Managing your SharePoint documents with accuracy and attention is a critical step in improving your intranet. As a result, it will assist your organization in reaching its maximum potential. The location and method of storing your papers will make all the difference. Instead of folders on your desktop PC, Views and Libraries will be used to organize your content in SharePoint.
Views and libraries should be optimized.
You’ve probably experienced that horrible moment when you can’t seem to find that one file you need right now. Finding a certain file can be challenging if your SharePoint is jumbled up from various folders. But don’t worry. This is where perspectives come in handy.
Views are the finest tool for swiftly locating files in SharePoint. They eliminate the clutter that a slew of folders would create.
So why are you looking for opinions now? They will allow you to utilize filters and styles to organize and display the data already in your lists and libraries. And guess what? There is always a view active in your inventory or library that you are unaware of. “all items” is the automatic standard view that has been chosen. Even if you didn’t realize it, you’ve probably seen this one before.
View Types
SharePoint offers only four predefined view types. Nonetheless, you can construct custom views by leveraging one of the predefined types as a foundation, providing the flexibility to design a wide range of configurations.
Standard
The Standard View, as its name suggests, is basic and uncomplicated, serving as the default display when you create a list or library. Essentially, it presents all available list information in a static Excel table format.
Various styles are available for the Standard View, each offering a distinct appearance. It’s beneficial to explore these options and select the one that aligns best with your preferences.
Calendar
A Calendar View is precisely what you’d expect it to be. It displays all of the information on your list on a calendar. You can also choose whether you want your calendar display to be a week, a month, a day, or whatever length you choose.
Gantt
A Gantt View is very similar to a calendar. Both are date-based. On the other hand, the Gantt View is a little more advanced and will show you the progress of various aspects over time. The Gantt View is a useful tool that provides a fast overview of project progress.
How to Change a View?
It is simple to change an existing view. To begin, click “Modify View.” The parameters you specified when you created the view will be visible and editable.
You should only change a view if you or your coworkers did not need it in its current shape again. Because you’re going to change it, the original settings will be lost. If you require this view in the same way in the future, you should create an altogether new view rather than modifying it each time. Let’s take a brief look at how to accomplish this.
Making a View from the Ground Up
- Go to the list where you keep the necessary information. Invoices are it for me.
- Click the small dots to open a drop-down menu, and then choose Create View. The menu for configuring a new view will now appear.
- Select a view type. In this scenario, Standard View is the best option for my needs.
- Give your new view a name.
- Check the appropriate boxes to display the columns you want to see.
- Continue to scroll down. Select the First Group by the column Month in the Group By menu, followed by Then Group by the column Year.
- When I’m satisfied that I’ve configured my view correctly, I may click OK to save it.
Still not convinced and insist on using folders? Here are some additional reasons why you should not:
- Modifying folder hierarchies is time-consuming, but changing information is simple.
- When you move a folder, the entire URL changes, which is how folks on your team can no longer find the document.
- Folders lengthen URLs, which break when they exceed 260 characters.
- Sorting and sifting your documents becomes difficult, if not impossible.
- Navigation will become a significant issue. You will eventually forget how you got to this folder, let alone how to go back!
What Are the Best Practices for SharePoint Libraries?
All of the previous rules for managing Views also apply to your SharePoint Libraries. I’d want to emphasize once more that using metadata is preferable to using folders. A large number of distinct folders will make navigating your SharePoint increasingly challenging.
- Use a brief, descriptive name when building a new Library. Because the name you give it now will also be the URL of your Library, it is best if it is as short as one word. You can always change your name afterwards. The URL would then stay in its original, basic form! This will also prevent the sign [%20] from appearing in the URL anytime space is used.
- Limit each Library View to a maximum of 1.000 documents. Trust me, this will make the page load much faster.
- When interacting with your Libraries, you should activate Versioning and History. This will enable SharePoint’s check-in/check-out functionality.
- When working on joint projects, this is an immensely useful tool.
What Exactly is a SharePoint Library?
In SharePoint, you’ll always find yourself working within either a list or a library. To grasp the concept of a library, it’s essential to understand the distinction between the two.
Firstly, a List resembles a table of contents, akin to what you might create in Excel. However, within SharePoint, you have greater control over the various columns you establish.
On the other hand, a Library shares similarities with a list but with one significant difference. Instead of merely a list of items, it contains all the documents uploaded to SharePoint, including PDFs, PowerPoint presentations, Word documents, and more.
The use of SharePoint Views and Libraries should be relatively simple. Creating Views and Libraries is one of the most straightforward activities in SharePoint. And in fact, if you follow the recommendations in this piece, you should notice a significant improvement in the speed and usability of your new or existing SharePoint intranet. If you have any questions, please contact us.