SharePoint Online content types in Powershell: Edit

Article
1/17/2024

SharePoint Online content types in Powershell: Add
SharePoint Online content types in Powershell: Get

List of default properties

Description

Returns the context that is associated with the client object. (Inherited from ClientObject.)
The context can only be retrieved, and not set (no set method on the object).

Description

Gets or sets a description of the content type.

DescriptionResource

DisplayFormTemplateName

Gets or sets a value that specifies the name of a custom display form template to use for list items that have been assigned the content type.

DisplayFormUrl

Gets or sets a value that specifies the URL of a custom display form to use for list items that have been assigned the content type.

DocumentTemplate

Gets or sets a value that specifies the file path to the document template used for a new list item that has been assigned the content type.

DocumentTemplateUrl

Gets a value that specifies the URL of the document template assigned to the content type.

EditFormTemplateName

Gets or sets a value that specifies the name of a custom edit form template to use for list items that have been assigned the content type.

EditFormUrl

Gets or sets a value that specifies the URL of a custom edit form to use for list items that have been assigned the content type.

FieldLinks

Gets the column (also known as field) references in the content type.

Fields

Gets a value that specifies the collection of fields for the content type.

Group

Gets or sets a value that specifies the content type group for the content type.

Hidden

Gets or sets a value that specifies whether the content type is unavailable for creation or usage directly from a user interface.

Gets a value that specifies an identifier for the content type. The ContentTypeId type is the identifier for the specified content type. The identifier is a string composed of hexadecimal characters. The identifier must be unique relative to the current site collection and site, and must follow the pattern of prefixing a ContentTypeId with its parent ContentTypeId.

JSLink

Gets or sets the JSLink for the content type custom form template.

Gets or sets a value that specifies the name of the content type.

NameResource

NewFormTemplateName

Gets or sets a value that specifies the name of a custom new form template to use for list items that have been assigned the content type.

NewFormUrl

Gets or sets a value that specifies the URL of a custom new form to use for list items that have been assigned the content type.

ObjectData

Gets the object data for the current client object. (Inherited from ClientObject.)

ObjectVersion

Gets a string that indicates the version of the current client object. This member is reserved for internal use and is not intended to be used directly from your code. (Inherited from ClientObject.)

Parent

Gets the parent content type of the content type.

Path

Tracks how a client object is created in the ClientRuntimeContext class so that the object can be recreated on the server. This member is reserved for internal use and is not intended to be used directly from your code. (Inherited fromClientObject.)

ReadOnly

Gets or sets a value that specifies whether changes to the content type properties are denied.

SchemaXml

Gets a value that specifies the XML Schema representing the content type.

SchemaXmlWithResourceTokens

Gets a non-localized version of the XML schema that defines the content type.

Scope

Gets a value that specifies a server-relative path to the content type scope of the content type.

Sealed

Gets or sets whether the content type can be modified.

ServerObjectIsNull

Gets the server object and returns null if the server object is null. (Inherited from ClientObject.)

StringId

A string representation of the value of the Id.

Tag

Gets or sets data that is associated with the client object. (Inherited from ClientObject.)

TypedObject

Gets the object with the correct type information returned from the server. (Inherited from ClientObject.)

WorkflowAssociations

Gets a value that specifies the collection of workflow associations for the content type.

*
Source: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.sharepoint.client.contenttype_properties.aspx*

Powershell vs User Interface

Many, if not most, of the above mentioned properties can be modified via User Interface. Powershell, however, offers more options and more possibilities for multiple and concurrent updates.
For the sake of brevity all scripts below refer EITHER to list content types OR site content types. You modify one into the other by replacing

$ctx.web.Contenttypes

with


$ctx.web.lists.getbytitle("title").Contenttypes

or vice versa. If you need to modify several or one of the content types and are wondering how to retrieve them, please refer to the previous part of the article: SharePoint Online content types in Powershell: Get.

Description

UserInterface

The description property can get or set the description of the content type. In order to view or modify it from the User Interface, you need to go to

List>>List Settings>>Content Types>>Choose the content type>> Settings: Name and description for the list content types

Site Settings>> Site Content Types >> Choose the Content type>> Settings: Name and description for site content types

Powershell

This example sets description of a single content type belonging to a list and retrieved by its name.

