Creating an Atlas content type

Content types are nothing more than a collection of columns (metadata properties) for a particular type of content. A content type pulls together an item and information about the item. The item might be one of many different kinds of files, a document, list or folder.

Atlas utilises the standard SharePoint Online functionality for custom Columns and Content Types, so if you are already familiar with these SharePoint concepts you can go ahead, just making sure that...

• Custom columns are added only to the group Atlas Columns – Extensions
• Custom content types that need to be searchable within Atlas must use an existing Atlas content type as their parent content type
  • WARNING: Currently there is an issue extending Item Atlas and File Item - this will be resolved in an upcoming release but please do not extend this content type at this time. Please contact support for more information.
• Custom content types are added only to the group Atlas Content Types – Extensions

In this article:

• Creating a Custom content type within an Atlas workspace
  • Adding New Site Columns
• Add your column(s) to a List or Library
• Create an item and populate the custom column

Creating a Custom content type within an Atlas workspace

1. Access your workspace. Bear in mind that if you need to template your changes you need to be editing your template workspace.
2. Click on the SharePoint cog then click Site contents. In the top right click Site settings:
     > 
3. Under Web Designer Galleries, click on Site content types to go to the Content type gallery. If you don't see these options you do not have sufficient permissions to make the following changes:
   
4. Click on Create content type. A panel will load on the right.
   
5. Enter the name of the content type you wish to create. In our example we will use the name "Graded Content":
   
6. Custom content types must be added to the category Atlas Content Types - Extensions. Select this from the drop down, or if it is not there, choose Create a new category and copy the name exactly as written above. This name is used by Atlas to ensure updates don't affect your customisations.
   
7. Under "Parent category" select the parent category as Atlas Content Types. Under "Content type" choose the type most relevant to your content. In this example we will use "Document Atlas" since the graded content being created will be in the form of documents.
   
8. Finally, click on Create. You will be taken to your content type details page. The new content type will be displayed in the content type gallery in this workspace.

Adding New Site Columns

Once you have created the content type, new site columns needed to be added to allow you to add your custom metadata. These columns must be configured in the category Atlas Columns - Extensions.

1. From within the content gallery, click on your newly created content type.
2. Under the Site columns heading click Add site column then select Create new site column dropdown:
   
3. Enter the name of the new column - in this example we create the column Grading:
   
   
4. Select Atlas Columns - Extensions from the "category" drop down. If you don't see it, click Create a new category then paste in the name exactly as above:
   
   
5. Select the column type. This will depend on the type of data you want to use. Text is free text, choice is a pre-set list of options, Managed metadata uses the Term Store, etc. You can see documentation of the available types here: Microsoft 365 support
   
   • In our example we might create a Choice column with the different grade choices
6. If a default value is required, please choose or type the default you need.
7. Under More Options, set any additional configuration you need (for example should the value be mandatory). Also confirm that the check box is ticked for Update sites and lists:
   
8. Click Save. The column will now display under Site columns in your custom content type and can moved to any position in the list by dragging and dropping.
9. If further columns are required simply repeat the above steps within your content type.

Add your content type to a List or Library

Now that you have created your content type in the workspace you can add it to the lists and/or libraries where you need that additional metadata.

1. Click Site contents from the SharePoint cog in the top right, then click the ellipsis (...) next to the list or library you want to add the column to and click Settings
2. Near the top on the left, click the Advanced settings link:
    
3. Ensure that the first option Allow management of content types is set to "Yes". If not, change it to "Yes" then scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save
4. Scroll down to the Content Types table and underneath it click Add from existing site content types
5. Choose the content type you created and click Add to move it to the right hand column:
   
6. Click OK
7. Just below the previous link, click Change new button order and default content type, then set the order you want to show them in using the Position from top column. You may wish to set your new content type as the default by setting the position to 1.

Create an item and populate the custom column

Once you have added the column to a list or library, you need to populate any new columns with values for at least one item so that the Search service will crawl it and generate us a Crawled Property.

1. Open a list or library which includes your custom column
2. Create a new item (in a list) or upload a document (in a library) and when setting the metadata, ensure you set a value in your custom column
3. Save your item or document with the custom column populated and if you're using Publishing features in the list or library, Publish the item or document too.

Now you'll need to wait a little while for the Microsoft Search to generate the Crawled Property. Once this is done, you can make this usable as a refiner in search by following this article: Create a custom column and use it as a filter in Search