InfoPath with SharePoint 2010 : Document Information Panel Content Type - Create the Document Library, Add Columns to Your DIP

1. Create the Document Library

Before you modify a DIP for your documents, you need a document library that stores the documents. The document template for the library needs to be one of the Microsoft Office document templates (Excel, PowerPoint, or Word), as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Selecting a Microsoft Office template allows a DIP to be applied.

2. Add Columns to Your DIP

Because the DIP is used to display/enter the additional data you want to capture with the documents, you need to have columns in your library to store those values.

To add these columns to your library, follow these steps:

1.	Navigate to your document library in SharePoint.
2.	Click Library Settings on the Library ribbon bar, as shown in Figure 2, to manage the library’s settings. Figure 2. Clicking Library Settings allows you to manage the library’s settings.
3.	On the List Information page, scroll down and click Create Column, as shown in Figure 3, to add a new column to the library. Figure 3. Clicking Create Column allows you to add new columns to your document library.
4.	Enter a name for the column and select the type of information. Click OK.
5.	Repeat steps 1 and 2 for additional columns.
6.	Navigate back to the document library.
7.	From the Documents ribbon bar, select New Document, as shown in Figure 4, to launch the Microsoft Office application associated to the document library document type. Figure 4. Clicking New Document launches the Office application associated to the document library

The Office application launches and displays a blank new document. The system-generated DIP appears at the top of the document, as shown in Figure 5. Verify that the DIP contains the additional columns you added to the library.

Figure 5. Creating a new document verifies that the added columns appear in the DIP.