Updating Document Information Panels for Content Type Changes in SharePoint Server 2007

Articolo
10/16/2013

Summary: Learn how to update a custom document information panel from Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and from Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007.

Office Visual How To

Applies to: 2007 Microsoft Office system, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007

Joel Krist, Akona Systems

April 2008

A document information panel, which is displayed in Microsoft Office Word 2007, Microsoft Office Excel 2007, and Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 documents, enables users to view and change the properties for an individual file or for a content type that is saved to a document management server, such as a Document Workspace site or a library that is based on Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. These properties, also known as metadata, are details about a file that describe or identify it. Users can use these properties to organize, identify, and search for documents.

If the schema of a content type is updated after a custom document information panel has already been created for that content type, the custom panel may be out of sync with that schema. For example, if columns are added to or deleted from a content type, the custom document information panel may no longer contain the necessary fields or may contain fields no longer included on the content type.

In such cases, you can use Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 to retrieve the updated content type schema and integrate it with the custom form. As with creating custom document information panels, you can start the process of updating the form from the user interface of either Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 or Office InfoPath 2007.

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To illustrate how to update a custom document information panel, this section walks through three key procedures:

Updating a custom document information panel starting from Office SharePoint Server 2007.
Updating a custom document information panel starting from InfoPath 2007.
Publishing the updated document information panel back to the SharePoint site content type.

This Visual How To assumes that the SharePoint site already has a custom document information panel defined for a SharePoint site content type and that the schema of the content type has changed since the custom document information Panel was created.

To update a document information panel starting from SharePoint Server 2007

In SharePoint Server 2007, click Site Actions, point to Site Settings, and then click Modify All Site Settings.
On the Site Settings page in the Galleries category, click Site content types.
Locate and click the link for the site content type for the document information panel you want to update.
On the settings page for the site content type, click Document Information Panel settings.
On the Document Information Panel Settings page, click Edit this template (see Figure 1) to start InfoPath 2007.

Figure 1. Locating the Edit this template link
InfoPath displays a warning message about saving the form locally and then republishing it. Click Yes. InfoPath displays the Data Source Wizard.
If the content type schema has been updated since the form was created or last edited, the Data Source Wizard displays a warning and asks for confirmation before updating the form with the current content type schema. Click Yes to continue and load the template in InfoPath.
Edit the form template so that it reflects the changes to the content type schema.

To update a document information panel starting from InfoPath 2007

In InfoPath 2007, on the File menu, click Design a Form Template.
In the Design a Form Template dialog box, select Form Template, select XML or Schema (see Figure 2), and click OK.

Figure 2. Design a Form Template dialog box
In the Data Source Wizard, specify the URL of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 site that contains the content type for the document information panel that you want to update. Click Next.

If you entered a site URL, InfoPath 2007 displays a list of the site content types on that site. If you entered a document library URL, InfoPath 2007 displays a list of content types available for that document library.
Select the desired content type and click Next.
InfoPath 2007 warns you if a custom document information panel already exists for this content type. To create another custom form, click OK.
On the final page of the Data Source Wizard, click Finish. InfoPath 2007 loads the form template for the document information panel.
Edit the form template so that is reflects the changes to the content type schema.

To publish the updated document information panel

In InfoPath 2007, save the template by clicking File and then clicking Save.
InfoPath displays a message box regarding the need to publish the template after finishing designing it. Click OK.
In the Save As dialog box, specify a location and name for the template, and then click Save.
Publish the changed template by clicking File and then clicking Publish.
In the Publishing Wizard, select As a Document Information Panel template for a SharePoint site content type or list content type and click Next. The next page of the wizard displays the publishing location.
Click Publish. InfoPath publishes the template to the SharePoint site content type.
Click Close.

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This article explored how to update a custom document information panel starting from both SharePoint Server 2007 and InfoPath 2007. The key procedures covered were:

Updating a custom document information panel starting from SharePoint Server 2007.
Updating a custom document information panel starting from InfoPath 2007.
Publishing the updated document information panel back to the SharePoint site content type.

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