SKOS format reference for SharePoint taxonomy

This article includes RDF vocabulary used to represent SharePoint taxonomy and is based on SKOS. For serialization of this RDF syntax, use RDF TURTLE.

The following table shows the SKOS equivalents for the SharePoint taxonomy vocabulary. SharePoint doesn't support SKOS values that have no SharePoint taxonomy equivalent.

The following table displays the entities of the SharePoint taxonomy vocabulary derived from OWL.

SharePoint taxonomy vocabulary

A taxonomy is a formal classification system. A taxonomy groups the words, labels, and terms that describe something, and then arranges the groups into a hierarchy.

sharepoint-taxonomy:Term

Represents a Term or a Keyword in a managed metadata hierarchy.

A Term is the atomic unit of a SharePoint TermStore. Each Term belongs to a TermSet that belongs to a TermGroup.

The syntax to define a Term is as follows:

ex:TermA    a    sharepoint-taxonomy:Term;
    sharepoint-taxonomy:inTermSet    ex:TermSetA;
    sharepoint-taxonomy:topLevelTermOf    ex:TermSetA;
    sharepoint-taxonomy:child    ex:TermA1;
    sharepoint-taxonomy:isAvailableForTagging    “true”^^xsd:Boolean;
    sharePoint-taxonomy:defaultLabel    “Term A”@en-us.

A Term compulsorily exists within a TermSet. DefaultLabel is the name of the Term as it appears in the visual representation. The required fields for defining a Term include:

• sharepoint-taxonomy: defaultLabel
• sharepoint-taxonomy: inTermSet

A Term can:

• Be hierarchically related to another Term that is provided both the Terms belong to the same TermSet.
• Have multiple child Terms, but only a single parent Term.
• Not have a parent Term defined, if it's a topLevelTermOf a TermSet.
• Have one defaultLabel, per TermStore working language.
• Not exist if it either contains a parent Term, or is the topLevelTermOf a TermSet.
• Have only a unique defaultLabel in the same hierarchical level.

sharepoint-taxonomy:TermSet

Represents a hierarchical or flat set of Term objects known as a "TermSet".

As the name suggests, TermSet is a set of Terms. A Term in a TermStore must belong to a TermSet. No Term can exist independently.

The syntax to define a TermSet is:

ex:TermSetA    a    sharepoint-taxonomy:TermSet;
    sharepoint-taxonomy:termSetName    “TermSet A";
    sharepoint-taxonomy:isAvailableForTagging    “true”^^xsd:Boolean;
    sharepoint-taxonomy:hasTopLevelTerm    Ex:Term A.

TermSets are logically grouped together in TermGroups. The required field for defining a TermSet is:

• sharepoint-taxonomy: termSetName

If the termSetName provided isn't unique within the TermGroup, SharePoint appends a number at the end of the name to maintain the uniqueness of termSetName(s).

sharepoint-taxonomy:hasTopLevelTerm

SharePoint uses this property to map the top-most Term in the TermSet, which is the entry point to the hierarchy of Terms in a TermSet. This property is an inverse relation to sharepoint-taxonomy: topLevelTermOf.

The syntax to define this property is:

ex:TermSetA    sharepoint-taxonomy:hasTopLevelTerm    ex:TermA.

sharepoint-taxonomy:topLevelTermOf

Sharepoint-taxonomy: topLevelTermOf is the inverse of sharepoint-taxonomy: hasTopLevelTerm

The syntax to define this property is:

ex:TermA    sharepoint-taxonomy:topLevelTermOf    ex:TermSetA.

sharepoint-taxonomy:inTermSet

Use this property to map a Term to a TermSet. A Term can only exist in a single TermSet. SharePoint requires this property when defining a term.

Required labels

Your organization may want to do careful planning before you start to use managed metadata. The amount of planning that you must do depends on how formal your taxonomy is. It also depends on how much control that you want to impose on metadata. At each level of the hierarchy, you need to configure required labels for a Term or TermSet.

A Term can have one or more labels in the default language, and zero or more labels in the nondefault language. If the term has labels in a language, one of the labels must be the default label.

sharepoint-taxonomy:defaultLabel

Use this default lexical label for a Term that is a required parameter for a Term. Use to visually representing the Term.

The syntax to define a defaultLabel is:

ex:TermA    sharepoint-taxonomy:defaultLabel    “Term A”@en-us.

The defaultLabel contains two parts to it – the string and the language tag. The language must be one of the TermStore working languages. The defaultLabel must be unique for all Terms in the same TermSet, at the same hierarchical level.

sharepoint-taxonomy:termSetName

Gets and sets the name for the current TermSet object.

This property is the lexical label for a TermSet, in a TermStore working language. This property is a required parameter for a TermSet. Use to visually representing a TermSet.

The syntax to define a termSetName is:

ex:TermA    sharepoint-taxonomy:TermSetName    “Term Set A”@en-us.

sharepoint-taxonomy:propertyName

Gets and sets the property name for the current TermSet object.

