How do I change the name of one of the document filters/columns?

If you want to change the display name of one of the columns that you use within MetaShare, the recommended method to start with is to use SharePoint’s standard browser interface (method 1 below). If standard SharePoint does not permit you to change the name, due to name conflict, you could use method 2.

Method 1 – Using SharePoint’s web interface

This is method is straightforward and does not require any scripting.

  1. Open the content type that is used in the workspace.
  2. In the new window that open up, click on the column that you want to rename, in this case “Project phase”:
    A site content type's properties
  3. Click on the link “Edit site column”:
    A site content type's column properties
  4. Change the name of the column in the “Column name” field and then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the “OK” button:
    Change the display name of the site column
    If you get this warning message:
    Choose another name
    Try again by adding an extra space in the end of the name. If this still does not work, then you will need to use PowerShell to change the name (see method 2 below).
  5. Click on the “OK” button on this page:
    Click on the "OK" button on this page
  6. Republish the changed content type.

Get started with PnP Powershell

This page contains code snippets for PnP PowerShell, a module from the Patterns and Practices community with many useful commands for managing Microsoft 365.

To get started you need to:

  1. Install PowerShell 7 on your machine
  2. Install the PnP.PowerShell module
  3. Register an app in Entra ID that PnP.PowerShell can use for authentication
  4. Start PowerShell 7 from the start menu (or run pwsh.exe). PnP.PowerShell is imported automatically.
  5. Connect to your SharePoint site using:
    Connect-PnPOnline `
    -Interactive `
    -Url "https://[tenant].sharepoint.com/" `
    -ClientId "[Your PnP PowerShell App Id, found in Azure Portal]"
  6. Run any of the available commands

Method 2 – Using PowerShell

If you are unable to rename a SharePoint column using SharePoint’s web interface, you will have to do it using PowerShell by following these steps:

  1. Open PowerShell (click on the computer’s start button and type “PowerShell”) and start the application.
  2. Connect to SharePoint’s content type hub by writing this command (replace “[tenant]” with your tenant):
    Connect-PnPOnline `
    -Interactive `
    –Url https://[tenant].sharepoint.com/sites/contentTypeHub `
    -ClientId "[Your PnP PowerShell App Id, found in Azure Portal]"
  3. Rename the column by writing this command:
    Set-PnPField -Identity "Column's-Internal-Name" -Values @{ Title = "The column's new display name" }

    E.g.:
    Set-PnPField -Identity "Area" -Values @{ Title = "Process" }
  4. Republish the changed content type.