Digging more and more into SharePoint 2010, and finding more and more to like.  In

this entry we are going to go into “Document Sets” I have given a presentation on this particular feature and found that I am not the only one that LOVES this idea.

So what are Document Sets?

Document Sets are a new object to manage a work product made up of many files. Think of them as the new evolution of a folder.

Document sets are a implemented as a special type of SharePoint folder that is built on the “SPFolder” class.  As such it will inherit all the properties and behaviors of standard SharePoint folders. 

Beyond the programmatic basis on the “SPFolder” Document Sets are based on the newly created Document Set content type. All document sets must inherit from this.  As such you can create custom Content Types derived from this, which can be very powerful, especially as you dig into them and figure out what this can give you.

Each Document set has

• A shared set of metadata (definable) that goes across the document set
  A customized welcome page that can be edited. 
• Each document set can also have a defined set of default documents to be carried with it. (more on that in the video portion)
• Document set and individual document/file Versioning
• and last but not least associated workflows

Maybe we can make this hit home a bit with some concrete examples of how i can see this used.

A good example that seems to make the most sense to me would be the typical RFP or Sales proposal.  Each one of these efforts would always contain a standard set of documents.  Such as financials in an Excel Spreadsheet, A corporate overview document, and standard PPT template etc.  These can be associated with a RFP content type that inherits from the Document Set Content type and move with the new instantiation of the content type.

You can also edit the look and feel of this page.  Keep in mind changes made to the Welcome page of the "document set" get pushed down to the children of that content type and the locations where that content type is used. This ensures that the list, "document set" instances, and locations where the "Document Set" content type is used have the most current Welcome page in its copy of the content type.

Document sets are also very flexible in many perspectives including  workflows and versioning.  As you can use a workflow on the document set as a whole or on individual documents/files in the set.  The same is true for versioning as it is independent of, but interoperable with, versioning capabilities that are available to the documents contained in the set.

To top it all off Document Sets also surfaces an great object model that can be used to manipulate "document set" objects, templates, metadata, and URLs you can also create custom New and Welcome pages.  I am very excited about playing around with document sets and getting to use them in many different ways.  What uses can you see?