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Inside MS word document we have the following properties:-

enter image description here

and my question is if we can map these properties inside SharePoint document library? so for example i can populate the above properties inside word document >> upload the document inside an online SharePoint document library >> then the proprieties will be automatically populated inside SharePoint?

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It is possible but not for all the properties, depending on the version of Office Client you are using and if the columns can be recognized by SharePoint.

Most properties in the word document can be synced to SharePoint library as long as you have a corresponding column set in SharePoint. It can either be set the document content type, or the library itself.

For example:

Some properties in the screenshot you provide are available with default columns in SharePoint: Title, Comments, Status, Categories, Subject, Author.

Some properties have columns with same or similar names in SharePoint, but they are not recognized: Company, Manager.

And the rest of them cannot be synced even if we manually create a column in SharePoint.

There is currently no manual way to map the properties to SharePoint. So if you want to managed properties in the word document, it is better to use SharePoint properties instead, since they are more clear to easily added or removed from SharePoint side.

In addition, I’m using Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise to come up with the test results.

UPDATE:

There is no built-in approach to actually map the properties since we cannot change the communication method between these two products. What you are looking for is a way to update the corresponding properties while uploading.

In fact, you can create custom properties for every individual document via Properties > Advanced Properties > Custom, and the properties listed in the Properties list will be synced to SharePoint, as long as you have a corresponding column (same name and type) created in the library.

Please note that this works for the current document only, so it is not a solution to your question. Reference: View or change the properties for an Office file.

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  • ok thanks for your helpful reply.. i followed your steps and i am able to map the Status,Comments,title .. but i am not sure if we can create custom properties inside MS word and map them to SharePoint + if we can map the other properties such as Manager, company, etc..? i am asking if there is a built-in approach or using development approach such as creating a remote event receiver that can read the MS properties and populate the SharePoint list...
    – John John
    Nov 13 '20 at 11:18
  • @SharePointTestDev Please see the updated answer.
    – Chelsea_MSFT
    Nov 16 '20 at 7:39
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Yes, this is done via the property promotion mechanism.

Make sure the content type used for documents contains columns with exactly the same name. Uploading the Word files will then populate the columns. Please be aware off:

  1. This will only work for Office and tiff files.
  2. If folks start downloading Office files from one site and uploading the file into another you may end up with incorrect metadata.

If you need flexibility in column naming then you will need to resort to 3rd party apps (e.g. here). It would be best to first make use of the OOTB functionality though. Paul

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  • this is interesting, so for example I have 2 properties inside MS word named Company and comments, so if i add a content type with these 2 columns, and i upload the document the 2 properties will be automatically populated?
    – John John
    Nov 12 '20 at 13:33
  • also i tested this at my end and it did not work
    – John John
    Nov 12 '20 at 13:38
  • I also tested it on my tenant and .... it also does not work. This used to work without problems. Also made sure the document gets uploaded with a content type containing 2 of the properties from Word. very strange. It makes you wonder: are we the only ones having this problem?
    – Paul
    Nov 12 '20 at 16:08
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Trust me it has worked. Attached a screenshot from a Word file from Dec 2017. It shows the properties in the docx file. enter image description here The other screenhots shows the column values after uploading. enter image description here

We looked into using this functionality but it was too limited (needs matching column names, PDF's not supported, ..) and ended up using a 3rd party tool. Paul

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  • i were able to map limited number of properties only such as the Comments, Title and Status.. but my question if i can map all the properties and also create custom properties...
    – John John
    Nov 13 '20 at 11:40
  • "can map all the properties and also create custom properties" In principle this shoud work. The only way to find out is to create the properties, modify the content type and run a test.
    – Paul
    Nov 16 '20 at 9:16

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