This topic explains how to enable the Document Sets feature for a site collection, and then how to configure the Document Set content type.

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Enable Document Sets for a site collection

If the Document Sets feature has not been activated for your site collection, you will need to activate it before you can create or configure new Document Set content types. You must be a Site Collection Administrator to activate the Document Sets feature.

  1. Go to the top-level site in the site collection for which you want to enable Document Sets.

  2. On the Site Actions menu, click Site Settings.

  3. Under Site Collection Administration, click Site collection features.

  4. Find Document Sets in the list, and then click Activate.

Create a new Document Set content type

To make it possible for site users to use Document Sets to create new instances of multi-document work products, you must first create and configure a Document Set content type for each work product you want to manage and then add it to the document library where it will be used. After you create and configure a Document Set content type, you must add it to the library where you want users to create their Document Sets.

You must be a Site Collection Administrator or a Site Owner to create or configure Document Set content types.

  1. On the Site Actions menu, click Site Settings.

  2. Under Galleries, click Site content types.

  3. On the Site Content Types page, click Create.

  4. In the Name and Description section, in the Name box, type the name you want to give to your new Document Set. This is the name that users will see when they create a new instance of a Document Set.

  5. In the Description box, type a description of the Document Set.

  6. Under Select parent content type from, click Document Set Content Types. (If Document Set Content Types is not an option, the Document Sets feature may not be activated for this site collection.)

  7. In the Group section, specify whether you want to categorize your new Document Set content type in a new or existing group.

  8. Click OK.

When your new Document Set content Type is created, you will see the Site Content Type information page for the content type, where you can configure additional settings for it.

Configure or customize a Document Set content type

  1. On the Site Actions menu, click Site Settings.

  2. Under Galleries, click Site content types.

  3. On the Site Content Types page, click the name of the Document Set content type you want to configure.

  4. Under Settings, click Document Set settings.

  5. In the Allowed Content Types section, under Available Site Content Types, select the content type you want to allow within this Document Set, and then click the Add button to move it to the Content Types allowed in the Document Set box. Repeat this step for each content type you want to include in the Document Set.

    Note:  Allowed Content Types setting is only applicable to the documents added via the "New" menu inside the document set.

  6. In the Default Content section, select the content type for which you want to upload default content, and then click Browse to locate the file that you want to upload. Default content is created automatically for authors when they create new instances of a Document Set. For example, let us say that you are creating a Document Set to manage the product design process. This Document Set might include a Product Design Document (a Microsoft Word document), a Design Drawing (a Microsoft Visio drawing), and Performance Specs (a Microsoft Excel worksheet). Your organization might have a standard Microsoft Word document template for the Product Design Document that is prepopulated with some of the standard information authors need to complete. You can upload this template as default content. When authors create a new instance of the product design Document Set, a copy of the Product Design Document is created for them, and they can edit it to add additional information. If you opt not to include default content for the content types in the Document Set, no files will be automatically created for authors when they create a new instance of a Document Set, and authors will be able to create them from scratch within the Document Set, or upload documents to the Document Set..

  7. If there are multiple content types within this Document Set, and you want to upload default content for each of them, click Add new default content, select the next content type for which you want to specify default content, and then click Browse to locate the file you want to upload. Repeat this step until you have specified all of the desired default content for the individual content types in this Document Set.

  8. If you want the name of the Document Set added to the names of individual files within an instance of a Document Set, select the check box next to Add the name of the Document Set to each file name. Including this information may help users identify files in certain views of the library, especially if a library contains more than one type of Document Set.

  9. In the Shared Columns section, select the columns you want each of the content types within the Document Set to share. Shared columns are read-only for the documents within the Document Set, and they can be edited only for the Document Set itself. When changes are made to the values of the shared columns for the Document Set, these updates will be synchronized to the shared column values for the documents within the set.

  10. In the Welcome Page Columns section, specify which columns you want to display on the Welcome Page for the Document Set.

  11. In the Welcome Page section, click Customize the Welcome Page to customize the appearance of the Welcome Page that displays to users for each instance of the Document Set.

  12. If you want to apply these Welcome Page changes to any Document Sets that inherit from this Document Set, select the check box next to Update the Welcome Page of Document Sets inheriting from this content type.

  13. In the Update List and Site Content Types section, specify whether you want to update any content types inheriting from this Document Set with the changes you have made.

  14. Click OK.

After you create and configure a Document Set content type, you must add it to the library where you want users to create their Document Sets.

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