default content type that you don't like, that'd be the way to "remove" it.

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