Having installed SharePoint Online SDK, open Powershell ISE. In order to modify the content type we need its name or ID and a list it belongs to. Let us declare all the variables and refer the SDK libraries:

  # Paths to SDK. Please verify location on your computer.
Add-Type -Path "c:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\15\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll"
Add-Type -Path "c:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\15\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll"
 
# Insert the credentials and the name of the admin site
$Username="admin@tenant.onmicrosoft.com"
$AdminPassword=Read-Host -Prompt "Password" -AsSecureString
$AdminUrl="https://tenant.sharepoint.com/sites/powie1"
$ListTitle="MultipleItems"
$Description="My crazy Powershell description"
$ContentTypeName="From Powershell directly to list"

Load the content types of the list.

$ctx=New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($Url)
  $ctx.Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($Username, $AdminPassword)
  $ctx.ExecuteQuery()
   
  $ctx.Load($ctx.Web)
  $ll=$ctx.Web.Lists.GetByTitle($ListTitle)
  $ctx.Load($ll)
  $ctx.Load($ll.ContentTypes)
  $ctx.ExecuteQuery()

Find the one you are looking for.

foreach($cc in $ll.ContentTypes)
 {   

    if($cc.Name -eq $ContentTypeName)
    {
                // code coming here
    }     

 }

Modify the description and update the content type with the new settings. The Boolean value in .Update() method refers to whether the child content types should be updated as well. Since I am modifying a list content type added only to this list, and it does not have any child content types, the Bool is set to $false.

foreach($cc in $ll.ContentTypes)
 {   

    if($cc.Name -eq $ContentTypeName)
    {
      Write-Host $cc.Name
      $cc.Description=$Description
      $cc.Update($false)
      $ctx.ExecuteQuery()
    }     

 }

Powershell by GUID

This example sets description of a single content type at a site collection level and retrieved by its GUID.

Declare all the variables and refer the paths to SDK.

  # Paths to SDK. Please verify location on your computer.
Add-Type -Path "c:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\15\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll"
Add-Type -Path "c:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\15\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll"
 
# Insert the credentials and the name of the admin site
$Username="admin@tenant.onmicrosoft.com"
$AdminPassword=Read-Host -Prompt "Password" -AsSecureString
$AdminUrl="https://tenant.sharepoint.com/sites/powie1"
$Description="My crazy Powershell description2"
$ContentTypeGUID="0x0116006288692BD2247D48BA5D55B164C79F51"

Load the specific content type and write its name to verify if we entered the correct GUID and retrieved the desired content type.

  $ctx=New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($Url)
  $ctx.Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($Username, $AdminPassword)
  $ctx.ExecuteQuery()
   
  $ctx.Load($ctx.Web)
  $cc=$ctx.Web.ContentTypes.GetByID($ContentTypeGUID)
  $ctx.Load($cc)
  $ctx.ExecuteQuery()
Write-Host $cc.Name

Update the description.

$cc.Description=$Description
$cc.Update($true)
$ctx.ExecuteQuery()

DisplayFormTemplateName

This property gets or sets a value that specifies the name of a custom display form template to use for list items that have been assigned the content type. For an item Content Type this form is called ListForm. We can check the default forms associated with our list content types using:

  $ll=$ctx.Web.Lists.GetByTitle($ListTitle)
  $ctx.Load($ll)
  $ctx.Load($ll.ContentTypes)
   $ctx.ExecuteQuery()
 
 
  foreach($cc in $ll.ContentTypes)
  {
           
     Write-Host $cc.DisplayFormTemplateName
}

Content types and their default DisplayFormTemplateName

Using script you can also pull the list of default content types from ContentTypeHub and their associated DisplayFormTemplateNames:

Name

DisplayFormTemplateName

System

Common Indicator Columns

Fixed Value based Status Indicator

SimpleKpiDisplayForm

SharePoint List based Status Indicator

SharePointKpiDisplayForm

Excel based Status Indicator

ExcelKpiDisplayForm

SQL Server Analysis Services based Status Indicator

AnalysisServicesKpiDisplayForm

Item

ListForm

Circulation

New Word

ListForm

Full script

function Get-SPOContentType
{
   
   param (
   [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,Position=1)]
        [string]$Username,
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,Position=2)]
        $AdminPassword,
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,Position=3)]
        [string]$Url
        )
   
