Create content types for active documents

Applies To: Office SharePoint Server 2007

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Topic Last Modified: 2008-03-24

Active documents are documents in use, such as the e-mail messages in an information worker's inbox, the printed product specifications on someone's desk, the documents in a document library. It is expected that active documents will change over time, be copied and shared, and generally move around the organization.

Active documents may be declared as records if they serve as evidence of an activity or transaction performed by your organization. For example, if your organization provides a service that includes delivering content to a customer, that content becomes a record of the delivery of the service, and a copy of the document might need to be retained.

Conversely, some types of active documents never become records. For example, you might not classify an e-mail sent among coworkers to agree on where to meet for lunch as a record.

A content type defines the attributes of a list item, a document, or a folder. It is necessary to create new content types for active documents so that the documents can be routed to the appropriate document library in the Records Center. Each content type can specify:

• Properties to associate with items of its type.

• Workflows that can be started from items of its type.

• Information management policies to associate with items of its type.

• Document templates (for document content types).

• Document conversions to make available (for document content types).

• Custom features.

You can associate a content type with a list or library. When you do this, you are specifying that the list or library can contain items of that content type and that the New command in that list or library will enable users to create new items of that type. When records are routed to the Records Center, the content type of the active document is matched to the corresponding content type in the Records Center and routed accordingly.

Task Requirements

To create content types for active documents, you can perform the following procedures in no particular order:

• Create a new content type for active documents

• Create a site column for active documents

• Add a column to a content type for active documents

• Add an expiration policy feature to a content type

• Add an auditing policy feature to a content type

• Add a workflow to a content type for active documents

• Associate a content type with a document library

See Also

Concepts

Configuring an active document site for records management
Prepare a server farm to send records to a Records Center site
Configure workflows for transporting records