There is now a new document card view to display extracted model information (metadata) in a tile view in libraries that have a SharePoint Syntex document understanding model (DUM) applied. When a document understanding model is applied from a Syntex Content Center to a new library there are now three options (under advanced settings) to choose the default view of the library. Users do not have to choose to have this new document card view as their default view but it looks very good!
A Closer Look At The New Document Card View
I will now show you below the new Document Card View close up and you can see a preview of the document and all of the Syntex model extracted metadata fields are displayed on the card. Reading the docs.microsoft.com page for applying a model it looks like the document card will display up to eight user-created fields and if fewer than eight it will also show up to four system generated fields.
The Tiles view displays up to eight user-created fields. If there are fewer than eight, up to four system-generated fields are shown: Sensitivity (if available), Retention (if available), Content type, Modified date, Modified by, and Classification date.
Apply a document understanding model in Microsoft SharePoint Syntex | Microsoft Docs
Looking behind the scenes it seems Syntex just creates a standard SharePoint view then styles the view in tile format with SharePoint list view formatting JSON. The JSON is automatically generated to show a file preview of the document and display all extracted metadata fields unique to your Syntex document understanding model.
This means that the document card view can be further customised with View formatting. I will quickly below show an example of the Document Card View customised to add a background colour of yellow using view formatting. This is great as it opens up many more customisation and theming options for this document card view.
Unfortunately at the moment it seems that previous libraries where a Syntex DUM has been applied cannot be retrofitted by Syntex with the new document card view. I suppose as a workaround you can apply the model to a new library and copy the view formatting JSON accross as the field names in both libraries will be the same. You could also apply this document card view formatting to other non Syntex libraries if you can edit the view formatting JSON to reflect the fields required in the library. There just will be no auto generation of the JSON like Syntex does.
Setting The Default View When Apply A Syntex Model To A Library
Below we will go through the three default view options that Syntex now gives you when apply a model to a library from the Syntex Content Center. I will be using a sample model I created for Aviation Incident Reports. I have shared this with the community of the PnP Syntex Samples GitHub repository where Microsoft and the community have submitted sample document understanding models which you can download and add them to your M365 tenant
Option One: A new view with model info shown
Selecting this option applies the model to a library and sets the default view to be a normal SharePoint list with the extracted metadata values displayed.
Changing to tile view however is possible from the view dropdown in the library and selecting Tile. This displays the new document card view displaying a preview of the document and all of its extracted metadata. This looks great!
Option Two: A new view with model info and file thumbnails
Selecting this option applies the model to a library and sets the default view to be a new special document card view with the extracted metadata values displayed and a file preview
Option Three: The Current Default View
Selecting this option retains the existing default view of the library and adds a Syntex list view (not as the default view) showing extracted model fields in a list format.
To change the view to a special Syntex view select the Syntex model view from the dropdown
The Syntex Model view is then displayed showing the extracted metadata info.
If the special Syntex model view is still selected and Tiles view is then selected from the dropdown the new Document Card view will now be didplayed
Summary
I really like the new document card view which shows all of the Syntex extracted model fields and a preview of the documents in a tile view. It quickly provides the user a preview of the documents and all of the metadata fields the Syntex model has extracted. It is great that I can use this with all new Syntex document understanding model libraries going forward but also have the control not to use it and use other views in my libraries. I also love that it’s just SharePoint list view formatting and it has auto generated the JSON required which can be further customised to add styling, additional fields, conditional logic etc. The possibilities are ENDLESS!
Let me know if you are using it and I’m always interested to hear how you are using SharePoint Syntex in your organisation?