  $ctx=New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($Url)
  $ctx.Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($Username, $AdminPassword)
  $ctx.Load($ctx.Web.ContentTypes)
  $ctx.ExecuteQuery()
 
 
  foreach($cc in $ctx.Web.ContentTypes)
  {
           
     Write-Host $cc.Name "  " $cc.DisplayFormTemplateName
 }
         
       
$ctx.Dispose()
}
         


 
  # Paths to SDK. Please verify location on your computer.
Add-Type -Path "c:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\15\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll"
Add-Type -Path "c:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\15\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll"
 
# Insert the credentials and the name of the admin site
$Username="admin@tenant.onmicrosoft.com"
$AdminPassword=Read-Host -Prompt "Password" -AsSecureString
$AdminUrl="https://tenant.sharepoint.com/sites/contenttypehub"
 
  
 
Get-SPOContentType -Username $Username -AdminPassword $AdminPassword -Url $AdminUrl

The script has been packaged and is available for download at Github.

Modify the Name

The name can be modified, but careless modifications may lead to some issues and the item may no longer be viewable. Below you will find results of modifying a ListForm in an Item Content type into various other forms.

Default behaviour

When set to a made-up name

$cc.DisplayFormTemplateName="DifferentForm"
$cc.Update($false)
$ctx.ExecuteQuery()

DocumentLibraryForm

$cc.DisplayFormTemplateName="DocumentLibraryForm"

The behaviour and display issues presented above are by design and stem from the incompatibility of the forms with the date included in the Item Content Type. Once we use a compatible form, the item will display without issues.

Full Script

function Set-SPOContentType
{
   
   param (
   [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,Position=1)]
[string]$Username,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true,Position=2)]
$AdminPassword,
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,Position=3)]
[string]$Url,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true,Position=4)]
[string]$ListTitle
)
   
  $ctx=New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($Url)
  $ctx.Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($Username, $AdminPassword)
  $ctx.ExecuteQuery()
   
  $ctx.Load($ctx.Web)
  $ll=$ctx.Web.Lists.GetByTitle($ListTitle)
  $ctx.Load($ll)
  $ctx.Load($ll.ContentTypes)
  $ctx.ExecuteQuery()
 
  foreach($cc in $ll.ContentTypes)
  {
          Write-Host $cc.Name  $cc.DisplayFormTemplateName
          $cc.DisplayFormTemplateName="DocumentForm"
          $cc.Update($false)
          $ctx.ExecuteQuery()       
 }     
   
$ctx.Dispose()
}

The script has been packaged and is available for download at Technet Gallery. Click here to start download.

Reset to Default

Having both the list of default Template Names and

Verify

First I run the check using default names from a csv file:

  $listy=$ctx.Web.Lists
  $ctx.Load($listy)
  $ctx.ExecuteQuery()
 
 
     $defaultoweFormaty=Import-Csv C:\Users\ivo\Desktop\Book1.csv
     Write-Host $defaultoweFormaty[5].DisplayFormTemplateName
     foreach($ll in $listy)
     {
  $ctx.Load($ll.ContentTypes)
  $ctx.ExecuteQuery()
 
 
  foreach($cc in $ll.ContentTypes)
  {
           
          $opo=$defaultoweFormaty | where {$_.Name -eq $cc.Name}
          Write-Host $ll.Title -ForegroundColor Green
          Write-Host $opo.DisplayFormTemplateName
          Write-Host $cc.DisplayFormTemplateName
          Write-Host "----------------------------------------------------"
         # $cc.DisplayFormTemplateName="DocumentLibraryForm"
         # $cc.Update($false)
         # $ctx.ExecuteQuery()
       
      
}
         
      }

Of course the check can be modified to return only the content types or lists where the template name has been changed, but since I have only a few lists, I can visually see that indeed some of them have been changed, as a result of my previous tests probably, and may require fixing.

