Jul 22 2016 06:30 AM
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:
Things we typically add in code:
Dec 06 2017 12:30 PM
Mine looks like that too ... but when I go into the Doc Set, its the old interface ... nothing really new here.
Dec 07 2017 11:29 PM
Feb 12 2018 09:37 AM
Hi @Chris McNulty! Just wanted to ping you on this and see if there's any more word on this since it's been a few months. Didn't see anything on the official roadmap yet and this is oh-so-critical. Thanks!
Feb 12 2018 09:48 AM - edited Feb 12 2018 02:14 PM
I have also tried to get a response but failed. Last week I had to stop using document set for one of the projects because moving from classic to modern (much easier) is a real pain for the end user. I am actually surprised that this hidden gem in Sharepoint is not getting enough attention.
Having said this, I think the best way to get attention is through user voice. It is unfortunate to see only 320 votes have been registered so far. I have voted as much as I could and would requests others to vote. Thx
Feb 12 2018 12:53 PM
I fear that the plan is to drop them - classic Microsoft process is to fob you off with some promise, then pretend to forget all about them and then hope that enough users give up that they can claims there was no call and not bother.
Not a word from MS for nearly 2 years now. And as you rightly say, nothing in the endless stream of announcements.
Feb 12 2018 02:08 PM
SolutionFeb 13 2018 06:48 AM
And that is why you are now my Current Microsoft Favorite, @Chris McNulty. :) Can't wait to hear what's in store. I feel better steering clients toward document sets if I know for sure they'll eventually be migrated to modern. Like everyone else, I just don't want to encourage users to adopt a deprecated technology.
Feb 13 2018 07:12 AM
Please keep communicating - we're shepherding our users with solutions based on what we *assume* is happening next, and it's an unpleasant spot to be in. The more we know in as timely a fashion as possible the more effective we will be and the smoother user acceptance and engagement will go. Thanks in advance!
Feb 13 2018 10:27 AM
Thanks for that - but I would say nearly 2 years after you launched modern UI (and promised something shortly for document sets) it still alarming to hear that you haven't thought about this enough to even put it on the roadmap.
It is till a huge issue that I can't explain to my users why the world turns upside down every time they use a document set. Sharing is weird - the easiest way to share a set of documents is to make a folder - you can't even share a document library "properly" [from a user point of view] and document sets are the same - transferable skills don't exist.
I am pleased to hear something but you will forgive my cynicism. I own a windows phone which probably says enough (and most of the previous abandoned versions - which probably says I am stupid. Indeed as everyone else in the world was showing me the tiny phones and laughing at my Jornada [very early HP smartphone] people said I was stupid fro believing in any kind of large format phone; OK in that case it turns out I was right and they were wrong).
Many years ago I went on all the training for what I think was called blackbird but was the development tool for the Microsoft Network (the one didn't run on the internet but was Microsoft's alterative to the of TCP/IP - I developed one of the world's first online training operations - all wasted and all with promises of continued support until it wasn't'. I have taught people to use all kinds of futures (I had a v- name for more than a decade) that failed and the pattern has always been "promise the world", your "bit" isn't in the new product "go very quiet", a few "we haven't forgot you" messages and then abandoned.
I am sure that you may have grander plans for Doc Sets that will involve deeper thought but for many of us just fixing the UI to match the rest of product would be a reassuring start and render what we already had usable if still not giving us the confidence to recommend further adoption.
I had a significant investment in using sharepoint fields in word documents (worked neatly with documents sets) - but lookup fields return their index number in Word not the data in them. Waited forever for a fix - now told it won't be fixed. (I ma guessing something else exits in the future) but from my point of view 100s of hours wasted building a solution that was planned around a feature as advertised with regular promises of fixes until suddenly it wasn't.
Let's have something on the roadmap?
Feb 13 2018 11:51 AM - edited Feb 13 2018 01:19 PM
Feb 13 2018 11:51 AM - edited Feb 13 2018 01:19 PM
Hi,
Regarding the "minus 1 day" in World Online, it could be explained if the date was been shown as UTC instead of the one in your time zone. It is only my theory, but this is a bug that I have as well in Sweden.
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EDITED:
Sorry. I see now that you had already a conversation with Matt about this.
