Microsoft Lists Fundamentals Part 1

Written: 02/08/2020 | Updated: N/A

Microsoft Lists Fundamentals Part 2

I have a little detour from Teams this week. Of course, Microsoft Lists will come into Teams in the next month or so – this has already been confirmed. Yet I like many others have been caught up in the hype and wanted to get hands on with the web app experience as a primer for that. So it’s a good thing that even though it’s not officially in my Ring 4 test tenant – as in no icon on login – there’s still a way to access it – many thanks to Matt Wade and Michael Pisarek for bringing it to my attention on social. So, Lists. Lists are effective for many things – Itineraries, Assets, Expenses, Project Steps, Go to Market actions. And there is many reasons as to why you would make a list. You would make it to record track and organise. You would make it in order to collaborate with others. You would make it to share with others. Yet lists in Microsoft 365 are not new. As announced at Build, Lists are an evolution of SharePoint Lists and encompasses SharePoint Lists and which is now a cross app all of it’s own. Let’s have a look

This blog will cover

• Accessing Lists Home on the web
• Creating a List from a Blank list
• Populating a Blank List with New Items and Columns
• Switching between Recent Lists and My Lists
• Creating a List from an Existing SharePoint List and having existing SharePoint Lists display in Lists Home
• Creating a List from a Template
• How to favourite/unfavourite a List
• How to customise (I.e. rename) a List
• How to share, unshare and modify permissions of a List
• How to delete a List

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

HOW – ACCESSING LISTS HOME ON THE WEB

1.) Login to https://login.microsoftonline.com

2.) The lists app should be accessible from the home page or the app launcher. If it is not visible select OneDrive

3.) On the OneDrive Homepage, replace the end of the URL from /onedrive.aspx to /lists.aspx. The Microsoft Lists icon may appear next to the URL. Press Enter on the URL to go to the Lists Home page

4.) You are now on the Lists Home page

HOW – CREATING A LIST FROM A BLANK LIST

1.) On the Lists Home page select New List 

2.) Select Blank List

3.) Add a Name, Description, Colour and Icon for the List. This can be either saved to My Lists (stored in OneDrive) or saved to a SharePoint site. This example will save to My Lists. Once complete select Create

4.) The List is now created

As shown by the URL the list resides in OneDrive

HOW – POPULATING A BLANK LIST WITH ITEMS AND COLUMNS

1.) Once the list is created select New

2.) Add the Title of the Item. There is an option to add an attachment. Once done, select Save. Rinse and repeat to add multiple items. These items can be arranged, for example, alphabetically, as shown below

3.) To add further columns select Add Column. This gives a number of options including a single line of text, location, number, yes/no and hyperlink. This example is going to use location. Note, adding another column does not auto-populate information if there are already items in the list

4.) Complete the column properties and select Save. This example has given the column a name of location and a description of location. 

5.) To populate the new column, this can be done through selecting Quick Edit at the top of the lists page then completing en masse, or by selecting and editing each individual item

6. Knowing how to add items and columns means a List can be built within a very short space of time

SWITCHING BETWEEN RECENT LISTS AND MY LISTS

By default, the Lists Home page will show recent lists. In order to display a list of the Lists you actually own, select the dropdown arrow next to recent lists and then select My Lists

HOW – CREATING A LIST FROM AN EXISTING SHAREPOINT LIST AND HAVING EXISTING LISTS DISPLAY IN LISTS HOME

The purpose of this option is to create a new list from an existing list. Think of it like using an existing list from your own lists or a list within one of your SharePoint sites as a template for a new list. However it can also be leveraged to get an existing SharePoint List into the Lists Home page

1.) Select + New List 

 

2.) Select From Existing List

3.) Select the existing list from the SharePoint Site, then Next

4.) Select Create

5.) The List is now created and ready to go with prepopulated columns

6.) Note, when going back to Lists Home page not only is the new list created, but the original list in the SharePoint site also shows up in the recent lists. This is a good way to get existing SharePoint Lists into Lists Home page. They can then be favourited/pinned (see below section on favouriting)

HOW – CREATING A LIST FROM A TEMPLATE

Microsoft have kindly provided several templates to get started with Lists immediately

1.) Select + New List 

2.) Select one of the Templates. This example will choose Event Itinerary

3.) An example of a fully populated list will be shown to give you an idea of what the template looks like in reality. Select Use Template

4.) Select the Name, Description, Colour and Icon of the List as well as where to save it. Select create

5.) The list is now created with the appropriate columns

HOW TO FAVOURITE/UNFAVORITE A LIST

1.) On the lists home page hover over the list and then select the star icon in the top right hand corner to favourite/pin it to the top of the page

2.) Select the star icon at the top right again on either the favourite/pinned List or the recent List to unfavourite/unpin it

HOW – HOW TO CUSTOMISE (I.E. RENAME A LIST)

1.) On the lists home page hover over the list, select More Options (…) at the bottom of the list and then select Customise. This can also be done on a favourited list from more options at the bottom right

2.) You can rename the List, change it’s colour or icon. Select save once complete

HOW TO SHARE, UNSHARE AND MODIFY PERMISSIONS ON A LIST

1.) On the lists home page hover over the list, select More Options (…) at the bottom and then Share. This can also be done on a favourited list from more options at the bottom right

2.) Add who you want to share the list with. This could be someone inside or outside your organisation. Adding a note is optional. Set the permissions on the List and whether these people have full control, can edit, or can only read. Choose whether to notify those people via the tick box and then select Grant Access

3.) Access has been granted

4.) To remove access or change permissions, return to the sharing options as per the previous step, select More Options (…) in the top right hand corner then select Manage Access

5.) Select the dropdown arrow next to the user who you want to stop sharing the list with or modify permissions. Select stop sharing to stop sharing or any of the other options to change the permissions that user has on the list

HOW TO DELETE A LIST

1.) On the lists home page select the list to be deleted

2.) Select the Cog on the top right of the page and then List Settings

3.) Select Delete this List