Set

  $listy=$ctx.Web.Lists
  $ctx.Load($listy)
  $ctx.ExecuteQuery()
 
 
     $defaultoweFormaty=Import-Csv C:\Users\ivo\Desktop\Book1.csv   
     foreach($ll in $listy)
     {
  $ctx.Load($ll.ContentTypes)
  $ctx.ExecuteQuery()
 
 
  foreach($cc in $ll.ContentTypes)
  {
           
          $opo=$defaultoweFormaty | where {$_.Name -eq $cc.Name}
          Write-Host $ll.Title -ForegroundColor Green
          Write-Host $cc.Name
          Write-Host $opo.DisplayFormTemplateName
          Write-Host $cc.DisplayFormTemplateName
           
          if($opo.DisplayFormTemplateName -ne "")
          {
          $cc.DisplayFormTemplateName=$opo.DisplayFormTemplateName
          $cc.Update($false)
          $ctx.Load($cc)
          $ctx.ExecuteQuery()
          }
       Write-Host $ll.Title -ForegroundColor Green
          Write-Host $cc.Name
          Write-Host $opo.DisplayFormTemplateName
          Write-Host $cc.DisplayFormTemplateName
     Write-Host "----------------------------------------------------"
}
         
      }

Full scripts

The scripts have been packaged into .ps1 files and are available for download at Technet Gallery:
Verify the content types used in your lists against the default ones
Reset default content types

DisplayFormUrl

DisplayForm

The Display Form is a way of displaying an item. It can be very simple, consisting only of the item title or it can be a complex, customized creation, with links, tips, multiple varied fields and pictures:

.DisplayFormUrl

As per definition the property gets or sets a value that specifies the URL of a custom display form to use for list items that have been assigned the content type. That means that trying to retrieve the url of a default form does not give us any results.

$ctx.Load($ctx.Web)
$ll=$ctx.Web.Lists.GetByTitle($ListTitle)
$ctx.Load($ll)
$ctx.Load($ll.ContentTypes)
$ctx.ExecuteQuery()
 
foreach($cc in $ll.ContentTypes)
{
        Write-Host $cc.Name  $cc.DisplayFormUrl
   }

The result is different on a newinfopathlist where a Custom form was deployed

The *~list/Item/displayifs.aspx *is the url of the custom form that the list is using for adding new items.

This makes it very easy to e.g. find all custom forms deployed on all the lists in your site:

foreach($cc in $ll.ContentTypes)
  {
           
          if($cc.DisplayFormUrl -ne "")
          {
            Write-Host "Content type name: "$cc.Name
            Write-Host "The Custom url: " $cc.DisplayFormUrl
          }
 
     }

Fall back to default

This property allows us also to retract our changes and turn to the default form in case something went wrong with the Custom form and items are no longer viewable:

The script below changes the display form of all content types called ITEM (so basically all items in a list) in all lists in one site to the default one:

foreach($ll in $ctx.Web.Lists)
{
  Write-Host $ll.Title -ForegroundColor Green
$ctx.Load($ll.ContentTypes)
$ctx.ExecuteQuery()

foreach($cc in $ll.ContentTypes)
{
         
        if($cc.Name -eq "Item")
        {
          $cc.DisplayFormUrl=""
          $cc.Update($false)
          $ctx.ExecuteQuery()
        }
 
       }
   }

Ta-daa! The results are immediately visible:

Full scripts

The scripts have been packaged into reusable function and are available for download on the Technet Gallery:

SharePoint Online: Get the custom form display url using Powershell
Find Custom Display Forms Deployed on your lists using Powershell
Unable to view items: modify the DisplayFormUrl back to default one

Document Template

Gets or sets a value that specifies the file path to the document template used for a new list item that has been assigned the content type.

DocumentTemplateUrl

Is a read-only property and cannot be set.

FieldLinks and Fields

Columns are represented as either Field or FieldRef Element (ContentType) elements in the various SharePoint schemas, such as site, list, and content type definitions^[1]. The columns are represented as Field elements in site and list definitions. However, the column references are represented as FieldRef Element (ContentType) elements in content type definitions^[1]. In simple words SPFields are fields themselves, while SPFieldLinks are references to the fields^[2].

It stems from the fact that Lists and Webs contain the actual fields with field data. A content type, on the other hand, only holds Field Reference, which simply points at the corresponding field in the list or web. As argued in MSDN:

The SPFieldCollection object provides developers a way to get a combined view of a column's attributes, as they exist in that content type. Each SPField object represents all the attributes of a column, or field, definition, merged with those attributes that have been overridden in the field reference for that content type.
When you access a SPField in a content type, SharePoint Foundation merges the field definition with the field reference, and returns the resulting SPField object to you. This prevents developers from having to look up a field definition, and then look up all the attributes in the field definition that are overridden by the field reference for that content type.
Because of this, there is a 1-to-1 correlation between the items in the SPFieldLinkCollection and SPFieldCollection objects. For each SPFieldLink object that you add to a content type, SharePoint Foundation adds a corresponding SPField object that represents the combined view of that column as it is defined in the content type.

