How to Effectively Filter Rich Text Content with Metadata Tags in SharePoint?

The SharePoint rich text web part provides a versatile canvas for authoring free-form content.

However, as your intranet content library grows, finding specific information can become increasingly difficult.

This article covers simple ways to tag rich text using managed metadata so you can filter, search, and manage content more effectively.

Tagging Matters for Findability

Tagging pieces of content with keywords allows you to classify information based on topics and themes. Some key benefits include:

• Better Searchability: Users can locate content by searching for relevant tags
• Improved Filtering: Tag-specific views make drilling into subsets of data easier
• Enhanced Governance: Applying a tag taxonomy provides content oversight

In short, tags act like intuitive filters to sieve out content grains of sand relevant to the searcher.

While SharePoint offers default tagging for pages and news, rich text unfortunately does not inherit these capabilities out of the box.

However, with a few configuration tweaks, we can enable the full power of managed metadata for rich text web parts as well.

Enabling Tagging for Rich Text

Tagging rich text content involves two simple steps:

1. Activate metadata column: Turn on the ‘Content Type’ column
2. Create tag terms: Define a taxonomy with intuitive keywords

Below we elaborate on each phase.

Activating the Content Type Column

By default, the Content Type column does not appear in the rich text web part. To enable:

1. Navigate to Library Settings
2. Under Columns, click Add from existing site columns
3. Search for Content Type and add it
4. Save changes

You should now see Content Type appear when editing rich text content.

Pro Tip: For better visibility, move Content Type to the top of the Edit Pane via Column Order.

Creating Managed Metadata Terms

With the foundation set, we need to populate our tag taxonomy. Here’s how:

1. Go to Site Settings
2. Click Term store under Site Administration
3. Select the SharePoint group
4. Create a new Custom Group for your tags
5. Build out logical tag names as Terms

Some best practices when planning your taxonomy:

• Use common site search keywords
• Try a hierarchical structure
• Keep it simple early on

Tagging Rich Text Content

With metadata activated and taxonomies defined, tagging rich text is straightforward:

1. When authoring content, expand the Content-Type field
2. Start typing to select predefined metadata terms
3. Apply relevant tags to classify the content
4. Publish

Saved tags will now appear under Content Type.

Users can leverage these tags to filter and find content in their rich text web parts:

• Use the dropdown to reveal a tag-filtered view
• Search for tags directly to retrieve associated content
• Create tag-specific search verticals to drill down insights

So by taking advantage of out-of-box metadata capabilities, tags provide an easy way to organize disparate rich text content in SharePoint.

Key Takeaways

• Activating the Content Type column enables tagging for rich text
• Managed metadata allows for governing a centralized taxonomy
• Tagging content improves search ability and filtering
• A clear tag structure tailored to search terms is key

With the above approach, you can introduce intuitive metadata filters to manage ever-growing pools of rich text content.

So leverage tags to help users siphon relevance out of information overload!