Title vs. Name in SharePoint Document Libraries (MOSS 2007 version with Office 2007)

	Name	Title
General	Name is the file name as uploaded from your hard drive, or the name you specify when you save directly from a native application to the SharePoint document library.	Title is meaningful name given to the document by the person who uploads or saves it. In PowerPoint, the Title of the presentation or first slide in the presentation is pulled in as this property.
Ability to change/edit	Can be changed at time of upload or edited at any time.	Can be filled in at time of upload, but is not required. If not filled in, is left blank by the system. Can be edited at any time.
Where it appears	Shows at the top of the window when the file is open in the native application.	Shows at the top of the window when the document is open in a browser.
Where the property is stored	Document	Server
Ability to modify the column settings in SharePoint document library settings	No – the "Name" field is not accessible from the doc lib settings.	The label can be changed (i.e. to "Title of Document" instead of "Title") but the field cannot be deleted. Must be single line of text.
Views	Can be included in a view, 3 flavors – Name (for use in forms) Name (linked to file with edit menu) Name (linked to file)	Can be included in view, not as link to document.
Document Properties	Appears on the General tab, and in the File section	Appears in the Description section
Search (SharePoint default)	If no Title exists, Name will appear first in the search results:	If a Title exists, it will appear in the search results instead of the filename:
Best Practices	The following characters are not allowed in SharePoint document libraries: / \ : * ? " < > | # <TAB> { } % ~ & For cleaner URLs, use no spaces, or underscores instead of spaces. Spaces are rendered as "%20" in the URL:	Ensure that your title doesn't reflect anything inappropriate, especially if it has been filled in automatically (i.e. a PowerPoint presentation prepared for a particular customer being shown to a competitor).

 

Resources I used when researching this information:

 

Title vs Name in Document Libraries (a discussion thread on Google Groups):

http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.sharepoint.windowsservices/browse_thread/thread/36e21dc23f38f6fb/cdca5b2ce5778792%23cdca5b2ce5778792

 

Setting up Windows SharePoint Services as a Collaborative File Store:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsserver/sharepoint/V2/fsdoclib.mspx

Comments

[SharePoint Help]

Have you found any workaround to make the Title link to its document?

[Records management company]

Thank you so much for this great post. This is really helpful when trying to understand how to work with SharePoint.

[electronic signatures]

Thank you for sharing this informative article on SharePoint systems. It is really helpful. Cheers!