Comparison of Field Names and Field Link Names of the content types from a Content Type Hub where the names different.

ContentType

Field Title

FieldInternalName

Field Link

Circulation

Append-Only Comments

V3Comments

Comments

Phone Call Memo

Append-Only Comments

V3Comments

Comments

Display Template

Comments

Description

Display Template Code

Comments

Description

JavaScript Display Template

Comments

Description

InfoPath Form Template

Content Type ID

CustomContentTypeId

CusomContentTypeId

User Workflow Document

Visibility

NoCodeVisibility

Visibility

Event

Start Time

StartDate

EventDate

Event

Description

Comments

Description

Reservations

Start Time

StartDate

EventDate

Reservations

Description

Comments

Description

Schedule and Reservations

Start Time

StartDate

EventDate

Schedule and Reservations

Description

Comments

Description

Schedule

Start Time

StartDate

EventDate

Schedule

Description

Comments

Description

Issue

Due Date

TaskDueDate

DueDate

Message

Discussion Title

DiscussionTitleLookup

DiscussionSubjectLookup

Message

Shortest Thread-Index Id Lookup

ShortestThreadIndexIdLookup

ShortestThreadIndexLookup

Task

Due Date

TaskDueDate

DueDate

Task

Task Status

TaskStatus

Status

Workflow Task (SharePoint 2013)

Due Date

TaskDueDate

DueDate

Workflow Task (SharePoint 2013)

Task Status

TaskStatus

Status

Workflow Task (SharePoint 2013)

Instance Id

WF4InstanceId

WorkflowInstanceId

Workflow Task

Due Date

TaskDueDate

DueDate

Workflow Task

Task Status

TaskStatus

Status

Workflow Task

Adding

When you try to add to the FieldCollection of a list, site or content type hub ContentType, an error will be returned:
This functionality is unavailable for field collections not associated with a list.
This is due to the fact that Columns are included in content types by reference, rather than directly.^[3] This might be a bit confusing, because content types have both an SPFieldLinkCollection and an SPFieldCollection. The SPFieldLinkCollection is used in the actual definition of the content type, and is what you would want to use in your situation of copying a content type from one web to another. SPFieldLinks correspond to the actual elements in the XML Schema for a content type. Comparatively, when you call on a content type's SPFieldCollection and retrieve a Field from it, what is actually happening is that the content type is checking the corresponding field reference, and then looking up in the list/web to get the actual field. Basically, think of the SPFieldCollection in the same way a lookup works: it is worthless without both the lookup value and the lookup source.^[4]To sum up:

Use the FieldLinks property to access the collection of column references in the specified content type. This method returns an SPFieldLinkCollection object.
Use the Add method to add a column reference to the content type.

The example below adds an existing site column to aIl list content types in a particular list. The sealed content types will return an error. Performance is not taken into consideration.
First I have retrieved the site columns names, using

$ctx=New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($Url)
$ctx.Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($Username, $AdminPassword)
  $ctx.Load($ctx.Web.Fields)
  $ctx.ExecuteQuery()
  foreach($ff in $ctx.Web.Fields)
  {Write-Host $ff.InternalName}

and from numerous results chose KpiStatus as a column to be added to my current Item Content Type at a list level.

$ctx=New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($Url)
$ctx.Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($Username, $AdminPassword)
$ctx.Load($ctx.Web.Lists)
$ll=$ctx.Web.Lists.GetByTitle($ListTitle)
$ctx.Load($ll)
$ctx.Load($ll.ContentTypes)
$ctx.ExecuteQuery()
$field=$ctx.Web.Fields.GetByInternalNameOrTitle($SiteColumn)
foreach($cc in $ll.ContentTypes)
{
   
   $link=new-object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.FieldLinkCreationInformation
   $link.Field=$field
   $cc.FieldLinks.Add($link)
   $cc.Update($false)
   $ctx.ExecuteQuery()
 }

As expected, the sealed content type "Folder" returned an error.

