Send alerts, default functionality

Question

I have a document library with custom columns that point to metadata term groups.

When I add a file, the system sends an alert, at that time(when you upload the file), the system does not ask for the metadata columns yet, so the alert is sent with those fields blank.

If I checkin, and then edit properties, the alert is sent with all fields filled in.

Is this OOTB behavior? is there a way to make the alert work when the file is checked in?

Answer 1

Yes, this is the OOTB behaviour in SharePoint.

When you add or upload a file initially, without the meta data properties, the file is actually added into the SharePoint Library and your alert is fired automatically. While uploading a file, its a two way process, first you upload the file (here probably the alert gets fired) and then adding in the properties which is just editing the added file.

Adding in the properties while uploading or adding will be treated as editing the file and the next alert will be sent with filled in metadata property values.

To mitigate this behaviour, I would advise you to send an email alert only after checking a meta data field value. This could be achieved by using SharePoint designer workflows. Its pretty simple and you can configure to send email alerts, only when some fields or a combination of them are not blank.