10 SharePoint Folder Structure Best Practices

In any document management system, it is important to have a well-organized folder structure. This is especially true in SharePoint, where users can easily lose track of documents if they are not properly organized.

A well-organized folder structure can make it easier for users to find the documents they need, and it can also help to keep the overall size of the SharePoint site down. In this article, we will discuss 10 best practices for creating a SharePoint folder structure.

1. Start with a plan

When you have a plan, you know what you’re trying to achieve with your folder structure. This means that you can create a structure that is fit for purpose and that will help you to achieve your goals.

Without a plan, it’s all too easy to create a folder structure that is messy and disorganized, which can make it difficult to find the information you’re looking for.

A good way to start planning your SharePoint folder structure is to create a mind map. This will help you to visualize the different elements of your structure and to see how they fit together.

Once you have a plan, you can start to create your folder structure in SharePoint. Remember to keep it simple and to use descriptive names for your folders.

2. Create a folder hierarchy that makes sense for your organization

When you have a well-organized folder structure, it’s easier for users to find the content they’re looking for. This is because each piece of content is stored in a logical location, and users can easily navigate the hierarchy to find what they need.

A well-organized folder structure also makes it easier to manage your content. For example, if you need to move or delete a piece of content, you can do so without affecting other content in the same location.

Finally, a well-organized folder structure can help improve performance. When SharePoint renders a page, it needs to retrieve all of the content from the database. If your content is organized into a small number of large folders, this can result in slow performance. However, if your content is organized into a large number of small folders, SharePoint can more quickly retrieve the content it needs, resulting in faster performance.

3. Use folders to organize content, not permissions

When you use folders to control permissions, it creates what’s called a “permission boundary.” This means that anyone with access to the parent folder also has access to all of the subfolders, regardless of the permissions you’ve set on those subfolders.

This can be a security risk because it means that users have access to content they shouldn’t have access to. It can also be a management nightmare because you have to manage permissions at the folder level instead of at the individual item level.

Instead of using folders to control permissions, use them to organize content. This will make it easier to find content and to set permissions at the individual item level.

4. Avoid long paths and deep hierarchies

Long paths and deep hierarchies can lead to a number of problems, including:

– Difficulty in finding files
– Slow performance when opening files or folders
– Increased likelihood of errors when trying to access files

To avoid these problems, keep your paths short and your hierarchy shallow. In general, you should aim for no more than three levels deep.

If you do need to have long paths or deep hierarchies, consider using shortcuts or links to help users navigate to the files they need.

5. Keep the number of items in a library under 5,000

When a library contains too many items, it can start to impact performance. Users may experience slow load times or timeouts when trying to access the library. In some cases, users may not be able to access the library at all.

To avoid these issues, it’s important to keep the number of items in a library under 5,000. If you do need to store more than 5,000 items in a library, consider breaking them up into multiple libraries.

6. Don’t use spaces or special characters in file names

When you use spaces in file names, SharePoint automatically replaces them with %20. This can cause problems when users try to open files or when you’re trying to move files around within SharePoint.

Special characters can also cause problems, especially if you’re using SharePoint Online. That’s because SharePoint Online uses a different character set than SharePoint on-premises, so special characters that work on one platform might not work on the other.

To avoid these problems, stick to using letters, numbers, and hyphens (-) in your file names.

7. Make sure files have unique names

If two files have the same name, SharePoint will treat them as the same file. This means that if someone updates one file, the other file will be updated as well. This can obviously lead to some serious problems, so it’s important to make sure that all files in your SharePoint site have unique names.

To do this, you can either use a naming convention (e.g. adding dates or initials to file names) or you can use SharePoint’s “Check for Duplicates” feature. This feature will scan your site for duplicate files and give you the option to rename them.

8. Maintain consistency across libraries

If you have different team members working on different parts of the same project, it’s important that they’re all using the same naming conventions and folder structure. This will make it much easier for everyone to find the files they need, and will also make it simpler to merge changes when necessary.

It can be helpful to create a template library that everyone can use as a starting point. This way, everyone will be working from the same foundation, and it will be easy to see at a glance which files are in the wrong place.

9. Organize your site structure before you start building sites

When you’re building a site, it’s easy to get caught up in the details and lose sight of the big picture. If you don’t have a clear idea of how you want your sites to be organized, you’ll end up with a jumbled mess that’s difficult to navigate and even harder to find information in.

Organizing your site structure before you start building will help you stay focused on the overall goal and ensure that each site you create fits into the larger picture. It will also make it easier to add new sites later on, as they’ll already have a place in your structure.

10. Consider using metadata instead of folders

Folders are great for organizing content, but they have some serious drawbacks. For one, they can make it difficult to find what you’re looking for. When you have a lot of folders, it can be hard to know where to look for a specific document.

Metadata, on the other hand, can help you organize your content in a way that’s more searchable and easier to navigate. You can use metadata to tag documents with keywords, so you can easily find them later. You can also use metadata to categorize documents, so you can see all the documents in a certain category at once.

If you’re not sure whether to use folders or metadata, consider using both. You can use folders to group similar items together, and then use metadata to further organize those items. This can help you strike a balance between organization and ease of use.