Introduction

A Content Type is a reusable collection of settings that you want to apply to a certain category of content. Content Types enable you to manage the metadata and behavior of a document, item, or folder in a centralized, reusable way.

Content Type Creation

You can create a column and Content Type in one of the following three ways:

  1. User Interface
  2. Object Model
  3. Features

Types of Content Type

There are the following two types of Content Types available in SharePoint:

  1. Site Content Type
  2. List Content Type

Site Content Type

When you create a new Content Type and add it to a site collection of Content Type it is called a Site Content Type.

List Content Type

When you add a Site Content Type to a list, SP makes a copy of the Site Content Type and adds a copy to the list called a List Content Type.

Creating Content Type using User Interface (UI)

Step 1

Create a list or library using more options from the site setting and select a template and provide a name for that and click Create.

Creating Library

Step 2
Once the library has been created, confirm whether Content Type is enabled for the library. To check go to the Library Settings in the ribbon then click Advanced Settings under the General Settings.
Library Settings

Step 3
Enable Allow management of Content Type then hit OK.
Content Type Management

Step 4
Once you hit OK the Content Type will be enabled for the specific list or library.

Step 5
Now create a Content Type using site content. Go to Site action then Site settings then choose Site Content Type under Galleries.
Creating Content Type using Site Content

Step 6
Click the Create new button and provide a name and description for the Content Type.
Creating Button

Note: Here should provide the unique name, description and choose the correct parent Content Type and Content Type from, then place it in the existing group.

Step 7
Then you can see the following window after clicking OK, then click Advanced settings to bind the Content Type.
Advance Settings

Step 8
Here you can bind the template and click OK.
Binding Template

Note: We can create the number of columns for the metadata purposes. To create the column go to Step 9 else go to Step 10.

Step 9
Create a column using Add form new site column and provide a name and data types.

Step 10
Now associate the Content Type to the list or library.
Associating Content Type

Step 11
Click Add from existing site Content Type then you can find the following screen:
Adding Existing Site

Step 12
Choose the Content Type from where you placed your Content Type and choose the Content Type and associate that with the list or library.

Step 13
Then go the specific list or library, click the Document tab from the library tool that is in the top ribbon, click new Document. Here you can see the Content Type.
New Document

Frequently Asked Question
  1. What is Content Type?
  2. How to create a Content Type?
  3. What are the methods to create a Content Type?
  4. How many Content Types can be created for a single list or library?
  5. Can we create a Content Type without a column?
  6. Why do we create a column for Content Types?