How to Prevent Folders Static Inheritance of Default Metadata Values for Specific Metadata Fields (Doc ID 445376.1)

Last updated on SEPTEMBER 28, 2023

Applies to:

Goal

You are using Folders or Folders_g with WebCenter Content (formerly Universal Content Management or UCM). You would like specific metadata fields to not inherit their default values from the parent folder. How can this be accomplished?

Folders and Folders_g use static inheritance for metadata values; that is, when you create a new folder or check in new content into a folder, the metadata from the parent folder will populate the fields for the new folder or the new content item. This allows the folder to initially "inherit" metadata values, but allows you to make changes to the new folder or content. Subsequent changes to a parent folder’s metadata do not affect the metadata for existing subfolders or content checked into a folder.

There are cases where you do not want items checked into a folder to inherit the parent folder’s metadata values. For example, you might want to create a folder with the metadata field of ReadOnly set to a value of "true". Setting this value to "true" on the folder prevents renaming, moving, or deleting the folder; however, content can still be checked into the folder. If the content checked into the folder inherits the folder’s metadata value of "true" for the ReadOnly field, that means that the content cannot be deleted, even by its author. You may want to have a folder set to ReadOnly, but you may want any content checked into the folder to not inherit the value of "true" for ReadOnly so that deletions are allowed.

You can change the value of the ReadOnly field to "false" for content checked into the folder on the checkin page through the browser interface, but if you check in content through WebDAV, there is no way to change the value of this field at checkin time.

The same applies to other metadata fields, where the parent folder has a default value, but you do not want the subfolders or content created under this parent folder to inherit these default metadata values.

Solution

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