Page properties not visible for filtering news webpart

[stevenam]

We created a modern communication site to use as an intranet site. On that site we want to use two news webparts: one for corporate messages and one for news with lower importance. I want to use a filter one a custom (site) column in the site pages library: important messages, which is a yes/no type. This is one of a few custom site columns we created. None of the columns show up in the news webpart page properties filter. Only the title is available.

Do we need to change something in the columns to make them show up?

[#2]

I don’t know if this is obvious or not, but have you added the site column to the Site Pages library? Make sure you check the box to apply to all content types in the library. You can currently only filter on news on the local site, not if you are pulling news in from other sites.

[#3]

Thank you for your reply Susan.

Yes I have added the site column to the Site Pages library. I also checked to box to apply to all content types. The page on which I want to use the filtered webpart is on the same site as the news pages itself (even in the same library actually).

I can use the columns as filters in the Site Pages library but they do not show in the filter option within the news webpart.

[#4]

@stevenam This may be a problem with the column type of Y/N. I just tried a Y/N column in a test site I have and it didn't appear as a choice to filter in News. Try replacing it with a Choice column with values of Yes and No. It will definitely work with Choice columns.

[#5]

@Susan HanleyI actually have a few different types of custom columns:

Yes/no

Date and time

Choice

One textline

Managed metadata

Multiple textlines

Person or group

Even the choice column does not show up.

[#6 · Accepted solution]

@stevenam  Can you see that each column is associated to the content types in library settings? I would try on a new site and see if the issue is the site itself. I was not able to filter on Yes/No columns in the News web part, but I use choice columns all the time and they work. 

[#7]

@Susan HanleyYes the columns are associated to the content types. The site was created recently, about two weeks ago. So there is no legacy or anything there.

[#8]

@stevenam I would still try again on a new test site. Just to be sure that the site isn’t the issue. If it is the site, you will need to do some additional digging.

[#9]

So I created a test site, custom contenttypes and added them to the Sitepages library. Now the columns show up as a filter. Even deleted the default contenttype for the Sitepages library and the filters still show up.

So how do I move forward on this? I tried deleting and adding the custom contenttypes but no matter what I do I can only pick Title as a filter.

[#10]

Is there a lot of content in the original site? Can you recreate it easily? Do you have a migration tool that you can use to copy the content to a new site? That is probably what I would do at this point - or use a support ticket. (But re-creating might be faster - especially if the site isn’t live yet.)

[#11]

@Susan HanleySo you would advise building a new site? Not just a new library? Recreating is not really a big issue but I want to spend as little time as possible on this. So if recreating a new library will suffice I would obviously go for that option. Will try creating a new library anyway.

[#12]

@stevenam I would start over with a new site. Something is hosed in your Site Pages library and rather than creating a new one, if it's not too much work, and since you have already proven the problem is not there in a new site, I think the safest route is a new site. 

[#13]

@Susan HanleyThank you so much for your help. In that case we will recreate the page. I think the problem is somehow related to the changes I made to the contenttypes. Thanks again!

[#14]

@stevenam I ran across a potentially related issue. I had created a column (called Page Catagory) to label my various News items, to filter and display on appropriate pages. I created it using the MS described method (within the Pages library, adding on the right side of the All Items view). All worked fine. Then I decided I needed to create that column at the top level of the site so that potential sub-sites (yes, we still have need of these) could also use the column, and I could add it on to my Blog content type. After swapping out the top-level column for the Library-only column, the news filters could no longer see the Page Category column. I recreated the column at the Pages library level (now both columns are there - different names, of course), and I can again filter on the column. I believe MS has a glitch -- only columns created in the Pages library will surface in the News filter. 

[#15]

Are you sure you have added the Site Column to all of the content types in the Site Pages library? Having been burned using list columns as you described, I typically only create Site Columns when I am configuring sites. I use Site Columns to filter news all the time - in multiple tenants. If you add the Site Column to the Site Pages library and leave the box checked to add to all content types, you should be able to filter in the News web part on the Page Property you are using for news.

[#16]

@Susan Hanley I'm having a similar issue. I've added a category column on the SitePages, but it doesn't show up on the individual post pages. I'm not sure I've set it up correctly.

[#17]

See my earlier reply. Make sure that you have added the column to all content types. If you have, you should see the column in Page Details on each page.

[#18]

@Susan Hanley how do I know if I've added it to all content types? Where would I see this?

[#19]

Add the column as a site column (Gear > Site information > View all site settings. Go to the Site Pages library. Make sure you are starting from Library Settings (Gear > Library Settings). In the Columns section, select Add from existing site columns. You will see the list of columns you can add. Be sure that in the Options box, Add to all content types and Add to default view are selected.

[#20]

Has anyone tried to use a lookup column within the Page Properties web part? I've been wrestling with a similar issue to this myself. I've found that for me I either need to unseal the Site Page content type to reveal extra filter choices within the page properties web part, or it only affects older sites (possibly pre-September 2019 as described here). 

So as Susan and others have said, creating new sites seems to rectify the issue for most, but I'm using lookup columns as my library form has dependant drop-downs and the columns won't show is the page properties webpart. Is there a list of supported field types or anything?

Cheers,
Anthony