Boost Teamwork with Creative Collaboration Colors

by HubSite 365 about Ellen van Aken

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Revolutionize File Organization with OneDrive & SharePoints Colorful Folders!

Key insights

Organizing with Color: Just as one might organize clothing by color, it's now possible to color-code folders in OneDrive and SharePoint. This helps with content recognition, but there are important considerations to keep in mind.

Accessibility Considerations: Not everyone perceives color equally – some people are color blind, have cataracts, or use screenreaders, which makes reliance on color coding alone inadequate. Additionally, colors can appear differently based on screen and room lighting.

Color Connotations: Colors mean different things to different cultures or organizations, and they are not specific enough to be the sole organizing tool. Good folder naming conventions and possibly emoji usage is still necessary.

Using Colors in OneDrive: OneDrive permissions allow for personal freedom in folder color customization, which can be useful if you use certain apps that generate folders in OneDrive.

Colors in SharePoint Team Sites: Unlike OneDrive, SharePoint requires a collaborative approach for color-coding due to its nature. Teams should discuss and agree on color conventions for consistency and ease of understanding among all members.

Limitations: Certain restrictions exist, such as inability to change the color of specific default folders, and visibility of colors in certain views. It's also impossible to search, sort, or filter by color, and there is a limitation to the number of colors available.

Color-coding folders assists with content identification in OneDrive and SharePoint.
Accessibility should be considered, as not everyone can perceive color.
Color perceptions vary, necessitating additional organizing principles.
OneDrive allows for more personalization in folder coloring.
SharePoint color coding requires team consensus for effective collaboration.

Enhancing Content Management with Color-Coding

The option to color-code folders in OneDrive and SharePoint is an evolution in content management. It provides a visual way to organize and identify content quickly. However, while color-coding can enhance user experience, it should not be the only method for organizing documents. It's important to consider accessibility and maintain clear, descriptive naming conventions for folders. Moreover, the colors chosen should reflect the content and be consistent to avoid confusion among team members. It is essential to consider those with visual impairments or color blindness and provide alternative ways to distinguish folders. Collaborative environments like SharePoint require careful coordination and agreed-upon practices to ensure that all team members benefit from color-coding. Finally, color-coding has its limitations and is not a replacement for proper metadata management within collaborative content platforms.

Ellen van Aken expressed joy about the new feature that allows changing the color of folders in OneDrive and SharePoint, suggesting it could ease content search. She notes the strong impact color has on first impressions and how it can be used to signal differences and similarities, emphasizing the need for color to supplement rather than replace naming conventions.

In her elaboration, Ellen mentioned several considerations when using colored folders. She cautioned about variation in color perception due to eyesight issues, light conditions, and personal associations with colors. Furthermore, Ellen emphasized that color alone is insufficient for organization and additional identifiers such as folder names and emojis are necessary.

For personal OneDrive folders, Ellen suggested users have flexibility in color usage, like creating a personal color scheme or matching folder colors with app origins. However, she pointed out that SharePoint requires a different approach. Because SharePoint team sites involve collaborative work, color choices need to be deliberate and inclusive, requiring team discussion and agreement.

With SharePoint sites generated from Teams, Ellen reiterated the importance of team consensus on color use. Moreover, she pointed out limitations like the inability to change certain default folder colors and the absence of colors in some views. For SharePoint communication sites, she recommended color standardization per document library or department, aiding recognition for editors and contributors.

However, Ellen underlined the limitations of colors as they don't function as metadata for sorting or searching in SharePoint, suggesting the possible need for additional labeling strategies. She also pointed out the lack of a bulk change option for folder colors and the inability to change the default color of document libraries.

Optimizing Collaboration with Colored Folders in SharePoint and OneDrive

When you open my clothes cupboard you will see, from left to right: red, orange pink, purple, blue, white, grey, and black. That is right: I organize my top garments (blouses, sweaters, jackets etc.) according to their color. Color sends a very strong message; it is almost the first thing you notice when you look at something.

Color can also be used to highlight differences and similarities between entities. So, I am very happy that it is now possible to change the color of a folder in OneDrive or SharePoint. I think this can help with finding the content you are looking for.

Gregory Zelfond shares a pretty complete how-to and a number of facts about colored folders. Color can give a very fast indication of the contents of a folder, but no more than that. It should not be your only organizing principle:

Some of your colleagues may have eyesight issues, like color-blindness, cataracts, or use screenreaders.
Light can influence contrast, both the light in the room and the brightness of the screen.
A color may mean different things to different people; for example, it might be associated with a favorite or disliked sports team.
The color sequence green-yellow-orange-red may confuse colleagues if used in a different context than meaning something like good to bad.
Color is not specific enough to be a stand-alone attribute. You will still need a good folder name, and possibly a number and an emoji.

Light Green and light Teal may be difficult to distinguish from each other. Light Orange and light Red do not differ that much. Light Pink and light Purple are quite close to one another.

So, how can you use the colors to your best advantage? It depends on the owner but mostly on the audience.

OneDrive

OneDrive is your own set of folders, so you can do whatever you like. You can create a rainbow, make all folders pink, use the favorite color of the person you share a folder with, or apply color according to the app where the folder comes from.

SharePoint Team Sites

For SharePoint it is slightly different. Firstly, in SharePoint you need to open a document library to see folders. Secondly, team sites are for collaboration, so colors must often be agreed upon by the team.

SharePoint Sites from Teams

Like SharePoint collaboration sites, there are some limitations; for example, you cannot change the color of the General folder, and in some views, the colors will not be shown.

SharePoint Communication Sites

These sites have a large and often unknown audience which makes using meaningful colors more challenging. Explanation may be needed. However, most employees will likely access documents through Search and links in News items and on pages.

There are still things you can do to aid navigation, like using one color per document library or one color per department folder. You can also give all folders in public SharePoint sites your corporate color. Unfortunately, you cannot change the color of a document library.

It is important to note that color is not metadata, so you can't search, sort, or filter by color. There is no bulk-changing available for folder colors. And, you cannot make bulk edits for the color.

Finally, are you using colored folders right now? If yes, how are they being utilized in your organization?