How to build a SharePoint metadata report and export it to Excel
Run an item inventory across sites and lists, add custom columns such as Project Number, Project Owner and Document Type through Additional Fields, group and filter the results, save the view and export it to Excel with the grouping kept.
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Transcript
Runtime 3:23. Created by the Cognillo product team. Narrated with an AI-generated voice.
0:00 Thanks for joining. Before we begin, just a disclaimer: this video was written by the Cognillo team, and this voice-over was AI-generated. In this video, we'll build a SharePoint metadata report. We'll add our own columns to an item inventory, review the results in the toolkit, customize the view, and export it to Excel.
0:20 Your libraries carry metadata like Project Number, Project Owner and Document Type, and the item inventory can report on all of it. On Tasks, pick the sites. We're running against just two sites here, the Architecture knowledge base and US Illinois, but you can tick as many sites as you need and run it on all of them in bulk.
0:38 Optionally, narrow it to specific lists. We'll pick the seven libraries and lists that use our project columns. Leave this empty to scan every list on the selected sites.
0:51 Search I want to for inventory of items, and pick Get inventory of items, files, folders, pages. The scope shows two sites, seven lists, and about a hundred and fifty items.
1:03 Next. The summary shows what the job will do. It only reads, so nothing in SharePoint is changed.
1:11 Open the Report tab. This is the Additional Fields section. Type the SharePoint columns to add, separated by semicolons: Project Number, Project Owner, Document Type, Project Phase, Client, and Review Date. Display names or internal names both work, or you can turn on Automatically add SharePoint custom fields.
1:31 Run now. A hundred and forty-nine items are scanned in under a minute. On hundreds of sites, the same job simply runs longer, and you can schedule it to run on its own.
1:42 The report opens grouped by site and list. Every item has the standard inventory columns, plus our six custom columns, filled in straight from SharePoint.
1:53 Now let's customize the view. Switch to All Items, then open Columns. The Labels and metadata preset keeps the essentials, and puts your additional fields right after the label columns, so the metadata is easy to read.
2:11 Drag the Project Number header to the group area. Items are now grouped by project, and the blank group shows folders, and any files still missing a project number. Expand a project to see its documents, owner, phase and client.
2:25 Search filters across every column. Type contract, and you see the contracts on each project.
2:31 Clear the search, then save this as a new view, named Metadata by Project. Your saved views stay in the View list, so you can switch back to them any time.
2:46 Finally, export to Excel. The standard export keeps the same rows as the grid, with its grouping and filters.
2:54 The workbook opens in Excel, grouped by project, with every custom column. Autofit the columns, and it's ready to filter, share, or analyze.
3:07 Thanks for watching. Save the task as a template, or schedule it, to keep your metadata report up to date. And if you have any questions, email hello at cognillo dot com.