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Create a new view for the training contacts list and edit the view to define the parameters. 

Quick reference

Creating List Views

As we've already seen many list templates in SharePoint come with their own set of views; however, some do not. So what happens if we want to view these lists in a different way? How can we maintain this list? We can create our own custom views.

When to use

Create a custom view whenever you want to view list information in a specific way. 

Instructions

For this example, we are going to use the Training Contacts list. 

  • From the Training Contacts list, click the drop-down arrow next to All Contacts. 
  • Select Create new view from the menu. 
  • Type a name for the view, e.g. Freeman Contacts.
  • Select List.
  • Select Make this a public view so other team members can use the view. 
  • Click Create. 

Once we have created the new view, we need to define the parameters. When we edit the view we can choose which columns we want to display and also choose to sort and filter the information.  

  • From the Training Contacts list, click the drop-down arrow next to All Contacts. 
  • Select Edit current view from the menu. 

First, we can determine which columns we would like to show in this view. The columns currently showing in the view have a checkmark next to them. 

  • Remove the checkmark from Home phone number to remove the column from the view. 

We can sort the information in this view by last name.  

  • From First sort by the column select Last Name from the drop-down menu. 
  • Select Show items in ascending order

Next, we want to filter our list to show just the contacts that work at the company Freeman Partners. 

  • From the Filter section, Show items only when the following is true.
  • Click the drop-down underneath Show items when column and select Company, then is equal to Freeman Partners.
  • Click OK. 

Hints & tips

  • There are many other advanced options available when customizing list views. We encourage you to have a look through these and see how they affect the list. 
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  • 00:04 As I've already mentioned, if you build a list based off of a template,
  • 00:08 many of those templates come with different list views.
  • 00:11 And we finished up the last lesson by taking a look inside at training contacts
  • 00:16 where, unfortunately, we found that we only have one way to view this list,
  • 00:21 and that is to view all contacts.
  • 00:23 So what if I do want to view this list in a different way?
  • 00:26 How can I maintain this list and create different views?
  • 00:30 Well, it's reasonably straightforward.
  • 00:33 Let's click the drop down, and you can see just over halfway down this menu,
  • 00:39 we have an option to create a new view.
  • 00:42 So that's what I'm going to do.
  • 00:43 And what do I want to do here?
  • 00:44 Well, I want to create a view that shows me all
  • 00:47 of the contacts that work at Freeman Partners.
  • 00:51 So let's click Create new view.
  • 00:53 And the first thing we need to do is give our view a name.
  • 00:57 So I'm going to call this Freeman Contacts.
  • 01:04 Now I have a choice as to how I want to display this view: in a list,
  • 01:08 in a calendar, or in a gallery.
  • 01:10 Now I just want this to list out the contacts,
  • 01:12 I'm going to keep that on list, and I'm also going to make this a public view.
  • 01:16 And what that means is that anybody else who has access to
  • 01:20 the SharePoint team site can also see and use that view.
  • 01:24 Let's click on Create.
  • 01:26 Now what you'll see is in the top corner,
  • 01:28 it's actually switched to Freeman Contacts.
  • 01:31 But because I haven't defined any parameters,
  • 01:34 I haven't told SharePoint what I want this particular view to show,
  • 01:38 it's just showing me all my contacts, very much the same as the all contacts view.
  • 01:44 So once you've created your view, if you click the drop-down,
  • 01:48 you then need to go into Edit current view and set your parameters.
  • 01:52 Now when you go into Edit View, this takes you into this rather complicated looking
  • 01:57 screen with lots of different options that will help you define your view.
  • 02:01 So let's just run through some of these.
  • 02:03 I've got my view name at the top, Freeman Contacts.
  • 02:06 That is absolutely fine.
  • 02:08 The next section I have is the column.
  • 02:11 So if I wanted to, I could change the columns that I'm displaying in this view.
  • 02:16 You can see here where we have a tick,
  • 02:18 those are the columns that are currently showing in this particular view.
  • 02:22 So I can see any attachments, the last name, the first name, the company, so
  • 02:26 on and so forth.
  • 02:27 Now I'm going to make a couple of changes here.
  • 02:29 I'm going to say that I'm not particularly interested in the home phone number, so
  • 02:33 I'm going to remove that column from this view.
  • 02:36 And I think that's it for now, I'm pretty happy with the rest of them.
  • 02:39 The next section is sort.
  • 02:40 So I can choose if I want to sort the items in this particular view, and
  • 02:45 I'm going to say yes, I do want to sort them.
  • 02:48 So I'm going to sort by the last name in ascending order.
  • 02:55 I could choose to then sort by another column, but
  • 02:58 I'm just going to leave it on last name for now.
  • 03:01 Now the filter section is really what I want to focus on
  • 03:04 because I only want to display the contacts for Freeman and partners.
  • 03:09 So what I need to do here is I need to say: show items only when
  • 03:14 the following is true.
  • 03:16 So when the company is equal to.
  • 03:24 Freeman Partners.
  • 03:25 Now, you can see here there are lots of other sections
  • 03:31 that I can expand to define my list view even further.
  • 03:36 Now I'm not going to go into all of these at the moment because this is pretty much
  • 03:40 all I want my view to do.
  • 03:41 I wanted to pull out the records for Freeman Partners and
  • 03:44 sort them by the last name.
  • 03:46 So I'm going to scroll all the way down to the bottom and just say OK.
  • 03:52 And there we go.
  • 03:53 I now have my list sorted and filtered.
  • 03:56 And if I want to toggle back to all contacts,
  • 03:59 I can just click that drop down and there is all contacts.
  • 04:02 So instead of having to filter each time for Freeman Contacts,
  • 04:07 I now have a view set up that's going to do all the hard work for me.

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