This property is the lexical label for a sharepoint-taxonomy:SharedCustomPropertyForTerm, sharepoint-taxonomy:LocalCustomPropertyForTerm and sharepoint-taxonomy:CustomPropertyForTermSet in a TermStore working language.

The sharepoint-taxonomy: propertyName is treated as the key of the CustomProperty.

The syntax to define a propetyName is:

ex:SharedCustomProperty1    sharepoint-taxonomy:propertyName    “Shared Custom Property Key 1”@en-us.

Optional labels

You can also add optional labels to your taxonomy.

sharepoint-taxonomy:otherLabel

This property is the alternate lexical label for a Term.

The syntax to define an otherLabel is:

ex:TermA    sharepoint-taxonomy:otherLabel    “Term A”@en-us.

Semantic relationships

Taxonomies have hierarchical and sometimes a simple “related term” associative relationship, but some have "semantic relationships" or custom-created relationships.

sharepoint-taxonomy:parent

This property hierarchically relates a Term to another Term. A Term could be a top level Term of a TermSet, but in case it doesn’t it must have a parent Term.

The syntax to define a parent is:

ex:TermA1    sharepoint-taxonomy:parent    ex:TermA.

This syntax means that TermA is the parent and TermA is the child.

sharepoint-taxonomy:child

The object contains one or more child TermSet instances, and these instances can be accessed through the TermSets property. This class also provides methods for creating new child TermSet objects. Permissions for editing child Term and TermSet instances are specified on the group.

This property hierarchically relates a Term to another Term.

The syntax to define a child is:

ex:TermA    sharepoint-taxonomy:child    ex:TermA1.

This syntax means that TermA is the parent and TermA is the child.

Documentation notes

This section discusses the taxonomy detailed in the Microsoft.SharePoint.Taxonomy Namespace.

sharepoint-taxonomy:description

This property is a detailed explanation of any SharePoint taxonomy vocabulary entity.

The syntax to add a description is:

ex:TermA    sharepoint-taxonomy:description    “Term A is the top level term of TermSetA”@en-us.

Custom properties

Gets the collection of custom property objects for the current Term object from the read-only dictionary.

Custom Properties are key-values pairs that can be defined for a Term or a TermSet, to further the description of the Term or a TermSet. SharePoint specifies the key of the custom property with the help of propertyName.

sharepoint-taxonomy:CustomPropertyForTermSet

The syntax to define this property is:

ex:CustomProp1    rdf:type    sharepoint-taxonomy:CustomPropertyForTermSet;
    sharepoint-taxonomy:propertyName “Colour”.

ex:TermSetA    ex:CustomProp1    “Red”@en-us.

sharepoint-taxonomy:SharedCustomPropertyForTerm

If the custom property for a Term needs to be carried along with the Term, when you reuse the Term somewhere else, then you need to define it under SharedCustomPropertyForTerm.

The syntax to define this property is:

ex:CustomProp2    rdf:type sharepoint-taxonomy:SharedCustomPropertyForTerm;
    sharepoint-taxonomy:propertyName “Length”.

ex:TermA    ex:CustomProp2    “5 cm”@en-us.

sharepoint-taxonomy:LocalCustomPropertyForTerm

If the custom property for a Term doesn't need to be carried along with the Term, when you reuse the Term somewhere else, then you need to define it under LocalCustomPropertyForTerm.

The syntax to define this property is:

ex:CustomProp3    rdf:type sharepoint-taxonomy:LocalCustomPropertyForTerm;
    sharepoint-taxonomy:propertyName “width”.

ex:TermA    ex:CustomProp3    “5 cm”@en-us.

Data properties

At each level of the hierarchy, you can configure specific data properties for a Term or TermSet.

sharepoint-taxonomy:isAvailableForTagging

Use this property to specify if a Term or a TermSet available in SharePoint Lists and Libraries.

The syntax for this property is:

ex:TermA    sharepoint-taxonomy:isAvailableForTagging     "true"^^xsd:Boolean;

Domain and range

The following table describes the domain and range of SharePoint taxonomy vocabulary.

SKOS valid scenarios that SharePoint taxonomy doesn't allow:

• Hierarchical redundancy - A SKOS concept can be attached to several broader concepts at the same time, but a sharepoint-taxonomy:Term can have only one sharepoint-taxonomy:parent, hence cyclic dependency, of Terms are also not allowed.
• Orphaned terms aren't allowed in SharePoint taxonomy. Every sharepoint-taxonomy: Term should either have a sharepoint-taxonomy: parent or it should be the sharepoint-taxonomy: topLevelTermOf a TermSet.
• SharePoint taxonomy doesn't support associative relations.
• SharePoint taxonomy only allows two types of Hierarchical relations – sharepoint-taxonomy: parent and sharepoint-Taxonomy: child.
• Unlike SKOS the hierarchical relationship in SharePoint taxonomy vocabulary, can only be established with Terms within the same TermSet.