Category: Microsoft Lists

Lists in Microsoft Lists (your own or those in SharePoint) offer a great way to store and manage data. One useful feature is the ability to add attachments to list items – think photos in maintenance requests, or screenshots in IT Support requests. The Attachments column is built into every list automatically (though it can be disabled if you’d like). However, you might want to rename this column to something more descriptive or relevant to a particular business process such as Supporting Documentation or Content for Review. Or maybe you’d just like to match the naming conventions or style guide recommendations already used in your organization.

Unlike other columns, the attachments column cannot be deleted or renamed using the list settings page, or by using the column header menu when viewing the list. However, you can rename the attachments column by modifying the URL of the generic column settings page, as described in the following section.

How to rename the attachments column in SharePoint lists

1. Go to the SharePoint list for which you’d like to rename the Attachments column.
2. Click on the settings (gear) icon and select List settings.
3. Scroll down to the Columns section on the List settings page and click on any column name listed.
4. In your browser’s address bar, replace the selected column’s name in the URL with Attachments after &Field= and press Enter to navigate to the column settings for the attachments column. Here, you’ll rename the column in the Column name box.

https://yoursite.sharepoint.com/_layouts/15/FldEditEx.aspx?List=%7BYourListID%7D&Field=Attachments

5. Click OK to save your changes.

Please note that some of the new list templates (Employee onboarding, Issue tracker, Content scheduler, etc.) come with the Attachment column already renamed to something else, but you can still get to its settings page by using Attachments for its field name in Step 4’s URL.

See a video demonstration of this process here:

In this blog post, I have shown you how to rename the attachments column in SharePoint lists. I hope you found this helpful. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below.