SharePoint provides powerful collaboration features to users including lists and libraries, and while transparency is crucial, there are instances where hiding a list or library becomes essential for optimizing user experiences and/or maintaining data integrity. Example: Power Apps often relies on SharePoint lists as data sources. However, not all lists are meant for end users to view directly. By hiding lists or libraries from SharePoint UI, you can prevent end users from editing the data directly from SharePoint lists.
In this blog post, we’ll explore how to hide a SharePoint list or document library using PnP PowerShell & CLI for Microsoft 365 and view all hidden lists/libraries in SharePoint site using PnP PowerShell & CLI for Microsoft 365.
Hiding a SharePoint List or Library using PnP PowerShell
You can use below PnP PowerShell script to hide a SharePoint online list or document library from SharePoint UI (Site Contents page):
# SharePoint Online site URL $siteUrl = Read-Host -Prompt "Enter your SharePoint online site URL (e.g https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/work)"
# Display name of SharePoint online list or document library $listName = Read-Host -Prompt "Enter the display name of your SharePoint list or library (e.g My List)"
# Connect to SharePoint online site Connect-PnPOnline -url $siteUrl -Interactive
# Hide SharePoint online list from UI Set-PnPList -Identity $listName -Hidden $true
Hide a SharePoint List or Library using CLI for Microsoft 365
Use below CLI for Microsoft 365 script to hide a SharePoint list or document library from SharePoint UI:
# SharePoint Online site URL $siteUrl = Read-Host -Prompt "Enter your SharePoint online site URL (e.g https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/work)"
# Display name of SharePoint online list or document library $listName = Read-Host -Prompt "Enter the display name of your SharePoint list or library (e.g My List)"
# Get Credentials to connect $m365Status = m365 status if ($m365Status -match "Logged Out") { m365 login }
# Hide SharePoint online list or library from UI (Site Contents) m365 spo list set --webUrl $siteUrl --title $listName --hidden true
View hidden lists/libraries in SharePoint site using CLI for Microsoft 365
Use below CLI for Microsoft 365 script to view all hidden lists and document libraries in the given SharePoint online site:
# SharePoint Online site URL $siteUrl = Read-Host -Prompt "Enter your SharePoint online site URL (e.g https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/work)"
# Get Credentials to connect $m365Status = m365 status if ($m365Status -match "Logged Out") { m365 login }
# Hide SharePoint online list or library from UI (Site Contents) m365 spo list list --webUrl $siteUrl --properties "Id,Title,Url" --filter "Hidden eq true" | ConvertFrom-Json
In my previous blog, I explained how to create a modern calendar view in SharePoint Online/Microsoft Lists. In this blog we will see how to add the modern calendar to a SharePoint online page.
We have a List web part in SharePoint online which allows you to display a list from your site on a page. But currently it doesn’t support modern calendar views. So, you will need to use below workaround to add Modern Calendar to a SharePoint Online page.
Workaround
We can use Embed web part in SharePoint online to add modern calendar to a page.
Follow below steps to embed modern calendar to a page:
1. Go to your SharePoint list and open the calendar view.
2. Copy the URL of calendar view from browser and note it down as we will use it in later steps.
3. Go to your modern SharePoint page and open it in Edit mode by clicking Edit button from top right corner.
4. Add Embed web part on your page and open it in edit mode.
5. Construct the embed code using the <iframe> tag in below format:
The internal name of a SharePoint column is a unique name that is automatically generated by SharePoint when a column is created. It is used by SharePoint internally to reference and retrieve the value of a particular column associated with an item or document. The internal name is generated based on the display name you provide but all special characters and spaces will be replaced with Unicode’s by SharePoint. Internal name is generated only once while creating a new column and it cannot be changed even if you change the display name of SharePoint column.
The internal name is not visible to users in the SharePoint user interface by default, but it is commonly used in various scenarios, such as in SharePoint REST APIs, Power Automate flow expressions, Power Apps formulas, PowerShell, etc. to interact with column data programmatically.
Where are Internal names of SharePoint columns used?
Custom Scripts: When creating custom scripts, such as JavaScript or PowerShell, the internal names of columns are required to reference and manipulate the values of the columns while interacting with SharePoint data.
Workflows: In SharePoint Designer workflows or Microsoft Power Automate (formerly known as Microsoft Flow), the internal names of columns are used to reference the values of the columns as inputs or outputs in the workflow actions and in expressions.
Custom Solutions: When building custom solutions, such as SharePoint apps, SharePoint framework (SPFx) web parts, or custom code, the internal names of columns are required to interact with the columns programmatically.
