Introduction
This article is the 32nd part of my SharePoint series. Here are my previous articles.
- Learn SharePoint In Series - Part One - Introduction
- Learn SharePoint In Series - Part Two - Web Application
- Learn SharePoint In Series - Part Three - Site Collections
- Learn SharePoint In Series - Part Four - Subsites
- Learn SharePoint In Series – Part Five – SharePoint Lists
- Learn SharePoint In Series - Part Six - Power Of Versioning
- Learn SharePoint In Series - Part Seven - Lists Advanced Settings
- Learn SharePoint In Series - Part Eight - Validation Settings in List Settings
- Learn SharePoint In Series - Part Nine - Audience Targeting
- Learn SharePoint In Series - Part Ten - Rating Settings
- Learn SharePoint In Series - Part Eleven - Form Settings in List Settings
- Learn SharePoint In Series - Part Twelve- Save list as a template in List Setting
- Learn SharePoint In Series - Part Thirteen- Permission Settings in List Settings
- Learn SharePoint In Series - Part Fourteen- Enterprise Metadata and Keywords
- Learn SharePoint In Series - Part Fifteen - Retention Policy Under Information Management
- Learn SharePoint In Series - Part Sixteen - RSS Settings in List Setting
- Learn SharePoint In Series - Part Seventeen - List Columns in SharePoint
- Learn SharePoint In Series - Part Eighteen - Multiple Lines Of Text Column Type in SharePoint
- Learn SharePoint In Series - Part Nineteen - Number and Choice Column Type in SharePoint
- Learn SharePoint In Series - Part Twenty - Currency and Yes No Column types in SharePoint
- Learn SharePoint In Series - Part Twenty One - Person or Group Column types in SharePoint
- Learn SharePoint In Series - Part Twenty-Two - Date and Time Column types in SharePoint
- Learn SharePoint In Series – Part Twenty-Three – Look Up Column Type in SharePoint
- Learn SharePoint In Series - Part Twenty Four - Hyperlink or Picture Column Types in SharePoint
- Learn SharePoint In Series -Part Twenty-Five - Calculated Column in SharePoint
- Learn SharePoint In Series - Part Twenty-Six - Task Outcomes and External Data Column Type in SharePoint
- Learn SharePoint In Series - Part Twenty-Seven - Introduction to Managed Metadata Column Types
- Learn SharePoint In Series - Part Twenty-Eight - Introduction to Site Columns
- Learn SharePoint In Series - Part Twenty Nine - Editing and Deleting Site Columns
- Learn SharePoint In Series - Part Thirty - Column Reordering in SharePoint
- Learn SharePoint In Series - Part Thirty-One - Indexing in SharePoint Lists and Libraries
In the previous article, I have explained what indexes are in SharePoint and how they work in SharePoint lists and libraries. We have also seen how to create and delete the indexes in SharePoint lists. So, moving one more step ahead in SharePoint Lists and Libraries configurations, let’s understand what are Views in SharePoint. In this article, I am going to introduce views in SharePoint. This concept is too vast to cover in the single article, so I will be dividing this topic into multiple articles.
In this article, I am going to cover the following topics,
- Background
- Views in SharePoint
- Needs of Views
- Types of Views
- Default Views available with SharePoint Lists and Libraries
- Summary
Background
I always love to compare any new technology with any existing technology so that the new learner can relate the things while reading the articles. In this article also I am comparing the concept with SQL Server. While using SQL server if you have more columns in the SQL Server table and you do not normally interact with all the columns but you frequently need a few columns, then in that case what you do? You create a SQL Server Table View. In the view, you select only frequently used columns and that makes your work easy.
Now, come back to SharePoint. While working with SharePoint we create SharePoint lists or library to store the data. We create metadata columns to the SharePoint list. Sometimes, the list contains too many columns. For example, consider the following list.
The list has 16 columns. Now, you don’t want to display all the columns in the list while displaying the contents. The solution is SharePoint Views.
SharePoint Views
There might be many definitions available for SharePoint Views, but I will describe SharePoint View in my own way. I will define SharePoint Views as “Configuring the SharePoint list to show the meaningful information by applying certain sorting, filtering, metadata selection is called as creating a list view in SharePoint”.
Need of Views
Consider a scenario where you have to display only top last top 10 maximum labeled price item in the list. If this is SQL Server then you will use SQL Query, but in SharePoint, this can be achieved without the help of any custom codes. We can create any view using GUI provided by SharePoint.
Types of Views
Type of view also has 2 more subcategories. First one is based on accessibility and another one is based on the data representation. If we talk about accessibility then we have 2 types of Views.
Public View
This view is visible to every user who has permission to the list.
Private View
This view is visible to the only user who has created it. Another user will not able to see the private views.
Based on the data representation there are the following types of Views,
- Standard View (Default in most of the list)
- Datasheet View
- Calendar View
- Gantt View
- Custom View defined using SharePoint Designer
For more information see the following image.
Default Views available with SharePoint Lists and Libraries
There are certain views that are by default created when you create a new SharePoint list or Library. Every view has its own view name with its own signature.
Custom List
Document Library
Calendar List
All Events
Current Events
Calendar
Contacts List
Discussion list
Subjects
Featured Discussions
Management
Recent
My Discussions
Unanswered Discussions
Answered Questions
Featured
Issue Lists
All Issues
Active Issues
My Issues
Link lists
Picture Libraries
Thumbnails
All Pictures
Slides
Promoted Links
Tasks List
All Tasks
Calendar
Completed
Gantt Chart
Late Tasks
My Tasks
Upcoming
This is a list of default views created with each of the list and libraries types. Note these views are default; it does not mean that we cannot modify them, we can always modify the default list or library views and customize as per our needs.
Summary
In this article, I have covered only a few basic topics related to views such as what are views, why we need views, available default views etc. In the next article, I am going to explain how to create a list view in detail with its property. We will take an example scenario and will create a view based on the scenario.
If you have any question or suggestion then please let me know in the comments section.