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Understand what a Document Library is and what type of information we can store in it. 

Quick reference

What is a Document Library?

A document library is similar to a list but instead of records of information, we have lists of files and folders. By default, a document library is included with the team site template. Document libraries are displayed on pages using web parts. 

When to use

We use a document library whenever we want to store files within SharePoint. 

Instructions

A document library is similar to a list. It has column headings but instead of records, we have a list of files and folders. We can store many different types of files in a document library. From Word, Excel, and Powerpoint files, to image and audio files. The only file type we cannot store in a SharePoint document library is an executable file (.exe). 

It's worth noting that SharePoint has an upload limit of up to 50Mg. This can be increased by the SharePoint site administrator if needed.  

A standard document library is created automatically when we create a new team site and is based on the default template for libraries. Like lists, the columns in a document library can be customized and we can create our own custom libraries. 

The Document Library Menu Bar

Each document library has a horizontal menu that contains commands and actions to create and manage documents. 

Creating a Word Document in SharePoint

We can create new documents, spreadsheets, and presentations from within SharePoint by harnessing the power of online applications in Microsoft 365. 

  • Click New. 
  • Select Word document. 
  • Type some test text. 
  • Click on the document title and rename to something meaningful. 
Creating New Folders

We can create folders in a document library to help us manage and organize our files. 

  • Click New. 
  • Select Folder. 
  • Type a name for the folder. 
  • Click Create. 

We can move files into folders by dragging and dropping the file onto the folder. 