The added Field (Column) is immediately visible as Indicator Status under Content Type Columns:

The field (column) is automatically added to the list columns:

And there is appropriate field adjacent to our created fieldlink with the same ID

Full Script

param (
   [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,Position=1)]
        [string]$Username,
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,Position=2)]
        $AdminPassword,
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,Position=3)]
        [string]$Url,
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,Position=3)]
        [string]$ListTitle,
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,Position=3)]
        [string]$SiteColumn
        )
   
  $ctx=New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($Url)
  $ctx.Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($Username, $AdminPassword)
  $ctx.Load($ctx.Web.Lists)
  $ll=$ctx.Web.Lists.GetByTitle($ListTitle)
  $ctx.Load($ll)
  $ctx.Load($ll.ContentTypes)
  $ctx.ExecuteQuery()
  $field=$ctx.Web.Fields.GetByInternalNameOrTitle($SiteColumn)
  foreach($cc in $ll.ContentTypes)
  {
     
     $link=new-object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.FieldLinkCreationInformation
     $link.Field=$field
     $cc.FieldLinks.Add($link)
     $cc.Update($false)
     $ctx.ExecuteQuery()
   }
      
      
      $ctx.Dispose()
      }

The script has been packaged and is available for download at the Technet Gallery. Click here to start download.

Create Site Column and Add to Content Type

The Item Content Type modified in the previous example has very limited reach. Our modifications affected only this list. What if we have a central content type created at a Content Type Hub level and would like to expand it and its children by one extra column?
*Site columns only get pushed out when they are attached to a content type. Which means that you can create the column on the hub but it will not get exported until it is attached to a content type which is published.

Create a Column

One of the options for adding a field is adding that field as an xml. The string below specifies the name and other properties of the column. If the Group is not specified,
the Column is added to Custom Columns group. If the specified Group does not exist yet, it will be created. "Show" properties define whether the column should appear in the forms while we are viewing, editing or creating an item. Name has to be unique.

** Remember! **

Contradictory column settings such as
Hidden="TRUE" and ShowinDisplayForm="TRUE"
will be ignored in the User Interface

$fieldXMLString = '<Field Type="DateTime"
Name="Predicted Date"
Description="Hokus pokus date"
DisplayName="Predicted Date I finish the Article"
StaticName="PredDateStaticName"
Group="Group I am Setting Now"
Hidden="FALSE"
Required="FALSE"
Sealed="FALSE"
ShowInDisplayForm="FALSE"
ShowInEditForm="TRUE"
ShowInListSettings="TRUE"
ShowInNewForm="TRUE"></Field>'

Some, but not all, of those properties can be set and modified via User Interface or SharePoint Designer:

$fieldSchema = '<Field Type="DateTime"
Name="Predicted Date"
Description="Hokus pokus date"
DisplayName="Predicted Date I finish the Article"
StaticName="PredDateStaticName"
Group="Group I am Setting Now"
Hidden="FALSE"
Required="FALSE"
Sealed="FALSE"
ShowInDisplayForm="FALSE"
ShowInEditForm="TRUE"
ShowInListSettings="TRUE"
ShowInNewForm="TRUE"></Field>'
 
   $ctx.Web.Fields.AddFieldAsXml($FieldSchema,$true,[Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.AddFieldOptions]::AddFieldToDefaultView)
   $ctx.Load($ctx.Web)
   $ctx.ExecuteQuery()

The Column appears under Site Columns in the specified Group. In the browser url you can see the value of the Name property.

Create the Content Type

If you have a content type already created, you can skip this step. If you would like to find out more options on creating Content Types, please refer to SharePoint Online content types in Powershell: Add

$lci =New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ContentTypeCreationInformation
$lci.Description="Some Custom Content Type"
$lci.Name="MyCustom"
$lci.Group="Prediction Content Types"
$contentType=$ctx.Web.ContentTypes.Add($lci)
$ctx.ExecuteQuery()

The Content Type appears immediately in the User Interface. The group to which it belongs did not exist before and was created at the creation of the content type. Because neither the parent content type, nor ID have been specified, the content type inherits from Item Content Type.