Power Apps: Few of the Power Apps functions like ShowColumns, SortByColumns, etc. requires using internal names of SharePoint columns in formula.
JSON Formatting: Internal name of SharePoint column is required in JSON formatting to reference the column value with [$InternalNameOfColumn] syntax.
How to find the Internal name of a SharePoint column?
Using Modern experience list view
You can use sorting or filtering options from SharePoint online modern experience list view to find the internal name of a SharePoint column. Sort by and Filter by options are supported by most of the column types in SharePoint like Single line of text, Choice, Number, Date and Time, Yes/No (Boolean), Person or Group (single selection), etc.
For this afticle, we will use sorting based on SharePoint choice column as an example:
1. Go to the SharePoint online list for which you want to check the internal name of a column.
2. Click on column name/header from the list view and select either Ascending (A to Z) or Descending (Z to A) option from the popup menu:
Find internal name of SharePoint column by sorting choice column
3. SharePoint will sort the list view based on selection and the browser URL will be changed like:
Where column name (ChoiceColumn) after sortField= is the internal name of your SharePoint choice column.
4. Similarly, when you use Filter by option in SharePoint modern experience to filter the list view based on Date and Time column (named as Start Date), SharePoint changes browser URL like:
Where column name (Start_x0020_Date) after FilterField1= is the internal name of your SharePoint date and time column. Notice _x0020_ in internal column name which is an Unicode encoding of the space character in the display name of date and time column (Start Date).
Using Classic experience List settings page
Few of the SharePoint column types like Multiple lines of text, Hyperlink or Picture, Image, etc. does not support sorting or filtering from SharePoint modern experience list views. So, you have to use the classic experience list settings page to find the internal name for such SharePoint columns.
Follow below steps to find the internal name of multiple lines of text column using SharePoint classic experience list settings page:
1. Go to the SharePoint online list for which you want to check the internal name of a column.
2. Click on Settings (gear) icon from the top right corner and select List settings:
Open SharePoint online list settings page
3. From list settings page, scroll down to the Columns section and click on the column name for which you want to find the internal name:
Open SharePoint online Column settings page
4. SharePoint will open column settings page for the respective column with browser URL like:
SharePoint online column settings page showing internal name of column
Where column name (MultilineTextCol) after Field= is the internal name of your SharePoint online multiple lines of text column.
Note: You can use this classic experience method to find out the internal name of SharePoint columns for all column types.
Using SharePoint REST API
You can use SharePoint REST API endpoint like below to get the internal name of SharePoint column based on it’s display name. Open URL in below format directly from browser tab:
https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/SPConnect/_api/web/lists/getbytitle('InternalNames')/fields?$select=Title,InternalName&$filter=Title eq 'Multiline Text Column'
Find internal name of SharePoint column using SharePoint REST API
Using PnP PowerShell
You can use below PnP PowerShell script to find the internal name of SharePoint online list column using PnP PowerShell:
# SharePoint online site URL
$siteUrl = "https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/wlive"
# Display name of SharePoint list
$listName = "InternalNames"
# Display name of SharePoint list column
$columnName = "Multiline Text Column"
# Connect to SharePoint online site
Connect-PnPOnline -Url $siteUrl -Interactive
# Get internal name of SharePoint list column
Get-PnPField -Identity $columnName -List $listName | Select Title,InternalName
Find internal name of SharePoint column using PnP PowerShell
Using CLI for Microsoft 365
You can use below CLI for Microsoft 365 script to find the internal name of SharePoint online list column using CLI for Microsoft 365:
# SharePoint online site URL
$siteUrl = "https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/wlive"
# Display name of SharePoint list
$listName = "InternalNames"
# Display name of SharePoint list column
$columnName = "Multiline Text Column"
# Get Credentials to connect
$m365Status = m365 status
if ($m365Status -match "Logged Out") {
m365 login
}
# Get internal name of SharePoint list column
m365 spo field get --webUrl $siteUrl --listTitle $listName --title $columnName --output text
Find internal name of SharePoint column using CLI for Microsoft 365
Best practices for naming SharePoint columns
When creating columns in SharePoint, it’s important to follow best practices for column naming to avoid using special characters or Unicode characters in internal names. Here are some recommended best practices:
Use only alphanumeric characters: Stick to using letters (A-Z, a-z) and numbers (0-9) in column names. Avoid using special characters such as @, #, $, %, _, etc. Avoid column names beginning with numbers.
