Using SharePoint Content Types is a bit like using CSS for a website
‒ you only have to change in one place. In SharePoint Microsoft builds all of the inbuilt lists on Content Types, and any SharePoint admin can do the same.
For example, if you connect for Document Libraries with the same Content Type, you can handle updates in the Content Type instead of changing each Document Library separately.
Peter Kalmstrom, CEO of kalmstrom.com Business Solutions, is a Microsoft certified SharePoint
specialist and trainer. In the demo below he
explains some of the benefits of using SharePoint
Content Types and shows how to get started with
it in SharePoint 2010.
Peter uses three standard team sub sites in his
example. All of them need to use contract documents,
and instead of creating contracts in the Shared
documents of each site Peter makes use of the
Content Types feature of SharePoint 2010 to manage
these contracts more easily.
How to create a new Content Type with the correct Parent Content Type and place it in a group. Site Content Types are inherited from the site they are created in and downwards, so Peter creates his Content Type in the root site.
How to connect a Document Library to a Content Type by first allowing management of Content Types and then adding the correct Content Type to the Library via the Advanced Library Settings.
Save a template to the Content Type.
Templates cannot be saved directly to a SharePoint Content Type,
but Peter shows a workaround.
Create a shared view of all documents using the same Content Type, with the help of the Content Query Web Part available in the SharePoint 2010 Server and Enterprise versions.
In the demonstration Peter also shows many general features of SharePoint, like how to create different kinds of columns, create and modify views, save as a template, add Quick Parts, work with Web Parts and much more. Welcome to have a look!
How to connect a Document Library to a Content Type by first allowing management of Content Types and then adding the correct Content Type to the Library via the Advanced Library Settings.
