Managing SharePoint Document Library New Menus with PowerShell

October 17, 2025

Managing SharePoint Document Library New Menus with PowerShell

The Problem

SharePoint document libraries often clutter their New menu with default options (Word, Excel, etc.) even after you've added your own custom content types. Most organizations want to enforce the use of their specific templates and hide the generic ones. This is where PowerShell automation comes in.

When you look at a SharePoint library's New menu, you see options like:

Folder
Word document
Excel workbook
PowerPoint presentation
OneNote notebook
Visio drawing
Link
Your custom content types

Internally, SharePoint stores these in a property called NewDocumentTemplates on the default view of the library. This property contains a JSON-formatted string that defines which items appear and whether they're visible.

The Hidden Complexity: ListContentTypeId vs ContentTypeId

Here's where things get tricky. When you add a site content type to a list, SharePoint creates a local copy of that content type. This local copy has a different ID than the original site content type.

For example:

Site Content Type ID: 0x0101007ADED896313A4943AFE7F07133B1339E
List Content Type ID: 0x0101007ADED896313A4943AFE7F07133B1339E001 (notice the 001 suffix)

When configuring the New menu, you must use the ListContentTypeId, not the site ContentTypeId. This is why scripts exported from PnP sometimes don't work when applied to different lists—the IDs don't match!

The Solution: A Robust PowerShell Script

Rather than manual configuration, we can use PowerShell to:

Connect to any SharePoint site
Retrieve all content types assigned to a library
Build the correct JSON structure with ListContentTypeIds
Apply visibility rules
Update the default view

Here's what a well-designed script looks like:

Set-ListNewMenu -Url 'https://tenant.sharepoint.com/sites/demo' `
  -ListTitle 'Documents' `
  -ContentTypesToHide 'OneNote notebook','PowerPoint presentation'

Common Use Cases

1. Hide Unwanted Microsoft Templates

Many organizations don't use OneNote or Visio integration. Hide them to keep the menu clean:

Set-ListNewMenu -Url $SiteUrl -ListTitle 'Documents' `
  -ContentTypesToHide 'OneNote notebook','Visio drawing','Forms for Excel'

2. Show Only Custom Content Types

For specialized libraries, hide all defaults and show only your custom content types:

Set-ListNewMenu -Url $SiteUrl -ListTitle 'Contracts' `
  -HideDefaults `
  -ContentTypesToShow 'Contract','Legal Agreement','NDA'

3. Keep Office Apps but Hide Folder Creation

If you want to streamline document creation but prevent folder clutter:

Set-ListNewMenu -Url $SiteUrl -ListTitle 'Documents' `
  -ContentTypesToHide 'Folder'

4. Preview Before Applying

Use -WhatIf to see exactly what will change without committing:

Set-ListNewMenu -Url $SiteUrl -ListTitle 'Documents' `
  -HideDefaults -WhatIf

The Script

<#
.SYNOPSIS
Manages the New Menu on SharePoint document libraries.
 
.DESCRIPTION
Configures which content types and default items appear in a document library's New Menu.
Automatically includes all list content types and allows selective hiding.
 
.PARAMETER Url
The SharePoint site URL containing the library.
 
.PARAMETER ListTitle
The name of the document library to configure.
 
.PARAMETER ContentTypesToHide
Array of content type names to hide from the New Menu.
 
.PARAMETER HideDefaults
Switch to hide all default Microsoft templates (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Visio, Forms).
Folder and Link will remain visible unless specified in ContentTypesToHide.
 
.EXAMPLE
Hide specific content types
Set-ListNewMenu -Url 'https://tenant.sharepoint.com/sites/demo' -ListTitle 'Documents' `
  -ContentTypesToHide 'OneNote notebook','PowerPoint presentation'
 
.EXAMPLE
Hide all defaults, show only custom content types
Set-ListNewMenu -Url 'https://tenant.sharepoint.com/sites/demo' -ListTitle 'Documents' `
  -HideDefaults
 
.EXAMPLE
Hide defaults but keep Word and Excel visible
Set-ListNewMenu -Url 'https://tenant.sharepoint.com/sites/demo' -ListTitle 'Documents' `
  -HideDefaults -ContentTypesToShow 'Word document','Excel workbook'
 
#>
 
[CmdletBinding(SupportsShouldProcess)]
param(
    [Parameter(Mandatory)]
    [ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
    [string]$Url,
    
    [Parameter()]
    [string]$ClientId,
 
    [Parameter(Mandatory)]
    [ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
    [string]$ListTitle,
    
    [Parameter()]
    [string[]]$ContentTypesToHide,
    
    [Parameter()]
    [string[]]$ContentTypesToShow,
    
    [Parameter()]
    [switch]$HideDefaults
)
 