Avoid spaces: Use PascalCase to separate words in column names instead of spaces. For example, use ColumnName instead of Column Name. This can help prevent issues with URLs, Unicode encoding, and referencing column names in scripts or code.
Avoid reserved words: SharePoint has reserved words that are used for system functionality, and using them in column names may cause conflicts. Examples of reserved words include “ID”, “Modified”, “Created”, “Title”, etc. Avoid using these reserved words as column names.
Keep it concise and meaningful: Use descriptive and meaningful names for columns that clearly indicate their purpose. Avoid using vague or generic names that may be confusing or ambiguous to users. Use column description to provide more information about the columns.
Be consistent: Establish a consistent naming convention for columns across your SharePoint site or site collection to ensure uniformity and ease of management. This can also help with documentation, training, and maintenance of your SharePoint environment.
I hope you liked this article. Give your valuable feedback & suggestions in the comments section below and share this article with others.
Newly created canvas apps that have a SharePoint data connection and are connected to a list can use controls that can add, update, or delete images from the SharePoint list. To use the same functionality in existing canvas apps, you have to delete the existing SharePoint data connection and then re-add it to refresh the data schema.
Configure SharePoint Form control to add pictures/images
Follow below steps to configure SharePoint Form control in canvas app to add pictures/images to SharePoint lists:
2. Go to make.powerapps.com, create a blank canvas app and add SharePoint list data source.
3. Add Form control in app from Insert > Forms > Edit form
4. Set Data Source property of form control to SharePoint list data source and DefaultMode property to FormMode.New
5. Select form control from tree view, click on Edit fields option from Properties panel at the right side of screen.
6. Add your image column to form using + Add field option on Fields panel and select Add picture as a Control type as shown in below image. Power Apps will add Add picture control inside the data card for image column.
Add image column to form and select “Add picture” as control type
7. Add a button control in canvas app and set it’s OnSelect property to:
SubmitForm(Form1)
8. Now when you run the canvas application, you can select an image from your computer using Add picture control and save it to SharePoint list using SubmitForm() function used in button control.
Add, update, or delete images in SharePoint/Microsoft Lists using Power Apps
Using Patch() function to add/update image column using Power Apps
You can also use the Patch() function to add or update an image in image columns in SharePoint/Microsoft Lists using Power apps canvas apps. You can use similar code as given below on OnSelect property of button control:
Targeted Release: Rollout started in late September 2022 (previously early September 2022) and expected to complete by mid-October 2022 (previously mid-September 2022).
Standard Release: Microsoft will begin rolling out this feature in mid-October 2022 (previously mid-September 2022) and expects to complete it by late October 2022 (previously late September 2022).
Microsoft is currently rolling out the calendar view feature for SharePoint Online and Microsoft lists, Roadmap. In this blog I will explain how to create a calendar view in SharePoint Online modern list or Microsoft lists.
Create a modern Calendar view
Follow below steps to create a calendar view:
1. Go to your list. If you don’t have a list then Create a list with date columns as per your requirements.
2. From list view, click on Switch view options dropdown from command bar and select Create new view.
Create new view
3. Give name to list view, select Calendar under Show as option and then Select Start date & End date columns from dropdowns.
4. You can make this a public view using Make this a public view checkbox. Public views can be visited by anyone with access to this list.
5. Click on More options to select Title of items on calendar. Select appropriate column from dropdown as this column will be shown as the title of items on calendar view.
6. Click on Create button.
Create a modern calendar view
The new modern calendar view will be created in a list as given below:
Modern calendar view
Calendar view shows the current events at the right hand side in Events Pane when you select a date from calendar. You can show/hide the events pane using icon button given at top of events pane (Highlighted in above image).
Set calendar view as the default view
If you want to show the calendar view by default when user navigate to SharePoint Online or Microsoft list then you have to set it as the default view.
Follow below steps to set the newly created calendar view as the default view:
Click on Switch view options dropdown from command bar and select the name of the view that you want to make as the default view.
Click on Switch view options dropdown again and select Set current view as default.
Set calendar view as a default view
Next Step: After creating a calendar view in SharePoint list, you would want to add this modern calendar to a SharePoint page. For more information about this, check:
Microsoft is rolling out a feature using which you can create rules in SharePoint Online and Microsoft lists to set reminders and send notifications to users based on changes to list information, Roadmap. In this blog I will explain how to create a rule in SharePoint Online modern list or Microsoft lists.
