SharePoint Designer 2010 – Creating lists and columns

Today I would like to talk about SharePoint Designer 2010, and how easy it is to create new lists and libraries. I will also show how you create a new site column and connect it to the newly created list.

Nowadays SPD can be opened from the SharePoint site. Just click on Site Actions and choose Edit in SharePoint Designer. The start menu will appear:



From this point you have multiple options. You can create for example new sub sites, lists and libraries or content types. For now I will focus on creating a new list and site column. Just click on Lists and Libraries and the following screen will appear:



You are now in the lists and libraries section of the current site. The ribbon gives you a lot of options. I will give a brief description about a couple of options:

Custom List
Immediately create a new custom list.

SharePoint List
Create one of the many out-of-the-box SharePoint lists such as an announcement or tasks.

Document Library
Choose if you want to create a document library, or one of the other libraries. Maybe a form or picture library?

List Settings
Select a list and adjust the settings.

We will create a new contacts list. So click on SharePoint List and Contacts. The following screen will appear:



So let's name it SharePoint Consultants and press Ok. The new contact list has been created. Click on it to see all the options:



From this menu you can change the name of the list, edit the permissions, change some general settings and maybe start creating a workflow. So you get a really nice clear overview of all the possibilities. I want to add a column where I can pick the department of the SharePoint Consultant. The only thing I have to do is clicking on Edit list columns:



I am now in the column section. I can decide to create an entire new site column, or just a column for this list. I want to create a new site column, because I want to reuse the column in other lists or libraries. In the Navigation menu I have to click on Site Columns:



The ribbon has changed again and only shows the actions that are important for site columns (I love the ribbon!!). I am going to create a new choice column. So, use the ribbon:



You now have to name the column and maybe give it a description. I always recommend using a new site column group instead of using an existing one. The new site column group will show all the custom columns you created so it is a lot easier to find them again. You are probably wondering where are the other options? Just click on Ok:



Here you go J I will use the choices IT, HR and Sales. No default value and use the drop-down menu. Maybe there are other departments so I will check Allow "Fill-in choices". It would be nice if in the future added choices by the fill in option can be added to the current choices. Press Ok and the column is created.

We will go back to the SharePoint Consultants list and click on Edit list columns. I can choose for Add Existing Site Column and pick the Wortell department column. It is not possible to add items from SPD so I will go to browser. Before we can do this, you have to press the Save icon. I am going back to the browser and add a new item:



The column is here! You can see how easy this is. This is also the fact for removing items. In a future blog I will show some more nice functionalities of this great FREE application J

Posted in: SharePoint 2010, SharePoint Designer 2010