You probably know this, but to create a list in SharePoint go to Site Actions and click Create.
In this blog, I’m going to assume that we’re building a list from scratch, so we’ll be starting from Custom List (fourth column). However, all the things I’ll talk about work equally well in Document Libraries or other list types, like Tasks lists.
Adding columns
Columns are the basic building block of a SharePoint list. Columns serve two main purposes: first, they can represent a question you want to ask a user, like the name of a proposal they want reviewed. Second, they can represent a column in a view, such as something you want to sort\filter or merely a useful piece of information to view. Often a column will be both of these things but not always. Remember that your process will be more successful the simpler you make it, so always seek to simplify your forms and views by showing only what’s really needed in each.
Creating columns is relatively simple, so I’ll say no more about it. I do want to call out a few columns, however, which aren’t used very often but can be quite powerful.
Append-only Text Columns
If you want to keep a record of comments, like a call log, which are entered and stamped with a time but cannot be later modified, this column type is quite useful. To get one, choose to create a Multiple Lines of Text column and then select Yes under Append Changes to Existing Text.
Calculated Columns
Calculated columns are a great way to join pieces of information together. For instance, if you want to have a form which asks for First Name and Last Name in separate columns, but then want to make a column in the view which displays full name, you could do that by creating a calculated column with the following formula:
=CONCATENATE([First Name], “ “, [Last Name])
If you want to try out a formula, the syntax for calculated columns is very similar to that used by Excel. So, you can look for function names and do testing in Excel before pasting it into the Formula area of the calculated column. Just make sure to replace the Excel cell names with your columns’ names.
Lookup Columns
Lookups are one of the more complicated aspects of list making, but can be really useful if you have a process which requires items of different types to be linked to each other. Let’s take this example: you have a list of employees and a list of possible interests. You want to store other information about the employees and about their interests, but you want to link them together. To do this, try creating a lookup column in the employees list.
You want to ‘Get information from’ the Interests List, and for the ‘In this column’ choice you would select Interest Name. You would also check the Allow multiple values option. When someone edits an item in this list they would get a picker like this.
Making views
There are many options for creating views in SharePoint. To see these options go to a list and select Create View under the View dropdown in the upper right.
There are a few basic things to remember when creating views. First, what columns really need to be in your view? Oftentimes you’ll collect more information in the form than someone would really need in order to find their item when browsing the list. Removing those fields from the view will make it easier for people to use your list. A good strategy is to make two views. Keep the default view simple so that people can easily scan it, but make another view which has more fields in it (or has fewer filters) so that if people can’t find their item in the simple default view, they can always switch to the details view. As the list manager, you might also find that a details view is more useful for list maintenance tasks even though it might not be the right thing to show your users.
Group By Views
One of the great and rarely used features of SharePoint is the Group By functionality. This allows you to sort and then group a view by a column. If you had a set of deliverables, some of which were due on one date and some on another, you could group them and make it easier to see the work required for each milestone.
To use Group By, edit a view and scroll down to the Group By section.
Removing the Dropdown Menu
You may want to remove the SharePoint dropdown menu from a list because your users don’t need it.
To do that, click on Modify this View in the View dropdown on the upper right. You’ll see several Title columns listed in the Columns section (they won’t be together like this).
If you insert those into a view, they look like this.
Title (linked to item with edit menu)
Title
Note: This one is not even a clickable link.
Title (linked to item)
Note: This is a link, but has no dropdown.
Edit (linked to item)
Note: If you click it, it goes to the Edit Form.
One useful paradigm is to put an Edit (linked to item) column as the first column and the Title (linked to item) as the second. This allows users an easy way to edit and view the item but removes the choices from the dropdown if those aren’t appropriate for your situation.
Designing your form
Now that you’ve built your view, there’s still the matter of thinking about what goes on your form. The column description appears only on the forms, so make sure to write your description to make sense in that situation. I would not recommend associating a description with every column – just the ones where the column name is not self explanatory. People tend to ignore the descriptions if all columns have them.
Hiding Columns on a Form
You may want to keep track of a column that your users don’t fill out. For instance, in my example of scheduling proposal reviews, I do not want my users to be able to change the review time, so I would rather not show that value on my form. However, I do need to have a column containing that information so I can show it in my view.
To hide a column on your list from the form is a bit complicated. First, go to List Settings and click Advanced Settings. Select Yes to the first question (Allow the management of content types). When you get back to the List Settings page, there will be a new section. Click on the only content type listed (for custom list, it will be ‘Item’). Now you’ll be on the List Content Type page and the second section on it will be called Columns. Click the column you want to hide and in the Column Settings section, select Hidden. This column will no longer show up on the form.
Of course, now that you’ve hidden the column from your forms, how can you fill out data in that column? There are two solutions. You can unhide the column when you want to fill it out, but if you have access to the View in Datasheet command under Actions on a list view, I would recommend using that instead.
Reordering Columns on the Form
The order of columns on the form is quite important for users understanding your list. Spend a bit of time thinking about how users will have the information they are putting into your list organized and put your fields in that order. It’ll make your list easier to use and look more professional. Look at this before and after screenshot for a list I made.
A little random:
A bit more readable:
If you have a new list, you can reorder columns by clicking the Column Ordering link in the Columns section of List settings. If you have turned on content types (as I just told you how to do), then click the Content Type and then click Column Order on the List Content Type page instead.
Other stuff
There are a lot of other things that can be done to customize SharePoint lists. I will just mention a few of them here, so that if you’re interested you can play around with them yourself.
Multiple New Button Entries
You can create more than one Content Type on a list. Content Types each appear on the new button and can have their own unique forms, but they can share columns. Views show items of any content type, so if you’re making a list with multiple content types, it’s a good idea to have a few columns which are common to all the types that you can use to make views. To use Content Types, enable them through the list’s Advanced Settings page.
Default Folder Views
You might want to have a list where the root has a different view than a subfolder (imagine a discussion board where each folder is a discussion; the root of the library show columns which are relevant to a whole discussion, like the subject, whereas each folder would show columns relevant to individual posts, like the post body). To configure this, you need to make a new folder content type and then assign it to the subfolder. Then, go to the view you want to show in the subfolder, click Modify this View and then scroll down the Folders section.
For the second question ‘Show this view:’ select In folders of Content type and then pick the content type that you assigned to the folder. For the view you want to show only at the root, open the Modify This View page and in the same folder section, select In the top-level folder. Now when you navigate into the subfolder your view will change.
Customizing the View Page
View pages in SharePoint are just web part pages, like the homepage. So, if you click on Site Actions -> Edit Page, you can add web parts to view pages just like you would the homepage.
Where to look next
If you still want to do further customizations to your lists, I would recommend looking into SharePoint Designer. SharePoint Designer can let you customize how fields draw (like turning the text red) and allow you to change the ways views render (like making non-tabular views). SharePoint Designer also has a workflow builder. Workflows allow you to encode actions into your list, such as “When someone edits an item in this list, go modify an item in another list.”
Good luck with your lists!
Jason
Program Manager, Window SharePoint Services