Previous options to send notifications
Before this feature, if you wanted to send notifications about changes in a SharePoint Online or Microsoft List, you had below two options:
Create an alert
SharePoint alerts are email notifications that are sent to SharePoint users when something changes in a list or library. You can create an alert for:
Whole list or library
Folder, file, or list item
SharePoint search criteria
However It doesn’t provide the ability to send notifications for column level changes. This is where you will find list rules very helpful.
Using Power Automate, users can create simple change notifications as well complex, multiple condition-based notifications. However, some users may find it difficult to create a Power Automate flow from scratch without any development experience or assistance.
Creating list rules
Creating list rules is very easy as compared to creating power automate flow and you have much more control using list rules compared to the existing alerts functionality.
With this feature update, SharePoint users with edit permissions on a list can create and manage simple if/then rules based on changes to list information, to set reminders and send notifications. Users with read-only permissions will not be able create or manage rules.
Follow below steps to create rules in SharePoint online/Microsoft lists:
Go to SharePoint Online/Microsoft list where you want to create a rule.
Click on the Automate option from command bar and then select Create a rule.
Create a list rule
There are four different conditions that triggers the rule as shown in the below image:
List rule conditions
Under Notify someone when, select a condition that will trigger the rule. For example, A column changes.
Creating rule is like writing a sentence. Select each of the underlined portions of the rule statement to customize the condition by choosing a column, the value of the column, and who to notify.
Rule to notify Author when the Status column changes
For example, to notify Author when a Status column changes, you need to choose the Status column, and then select Author from Suggestions list. Suggestions from this list shows the Person or Group columns from the list.
If you want to notify yourself, you could select Me from Other suggestions. You can also select the users by using Enter a name or email address option.
When you’re finished customizing the statement, select Create. You’ll see your rule on the Manage rules page and the rule will be turned on by default.
Now when Status column changes, list rule will send notification email to Author. The notification email will contain a link to display/view form of SharePoint list item. These notification emails will be sent from Microsoft 365. Check below image for reference:
Email notification send by using list rules
Notes:
Users will be able to create a maximum of 15 rules per list.
Currently it is not possible to customize the email notification template
Editing a list rule
You can edit a list rule from the Manage rules page. Follow below steps to edit a rule for a list:
Go to SharePoint Online/Microsoft list, select Automate from command bar and then Manage rules.
Go to Manage rules page
From manage rules page, you can create/edit/delete a rule. You can also turn off the rule by changing the slider to Off.
To edit the rule, click on the rule and then change the underlined portions of the rule statement.
Manage rules page
After making all changes, Click Save.
Deleting a list rule
When you no longer need a rule, you can either turn it off or delete it from the Manage rules page. Follow below steps to delete a rule for a list:
Go to SharePoint Online/Microsoft list, select Automate from command bar and then Manage rules.
Select the rule you want to delete and click Delete rule at the bottom of the Edit rule page, .
Deleting a list rule
Supported/Unsupported column types
List rules allow sending notifications when a column or it’s value changes. However, it does not support all column types currently.
Supported column types
Currently below column types are supported while using when a column changes and when a column value changes conditions:
Single line of text
Choice (single & multiple selection)
Number
Date and Time
Yes/No
Person or Group (single & multiple selection)
Created By & Modified By (while using when a column value changes condition)
Unsupported column types
Below column types are not supported currently:
Multiple lines of text
Currency ($, ¥, €)
Lookup
Hyperlink or Picture
Calculated
Image
Managed Metadata
I hope you liked this blog. Give your valuable feedback & suggestions in the comments section below and share this blog with others.
In my earlier blog, add modern calendar to a SharePoint online page, I explained how you can show modern calendar list view on SharePoint Online modern pages using Embed web part. I used embed web part because modern calendar views were not supported in SharePoint out of the box List web part at that time.
Fortunately, Microsoft is rolling out a new feature which will support modern calendar views in List web part. This feature is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 70750. In this blog we will see how to add the modern calendar view to a SharePoint online page using List web part.
4. Click on List web part from Search results. It will add the List web part to your modern page.
5. Initially the List web part shows all the lists available on your SharePoint site. Click on the list name where you created a modern calendar view OR you can also select a list from web part configuration property pane which opens when you click on Edit web part button
Select a desired list in “List” web part
6. By default the List web part will load the default view of your SharePoint list. If you have set newly created Calendar view as your default view, skip this step. Else, select your calendar view from Switch view options dropdown as shown below:
Select modern calendar list view from views dropdown
7. Click on Publish/Republish button to save the changes.
You will see the final output on SharePoint page as shown below:
Modern calendar list view added to a SharePoint online modern page
Microsoft is introducing a new Board view feature in SharePoint online/Microsoft Lists. This Kanban like Board view allow users to work with list items in a board with swimlanes that represent their current progress. This view is ideal when users want to track items as they move forward in a process or workflow.
