☕ SharePoint Tip #2 — Document Libraries: your new file server
Good morning! Here is your 15-minute SharePoint tip for today.
Day 2 | Week 1 — Platform Foundations
Document Libraries: your new file server
A Document Library is the single most important feature in SharePoint for your organisation. It is the direct replacement for a shared drive on a file server — but far more capable.
Every site comes with a default library called Shared Documents. You can create as many additional libraries as you need within a site.
What a library gives you that a file server doesn’t
Version history — every time someone saves a file, SharePoint saves the previous version automatically. You can view, compare, or restore any previous version. No more "who overwrote my file?"
Co-authoring — multiple people can edit the same Word, Excel, or PowerPoint file simultaneously in real time. Changes appear live, with each author’s edits shown in a different colour.
Check out / Check in — if you want to work on a file without others editing it at the same time, you can "check out" a file. It locks for others until you check it back in.
Metadata columns — beyond the filename, you can add custom columns like Department, Status, Project, or Contract Type. This makes files searchable and filterable in ways folders never could.
Views — you can create custom views of the same library. For example: "All contracts modified this week" or "Only files tagged as Finance." The files don’t move — just what you see changes.
Key library settings to know
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Versioning | Controls how many versions are kept (default: 500) |
| Require check out | Forces users to check out before editing |
| Content types | Allows different file types with different metadata in one library |
| Permissions | Can be set at library level, independently from the site |
Try it today (5 minutes)
Find a document library in your SharePoint. Click on any file — but don’t open it. Instead, click the three dots (…) next to the filename. You’ll see Version history in the menu. Click it and see all the previous versions of that file with timestamps and authors. This is something a traditional file server simply cannot do.
As a Product Owner
When users say "I preferred the file server," they usually mean "I understood folders." Your response: libraries do everything folders do, plus versioning, search, co-authoring, and metadata. The folder structure users are used to still exists inside libraries — they don’t lose that familiarity.
See you tomorrow at 6:00 AM with Tip #3 — OneDrive for Business and how it relates to SharePoint!