Did you get some response from Microsoft support or have some workaround? It is painful to have additional Text fields (and update them via t.ex. Webhooks when the source Date field changes) only because of this bug.
Feb 13 2018 11:25 PM - edited May 26 2018 04:46 AM
Feb 13 2018 11:25 PM - edited May 26 2018 04:46 AM
Thanks but we just abandonned our plans in the end. Elected Councillors are generally older people with lower IT skills. Many would prefer paper;. as it happens we have persuaded them to accept windows tablets and have some success using email with scqnned attachmenrs. Trying to move them into a sharepoint world whereven the experts have to admit it doesnt work properly (randomly varying UI) bodged word documents etc. would probably bring back arguments to abandon IT in favour of paper.
It's sad that we were nearly done 18 months ago and have been able to make no progress; even sadder that signs of a promised fix haven't even appeared on a roadmap.
My credibility as the IT advocate has been damaged; the idea that we migth offer our solution to the hundreds of other town & parish councils that could benefit from document sets (with connected word templates for collating meeting documents) has complwtely disappeared; a dcoument for each meeting would mean that each document shared metadata such a datenof meeting, committe, clerk etc.
Mar 11 2018 01:57 AM
Another month - did I miss an announcement or has nothing happened? (well into our 3rd year waiting for anything). [Please just make the UI consistent before worrying about other things you might like to do]
Mar 12 2018 12:40 AM
To make matters a little more worse ... the new SharePoint Search experience does not properly recognize Documents Sets.
- No Custom Icon
- Wrong Name (ID instead of DocSet Name)
- truncated description (first word left out)
Mar 12 2018 01:40 PM
We are working on a revised design, and I'm sure you will hear about it prominently when we have a roadmap item to share. We understand that everyone has favorite or needed enhancements, and addressing all of them across the service doesn't always perfectly match collective customer expressed priorities. Nonetheless, we hope to have information to share soon. Thanks.
May 10 2018 10:39 AM
May 10 2018 10:42 AM
May 17 2018 04:50 AM
Sorry Chris - this isn't a favourite feature this is serious failure. You have been at this for 3 years surely by now I could have the same share interface as the rest of the product?
to update a product and leave a major component out of even any roadmap is desperately poor thinking.
To promise people a timely solution (look back a couple of years in this thread) is simply deceitful - why were we given messages abut soon if you haven't even got it in any roadmap document you can share.
A quick facelift to the UI would have satisfied most of us for now - the user experience is dreadful. OneDrive, SharePoint (most) etc. have a moderately consistent UI but document sets used by customers who understood the SharePoint concept and clearly invested effort are just left to rot.
May 17 2018 05:55 AM
That would be great Chris. I have deployed Doc Sets on many client solutions. Training is always a challenge because Tasks, Doc Sets and Announcements still using the ribbon. The new Copy feature for moving documents is GREAT and users love it, but now we have 1 more drawback to Doc Sets - no easy copy (from) option. I know MS wants us to use Group sites and Teams so tweaking these old features isn't the priority, but the reality is that those new interfaces are just not the right user experience for many clients yet.
May 17 2018 06:23 AM - edited May 17 2018 06:24 AM
May 17 2018 07:49 AM - edited May 26 2018 04:48 AM
Groups are great but have two issues:
1) the main one is in local government we have files that can't be edited by many users (policies. - there's no meaningful security in groups all are equal
2) Minor the confusion between files and library minutes) in the web interface is unhelpful - especially as it doesn't happen in desktop outlook. That means that staff (desktop users) helping committee members aren't even seeing the same thing.
Teams only seem to be useful to those who live in teams pretty well all the time. NOt good for us. There are full time officers, less frequent (office365 account holding) councillors and then random other people form outside the organisation who join committees and working groups.
Document sets are the way to go as documents relate to meetings (so committee, date are key metadata).
Ideally, I'd want to link document sets (with their appropriate security) into groups (as links) so that committee members can freely share, post an edit their documents and officers can create documents of records in a document set which they link to the group. But currently I cannot imagine explain to a councillor (or a visitor) why when you open the document set files the interface changes dramatically and incomprehensibly and feels like the 1990s.
Very disappointing approach by MS - but being let down by promises made by MS is hardly new - I own a Windows phone