The board view in lists will allow users to drag & drop items through the stages of process or workflow.
Users will be able to configure which columns from the list are displayed in the cards and in what order.
This feature will roll out both on desktop and web. Currently Microsoft Planner also allows creating Kanban boards using content-rich tasks.
This feature is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID: 85634.
Release Timeline
Microsoft will begin rolling out board view feature in mid-January and expects to complete the rollout in late February (previously early February).
How this will affect your organization
After the feature rollout, you will see the Board as an option during creation of new views for a SharePoint online list / Microsoft Lists. Additionally, there will be a dropdown to choose a column to organize the board by. Presently, the board can be organized by any Choice or Boolean column that exists in the list.
Kanban Board view in SharePoint online/Microsoft Lists
What you need to do to prepare
No action is required to enable this feature. You may consider notifying users about this new capability and update your training and documentation as appropriate.
Now Microsoft is introducing this new feature, Unscheduled Pane, which will allow users to review all the list items not yet appearing in the calendar view due to missing dates. These items will appear on the Unscheduled tab within the events pane to the right of the Calendar view.
This feature is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID: 93223.
Release Timeline
Microsoft began rolling this out in mid-April 2022 and expected to complete the rollout by late April 2022 – Rollout completed.
How this will affect your organization
You will now see a new Unscheduled tab within the events pane to the right of the Calendar view. The items with missing start and/or end dates and those with start date later than the end date would appear on this pane. You may select the items to open the edit form and make appropriate edits or you can drag and drop the items on calendar view to schedule these items.
Unscheduled Pane in Microsoft Lists Calendar Views
What you need to do to prepare
No action is required to enable this feature. But you may consider notifying users about this new capability and update your training and documentation as appropriate.
Now Microsoft is introducing item drag and drop feature for calendar views which will allow users to easily reorganize list items in a calendar view. Users will be able to reschedule items by dragging and dropping them from one day to another day in a Calendar view, or by pulling an item from the Unscheduled pane that appears on the right, within Calendar view.
This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID: 93285.
Release Timeline
Microsoft began rolling this out in mid-May 2022 and expected to complete the rollout by late May 2022 – Rollout completed.
How this will affect your organization
After rollout of this item drag and drop feature, users will be able to:
Reschedule list items by dragging them from one date to another date in the calendar view canvas
Un-schedule items (remove the saved dates) by dragging from calendar canvas and dropping them in the Unscheduled pane
Schedule items by dragging them from the Unscheduled pane and dropping them on any date in calendar view canvas
Microsoft Lists: Calendar view item drag and drop
What you need to do to prepare
No action is required to enable this feature. You may consider notifying users about this new capability and update your training and documentation as appropriate.
At the time I wrote that blog, it was not possible to display the images from SharePoint online/Microsoft lists in Power Apps. But, Power Apps image controls can now display images that are stored in image columns in SharePoint online/Microsoft Lists. The Images in Power Apps can be displayed in four different sizes:
New Power apps that use the SharePoint connector to add a list as a data source may display images from the list if they are present in the list. Existing apps can also be updated to show images.
Release Timeline
Targeted release will begin rolling out in late February (previously early February) and will be complete by early March (previously end of February).
Standard release to all other cloud environments will begin early March (previously early February) and be complete by mid-March (previously mid-February).
What you need to do to prepare
You might want to notify your users about this new functionality and update your training and documentation as appropriate.
Last year, Microsoft introduced a new feature of commenting in SharePoint Online lists and Microsoft lists which helps users to add comments on individual list items. Now, Microsoft is releasing a new feature which will bring the commenting capability available for SharePoint/Microsoft Lists on the web to Lists app within Microsoft Teams.
Users will be able to view, add, delete comments, and mention people on a list item to collaborate and share better within the Teams canvas. Comments will stay with the list item regardless of it opening on SharePoint, Microsoft Lists on the web, or Microsoft Teams.
This feature will roll out on desktop, web and mobile. This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 70707.
Release Timeline
Targeted release (entire organization): Microsoft expects to begin and complete the rollout in mid-October.
Standard release: Microsoft expects to begin rolling this out in mid-October and expect to complete the rollout in late October.
How this feature works
Users collaborating on list items within a Teams channel will be able to add, view and delete comments within Microsoft Teams itself. These comments will stay with the list item and can also be viewed in Lists on the web.
