To folder or not to folder ... that is the question

Good points, consistent with our experiences over the past 6 years. We 'de-promoted' folders in SP2010 and still in SP2013 in favour of Document Sets or metadata but, over the past couple of years, we've learned that Document Sets are good for specific purposes (for example, 'case files').

When users ask me about folders I say they are OK to use but try to keep the layers shallow, as noted - 2/3 deep only. One suggestion I give to users moving content from network file shares is to join up one or two-word folder names into single names. E.g., instead of Business Area - Meetings - Year - Month - Meeting date - Minutes as single folders, I suggest they try to roll them up as a single document library name: XYZ Meetings 2017, using one level of folders to separate the minutes.

Also, don't forget this lovely little option in all SharePoint document library views:

Whenever I see a document library full of folders, I enable that setting in a 'No Folders' view. It is a bit like a good magic card trick - suddenly users can see the 15 document they had buried in 400 folders.

Oh, did I mention how metadata turbo-powers:

• Data Loss Prevention
• Records management
• eDiscovery

Quick case study. We created a project management solution for a client. The doc libs:

• 3 folders: project management & control; work files; and deliverables
• project managers place documents in one of 3. These are natural high-level classifications for project managers. If they do it, populating metadata is touchless. Governance!
• All metadata is based on term sets (don't have to be, could be site or list columns-[strongly recommend root site columns if list columns]). Column Default Value Settings automatically applied to the files
• Resulting in every file assigned following metadata
  • Client name
  • Project name
  • Project type
  • Asset classification (e.g., Deliverable, Project Management & Control (like Statements of Work & project timelines)
• On teardown files tagged deliverable and management and control moved to a Records Center serving as a knowledge base. No folders! Hold on to the work files for 90 days, then delete. 

BENEFITS

• Vastly simplifies the tracking and QA work of the Project Management Office (PMO)
• Automated teardown using Information Management Policy and workflows
• Putting files in the 'right' folder often deeply ingrained end user behavior since the early days of on-prem file shares. It's natural
• Discoverability! New PM, assigned a WordPress project, bellys up to the knowledge base searching for prior art. Hundreds of WordPress projects in the KB.  PM specifically seeking examples of user manuals
  • Scenario 1 - no metadata, just keyword search
    
    • usual oceans of documents and file names with WordPress returned. Hundreds and hundreds. User tries to narrow down: "WordPress Manual" - maybe - if authors used exact phrase somewhere in their files. "WordPress User Manual". Maybe proximity searches if power user
    • refiners of some help: date ranges, document types (Word files, PDFs)
    • difficult finding the right set of related artifacts that can really speed the plow - such as Lessons Learned
    • too much work poking and prodding? Abandon ship. Go it alone
  • Scenario 2 - Metadata + keywords. The refiners & keywords
    • Project types = website & WordPress (because of so many WordPress projects, it's added as a website sub-term in the term set)
    • Artifact type = deliverable
    • Enterprise Keywords (aka folksonomy)
    • Keywords & phrases = "User Manual" "Manual" "How to"
    • plus standard refiners like doc type (Word, Excel) & date ranges

Which scenario surfaces the right content fluidly, almost instantaneously? Is likely to see more user adoption by PMs and the PMO? 🙂

With the new Ondemand feature (Windows 10) you will be able to have files that are left in the cloud available to the desktop. If explorer is not upgraded to read and show metadata, folders will need to be used to structure syncronized librarys.

Thanks all - really useful insights.

The "folders are evil" message has really not been true since SharePoint 2010, when folders gained the ability to automatically add metadata to documents. For intranet sites (communication sites, publishing scenarios), metadata is much easier to collect and can drive a much better search and browse experience. For team sites, where the impact and reach of the site is much narrower, I think folders are probably never going to die - and probably shouldn't given that Teams creates them for you and OneDrive really needs them to organize content offline. Every team needs to decide "how do we want to work together" - including how do we want to store and organize our document assets. I'm all for folders if they aren't nested more than one layer deep - especially if everyone on the team has a shared understanding of what goes where and where to find content. Folders need to be part of your content organization strategy - and so does metadata. This isn't an either-or, it's a both-and. We need to recognize that folders are a metaphor that people are used to - and isn't it better to focus on getting content into shared places where we can get work done rather than adding a barrier that can decrease adoption of team collaboration sites? For intranet content, where adding metadata helps organize content in more meaningful ways for users and content owners can look at adding metadata as a way to reduce phone calls, then metadata is essential. For team collaboration spaces, maybe not so much - unless you need the metadata to trigger a process.

I think it is again important in which context you are. Metadata are still fine for structured data and "process-driven" stuff, like documents with defined and managed lifecycle. We as consultants were maybe a bit "over-enthusiastic" in the last ten years and pushed the message of using metadata too hard.

Microsoft tends to go the more agile way of collaboration and information sharing. Less managed processes, more local decisions, which information enters the system and who the coworking users are. Well-defined sets of metadata make these approaches more clumsy and irritating for end users. So for all new fancy stuff folders are back. But when you tend to implement your clients business cases with boring managed solutions they are as strong as ever.