Use SharePoint as your content source in Showpad (legacy)

Note: This article is no longer maintained. For updated information, please refer to the corresponding Admin App article. We recommend updating your links if you’ve linked to this article.

Note: As of July 1, 2024, Microsoft no longer supports new connections using the approach described in this article. Existing connections will continue to function normally until sometime in 2026. To connect to SharePoint on or after July 1, 2024, you'll need to follow the instructions in this article.

Use SharePoint Online as your single source of truth for managing your valuable content. Our SharePoint Online middleware connector automatically syncs documents, URLs, document properties, and permissions to Showpad and optimizes them for web and mobile usage.

Distribute your SharePoint content in a branded environment your sales reps can access on Showpad's Web app and every mobile device with our apps and email integrations, online and offline.

Note: Changes to assets by the System User in Sharepoint will not be reflected in Showpad, only changes made by actual users.

Key features

• Understand how and when your SharePoint content is used with the Showpad integration
• Use SharePoint Online as your single source of truth
• SharePoint URLs automatically convert into Showpad URL assets
• Map certain asset properties to Showpad based on the column type in SharePoint
• Use a Showpad Tenant URL to set up a secure OAuth 2 link between Showpad and SharePoint
• If the connection between SharePoint and Showpad is interrupted, your processed documents are still available in Showpad
• Continue to upload assets directly to the Content Library as needed
• The Showpad Connector only needs to be installed by the admin and added to each relevant SharePoint site. Showpad users shouldn't do anything to use this feature.
• To edit synced assets, you can unlink them in Showpad's library. Read more here 

You need this to succeed

• The integration works with Microsoft SharePoint Online
• You have one subdomain on SharePoint Online
• Administrator access on Showpad's Online Platform and SharePoint Online
• Reach out to your Customer Success Coach to activate the SharePoint integration
• Documents available in your SharePoint sites and subsites
• Users need at least Read access in the Sharepoint root site to trigger syncs
• Our Showpad Connector, available in the Microsoft AppSource

The quick way to awesomeness

1. In the Showpad Admin Settings, enable the SharePoint integration
2. Copy the Service ID, Client ID, and Token to configure your site connections
3. Download and install the Showpad SharePoint Connector from the Office Store for the desired sites and subsites
4. Fill in the Showpad Tenant URL (https://organizationname.showpad.biz)
5. Paste the generated Service ID, Client ID, Token, and an optional webhook URL
6. Optionally, add a webhook URL where all syncing activity will be logged
7. Select the document libraries you want to enable for this site and subsite(s)
8. Configure columns to map properties to Showpad 
9. Setup and manage your content and experiences in Showpad
10. Distribute your files stored in SharePoint Online securely via Showpad, ensuring sales always have access to the latest, on-brand content

Note: When using versioning on SharePoint Online, only major versions (1.0, 2.0,...) of your documents will automatically be updated and processed by Showpad

Do this step by step

1. In the Showpad Admin Settings, go the Integrations menu and click SharePoint. Enable the SharePoint integration by clicking Let's Get Started, then give the integration a name.
2. Copy the Service ID, Client ID, and Token to configure your site connections so we can use them later to set up the link in the middleware connector.
3. In the SharePoint admin center, click on More features, open the Apps section, then select SharePoint Store.
   
4. Enter Showpad in the search bar and select the Showpad Connector.
   
   
   
5. Switch to the classic SharePoint Store, select Add It, and confirm that you wish to add the app by selecting Continue. Follow the installation instructions. Navigate to the SharePoint site you wish to connect to, and then click the Settings icon. Click Add an App and select the Showpad Connector.
   
6. When selecting Trust It for the installation, Showpad will not write or delete anything from the Sharepoint instance.
7. Configure the connector at the site collection level. We support multiple sites and subsites on one SharePoint subdomain. Add the app via Site Contents and select Trust It.
8. Configure the Showpad Connector App for your Site. Fill in the Showpad Tenant URL (https://organizationname.showpad.biz). Paste the generated Service ID, Client ID, and Token. In the Admin Email Addresses field, provide email addresses that should receive a notification when an error occurs during syncing. We use this type of OAuth 2.0 to make sure the connection still works when you change your SharePoint Online administrator password. Optionally, you can enter a webhook URL to determine where syncing activities are posted.
9. Select the document libraries you want to enable for this site and subsite(s) by sliding the toggle.
10. Now you need to create the columns in SharePoint in order to configure property mapping to Showpad. From the content library in SharePoint, you will see a list of your files. Click Add column to begin configuring the columns. You will be able to see these columns listed in the content library moving forward and you can edit them here. A detailed table of Showpad fields, column types, and what they mean is available at the bottom of this article.

    Note: If column values are missing for an Office file that has been updated in SharePoint, it likely means the new file version is missing metadata. To prevent this from happening, we recommend downloading the asset directly from the SharePoint library before making any changes to the asset. This ensures that the metadata in the updated asset is current to what is in the library and there will be no mismatches or conflicts when the old version is replaced.

11. The available properties to map to Showpad are dependent on the column type in SharePoint. The list of Showpad properties and their corresponding SharePoint column type are:
    • File name: Single line of text. If there is a column with Name already during installation, this mapping will occur automatically.
    • Publish: Yes/No or Choice (with options of "Publish" and "Not published"). 

      Note: We require setting the default column value to "Not Published" first. When you're done uploading files, you can then bulk publish the files by changing the value to "Publish."