Users mentioned in a comment will be notified via email. The person who receives a notification can click a link that will take them directly to the list item on web. They’ll be able to review the comment in context and take the requested action, see SharePoint Online/Microsoft Lists: @mention people in list comments.
Permissions Considerations
Comments within teams will follow the same permissions as on web – People with read permission will only be able to view comments, whereas people with edit permissions will be able to add or delete comments.
Microsoft Teams now supports comments and @mentions on SharePoint/Microsoft Lists
In my previous blog about Commenting in SharePoint Online and Microsoft lists, I explained where you can find the comments options, what are the permission considerations, working with commenting using SharePoint REST APIs, etc. In this blog I will explain how to use SharePoint Online/Microsoft List Comments in JSON formatting.
Currently it is not possible to get the actual list item comments using JSON formatting. But, you can get the count of comments added to list item using [$_CommentCount].
Follow below steps to show Comments Count in list view:
1. Go to SharePoint Online/Microsoft list, click on Add column and select Single line of text.
Add a column in list
2. Complete Create a column fly out on the right by entering a Name for column and Description if required. Once complete click on Save.
Create a column in list
3. Click on the Comments Count column, select Column settings and then select Format this column.
Format the comments count column
4. Select Advanced mode at the bottom of the Format Comments Count column fly out, delete everything from the textbox, add the following JSON and click Save.
Where [$_CommentCount] is an internal name of hidden Comment Count column SharePoint list.
Format the comments count column – Advanced mode
5. Close the Format Comments Count column fly out and you will see below output in list view:
Comments Count using JSON Formatting
Next Step: This example is just to show the comments count in list view. So, you would want to hide this column from list form. Check this documentation to hide Comments Count column from list form.
Microsoft is announcing a feature which will provide a new guided authoring experience in SharePoint Online/Microsoft Lists that will make it easy to quickly create business intelligence reports in Power BI using your list schema and data.
Using this feature you can visualize your list in Power BI. This is a new view and author experience that auto-generates an initial report for you based on the information in your list. You can specify fields to create from, or update the visuals shown in the report.
If you want more advanced report authoring capabilities, you can move into Edit mode and further refine. To create a report from a list, click the Integrate menu, choose Power BI and then you will see “Visualize the list”.
Targeted Release: rolling out in early May – Completed
Standard Release: rolling out from early June (previously late May) to mid-July (previously early June) – Completed
Government: Microsoft will begin rolling out in mid-June (previously early May) and expect to complete by late June (previously early June).
Roll-out: tenant level
Control type: admin control
Action: review and assess
How this will affect your organization
List users will see a new menu option in Integrate > Power BI > Visualize this list, which allows users to create a new Power BI report using that list.
With just one click, you’ll be able to autogenerate a basic report and customize the list columns that are shown in the report. To take further advantage of Power BI’s advanced data visualization capabilities, just go into Edit mode. Once a report is saved and published, it will appear in the same submenu under Integrate> Power BI.
Easily Create Power BI Reports from SharePoint Online/Microsoft Lists
Users without either of the above licenses will be prompted by Power BI to sign up for a 60-day free trial of Power BI Pro when they attempt to save a new report or edit/view an existing report. To turn off self-service sign-up so that the option for a trial is not exposed to List users, click here.
Users with a Power BI free license may only visualize their list data, but cannot publish or view reports.
What you need to do to prepare
This feature is ON by default, but can be turned off from the Power BI Admin Portal under Tenant settings.
If this feature is disabled for tenants, users will continue to see the Power BI submenu in the List command bar, but any attempt to create or view a report will result in an error page.
Note
Certain complex column types in Lists such as Person, Location, Rich Text, Multi-select Choice, and Image are not currently supported when the Power BI report is autogenerated.
This new feature will support the addition of custom list templates from your organization alongside the ready-made templates Microsoft provides to make it easy to get started tracking and managing information.
Today, we have several ready-made List templates designed to make it easy to get started tracking and managing information – like events, issues, and requests. Now, Microsoft will be supporting custom list templates – the ability for organizations to define custom list templates. Note, you will be able to manage which templates are available to which people, based on their job role.
Targeted release (entire organization): will roll out in mid-July and complete by mid-August 2021 – Complete
Standard release: will roll out in mid-September 2022 (previously mid-May) and be complete by early November (previously mid-June)
Roll-out: tenant level
Control type: user control / admin control
Action: review, assess and educate
How this will affect your organization
This feature will give organizations the ability to create their own custom list templates with custom formatting and schema. It will also empower organizations to create repeatable solutions within the same Microsoft Lists infrastructure (including list creation in SharePoint, Teams, and within the Lists app itself).
