For a distributed workforce, there is little on-premise work, and most files are shared online. Sending via email can be a time-consuming task and does not allow for file management. We’ve all been there and we need to sort and organize files in different folders and send files when needed.
SharePoint reduces workload
SharePoint is a cloud-based productivity tool that puts an end to the tedious task of forwarding multiple times with no room to organize files. If you’re an Office 365 subscriber, you can take advantage of the SPO file manager in your organization.
it’s time to dig deeper into how it works
Know what is searchable and what is not
Before you can explore SPO for specific type of files, you need to understand how the service searches for files. Users often complain that they can’t find the file that they want using the search bar.
But first things first, what can you search and what not?
What you can search for
SharePoint allows users to employ securities to certain documents.
• If a user lacks permissions and roles to access a particular document, that document will not appear in search results.
• On the other hand, someone with enough roles and permissions will be able to find the files with a simple search.
•The SharePoint search will match with the file name, the headline of the document, and all the metadata linked to it.
• Even the content of a document will be scanned with the entered search keyword.
now let’s simplify it with an example
If a company tries to search for a file by typing keywords which appears inside of the file, SharePoint won’t be able to present results for that file. If the same user tries to search by file name, he will be able to find it.
However, there is one small issue that Office 365 subscribers need to know about SharePoint, for Word documents, the full keyword search is valid. If you have a PDF scan of an image, the search will not find any words in that scan.
what actions should be taken
Naming files consistently
You will agree that it is challenging to organize the many files we have to deal with in our daily business life. We also get overwhelmed when our colleagues do not follow proper conventions when naming files. Here are some tips on what to do with file naming in SharePoint:
• When a colleague uses a SharePoint folder, he or she should avoid reuse file names.
• Sometimes it’s a head-breaker to keep track of the version when we have many files with the same name.
• SharePoint does its job by adding a suffix to the file name, but if users follow best practices when using SharePoint, the files will display correctly on the search results.
If just all of us had good practices…
This certainly helps clear up a lot of confusion related to file naming. It also saves users a lot of time by avoiding multiple clicks and checking each file after opening it.
Even a simple naming method can prevent you from creating multiple copies of the same file.
Keep in mind that when more duplicates are created, the chances of accidental data loss increase.
so, let’s keep the order!
The impact on the Business relationships
If you have a long-standing business relationship with your customer, it’s not surprising that there is a common SharePoint folder.
For loyal and long-term customers, it’s a matter of reputation to upload files into SharePoint that follows a consistent file nomenclature, to significantly reduce guesswork.
let’s keep the level up!
A partner may face a data recovery problem in SharePoint when there is no proper naming practice.
When partners upload multiple files to SharePoint without changing the nomenclature, older files are often replaced by newer ones. The partner, who is not aware of the latest uploads, may open a file one day and be surprised to find that the file has been replaced.
In the lack of a backup, this can cause the loss of data, reputation and goodwill of the company. SharePoint users can be clumsy, as the application allows users to recover files later. A own recovey system.
prevention is better than cure!
Identify images as quickly as possible with Image Tags
Tagging your images will prevent SharePoint from collecting similar items and show this content in the result. Otherwise, Microsoft Search will randomly retrieve from your sites and do not collect specific results.
The search results will include any images that are tagged with that term.
tag everything!
The auto-generated Image Tag are re-evaluated each time the image is updated. There may be cases where the image is updated and old tags are removed and new tags are added. However, tags that are manually added are never removed.
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Approvals and Workflow
SharePoint Online
You may have lists and libraries where you want new articles and/or new versions of current articles to be reviewed for accuracy of content or appropriateness of form and style before they are released to all who have access to the list. This type of review process is called content approval.
In SharePoint products, it’s possible to manually approve the content without a workflow; but a SharePoint approval workflow can make the process even easier and more efficient.
there is no reason to be complicated
Locking documents with sensitive data
What if your SharePoint folders are shared with a large team with members of different hierarchy? From a security point of view, the accessibility of specific documents should be limited to leaders and managers.
Why would you lock your documents?
You can lock your documents in SharePoint and prevent other users from editing, updating or deleting them. Documents containing potentially sensitive data should be locked.
let’s see a way to do this…
To do this, you will need to enable this feature from Site Collection Features.
• Open your document library, where you have your desired documents, and navigate to Site Settings
• Select Site Collection Features and Activate the feature called In Place Records Management
• Go back to the library where you have placed the documents to be locked so that they cannot be edited.
• Click on the Library settings
• Select Record declaration settings and finally select the option called Always allow the manual declaration of records
may take some time to propagate on the server
• Navigate to the library and select the file.
• Click on the three dots, more, Compliance details.
• Select Declare as an in-place record to declare a record.
It will automatically lock the file to prevent unauthorised updates. A status symbol near to the file will show the status of the file next to it’s name.
and it’s done! This is one way to do it
There are some interesting features associated with the file-locking function in SharePoint.
SharePoint allows users to automate the file lock functionality even at the end of a workflow, or when a document is approved.
It minimizes the time spent between multiple users.
Another notable feature of SharePoint is that it can automatically lock documents after migration from their financial system to SharePoint for archiving.
now we can take a break. Can we?
Let’s leave the topic of SharePoint permissions for another day…
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