Create a column unique to only a single folder within a document library

Question

I am currently working on a standalone project that has numerous documents that will reside within the project folder located within my organizations document library.

Below is an idealized example of the folder layout described above:

I would like to add columns to only my project folder that will assist with indexing the contents to allow for setting up three views (outline, category, and alpha by title).

After conducting some online searches, I tried a couple of potential methods I found to be promising. I tried by creating new site content, both folder content type and document set. No matter what I do, the columns I created to index within my project folder are present in the entire document library.

Is it even possible to create a column that is unique to a folder and not the entire document library?

Thanks in advance for any assistance provided.

Answer 1

Per my knowledge, you may not be able to create a column only available to a certain folder.

As a workaround, is it possible for you to create a public view for you doc library folder hiding those columns? If there are no confidentiality issues about these columns, I think this will be the end. You can see the columns in project folders and subfolders. And they are hided in the library as long as user does not create a private view to display them.

If you need, it is possible to create a new permission level to forbid users from creating private views.