      We also highly recommend bulk editing the files to have them all set to Publish by using the Quick Edit option in the Document library. Go to the Showpad Publish column, set the column fields to Publish, and drag the corner of the cell's content on the other cells. Click Done to start publishing.

      Note: To trigger the update after uploading assets to SharePoint, set the Publish fields to Yes and select Save.

    • Division and tags: Single line of text, Choice, or Managed Metadata. For divisions, you can only map to Showpad when the division(s) already exist(s). If you attempt to create a division through the integration, an error will be shown. You can send the asset to multiple divisions in bulk and this action will create a copy of the SPO asset in each selected division.
    • Description: Single line of text or Multiple lines of text
    • Expiration date and release date: Date and Time
    • Asset permissions: Yes/No
    • Author: Person or Group

      Notes:
      - The email address of the Author selected in SharePoint must match the email address of an existing Showpad user.
      - If the Author field is not mapped, the author value will default to the name of the user who set up your Sharepoint integration.

      
12. When mapping tags to Showpad, you can select Choice and add multiple options as SharePoint column types. This will result in each value becoming a separate tag. In order to distinguish the same values in different columns regarding tags, you can select an option to include the column name along with the tag (tags, incl. column name). This will prevent tags with differing meanings from being added to the incorrect files. When that option is selected the value will be shown as <Column Name> - <Column Value>.
    
    If you would like to separate tags in single-line text fields, do so using either a colon : or a semi-colon ; to distinguish them into two values. 
    
13. In addition to property details, you can map certain file permissions to Showpad as well. When creating a Yes/No column in Sharepoint, you will see several permission options in the Showpad connector when you click the drop-down.
    
14. A selection of Publish as a mapping property is mandatory for content to sync to Showpad. When it is not included in your configuration, an error will be shown in your connector indicating that it is needed. You will also not be able to click Apply when configuration details are missing.
    
15. Every update to a file and every version update will also reflect in Showpad in the activity log. If syncing fails, an error message will appear indicating where the error is occurring. Document properties, like asset permissions, are also synced. When a file is deleted from SharePoint, it will also disappear in Showpad's Content Library.
    You can see a SharePoint icon in Showpad's Content Library to show the synced SharePoint documents.
16. Setup and manage your content and experiences in Showpad. Distribute your files stored in SharePoint Online securely via Showpad, ensuring sales always have access to the latest, on-brand content.

Here is a list of all available fields and types of columns available between Showpad and Sharepoint to reference as needed:

	Showpad Field	Description	Column Type
	File Name	This is the name of the file visible in Showpad. Showpad will append the file type extension automatically.	File, Single line of text, Calculated
	Description	This is the description field in Showpad, displayed to the Showpad user when viewing a file.	File, Single line of text, Multiple lines of text, Calculated
	Division	If your Showpad instance has been set up with multiple Divisions, this field allows you to set the target Division(s). Please refer to the “is global” flag below if you want the file to be available to other divisions as read-only instead of independent versions.	File, Single line of text, Multiple lines of text, Choice, Managed Metadata, Calculated
	Tags	The keyword tags assigned to the document in Showpad. Column name will be added in front of the tag, separated by a dash when selecting “incl column name” These tags show up as "External Tags" in the asset properties in Showpad.	File, Choice, Single line of text, Multiple lines of text, Managed Metadata, Calculated
	Published	This is not a visible field in Showpad, but this field manages the visibility of a file in Showpad depending on the selected value.	Yes/No, Choice (Publish, not published)
	Release date	The date a file should become available in Showpad for users	Date and Time
	Expire date	The data file should become unavailable for users in Showpad. File will not be deleted in Showpad to maintain insights for reporting purposes.	Date and Time
	Can be shared	File Permission to control if Showpad users can share a file with external recipients	Yes/No
	Can be downloaded	Controls if files can be downloaded or not. This cannot be used at the same time as the internally and externally downloaded columns.	Yes/No
	Can be annotated	Enables users to highlight text or comment with the Annotation feature in Showpad	Yes/No
	Can be personalized	Allows users to create a personalized copy of an existing file in Showpad. Files will be stored in the user’s My Files section.	Yes/No
	Show in Kiosk Mode	Manages the visibility of files during Kiosk Mode, a protected view mode, to hide internal or confidential files	Yes/No
	is global	Makes file available as read-only in other Divisions	Yes/No
	Download Internal	Controls if the file can be downloaded internally or not. This must be used in conjunction with the Externally downloadable column	Yes/No
	Download External	Controls if the file can be downloaded externally or not. This must be used in conjunction with the Internally downloadable column	Yes/No
	External ID	The ID is used for mapping assets between SharePoint and Showpad. The asset ID displays as the External ID in Showpad. If changed manually, ensure the ID is unique to each asset.	Single line of text
	Author	The Author is used for mapping the Author Property on documents in SharePoint to the Author property in the Showpad Library. The Author property is found within Showpad asset details.	Person or Group
	Language	This is used for mapping the asset language back to the language property in Showpad's asset detail panel and utilized for locale. The values expected are the abbreviations of the language (for example, 'EN' for English or 'NL' for Dutch).	Single line of text, Multiple lines of text, Choice, Managed Metadata
	Country	This is used for mapping the relevant country to Showpad's asset detail panel and utilized for locale purposes.	Single line of text, Multiple lines of text, Choice, Managed Metadata
	Thumbnail	This is used to automatically add an image (thumbnail) for URLs which appear as content assets.	Image