Debugging Issues with Content Type Hub Syndication

As we’re moving into the “modern” era in SharePoint Online, we will need to use the Content Type Hub more and more frequently. This is due to the fact that we are moving from a subsite-laden pyramid of sites to a flat topology of sites. Where we used to build our information architecture – Site Columns and Content Types – in the root site of the pyramid and utilize it in all the subsites, we now need to elevate our information architecture to the Content Type Hub if we want to ensure reuse and clean management.

The publishing process from the Content Type Hub is sort of crappy, to be honest. The capabilities there were really cool when they first came out in SharePoint 2010, but it truly needs some love from the SharePoint folks in Redmond. I know it’s on their list, but in the meantime, we need to struggle with it as is.

To help with this, we can turn to some tooling in in each site that I’m not sure a lot of people know about. In every Site Collection – therefore every modern site – there’s a Content type publishing settings page that can help at

/_layouts/15/contenttypesyndicationhubs.aspx

. This page allows you to “pull” on the next publishing round, and also lets you drill into any issues occurring in the process.

If we look at the Content Type Publishing Log, we can see if there are any conflicts blocking the publishing process.

 

There are a number of reasons why you may not see your Content Type available in a particular Site Collection. Here are two examples.

• The error in the green box tells us that there is a conflict with the Content Type name CDM Document already being in use.
• The error in the red box tells us the Site Column Indication is already in use in the current Site Collection.

Either of these situations can occur when you prototype something in a particular site and then build the Content Type in the Content Type Hub for wider usage. As we move to modern sites, I expect this will happen to us more and more often.

In either case, this points out the importance of having a holistic view of your information architecture. The flat nature of modern sites is making all of this far more difficult, as we must use the Content Type Hub to get any common structures in place.

Note: Sharegate is EXCELLENT for copying Site Columns and Content Types from one site to another. It doesn’t eliminate any of these problems, but it makes moving your information architecture around much easier.

So the next time you think the syndication (publishing) process just isn’t working because you don’t see the Content Types where you expect them, don’t blame the timer jobs – be sure to look at the Content Type Publishing Log. You’re likely to be able to track down the issue.

 

by Marc D Anderson via Marc D Anderson's Blog