End-user impact
Visual updates to the list creation dialog and the addition of a From your organization tab when creating a new list. This new tab is where your custom list templates appear alongside the ready-made templates from Microsoft.
Custom list templates in SharePoint online/Microsoft Lists
Admin impact
Custom list templates can only be uploaded by a SharePoint administrator for Microsoft 365 by using PowerShell cmdlets. For consistency, the process of defining and uploading custom list templates is like the custom site templates experience.
To define and upload custom list templates, admins will use the following site template PowerShell cmdlets:
SharePoint’s JSON formatting capabilities empower users to customize the look and feel of SharePoint lists and libraries effortlessly. One common customization request is to remove the column name from the group header in a grouped SharePoint list view. In this blog post, we’ll explore why you might want to remove the column name and provide a step-by-step guide on achieving this using SharePoint JSON formatting.
Why Remove the Column Name?
When organizing data in SharePoint lists, you may find that the default group headers display the column names. While this is useful in many scenarios, there are times when you might prefer a cleaner, more streamlined view. Removing the column name from the grouped header can help reduce visual clutter and focus on the column value for each group.
How to Remove Column Name from Group Header?
Follow below steps to remove the column name from group header in SharePoint online or Microsoft Lists’ list view:
1. First, navigate to the SharePoint list for which you want to apply the JSON formatting. Click on the “Switch view options” drop down from top right corner of the list and select the view where you want to remove the column name from the group header.
2. Once in the desired list view, click on the “Switch view options” drop down again and select the “Format current view” option, which opens the list formatting pane.
3. Within the list formatting pane, locate the “Advanced mode” option and click on it to access the JSON formatting editor. Here you can modify the JSON to achieve the desired customization.
4. To remove the column name from the group header, copy below JSON and paste it in the JSON formatting editor:
5. Click on the “Save” button within the JSON list formatting pane to apply the changes.
Once saved, the SharePoint list view will reflect the updated formatting, with the column name effectively removed from the group header.
Note
If you have applied the “Group by” on Person or Group (people field) OR Lookup column, [object object] will appear in the group header after applying above JSON. In that case, you will have to modify above JSON slightly as per the following table:
Type of grouped column
Part of the JSON to be changed
Change to
Person or Group
@group.fieldData.displayValue
@group.fieldData.title
Lookup
@group.fieldData.displayValue
@group.fieldData.lookupValue
Also, if you have grouped your SharePoint list view based on two columns (for example: person or group and single line of text column), you can change the text to show (txtContent) based on display name of column like:
By following these steps, you can harness the power of SharePoint’s JSON formatting capabilities to achieve a cleaner and more tailored presentation of your grouped list view data.
I hope this guide has been helpful in demonstrating how to remove the column name from the group header in a SharePoint list view using JSON formatting.
SharePoint Online and Microsoft Lists offers a multitude of features to enhance collaboration and streamline data management. One such feature is the Quick Property Editing (Edit in Grid view), which allows users to bulk edit metadata for multiple list items directly from the list view. While this feature can improve efficiency, there are scenarios where disabling it becomes necessary. In this blog post, we’ll explore various methods to achieve this in SharePoint Online.
From SharePoint UI
Follow below steps to disable quick edit (Edit in grid view) from SharePoint list UI:
1. Go to your SharePoint Online list.
2. Click on Settings (gear icon) from the top right corner and select List settings.
3. Click on Advanced settings link from List settings page.
4. From Advanced settings page, scroll down and set Quick property editing (Allow items in this list to be edited using Quick Edit and the Details Pane?) to No.
5. Click OK button at the bottom of advanced list settings page.
Using PnP PowerShell
You can use below PnP PowerShell script to disable Quick property editing (Grid view) from SharePoint Online list or document library:
# Display name of SharePoint online list or document library $listName = "My SharePoint List"
# SharePoint online site URL $siteUrl = Read-Host -Prompt "Enter your SharePoint site URL (e.g https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/pnppowershell)"
# Connect to SharePoint online site Connect-PnPOnline -Url $siteUrl -Interactive
# Disable Quick property editing (Grid view) from SharePoint list Set-PnPList -Identity $listName -DisableGridEditing $true
Microsoft introduced a new Image column type to SharePoint Online lists and libraries. Using this column, list and library users will be able to add a single image file from their computer to an item in a list or a library.
