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What is the plan for "modern" Document Sets?

Silver Contributor

So it's been asked many times in the old network and never answered, so want to ask it here in the hopes that people are actually thinking about this.

 

What is the plan for "modern" Document Sets in the new modern SharePoint?

 

Right now, the experience is you are in the modern UI for the doc library, click the document set and it takes you back to the old UI, in a very disjointed experience.

 

Document Sets are the most used feature in our environment (and I think one of the most powerful/useful tools in all of SharePoint).

 

Critical success factors in my opinion:

  1. Don't take away functionality (do no harm)
    • this includes modifying the welcome page
    • documents inheriting metadata
    • multiple document content types
    • default views
  2. We HAVE to have the ability to keep modifying the landing page for each document set (including adding web parts) - we have so many solutions that add script web parts to build on the capability - (if things go the way they are now with the rest of modern SharePoint and we lose that it would be a major business impact for usability)
  3. Update the actual document view to be modern like the new doc lib

 

Things we typically add in code:

  • We typically add some buttons via script editor web part that are specific to the current document set the user is looking at
    • could be something like going to a start a workflow screen
    • likes to external systems based some metadata on the screen
  • We add a button / scripts to hide/show the document metadata view at the top, allowing users to focus on the document view and expand the metadata summary only when they want to see it
  • Custom branding (via image web parts and other OOTB capabilities) based on the type of document set
  • Analytics Event Tracking code - to see what users are doing while viewing document sets
127 Replies

Dear @Lincoln DeMaris

any update on the metadata issue for document sets with modern ui? It's still not possible to edit other metadata for document sets, except the Name.

I have the same issue.

My users can only change the name, unless they force it to go back to Classic view.

 

I have now set the document library to always show in Classic view. 

At least this way the users can work with Document sets

I've just stumbled across this thread because I'm looking at options for a client of mine, and Document Sets would be a perfect fit for them IF they worked fully in modern. Interestingly the behaviour I've seen tonight is when I edit the document set properties, I only see Name. However, when I hit the save button, the other fields briefly appear while the page is navigating away which means they're there, just not visible when they need to be. Seems like it's teasing me!

 

More interestingly, I've just dived into the DOM on the update form and it appears my fields are there, however the Knockout conditional switches are hiding it.

Thanks for your replies, all, and thank you again for your patience. I'm following up with the team about this again.

I'm having the same issues.  Was actually rolling out a solution to a client that relied heavily on document sets and this broke just a few days before we rolled it out.  They were really lookign forward to the new experience, but alas, we had to tell them they had to revert to using the classic UI until Microsoft could fix what they broke.

 

It's also not helpful when you have to give client the warning that b/c your in the cloud, Microsoft may randomly break key functionality with an update and there is not telling how long it might take to get said functionality back.

 

Hoping for a fix soon, the breaking of such key functionality and the slow response in fixing this has been dissapointing at best.

The inability to update Document Set metadata in the Modern UI is freaking out my users. Back to classic view for everyone. Hope classic view is supported at least until this issue is resolved. 

 

Looking for an update on fix.

 

Thanks in advance. I know there are a lot of moving parts.

 

Thanks for your patience on the document set property bug, everybody.  We have fixed the bug, and the fix is rolling out this week and next.

"Can't guarantee we'll get to this item in CY2017" ... i appreciate the honesty, but YIKES! Document sets are key piece of SP functionality that's missing from the modern experience. Mobile first, sure, but not at the expense of key functionality. I like the mobility and other features in "modern", but for many of my clients will need to wait until all the key plumbing is there before fully adopting.
Any news ?
Not sure why you rushed out modern ui and have left half done for so long. I am trying to roll out to non tech users and it is just too baffling to explain.

We just created an Office 365 Group, and then linked it to a new Team.  Obviously this spins up a bunch of related resources, including a modern SharePoint site.  Site Settings is really stripped down, and furthermore I don't see the ability to define a new custom Document Set content type there.  Am I missing a button/config somewhere?  Is this not available here?  The Document Sets are handy at times for batch management.

Hmm - you are right.

This is not an encouraging sign, As you say document sets were a very good way of tagging together a set of documents, applying some common meta data and reducing the need for folders. Although the meta data approach is clearly "right minded" the limited filtering level in views mean that collection by other methods is still useful.

 

I have not been a heavy users of Sharepoint in production (i.e for me but not others) and now I would like to get on but I find the drawn out and incomplete nature of the transition together with a lack of definitive statements e.g. "do it this way now and you will OK in the future" very frustrating.

[I spent yesterday discovering bugs/holes in powerapps]. I find nearly everything seems to be half done these days,

@Lincoln @Brent

Quick answer:  This was definitely not intentionally removed.  I will follow up and see what's going on here.  Is the requisite site collection feature enabled?  https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Create-and-configure-a-new-Document-Set-content-type-9db6d6...

 

Cool thanks!  And good thought, I'll go and check the feature.

Excellent thinking, that seems to have done the trick, thank you!

Yes - on my main site it is "active". (the colection optios doesn't appear under site settings for the group s te). My libraries (modern or otherwise) in my main site do have this enabled and usuable but the sitethat was created by my outlook group although being in sites/ underer my main site does not have the feature and document sets does not appear in the list when managing content types.

Ian, I don't quite follow what you're saying.  

 

Are you saying that when the site collection feature is enabled, the option to create a Document Set appears in libraries, but when the site collection feature is disabled, it doesn't?

 

Or are you saying that in some of your sites, you're not even seeing the site colleciton feature as an option to enable/disable?

I am saying that I see the option described on my "parent" (only) Sharepoint site (which has a URL xxxx.sharepoint.com) and it is on. When I look at the properties of the group site that was created by the outlook group (which appears in sites under our main URL) there is no such option. i have no idea whether the automatically creted site considers itself part of any collection but there is no option from the menu when "in" this site.

Just to clarify - you're saying that the site collection feature list on your site created from Outlook does not include the "Document Sets" feature as one of the features that can be enabled. Is that right?

Correct

Only my original site has this.

Reading elsewhere I think I am told that outlook groups create a new site collection.

 

That said, my biggest concern is whether Micrsoft plan to support collections in the modern UI and if so in what time frame; the gradually shifting and unrpedictable UI has basically halted the adoption of sharepoint in my organisation.

 

If it's not hard to make the UI change, then the worry is that it not having appeared for so long could mean that there is a plan todrop the feature

 

And if it is hard, then there is dnager it will never happen because it is hard.

 

Colelctions seem to be the ideal tool to reduce folders in an evironment e.g. in our usage to "tag" all the documents associated with a particular meeting.