Seven Ways Of Adding Documents To A SharePoint 2013 Document Library

SharePoint document libraries are very useful for sharing documents, but how can we best get the documents into the SharePoint library? There are many ways, and I am sure you are already familiar with the most common ones. But maybe you don't know all the different methods?

New Tips section demo
In the new SharePoint tutorial below I show you various ways to enter documents to a SharePoint 2013 document library, and I explain when each one of them is the most suitable. This demo is also published in the Tips section of the kalmstrom.com website.

In my demo I show how to:

• Create a document directly in the library.
  You can create new documents inside the SharePoint library. In SharePoint 2013 the default choices are Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote documents.
  
• Drag one or more files from your local computer.
  When the files you want to add to the SharePoint library are already created and stored on your local computer, you can drag them from there into the SharePoint library. You can also drag and drop in other ways, which I am showing later in the demo.
  
• Upload a single document via the Upload button in the SharePoint ribbon.
  
• Upload files using Windows Explorer.
  
• Add files directly to SharePoint from any application that use the standard Windows "Save as" dialog. This is easier if you add the SharePoint library path to your Favourites.
  
• Add files directly to SharePoint from applications that do not use the standard Windows "Save as" dialog. This can be done if you map a drive to your SharePoint library.
  
• Add files via SharePoint Designer. When you open your site in SharePoint designer, you can import files and folders to the document library and also drag and drop files from your computer into the library.
  

I also show how to get the list of files in the SharePoint document library into the Command Prompt, to work with them in the old DOS way – but how to actually do that is a different topic. Here is the demo now.



Tag documents with keywords for better management
When you have practised all these methods for adding documents to your SharePoint library for a while – or even if you only use some of them – you will probably begin to see a problem. How can I find the information I need among all these documents?

I have a solution to that also: use Document Tagger for SharePoint to tag your documents with metadata and keywords. Document Tagger can analyze many documents at the same time and suggest words to tag them with. Review the suggestions and uncheck the ones you don't want, and then you can click OK and start using the other benefit of Document Tagger - that the solution actually makes it easier to find the right document with the help of the tags you just added.

Document Tagger is available in a Beta version for SharePoint 2010, and before the gold release I will make it compatible with SharePoint 2013 also.

Learn more about my new solution for SharePoint document management on the kalmstrom.com website!

By Peter Kalmström
CEO and Systems Designer
kalmstrom.com Business Solutions
Microsoft certified SharePoint specialist and Trainer