Forum Discussion
uploading pdf files to modern library
I've created modern library where scanned version of documents will be kept in pdf format. And now, how do I create a form to upload pdf files with some additional data (metadata). Just clicking 'Upload' doesn't give form.
4 Replies
There are a couple OOTB solutions that I can think of, but of course it depends on how many files we're talking about and how much metadata, and how they are being stored.
- If you have simple metadata, you can leverage folders, and then apply default metadata tagging on the folder in the library settings so anything uploaded into that folder gets the metadata automatically applied
- You can write a workflow to use conditional logic to tag files
- You could just do the manual bulk upload, then either go to bulk edit and set the metadata en masse, or combine that with exporting to Excel, set it all then copy and paste back. You could create a view with no folders just showing all files to aid in that.
You should also consider a file-naming scheme as well, considering search word breakers (I think underscores are best, no spaces) in the Name, and setting the Title column. Hopefully you have thought through what site, library, folder structure you need, security, etc.
Also be sure to test the uploaded files as I had a client that was doing the same, and SharePoint wouldnt render a preview nor open, it gave an error and forced a download. The client changed the scan properties from PDF to PDF/A and it fixed it, allowed previews to work fine.
- I personally use a product called knowledgelake connect which gives you a folder on your computer that brings up metadata and asks for metadata for each file / file set. It's a slick tool. It's not free last I checked thou but worth the cost.
There are some in E-mail that do the same from e-mail, but not sure of other solutions. You could even build a powerapp that' does it as well if you wanted to create your own since it supports attachments now. - If you want to add the metadata a the same time you upload the files, you need to build your custom file upload solution
There are several custom solutions that allow uploading of documents plus selection of Content Types + setting metadata fields.
See e.g. https://directory.collab365.community/office365-sharepoint/office-365-migration-software/
Note: some of the solutions are even browser-based.Paul | SLIM Applications
