Try ShortPoint nowWith SharePoint, you are able to create custom site columns containing properties you assign or provide for your content. ShortPoint has now enabled connecting to and mapping these custom properties so that you can display them within a Design Element dynamically.
This article provides you a step-by-step guide on how to collect the required Custom Property Names to be able to display its content on your intranet page with ShortPoint.
Note: The features referred to in this article is currently available only in ShortPoint News Connections - Site News, Hub News, or Org News.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Prerequisites
- What are Custom Properties?
- What you need to know before we start?
- How to Identify Custom Property Names
- Single Site Option - Site News Connection
- Multiple Sites Option - Site News, Hub News, and Org News Connection
- Accessing Tenancy Search Schema
- Step 1: Enter the SharePoint Admin Center
- Step 2: Open Search page
- Step 3: Navigate to Managed Properties list
- Step 4: Search for and collect Managed Property name
- Accessing Site Collection Search Schema
- Step 1: Navigate to Site Information
- Step 2: Hit View all Site Settings
- Step 3: Select Search Schema
- Step 4: Search and copy Managed Property name
Prerequisites
- You have an Office 365 (SharePoint Online) or SharePoint 2019 environment.
- You have custom site columns you want to connect to.
- You have admin access to Site Pages library or your tenancy’s Search Managed Properties page.
What are Custom Properties?
SharePoint lists/libraries and their content are given a default set of properties as they are created. These are automatically listed as options when mapping items to display in a connected Design Element.
You can add columns in your library or create new site columns in your site collection to insert additional information you may need to filter or identify content. These columns are referred to as Custom Properties. They are the information or categories about the items outside of the properties SharePoint assigns by default.
ShortPoint has now enabled you to add these custom properties as mapping options when dynamically pulling news posts or links from across sites using News Connections.
What you need to know before we start?
The News Connections uses two distinct SharePoint services to be able to request data from your site collections. They are:
- REST API is used to interact directly with a single site, within or outside your site collection, allowing you to display information instantaneously. This is the service used when you are using the Site News connection type and selecting a single site from current or other sites as well as when you are adding a site URL as an option.
To search news content using REST API, you will need the Internal Name of the custom column you created containing the content you want to display.
- Search API is used to interact with multiple sites: including your subsites, hub sites, and their associated sites, and sites across the organization. It relies on the data crawled in the SharePoint Server and therefore requires a few minutes or more before it appears when connected in a Design Element. This is the service used when you are using Site News connection type with other sites or subsites added. It is also the service used for Hub News and Org News connection types.
To pull news content using Search API, you will need the Managed Property Name of the site column containing the data you want to display. You can visit this article from Microsoft on how site columns become managed properties.
How to Identify Custom Property Names
Depending on which sites you want to connect with to pull dynamic news content, you will need to get the custom property name first before proceeding with adding it into a ShortPoint Design Element. There are two places to get this information and it depends on which sites you want to connect with.
Single Site Option - Site News Connection
When you want to pull news and its custom properties from a single site, you can get the Internal Name directly from the site’s Pages library.
Step 1: Go to the Site Pages library
Navigate to your page’s Settings. Hit Site Contents and select Site Pages. This will open a list of all the pages you have on your site including your news posts or links.
Take note of the Display Name of the custom column you have with the data you want to display on your page.
Step 2: Open Library Settings
Press the Settings gear icon and click the Library Settings option. This will open the Site Pages > Settings page.
Step 3: Select custom column
Under the Columns section, press your custom column display name. This brings you to the Settings > Edit Column page.
Step 4: Collect the Internal Name
You can now get the custom property name that shows as a field value in the Edit Column page URL. This is the Internal Name that you will be using to pull information from this column to display on your page.
Multiple Sites Option - Site News, Hub News, and Org News Connection
When you want to pull news and its custom properties from multiple sites, you will need to utilize the Search API service which requires the Managed Property name from your tenancy’s or site collection’s Search Schema page. Managed properties are auto-generated when you add a custom site column and enter values into it.
Note: You need to have the appropriate SharePoint Admin Permissions to view your tenant’s or site collection’s Search Schema.
Accessing Tenancy Search Schema
You can get the Managed Property name from your tenancy’s Search page when you want to connect news content outside your site collection.
Step 1: Enter the SharePoint Admin Center
Log in to Microsoft 365 admin center and select SharePoint.
Step 2: Open Search page
Press More features and hit the Open button under Search. This will open a new window with different actions to manage SharePoint Search.
Step 3: Navigate to Managed Properties list
Select Manage Search Schema to open the Managed Properties page. You will now see the list of Managed Properties.
Step 4: Search for and collect Managed Property name
Use the filter to search for the Managed Property name containing data that you want to display on your page.
Note: Ensure that the Managed Property has Query enabled so that its contents can be searchable.
Info: You can use the asterisk (*) wildcard search symbol to filter the Managed Properties list. For example, to filter words that have the word “function” or any of its variations such as “functional, functionality, etc” you can add an asterisk at the end of a word or string of letters (“function*”).
You can also go directly to the tenancy’s Managed Properties page by copying this link and replacing the appropriate tenant name.
https://{tenant name}-admin.sharepoint.com/_layouts/15/searchadmin/ta_listmanagedproperties.aspx?level=tenant
Accessing Site Collection Search Schema
When you want to collect news content from sites and subsites within your site collection, you can get the Managed Property name from your site collection’s Search Schema page.
Step 1: Navigate to Site Information
Go to the Settings window and click Site Information.
Step 2: Hit View all Site Settings
From the Site Information window, press the View all site settings link. You will be brought to the Site Settings page.
Step 3: Select Search Schema
Under the Site Collection Administration section, hit Search Schema from the list. The Site Collection Administration - Managed Properties page will open.
Step 4: Search and copy Managed Property name
Use the filter to search for the Managed Property name you want to display on your page.
Note: Ensure that the Managed Property has Query enabled so that its contents can be searchable.
You now have the necessary Custom Property Name to use in connecting and mapping custom properties within a ShortPoint Design Element.
Related article:
- How to Map Custom Properties in News Connections
- How to Filter News Posts or Links Viewed on a SharePoint Page Using Free-Text Query
