Document name VS Document title inside SP document library

Question

I have added a new Document library to my team site in SP 2013. and I have noted the following regarding two fields:-

• Name
• Title

Now when I upload a new document for example MS word inside SP document library, the document name inside the document library will be equal to the actual MS word document name. while the title will be empty unless the original MS word contain a title.

Now I have the following questions:-

• When I search for a document , SP will do the following:- it will display the document name in the search when the document title is empty. While if the document has a title then the title will be shown in the search result instead of the document name.. so why SP got this behavior ?

• From standard point of view , what are the differences between Name & Title ? and why they are not combined in a single field ? I mean when the document name will be different from its title ?

Regards

Answer 1

It behaves that way because that is how the search display template works, if it has a title, it shows it, otherwise it falls back to the file name. Title is by far one of the highest ranking priorities in the search algorithm. If you find your results lacking, giving documents accurate title is the best way to boost relevancy.

Name is the file name, title can be something totally unrelated or somewhat similar. For example, I might name a file q1_mkt_sales.xslx but I might call it Marketing and Sales Q1 Forecasts.

Answer 2

I find the best practice is to consider the 'name' the unique identifier (i.e. document number as per document management system guidelines) and the title something that can be replicated (i.e. a report that recurs each year with the same title).

Filling in BOTH fields all the time is the best practice; but don't try to make them say the same thing...that just confuses users. Use each for a different purpose.

That helped me in understanding...hopefully it helps others.