Microsoft Lists reorder items

Written: 09/08/2020 | Updated: N/A

Microsoft Lists Fundamentals Part 1

In Part 1 of this fundamentals blog series, we looked at the very basics of Microsoft Lists: how to access lists, how to create a list from a blank list and populate it with new items and columns, how to switch between recent lists and my lists. In addition to looking at how to create lists from existing SharePoint Lists and templates, we looked at how to favourite a list, how to customise list, how to share a list inside and outside the organisation and how to delete a list. We are now going to advance into some more ways we can work and manage Lists, including beginning to surface them into Teams with Flows

This blog with cover

• Exporting a List to Excel
• Creating a List from Excel
• Setting personal alerts on the List
• How to edit the current view of the List
• How to quickly reorder columns
• How to delete columns
• How to add a new view of the List
• How to filter and pin filters
• How to turn off attachments in the title column
• How to turn off quick editing or prevent downloading the excel
• How to build a Flow for a list into Teams

WHY WOULD WE DO IT?

• To create and manage Lists

PREREQUISITES

To use lists, the user will typically need a Microsoft/Office 365 Licence. SharePoint will need to be enabled within the licence. EDGE browser recommended I am currently using EDGE Canary [86.0.594.0] for the browser experience without issue

EXPORTING A LIST TO EXCEL

1.] On the Lists home page, select the list by clicking on it

2.] SelectExport to Excel

3.] The list will download as as a .iqy file

4.] Open the file in Excel

CREATING A LIST FROM AN EXCEL

The past blog explored creating a List from Blank, from an Existing SharePoint List and from a template. The last method to explore is to create a List from an Excel file

1.] Here I have my List. It is an Equipment List of Teams certified devices. However this list will not upload correctly to Lists. It has to be formatted as a Table which can be easily done via theInsertmenu and selectTable. Save the Excel file to the desktop or to OneDrive

2.] In Lists Home select New List

3.] SelectFrom Excel

4.] This example is going to upload a file from the desktop. SelectUpload File

5.] Select and open the Saved Excel File

6.] The file will upload. You will now have an opportunity to select the Table if the excel contains multiple tables, and you will have the opportunity to set the column types which Lists identifies based on the uploaded data. SelectNextonce done

7.] Set the name of the List, the description, the icon and where to save the list to [My Lists vs an existing SharePoint Site, then selectCreate

8.] The List has been created

SETTING PERSONAL ALERTS ON THE LIST

You can set up an alert to notified you when the list has been modified

1.] In the List, selectMore Options []next to Power Apps

2.] SelectAlert Me

3.] Specify the alert settings including who is alerted, what changes produce alerts [I.e. all changes, or delete actions] and when to send the alert. This example below shows that any change by anyone will notify me immediately. Once done selectOk

4.] The alert is set up. To double check, circle back toMore Options []and then selectManage Alertsand the alert should be present

5.] The alert will come through via email

HOW TO EDIT THE CURRENT VIEW OF A LIST

We may want to optimise the view of our list

1.] In the List, selectAll Itemsand thenEdit Current View

2.] There are many options here to modify the view. In this example I have simply flipped the owner and vendor columns and sorted the view based on the owner in an ascending format. Once done selectOkat the bottom of the screen.

3.] This has made my list a lot more ordered to how I want

HOW TO QUICKLY REORDER COLUMNS

A quick way to move columns in a list is to simply drag the column left and right of another column. Doing this will edit and save the existing view [See view saved in the top right].

Columns can also be reordered by selectingcog then list settings and then selectingcolumn ordering. Reorder the columns and selectOkto save

HOW TO DELETE COLUMNS

We may need to occasionally delete a column

1.] In the List, selectcogand thenList Settings

2.] Select thecolumnname

3.] Scroll to the bottom and then selectDeleteto delete the column

HOW TO ADD A NEW VIEW TO THE LIST

In addition to being able to modify the All Items view we can add new views in order to slice up the list, or give us new insights. On this Teams Certified Devices lets say I want to see all apple devices

1.] In the List selectAll Itemsand thenSave View As

2.] Set a name [recommended to name the list something which is meaningful] and decide whether the view is public [checked] or private [unchecked]. SelectSave

3.] Selectthe new list name [in this example apple] and thenedit current view

4.] Now this view is to only show people who have apple devices. So I have set the view to filter and show items only where the apple is the vendor in the vendor column. Once done I selectok

5.] The new view shows what I want, but now the Apple view sits alongside the All Items view and I can change between the views easily as well as set one of the views as default simply by going to the view dropdown

HOW TO FILTER AND PIN FILTERS

As well as new views, we can also manage and slice Lists via Filters. Filters are based upon column names as well as the items within those columns, so filtering can get pretty granular

1.] To open and apply a filter, simply select thefiltericon and check the item to produce a filtered list

2.] To pin a specific set of filters to the top of the filters select More Options []next to the name of the column and then selectPin. The pinned set of filters will then appear at the top of the filters

HOW TO TURN OFF ATTACHMENTS IN THE TITLE COLUMN

It is often been recommended by SharePoint pros to turn off attachments in SharePoint Lists usually due to compliance reasons and/or that document libraries are designed to handle files. Lists also have the ability to attach files to the title column. Some administrators may want to turn this off for continuity purposes or for the reasons above

1.] In the list selectcogand thenList Settings

2.] SelectAdvanced Settings

3.] Disable attachments, scroll to the bottom and selectOk.Note if you disable attachments after adding attachments it will delete them. When you now go to add an item there will be no opportunity to add an attachment

HOW TO TURN OFF QUICK EDITING

Turning off quick editing may be required to prevent human error, especially having shared the list. This will restrict editing items to a one by one basis

1.] In the list selectcogand thenList Settings

2.] SelectAdvanced Settings

3.] Scroll down the page and turn off theQuick Property Editing. Scroll to the bottom of the page andselect Ok

4.] The quick edit button has now disappeared from the list

HOW TO BUILD A FLOW FOR A LIST INTO TEAMS

The great thing about Lists is that it has been designed to work seamlessly with the Power Platform and interact with other Microsoft 365 applications. I will be writing a blog later on several flows to use with Lists. This one is going to be a very simple flow for notifying a Team when a new List item has been created

1.] In the List, selectAutomatethenPower Automate thenCreate a Flow

2.] Whilst the create a flow box will suggest a number of flow templates out of the box the flow we want to create is not there, select see your flows

3.] SelectCreate

4.] SelectAutomated Flow

5.] Name the Flow and select the SharePoint trigger When an Item is created then selectcreate

6.] First step is to add the URL of the SharePoint Site which houses the lists. This is the first part of the List page URL. Set the List itself and then selectNew Step

7.] Second step is to create aGet Item action to get the item from the List. Again, enter the Site URL and List as well as enterIDin the ID field. SelectNew Step

8.] Add a Teams action called Post a Message [V3]that will post a message of the newly added List Items details to a Teams Channel. Populate the Team, the Channel and in the body add the dynamic content pulled from the previous action. Once done, selectSave

9.] Now when a new item is added to the List the Team will be notified about it

Awesome!