Hints & tips

  • We can sync files from the document library to our PC. This means we can open, view, and edit files directly from File Explorer.
  • Files can be exported from the document library to Excel. 
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  • 00:04 In this section we're going to move on to exploring the wonderful world of document
  • 00:08 libraries.
  • 00:09 And I guess we should really start out by talking about what exactly a document
  • 00:13 library is in SharePoint.
  • 00:16 Well, let's take the example of lists which we've looked at quite
  • 00:19 extensively so far.
  • 00:20 Lists contain column headers, and then we have records of information underneath.
  • 00:26 When a document library is fairly similar to that,
  • 00:29 you'll see in a moment that we have column headings, but
  • 00:32 instead of individual rows of records, we have a list of files and folders.
  • 00:37 If you take a look at the home screen here for my Microsoft 365 rollout site,
  • 00:42 you'll notice that over on the right hand side underneath where we have quick links,
  • 00:47 I have an area for documents.
  • 00:49 And this is a document library.
  • 00:52 And I'm choosing to display this document library on the homepage
  • 00:55 to make these documents easily accessible to anybody who lands on this page.
  • 01:00 Now, the mechanism I guess, you would call it, that allows me
  • 01:04 to display the document library on the homepage is called a web part.
  • 01:08 And we're going to talk a lot more about these later on in the course, but just
  • 01:13 know that this is a web part that contains the document library for this site.
  • 01:17 But over in the navigation menu or the quick launch menu on the left hand side,
  • 01:21 you can see that I also have a link to documents,
  • 01:24 which is going to show me the full document library.
  • 01:27 So it's basically this that I've taken and displayed on that homepage.
  • 01:32 Note what I was saying, a document library has column headers, name,
  • 01:37 modified, modified by, and then it has files.
  • 01:40 You might also see folders in here as well.
  • 01:44 So essentially it has a very similar structure to a list.
  • 01:47 And when it comes to the type of files that you can upload or
  • 01:51 store in a SharePoint document library, pretty much most things are good.
  • 01:55 So if you have Excel, Word, PowerPoint, PDF files that you want to upload,
  • 02:00 that's absolutely fine.
  • 02:01 Or maybe you have some image files with PNG, GIF,
  • 02:05 JPG extensions, that is also fine.
  • 02:08 You can even house audio files, but
  • 02:10 one thing that you can't house are executable files.
  • 02:15 So anything that has a dot exe extension, you're not going to be able to upload or
  • 02:19 store in a SharePoint library.
  • 02:21 And that's simply to protect your SharePoint site and
  • 02:24 your company's network.
  • 02:26 Microsoft don't really want people be able to upload files that could potentially
  • 02:31 run a program and harm any of the infrastructure.
  • 02:34 But pretty much everything else you are good to go.
  • 02:37 Now it's also worth noting that there is an upload limit in SharePoint,
  • 02:41 you can upload a file of up to 50 MB.
  • 02:43 If you work at an organization that has a SharePoint admin,
  • 02:46 then they have control of this and they can raise that if they need to.
  • 02:51 So if you do find yourself needing that raise then it is worth having a word with
  • 02:55 your IT team.
  • 02:56 Now this standard document library that you can see in front of you, this will be
  • 03:01 created automatically for you when you create a new SharePoint team site.
  • 03:06 So I haven't had to go in and create this folder called document to store my files
  • 03:10 and folders, it was already there.
  • 03:12 And this document library is based off of the standard default template for
  • 03:16 libraries.
  • 03:18 And of course, as you can imagine, this works much like lists whereas you can
  • 03:22 customize the columns and create your own custom libraries if you want to.
  • 03:26 But again, more on that a little bit later on.
  • 03:28 Note the menu bar that you have running across the top.
  • 03:31 We can create new folders and files directly from here.
  • 03:36 So if I want to create a brand new Word document,
  • 03:40 I don't have to open up Word, I can simply select Word.
  • 03:44 It's going to open up Word Online and
  • 03:46 I can create a document straight from within SharePoint.
  • 03:49 And this is harnessing all of the power of the Microsoft 365 online applications.
  • 03:55 If you've never used these before, you'll note that they are a slimmed down version
  • 03:59 of the full versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, so on and so forth.
  • 04:04 And it allows you to create documents super quickly.
  • 04:07 So I'm just going to type in some test text in here, hello world.
  • 04:11 And the thing with these online applications is that there is no Save
  • 04:15 button as it automatically saves as you type.
  • 04:18 So all I'm waiting for here is the word saved in the top bar.
  • 04:22 I can also see that this document is just called document at the moment, so
  • 04:25 let's click and give this a different name.
  • 04:27 So I'm just going to call this training document, something very standard and
  • 04:31 generic.
  • 04:32 Click away.
  • 04:34 And then when I close this window down,
  • 04:37 you should see that in a few seconds your document library will refresh,
  • 04:41 and that document will be added and you can see it sitting just here.
  • 04:45 I could do exactly the same thing if I wanted to create an Excel workbook,
  • 04:49 PowerPoint presentation, One Note, a form, so on and so forth.
  • 04:53 I can also create new folders from here as well.
  • 04:56 So, if I want something that's going to be for
  • 04:59 all of the travel documents, I'm going to create a folder called travel.
  • 05:04 Click on Create.
  • 05:05 And there it is.
  • 05:06 And of course I can move files around in the document library in much the same way
  • 05:10 I would anything else.
  • 05:12 So if I want to move this travel policy into the travel folder,
  • 05:16 I can simply click, drag and drop it onto that folder.
  • 05:19 And then when I go into it, there it is.
  • 05:22 Aside from creating new documents directly from within the document library,
  • 05:26 you can also upload any existing documents that you have on your PC.
  • 05:30 So that might be a file, a folder or a template.
  • 05:34 We can edit our document library in grid view.
  • 05:37 Again, this is something that we saw when we were looking at lists.
  • 05:40 I'm not going to do anything to that at the moment, so let's just exit out.
  • 05:44 I have a sync button up here as well.
  • 05:46 So if I want to sync with my local drives, I can do that.
  • 05:50 So if I click this Sync button,
  • 05:52 you can see it's trying to open up Microsoft OneDrive.
  • 05:56 So I'm going to say open.
  • 05:59 And you can see I'm getting a message that it's now syncing Microsoft 365 rollout
  • 06:04 documents to my local drive.
  • 06:06 And once this is done, it means I'm going to be able to access all of these
  • 06:10 documents through File Explorer as opposed to having to jump into SharePoint to look
  • 06:15 at them or edit them.
  • 06:16 So now you can see that if I pull up File Explorer, there is my company
  • 06:21 Train IT Now Limited and if I expand you can see there is my folder.
  • 06:26 And if I click it, it's going to show me all of the documents and
  • 06:29 this should be an exact replica of what I have in this particular document library.
  • 06:34 And I can see there, yes, it's all synced across, it's all good, and
  • 06:38 I can now work from File Explorer.
  • 06:40 I have a couple of other things on here. I can add a shortcut to OneDrive if
  • 06:43 I want to.
  • 06:44 And I can also export this list out to Excel.
  • 06:47 So essentially doing the reverse of importing data in.
  • 06:51 So that is an explanation of exactly what document libraries are.
  • 06:55 In the next lesson, we're going to create one and
  • 06:58 then we're going to upload some documents.

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