# Define default Microsoft menu items
$DefaultMenuItems = @{
    'Folder' = @{ templateId = 'NewFolder'; isContentType = $false }
    'Word document' = @{ templateId = 'NewDOC'; isContentType = $false }
    'Excel workbook' = @{ templateId = 'NewXSL'; isContentType = $false }
    'PowerPoint presentation' = @{ templateId = 'NewPPT'; isContentType = $false }
    'OneNote notebook' = @{ templateId = 'NewONE'; isContentType = $false }
    'Visio drawing' = @{ templateId = 'NewVSDX'; isContentType = $false }
    'Forms for Excel' = @{ templateId = 'NewXSLForm'; isContentType = $false }
    'Link' = @{ templateId = 'Link'; isContentType = $false }
}
 
$DefaultMicrosoftTemplates = @('Word document', 'Excel workbook', 'PowerPoint presentation', 'OneNote notebook', 'Visio drawing', 'Forms for Excel')
 
try {
    # Connect to SharePoint
    Write-Verbose "Connecting to $Url"
    if ($ClientId) {
        Connect-PnPOnline -Url $Url -Interactive -ErrorAction Stop -ClientId $ClientId
    } else {
        Connect-PnPOnline -Url $Url -Interactive -ErrorAction Stop
    }
    
    # Get list and content types
    $list = Get-PnPList -Identity $ListTitle -ErrorAction Stop
    $listContentTypes = Get-PnPContentType -List $list
    $defaultView = Get-PnPView -List $list | Where-Object { $_.DefaultView -eq $true }
    
    if (!$defaultView) {
        throw "No default view found for list '$ListTitle'"
    }
    
    Write-Host "✓ Connected to site: $Url" -ForegroundColor Green
    Write-Host "✓ List: $($list.Title)" -ForegroundColor Green
    
    # Build menu items collection
    $menuItems = @()
    
    # Add default Microsoft items
    foreach ($item in $DefaultMenuItems.GetEnumerator()) {
        $menuItems += @{
            title = $item.Key
            templateId = $item.Value.templateId
            visible = $true
        }
    }
    
    # Add list content types
    foreach ($ct in $listContentTypes) {
        if ($ct.Name -ne 'Folder') {  # Skip Folder, already in defaults
            $menuItems += @{
                title = $ct.Name
                templateId = $ct.StringId
                contentTypeId = $ct.StringId
                isContentType = $true
                visible = $true
            }
        }
    }
    
    Write-Host "`nProcessing menu visibility..." -ForegroundColor Cyan
    
    # Hide defaults if requested
    if ($HideDefaults) {
        Write-Verbose "Hiding all default Microsoft templates"
        foreach ($item in $menuItems) {
            if ($item.title -in $DefaultMicrosoftTemplates) {
                $item.visible = $false
            }
        }
    }
    
    # Hide specific content types
    if ($ContentTypesToHide) {
        foreach ($hideItem in $ContentTypesToHide) {
            $item = $menuItems | Where-Object { $_.title -eq $hideItem }
            if ($item) {
                $item.visible = $false
                Write-Host "  → Hiding: $hideItem" -ForegroundColor Yellow
            } else {
                Write-Host "  ⚠ Not found: $hideItem" -ForegroundColor Yellow
            }
        }
    }
    
    # Show specific content types
    if ($ContentTypesToShow) {
        foreach ($showItem in $ContentTypesToShow) {
            $item = $menuItems | Where-Object { $_.title -eq $showItem }
            if ($item) {
                $item.visible = $true
                Write-Host "  → Showing: $showItem" -ForegroundColor Green
            } else {
                Write-Host "  ⚠ Not found: $showItem" -ForegroundColor Yellow
            }
        }
    }
    
    # Display summary
    Write-Host "`nFinal New Menu Configuration:" -ForegroundColor Cyan
    $menuItems | ForEach-Object {
        $status = if ($_.visible) { "✓" } else { "✗" }
        $type = if ($_.isContentType) { "[CT]" } else { "[MS]" }
        Write-Host "  $status $type $($_.title)"
    }
    
    # Update the view
    if ($PSCmdlet.ShouldProcess("$($list.Title)", "Update NewDocumentTemplates")) {
        $defaultView.NewDocumentTemplates = $menuItems | ConvertTo-Json -Compress
        $defaultView.Update()
        Invoke-PnPQuery
        Write-Host "`n✓ Successfully updated New Menu" -ForegroundColor Green
    }
}
catch {
    Write-Error "Error: $($_.Exception.Message)"
    exit 1
}

Managing SharePoint Document Library New Menus with PowerShell

Managing SharePoint Document Library New Menus with PowerShell

The Problem

Understanding the New Menu Architecture

The Hidden Complexity: ListContentTypeId vs ContentTypeId

The Solution: A Robust PowerShell Script

Common Use Cases

1. Hide Unwanted Microsoft Templates

2. Show Only Custom Content Types

3. Keep Office Apps but Hide Folder Creation

4. Preview Before Applying

The Script

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