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I have what seems like a simple question, but I haven't been able to find the answer here.

I have a SharePoint 2010 library with multiple folders. For some documents (e.g. a spreadsheet), I want to keep one copy in one folder, and have a link to it in some of the other folders. My two document types are "document" and "link to document". The modified date for the "link to document" is the date the original link was created (which will never change), and does not reflect when the linked spreadsheet is updated (which will happen on a daily basis.) This may confuse users who go to the link--they might think the data is old.

How can I show the date the document changed in my links to that document?

octopusCrime
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  • I hope this doesn't come off as too preachy, but this sounds like a bad use case for folders and a good place to use metadata instead. For example, you can tag each document with a column that contains the value that you're currently capturing in the folder names, then create filtered views (or use a filtering web part) to allow users to easily get to sets of documents based on how they're tagged. If you make the new column a multi-choice column, you can have those spreadsheets appear in multiple views just by tagging them with multiple values. – Thriggle Mar 09 '16 at 23:24

2 Answers2

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You can update the list item using a workflow. On a list item change, the workflow can look up the corresponding linked documents and then update the modified date on that list item.

The SharePoint SO site is also another good place to look for tips on SharePoint workflows. Just make sure the workflow doesn't get triggered again when the item get updated.

Community
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Zach
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  • Thanks for the reply. To clarify, did you mean to say: On a list item (document) change, the workflow can look up the corresponding "link to document" (not the linked document) and then update the modified date on that list item (i.e., the "link to document", not the "linked document".) Also, since the workflow would be pushing the date from the "linked document" to the "link to document", I don't see why the workflow would get triggered again and again ad infinitum, as described in the link you shared. – octopusCrime Mar 10 '16 at 16:56
  • Yes; both the documents and link to documents are list items in the list so I didn't make the distinction clear. They would effectively be treated the same as list items. If the workflow is triggered on item change, updating the link to document list item would trigger the workflow again. The multi-trigger problem could be avoided by having the workflow know to ignore changes on a link to document. – Zach Mar 10 '16 at 18:39
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    Thanks for the help, but I found a much easier solution. I'm using the "Manage Copies" functionality to post updated copies to the folders where I was previously putting links. This should fix the problem with my "Modified" dates showing the time the link was created. Now I will have copies of my "one version of the truth" published to my other locations, with the correct "Modified" date. So easy! – octopusCrime Mar 10 '16 at 20:23
  • Glad you found an easy solution. You can submit that as an answer to this question than then mark is as accepted. This will help others with the same issue. – Zach Mar 10 '16 at 22:44
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I found a much easier solution. I'm using the "Manage Copies" functionality to post updated copies to the folders where I was previously putting links. This should fix the problem with my "Modified" dates showing the time the link was created. Now I will have copies of my "one version of the truth" published to my other locations, with the correct "Modified" date. So easy!

octopusCrime
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