Reusable Workflow to Set Title
A SharePoint Workflows tutorial by Peter Kalmström
 In
the
previous article we explained why it is important that
the Title fields in list and library items are filled out,
and we showed how to create a list workflow that sets the
title to the same as the item's name. That workflow only
works for one library. If you want to set the title to the
same as the name in another library, you have to re-create
the workflow for that library.
Another option is to create a reusable workflow, also called
a workflow template. In the demo below Peter Kalmström,
CEO and Systems Designer of kalmstrom.com Business Solutions,
shows how to create a reusable workflow that sets the title
to the same as the name of the list item or file not only
for one library but for all libraries in the site collection.
You have to create a SharePoint 2010 workflow, because SharePoint
2013 workflows cannot be connected to a specific content
type, which is necessary for this workflow.
Create a reusable workflow that sets the title to the
same as the name
- Open the root site of the site collection in SharePoint
Designer 2013.
- Click on the Workflows link in the left panel.
- Click on the Reusable Workflow button in the ribbon.
- Create a new SharePoint 2010 workflow and give it
a name. Connect the workflow to the Document content
type.
- Select the Condition to 'If current item field equals
value' and set it to Title 'not equals' Name.
- Select the Action 'Set Field in Current Item' and
set the Field to Title and the Value to Name.
- Do not set any start options. Here you can
only disable the workflow. Instead you will set the
start options when you associate the workflow with the
content type.
- Publish the workflow
Associate the workflow with the Document content type
- Open the Site settings in the root site of the site
collection and click on the Site content types link
in the Web Designer Galleries group.
- Select the Document Content Types and then click
on the Document content type.
- Click on the Workflow settings link and then on
Add a workflow.
- Select the reusable workflow you just created.
- Give the workflow a name and set it to start when
an item is created or changed.
Now all the site collection's existing and new libraries
that use the Document content type (which is the default
content type for libraries) will have this workflow.
Run the workflow on existing files
As the workflow is run at change or creation, existing files
that are not touched will still be without a title. A quick
way to make the workflow run on existing files is to create
a dummy column and set a dummy value that changes the metadata
of all files.
- Create a new column in the library.
- Modify the view to show the Title column and the
new column.
- Open the library in Quick Edit mode and set a value
in the first cell in the new column.
- Drag the value down to all documents. (If you have
many documents in the library, you should open it in
Access and work with it there instead.)
- When the workflow has run and all the titles are
there, remove the dummy column again.
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