Changing Content Types Using Bulk Edit Metadata in Sharegate
There are many times when I start working with a client where they have used virtually no (or none at all) Content Types in SharePoint. As I discuss in my Content Types: Love Them or Lose It sessions at conferences (Coming up next: SPTechCon Austin! Use code ANDERSON to save an extra $200 off full registration.), Content Types are about much more than just metadata. A good information architecture in SharePoint uses Content Types liberally to improve search results, determine workflow behaviors, create content roll ups, and so much more.
If you have read any of our recent Sympraxis newsletters, you know that Sharegate is one of our absolutely favorite tools we use to work with SharePoint. We love it so much, we’re partners with them – you can even buy Sharegate through us! It a rare day that Sharegate isn’t open in my Windows 10 Task Bar so that I can do something with SharePoint. You may think of Sharegate as a migration tool, but we use it as our “everything tool” – it does far more than just migrate content.
I didn’t intend this to be an advertisement for Sharegate, but once I start talking about it…
Anyway, today I needed to change the Content Type on a LOT of events in a calendar. We often create a new Content Type based on Event which has a few extra column. Most often they are things like Show on Home Page? or Department Name, especially in an Intranet. In this case, that Content Type is called Department Event, and it lets us intelligently roll up those events on the Intranet home page.
Changing from one Content Type to another is something you’ll probably need to do anytime you want to “true up” your information architecture.
Maybe you have a Document Library with thousands of documents in it – all with the Content Type Document. That doesn’t do much for you!
Or maybe you created a Content Type called Contract, and realize that having several child Content Types like Real Estate Contract and Employee Contract will give you improved metadata and “findability”. If you have a lot of existing Contracts, then you’ve got a headache ahead of you – unless you use a tool like Sharegate.
The way we go about this is to use the Bulk Edit Metadata capability in Sharegate.
First we open the list or library where we want to change the Content Type. Choose the SharePoint Site Collection or tenant and connect…
Navigate to the the list or library where you want to make the changes and select a view which displays the Content Type. If you don’t have one, go set one up and come back to refresh the view (upper right below). Select the items you’d like to change…
Click on the Excel button in the ribbon…
…and choose Export Selection to Excel.
You can add additional mappings and changes here, but let’s just click on the Export now button…
You’ll need to provide a destination to save the file. Once the export is done, click on the Open File button to open the Excel file containing the exported data…
In Excel, you can change any of the metadata, but here we are focusing on the Content Type. Remember that spelling matters – you’ll get errors on import if you’ve spelled the Content Type name incorrectly.
Click on the Excel button back in Sharegate again and this time choose Import From Excel…
Select the Excel file wherever you saved it before. You have another chance to create some other mappings, etc., but let’s just click on the Import now button…
After a little work – it’ll take longer for more data – your Content Types will be changed, just as you set them in the Excel export. You didn’t “migrate” any content at all – you just changed things in place to be the way you want them!
This is one of those everyday uses for Sharegate that makes it one of our favorite tools.
I am also using Sharegate for bulk editing of content types and their associated metadata. How would you do this for document imported from a file share? Do we need two steps – first bulk upload then bulk editing – or is there a faster way?
@Christophe:
It’s sort of two steps, but not as onerous as you think.
First you use the Import to SharePoint option and point to your source and destination. Next you Export to Excel. The export will contain all the files in your source file share (or hard drive). You can make your metadata edits there, most often incorporating folder names into the metadata columns. Finally, you Import from Excel. That uses the data in the Excel file to import the files with the metadata you’ve set.
This works really well in the times I’ve tried it.
M.
I’ll try that, thanks for the tip Marc!
Haven’t used this tool but I dealt with Content Types. Can’t you use Quick Edit in a Library or List to do the same bulk editing?
@Rose:
Unfortunately, no. Content Type is one of the columns which cannot be edited in the Quick Edit or older Datasheet views. It makes sense, but it makes this sort of exercise harder.
M.
You say “older datasheet views”, how old is that? I have been trying to find a way to select the content type in a datasheet view in sharepoint 2013 and seem to hit dead ends. some recommend removing required fields, not using “link to” fields, and others have recommended datasheet views for each content type, etc. None of those combinations seems to work, though I need the ability to have the content type selectable from a datasheet view. Is that possible in 2013? Need I just hit on the right combination of settings to make this happen?
@Mark:
You simply can’t change the Content Type field in a Datasheet view.
M.
Thank you for this. I’ve taken your session at SPTech Con. We can’t get our people away from their beloved folders and share drives. It is especially daunting to them when we meet and talk about content types and adding meta data to your documents. This tool would make the transition so much easier for them.
@Michelle:
It can definitely be daunting to switch from a shared folder mentality to a content management one. Let me know if a demo of Sharegate would be helpful for you. We’re partners with them and love the tools.
M.