Add the Columns

In my newly created content two columns will be added: one pre-defined default "Anniversary" and the other newly created custom "Predicted Date". All child content types should be updated as well, so .Update() includes $true parameter.

#Modify the content type to add the columns
# newly created column
$link=new-object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.FieldLinkCreationInformation
$link.Field=$ctx.Web.Fields.GetByInternalNameOrTitle("Predicted Date")
# one of pre-defined default columns
$link2=new-object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.FieldLinkCreationInformation
$link2.Field=$ctx.Web.Fields.GetByInternalNameOrTitle("Anniversary")
$contentType.FieldLinks.Add($link)
$contentType.FieldLinks.Add($link2)
$contentType.Update($true)
$ctx.ExecuteQuery()

Full script

The full script has been packaged and is available for download at Technet Gallery. Click here to start direct download

Modify a Single Column in a Content Type

create a hidden column and add it to all content types called TASK

$fieldSchema = '<Field Type="DateTime"
Name="Petek"
Description="Piatek Piateczek Piatunio"
DisplayName="Petek"
StaticName="PredDateStaticName"
Group="Days of the Week Group"
Hidden="TRUE"></Field>'

The column does not appear neither in List Settings, nor under Content Types columns. It can be retrieved via Powershell

or accessed via direct url by entering the IDs for the content type,** list** where it is added and the field:

https://trial345.sharepoint.com/sites/TeamsiteWithLibraries/\_layouts/15/ManageContentTypeField.aspx?ctype=**0x010800BC0BE5E0867C414E996874431132FDBB**&List=**48495083-8da6-4a47-a0c3-99e148ece146**&Field=Title&Fid=**875a60c6-fac5-4127-8cc7-f1a94d32b964**

create a column to appear only after the item has been created

The user is creating an item with 2 required fields "Task Name" and "Friday". The Friday field is invisible for the creator of the item and hence not required at the creation:

The field, however, will appear and be required when we try to modify the same item:

How to achieve this?

Set the "appear in forms" setting:
$fieldSchema =** **'<Field Type="DateTime"
Name="Piatek"
Description="Piatek Piateczek Piatunio"
DisplayName="Friday"
StaticName="PredDateStaticName"
Group="Days of the Week Group"
Hidden="FALSE"
Required="TRUE"
Sealed="FALSE"
ShowInDisplayForm="TRUE"
ShowInEditForm="TRUE"
ShowInListSettings="FALSE"
ShowInNewForm="FALSE"></Field>'

Full scripts

The scripts above have been packaged and are available for download from Technet Gallery:
----fdsf-sd-f
------sdfsdfdsf---

Group

Gets or sets a value that specifies the content type group for the content type. The groups are visible in the User Interface in several places. Among others, they appear under Site Settings>Site Content Types:

To organize your Content Types, you can use default or Custom Groups.
If the group is not specified at the content type creation, the content type will be added to Custom Content Types by default.^[4]
The group can be changed for all content types (some need to be unsealed, or changed from read-only first):

$ctx=New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($Url)
  $ctx.Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($Username, $AdminPassword)
  $ctx.Load($ctx.Web.ContentTypes)
 
  $ctx.ExecuteQuery()
 
 
  foreach($cc in $ctx.Web.ContentTypes)
  {
     
    $cc.Group="Haha I invented one and it has them all"
    $cc.Update($false)
    $ctx.ExecuteQuery()
         
   }

The default groups are available in the Technet Wiki article: SharePoint Online content types in Powershell: Group property .
A script for resetting the groups back to default is available at the Technet Gallery.

ID

The ID of a content type has a format similar to **0x01009e862727eed04408b2599b25356e7914 **and is not a modifiable property after the content type has been created. For more information on the meaning of the content type ID and setting this property while CREATING the content type, please refer to SharePoint Online content types in Powershell: Add - Content Type ID .

JSLink

Sets the custom template of the content type's display form. How to use JSlink and modify the view is described very well by Chris O'Brien and Martin Hatch in their respective articles Using JSLink to change the UI of a SharePoint list/view and ***JSLink and Display Templates. ***

$cc.JSLink="~site/SiteAssets/Accordion.js|~site/SiteAssets/jquery-ui-1.9.2.custom.js|~site/SiteAssets/jquery.ui.accordion.min.js"
$cc.Update($false)
$ctx.ExecuteQuery()

Name

Needs to be unique. Otherwise you will receive an error
Exception calling "ExecuteQuery" with "0" argument(s): "A duplicate content type name "All the same" was found."

