M365 Changelog: Content type sync enhancements

MC295852 – Updated November 18, 2021: Microsoft has updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

In July, Microsoft announced (MC271079) the rollout of a new sync mechanism for Syntex and SharePoint content types and the subsequent phasing out of the old mechanism. This new mechanism is now fully released to all customers.

When this will happen:

With the new sync mechanism content generally available now, the phasing out of the previous sync mechanism will begin per the below timetable.

• Targeted Release (entire org): will begin rollout in early January (previously early November) and be completed by late January (previously late November).
• Standard Release: will begin rollout in late January (previously late November) and be completed by mid-February (previously early December).

How this will affect your organization:

When the previous sync mechanism is phased out, newly published content types will be visible for addition to lists & libraries only via the modern experience. If a published content type is not used in any list or library on the site, the site will not receive republished updates until the content type is used again.

Any solutions that use scripts that wait for a published content type to get copied to all sites will not work once the previous sync mechanism is phased out. These solutions will need to use one of the below methods to programmatically add a content type from the content type hub.

• PnP
  • The new Add-PnpContentTypesFromContentTypeHub cmdlet allows for direct reference of content types in the content type hub, so there is no need to wait for the content type to be synced to the site.
• CSOM
  • The PnP cmdlet has corresponding CSOM method support that can also be used directly if desired. You can refer to powershell/AddContentTypesFromContentTypeHub.cs at dev · pnp/powershell · GitHub for the method.

What you need to do to prepare:

You might want to notify your users about this new capability and update your training and documentation as appropriate.

Note: You may also want to update any scripts that add published content types to use the new methods if not already done.

Learn more:

• What’s changed in content type publishing
• Syntex Product Updates