SharePoint: Choice or Managed Metadata?

Overview

This article summarizes a YouTube video by SharePoint Maven Inc that explains when to use Choice Columns and when to use Managed Metadata in Microsoft SharePoint. The video frames the decision as one of scale and governance versus speed and simplicity, and it highlights how that choice affects information architecture across sites and libraries. Consequently, the guidance helps teams decide what to adopt for intranets, document libraries, and content types.

Understanding Choice Columns

Choice Columns are simple fields that site owners or members can create quickly, and they work well for short lists that rarely change. They offer immediate benefits because anyone with site-level permissions can add or edit options, and SharePoint supports color coding and conditional formatting for these fields out of the box. Because of that ease, teams often pick them for site-specific scenarios, small projects, or lists that won’t need centralized control.

However, the video notes several limitations that matter as a site collection grows. Choice values do not synchronize across sites, so similar lists can drift into inconsistent taxonomies over time, and renaming a value requires manual retagging where it already exists. Therefore, while Choice Columns minimize upfront work, they can create maintenance overhead and data quality risks in the long run when reuse and consistency matter.

Understanding Managed Metadata and the Term Store

By contrast, Managed Metadata uses the SharePoint Term Store to provide a centrally managed taxonomy that several sites and libraries can share. This approach supports hierarchical term sets, synonyms, and multilingual labels, and changes propagate automatically wherever terms are used, which improves consistency and searchability. As a result, organizations that need scalable, consistent tagging across many locations typically favor managed metadata.

Yet the video also clarifies that managed metadata adds complexity and requires governance. Administrators must plan term sets, grant appropriate access to the Term Store, and invest in initial setup and ongoing management. In addition, managed metadata has some functional limits: for example, it does not work with calculated columns the same way simple choice fields do, and filtering behavior differs in older SharePoint views, which can complicate certain workflows.

Trade-offs and Decision Points

SharePoint teams must weigh trade-offs between agility and control when choosing a metadata approach. If you prioritize speed, allow site owners to evolve fields quickly, and maintain only a handful of static values, then Choice Columns present a low-friction option that reduces administrative burden and supports quick project starts.

Conversely, if you want consistent enterprise taxonomy, reusable terms, and improved search across many sites, then Managed Metadata justifies the initial investment because it centralizes changes and preserves hierarchies. Importantly, the video recommends combining techniques when appropriate: use managed terms for enterprise-wide needs while keeping choices for strictly local lists, thereby balancing governance with flexibility.

Implementation Challenges and Governance

Implementing Managed Metadata successfully demands planning and governance, and the video underscores common challenges such as assigning Term Store owners, defining taxonomies, and documenting change processes. Moreover, integrating managed terms with automation tools like Power Automate requires attention because term fields include both labels and GUIDs, which can complicate flows if not handled correctly.

On the other hand, the lightweight nature of Choice Columns can lead to decentralized, inconsistent tagging unless teams enforce naming conventions and periodic cleanups. Therefore, the recommendation is to define clear criteria up front about which approach to use, invest in training for people who maintain metadata, and create a governance plan that balances central control with local needs. In practice, this often means dedicating steward roles and creating a roadmap for migrating choices into the Term Store when scale requires it.

Practical Recommendations and Conclusion

SharePoint Maven Inc advises organizations to choose based on scale, reuse, and the expected lifespan of metadata. For short-lived or narrowly scoped lists, Choice Columns offer speed and simplicity, while for enterprise taxonomies and cross-site reuse, Managed Metadata provides long-term consistency and better support for search and reporting. Consequently, many teams adopt a hybrid approach that uses both models where they each make the most sense.

Ultimately, the video stresses that metadata decisions are strategic: they affect findability, reporting, and governance downstream, so make choices deliberately, document them, and plan for evolution. With clear rules and modest governance, organizations can gain the benefits of managed taxonomies without losing the agility that site-level choices provide.