$cc.Name="All the same"
$cc.Update($false)
$ctx.ExecuteQuery()

NameResource

Similarly to the DescriptionResource, the NameResource property does not seem to be one of the default content type's properties:
'NameResource' is not a member of type 'Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ContentType'

Parent

Parent cannot be changed after the content type has been created. It seems logical as it would involve changing some of the content type default properties.

SchemaXML

SchemaXML is a string representation of the content type settings. It can be used to read and copy the content type, but as well cannot be changed using

$cc.SchemaXML=""

Scope

Returns a String. instance representing a server-relative path to the content type scope of the content type.

$ctx.Load($ctx.Web.Lists)
  $ctx.ExecuteQuery()
 
       foreach($ll in $ctx.Web.Lists)
       {
         $ctx.Load($ll.ContentTypes)
         $ctx.ExecuteQuery()
          
         foreach ($cc in $ll.ContentTypes)
         {
             
                 Write-Host $ll.Title -ForegroundColor Green
                 Write-Host $cc.Name  $cc.Scope
              
         }
 
 
       }

WorkflowAssociations

WorkflowAssociations property is a collection of all workflows associated with a particular content type. The workflows can be added, removed or edited from User Interface under Site Settings>>Site Content Types>>Choose the Content Type>> Workflow Settings or List Settings>>Content Types (Choose Content Type>> Workflow Settings:

Once you add the content type to a particular list, another option appears on the drop-down menu and you can choose the workflow from List Settings>>Workflow Settings:

$ctx.Load($cc.WorkflowAssociations)
            $ctx.ExecuteQuery()
            Write-Host $ll.Title -ForegroundColor Green
            Write-Host $cc.Name  $cc.WorkflowAssociations.Count
            foreach($wf in $cc.WorkflowAssociations)
            {
                  
                 Write-Output $wf
 
            }

Known errors

As this article has exceeded any expectations, for the sake of clarity, the Known Errors section has been moved to a new article.
Please find them under

SharePoint Online content types in Powershell: Known Errors

References

Articles

This article has spanned and is integrally connected with several other articles. For more information please look at:
SharePoint Online content types in Powershell: Add
SharePoint Online content types in Powershell: Get
SharePoint Online content types in Powershell: Group property
SharePoint Online content types in Powershell: Fields vs Field Links
SharePoint Online content types in Powershell: Known Errors

Downloads

Several (better or worse) scripts originated from this article. Most of them are available for download from Technet Gallery and are waiting for your comments there.

Fine Print

The statements provided here where the source is not quoted come from tests of the default behaviour. The tests were conducted on three different tenants 2 weeks apart and behaviour proved consistent which led to the conclusion that it is by design. However, in case of the DisplayFormTemplateName, on occassion, setting the incorrect name or different one did not bring the change in the behaviour visible in UI. So even though the DisplayFormTemplateName of an item was set to "MadeUp", the item would open correctly. As said the above-mentioned behaviour occurred only on occassion and was in clear minority, so in the chapter on DisplayFormTemplateName the dominating behaviour was described.
https://c.statcounter.com/10532038/0/eef75bd2/1/

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SharePoint Online content types in Powershell: Edit

List of default properties

Powershell vs User Interface

Description

UserInterface

Powershell

Powershell by GUID

DisplayFormTemplateName

Content types and their default DisplayFormTemplateName

Full script

Modify the Name

Full Script

Reset to Default

Verify

Set

Full scripts

DisplayFormUrl

DisplayForm

.DisplayFormUrl

Fall back to default

Full scripts

DocumentTemplateUrl

FieldLinks and Fields

Adding

Full Script

Create Site Column and Add to Content Type

Create a Column

Create the Content Type

Add the Columns

Full script

Modify a Single Column in a Content Type

create a hidden column and add it to all content types called TASK

create a column to appear only after the item has been created

Group

ID

JSLink

Name

NameResource

Parent

SchemaXML

Scope

WorkflowAssociations

Known errors

SharePoint Online content types in Powershell: Known Errors

References

Articles

Downloads

* Adding*

*Getting *

Editing

Content Type Management

Related Scripts

Fine Print

Additional resources

Getting