Link to another item in a sharepoint document library

Question

Hi

I am writing a custom Sharepoint solution and I have to fulfill a requirement that an item in 1 document library must be visiable in another document library, e.g. maintaining global company document which should display in all other librarys

I need to sync properties, e.g. name so that when it changes in the source list it should also change in the destination lists. The items created in the destination list should not be able to have workflows or other options in the ECB Menu (exception for maybe going to source document).

Does anyone have a realistic solution on how to accomplish this ?

I have been trying to use CopyIntoItems of the copy web service to create linked copies with no luck, it always just creates a new copy of the source item (see: http://platinumdogs.wordpress.com/2009/01/14/sharepoint-moss-creating-document-library-items-uploading-files-to-a-document-library/)

Creating a custom content type has also entered my mind (since the source properties is contained in a content type) but then how do I filter the ECB menu ?

Answer 1

If the destination document library is a replica of the source document library, can't you solve this by displaying the items on the destination side using a content query web part instead of duplicating the items?

Answer 2

In the process for googling for something else I might have come across the solution to your problem.

Apparently Sharepoint has a built in 'linked document' type. You can just use that to link the documents, instead of copying.

More info here.