History & Roadmap
Microsoft announced Image column first time via admin message center on July 31, 2020 (Message Center ID: MC219652).
When it was added to Microsoft 365 roadmap, it was expected to complete the rollout of image column to all by mid-August 2020.
On August 19, 2020, Microsoft delayed the rollout of this feature & updated the announcement stating, “To ensure the best possible experience for our users, we are delaying some of our deployments to reduce the amount of change flowing into the services.”
Finally, Image column feature released to all SharePoint Online tenants in October 2020 release, Roadmap.
Creating an Image Column
Follow below steps to create an image column in a SharePoint Online list:
Go to SharePoint Online list where you want to create an image column.
Click on Add column in list view and select Image. If you are not able to see the Image column option, then click on More…
Name your column and make sure type is selected as Image.
You can specify additional column settings as per your requirements and then click OK
Creating an Image Column
When you create an Image column, it will be shown as a Thumbnail column in Columns section under list settings:
Columns section under list settings
Adding Image to list items
When you create a new item in list, Image column will be shown like below on list form. When you click on Add an image, you will be able to add a single image file from your computer to an item.
List form with image column
After you select an image from computer, the file name will be shown in the form. If you want to replace the image, you can click on Edit icon.
List form after image is selected
Display in list view
Once you Save the list form, Image column will show the thumbnail of selected image in list view. If you want to see the image in full size, you need to click on image thumbnail in list view.
Images in list view
Where the Images will be stored?
After adding images to your SharePoint list items, you must be wondering about where these images will be stored in your SharePoint Online site.
Image columns in SharePoint online stores the images by default in a sub folder inside Site Assets library which has format in general like Site Assets –> Lists –> <GUID of list>
Images stored in Site Assets library
Update: With the recent updates to SharePoint Online and Microsoft Lists, if the attachments option is enabled in your list, images will be stored in same SharePoint list and general format for image location will be like below as mentioned in the article, Download Image from SharePoint Image column using JSON formatting:
Microsoft recently introduced a new feature of commenting in SharePoint Online lists and Microsoft lists. Using this feature users will be able to add and delete comments on list items. Users can view all comments on a list item and filter between views that show comments or activity related to an item in details pane.
Microsoft has started rolling out this feature to all SharePoint Online tenants in December 2020 release, see Roadmap.
Where can you find Comments options?
Comments options are currently located at below three places in SharePoint Online/Microsoft lists:
List view
Users can see which list items have comments when they access the SharePoint Online list view or Microsoft list home page. Comments option will be shown on command bar when you select a list item as well as at the right hand side of Title column. When you hover over on comments icon it will show you the count of comments added to the list item.
Comments options in List view
Display/Edit form
By default, users will see a new comments pane alongside the list item form when they access a list. Users can toggle the comment pane visibility by clicking the comments icon. When you hide comments, the pane does not collapse. The comments pane will be closed by default for lists customized by Power Apps.
Comments options on Display form
Details Pane
Users can see the Comments and All activity related to list item on details pane. Users can filter views that show comments or activity by using the dropdown under “More details” section.
Comments options in Details pane
Permission Considerations
Comments follow the permission settings inherent in SharePoint Online and Microsoft Lists.
Users with read-only permission can only view comments.
Those with list edit permission can make comments as well as delete comments; editing comments is currently not possible.
Where the Comments will be stored?
Comments are stored in the schema for each list, which is based on the SharePoint storage platform.
Working with SharePoint REST APIs
As comments are stored within the list schema itself and not with list items, it is not possible to fetch comments using $select with /items endpoint. However, you can get the list item comments using below endpoint:
Currently it is not possible to get the actual list item comments value using JSON formatting. But, you can get the count of comments added to list item using [$_CommentCount] which is an internal name of SharePoint list column that returns the count of list item comments.
Any user can delete the list item comments. Currently there is no way to disable deletion of comments.
Maximum characters limit in list comments: 2000 characters
Classic lists that are not yet built to show up in modern user interfaces, like Task lists, will not have this commenting feature.
Commenting on lists in Teams is not available with this release.
Comments are not indexed by Search.
Enable/Disable Comments
Currently it is not possible to disable commenting at the site or list level. Microsoft is working on the new feature which will allow users to enable/disable the comments for individual SharePoint lists. However, Admins can enable/disable this feature at the organization level by changing the CommentsOnListItemsDisabled parameter in the Set-SPOTenant PowerShell cmdlet:
Get a colleague’s attention to an item in a list by @mentioning them within list comments. That person will receive a notification and a link that takes them directly back to the item, to review the comment and take the requested action.
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