Can i populate the created documents with managed metadata terms based on the Parent Folder name and sub folder name

[johnjohnPter]

We are trying to benefit from using folder structures and managed metadata to store our SharePoint documents. so i created a term group >> with 2 term sets >> named "client" and "Doc Type", as follow:-

and at the same time we are storing the files into this folder structure as follow:-

-ClientName

    -DocType

        -the documents 

as follow:-

now i want to know if it is possible to populate the new documents with the 2 managed metadata fields based on the Parent folder name and the subfolder name? for example if i upload a document inside the Proposals sub-folder which is under ClientC parent folder>> to have the Client metadata for the newly added document = ClientC & the DocType metadata = Proposal ? and so on.. can anyone advice?

[Expiscornovus]

Hi @johnjohnPter,

Your requirements sound a lot like the document sets feature. You could create a document set per customer and use the shared columns feature. Below is a thread where I shared an example

https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Building-Flows/Inheriting-Metadata-from-parent-folder-when-folde...

Alternatively, if you want to keep using folders you can also use the Column default value setting as well. 

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/55704748/how-to-inherit-folders-properties-when-adding-a-new-fil...

Below is an example of that

1. The Default value for the Client column is set to Contoso Sports for the CustomerA folder.

2. The Contracts folder inherits this value

[johnjohnPter]

@Expiscornovus document set as become somehow an old approach to manage documents with the flat structure and modern UI and more collaboration rather than having a documents repository.

i know that i can set the default values for folders, but users will keep adding new folders, and they find it difficult to set the default values for the folders by themselves + this will require me to grant them additional permissions to manage the libraries which i do not want to provide.

so i find my approach simple and straight forward, users have to only create a new term for the new client and create a folder with the same name as the client.. then the workflow will populate the metadata accordingly. what do you think?

[Expiscornovus]

Hi @johnjohnPter,

Good to know you prefer folders instead of doc sets 👍

I would still suggest to look into the column default value setting. It should be possible to automate that setting for each new folder with a flow as well. 

@Rhiassuring has shared a nice solution about updating these settings via a Power Automate flow:

https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Building-Flows/Setting-the-default-column-value-of-a-subfolder-i...

[johnjohnPter]

@Expiscornovus it is not possible to set the column default value using power automate, i tried this long time ago, and when i set a default value for a new column all the old values got removed. so in other words if we want to set a default value using power automate or SharePoint rest api, we will need to do it for all existing folders.. as when you set this for a single folder this will reset the values for all the other folders.

[Expiscornovus · Accepted solution]

Hi @johnjohnPter,

I think in the same thread they also tried add new defaults without removing the old ones. But if you have already tried it lets go for your own suggested approach.

I would use the Full Path property and split it on the / character. In that case you could use the 2nd and 3rd item of the returned array.

Below is an example

1. Via a split expression the Client and DocType are retrieved

Client

split(triggerOutputs()?['body/{FullPath}'], '/')[1]

DocType

split(triggerOutputs()?['body/{FullPath}'], '/')[2]

2. Those are used in a couple of HTTP requests to retrieve the term id of the corresponding label

URI Client

_api/v2.1/termStore/groups/@{variables('TermGroupId')}/sets/@{variables('ClientTermSetId')}/terms?$filter=labels/any(a: a/name eq '@{split(triggerOutputs()?['body/{FullPath}'], '/')[1]}')

URI DocType

_api/v2.1/termStore/groups/@{variables('TermGroupId')}/sets/@{variables('DocTypeTermSetId')}/terms?$filter=labels/any(a: a/name eq '@{split(triggerOutputs()?['body/{FullPath}'], '/')[2]}')

I also got a blog about that approach:

https://www.expiscornovus.com/2022/12/29/get-terms-by-label/

3. With concat expressions they are used in an update file properties action (as a custom value)

Client

concat(split(triggerOutputs()?['body/{FullPath}'], '/')[1], '|', outputs('Send_an_HTTP_request_to_SharePoint_-_Client')?['body']['value'][0]['id'])

DocType

concat(split(triggerOutputs()?['body/{FullPath}'], '/')[2], '|', outputs('Send_an_HTTP_request_to_SharePoint_-_DocType')?['body']['value'][0]['id'])

Below is my test result.

[johnjohnPter]

@Expiscornovus this worked for me,, thanks a lot