Forum Discussion
Image Tags SharePoint Online
First of all, it is quite "remarkable" that the roadmap ID 68902 no longer exists.
At the end of the day you have several options but none offer a silver bullet.
a. Status quo
i.e. do nothing and watch quota being consumed by the versions. You may end up purchasing extra storage if you exceed your quota.
b. Use tools (https://www.slimapplications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Report-Document-versions.jpg) or scripts to manage document versions
Metafore: you have a leaking tap and instead of fixing the tap you mop up the spill.
c. Use tools that allow users to modify properties without adding a new versions
If the tools use e.g. validateupdatelistitem via REST API (link) properties can be changed without adding new version. I am not aware of any tools offering this capability for existing SharePoint documents.
(we develop tools for SharePoint and this seems to be a useful feature. Something to put on our roadmap 🙂 )
d. Disable versioning in the library
e. Wait for a feature to be included into the SharePoint roadmap.
At this point, we're taking multiple approaches as you mention. While we are monitoring to see how Microsoft will deploy the Image Tags, we are also pursuing a flow to eliminate previous versions. Also, Image Tags have appeared (not fully implemented but enough to get some insights. They're showing up on Communication sites. Tags have not been removed, but Image Tags have been added. The ability to set the library to "No Versions" does exist on the libraries on the impacted communication sites, but nothing has yet appeared on Teams sites. On the Teams sites, there are no Image Tags and the libraries have no option to turn off versioning. I did add a tag on the communication site but need to verify the space utilization. Thanks!
- Update. Team Site libraries still do not have an option to turn off versioning so the flow will be key for us moving forward to reduce the storage impact.
Clear. Thanks for the update. If you have a limited number of libraries to cater for and the skills to develop the flow then that is the easiest way forward. Keep in mind that files in the first and second recycle bin also count towards your storage consumption.
Otherwise you need to look at tools to help manage versions (and subsequently storage consumption). It is bad that one incurs a storage penalty when simply changing metadata through the browser.