Make an Existing Site Column a Managed Metadata Column?

[coreychimko]

Hi All, I'm a new Sharepoint admin and I'm working to set up managed metadata at the site level. I'm trying to create a Managed Metadata column called 'City'. When I try to create the column under Site Settings > Site Columns, Sharepoint says that the column already exists (which is true, it appears under the 'Core Contact and Calendar Columns' pre-set group. I seem to be able to move the existing column to my custom group, but I cannot change the type to 'Managed Metadata'. The option doesn't appear (see screenshot). I also don't seem to be able to delete it to re-create my own 'City' column. So how can I create a column called 'City' that is metadata managed? Do I have to use a different name for the column, or is there a way around these restrictions? Thanks.

[#2]

This happens when you try to use a column name that is already part of the "reserved" labels in the default metadata for SharePoint. The easiest way to solve this is to use a different column name - like ABCCity (where ABC is the name of the org and after you create it, you can add the space to make the column more readable). There could be other ways to do this programmatically, but if you want a way to do it that is quick and easy, this will work.