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Show last modified date for a SharePoint list without using code

listmodified.JPGSo you want your viewers to know the last time data was refreshed or updated in your SharePoint list without having the list’s default “modified” column repeating the same date hundreds of times and taking up horizontal space.

There are a number of solutions out there to show the date a list was last modified using code. This solution provides an option best used with lists you bulk update, or copy and paste to replace all data regularly, but requires no coding. It basically pulls out the “last modified” date of your first list item and displays it at the top as seen above. This solution is not for you if you are updating only specific items within a list.

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“Server error: The version of Microsoft SharePoint Foundation running on the server is more recent than the version of SharePoint Designer that you are using. You need a more recent version of SharePoint Designer.”

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Depending on your organizational setup, this message may be misleading. For me, this message is prompted when I change my password used to sign in to Office 365. My version of SharePoint Designer (SPD) is not, in fact, out of date at all. My organization regularly requires password changes so these steps get me back and running with SPD in less than a minute:

  1. After opening SPD, go to “Accounts” in the left hand menu
  2. Under “connected services” remove connections for whatever could be causing the issue
  3. Click “add a service,” then “storage,” then “Office 365 SharePoint”addservice
  4. Login with your new credentials. This should also link any OneDrive for Business account associated with your O365 account

If a password change isn’t what prompted your issue, try going to “Account” then “Switch Account” to make sure it’s attempting to connect to the correct account.

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SharePoint workflow if/then for people columns only allows “equals” and “not equals”

employeeequals

When doing an if/then statement within SharePoint Designer involving a people column, our only options are “equals” or “not equals.” If you want to be able to use “is empty,” “is not empty,” “contains,” etc. this article will show you how to get around this limitation without any scripting. We’ll basically be creating a workflow variable to use in place of the original column.

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Publish major versions of all documents in a document library at once

If you’ve turned on versioning for a document library and are using both major and minor versions, you could end up with hundreds of minor versions not visible to individuals with view or read-only permissions. Saving major versions of each could take a while individually, but luckily there’s a way to do all of them at once.

  1. Go to site settings
  2. Under “Site Administration” go to “Content and Structure”
  3. Click on the name of the document library you wish you work on
  4. Change “Show: 100” to include all of your documents so you don’t have to do this multiple times. You can also change the view to any one of your views in the document library (or all documents as seen below).
    publishmajorversions1.PNG
  5. Select the Select All icon (selectall) and then under “Actions” select “publish.” A pop-up window will you give you the opportunity to enter a comment as to why these documents are being published, then click “ok.”
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Replacing SharePoint’s double arrow icon in connected list view web parts

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Intro:

If you’ve created a dashboard and have multiple list view web parts that you’ve connected to one another so that they share parameters or filters, then you may be familiar with this default double arrow icon: doublearrow

You may have even found it to be located at _layouts/images/rbunsel.gif or _layouts/images/rbsel.gif (depending on whether it’s the “selected” or “unselected” icon).

And now you’re ready to replace it with something a little more fashionable. I recommend installing an icon package (free) on your site so that you can use icons from the set throughout your site to continue customizing various out of the box, and quite ordinary, icons. In this post, we’ll use FontAwesome. Check out their amazing set of icons at http://fontawesome.io/icons/ and even try searching for “open” or “expand” to see some good alternatives to the less-than-perfect double arrow default. For this example, let’s use fa-search-plus.

Ready to step up your icon game? Me too.

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Adding sticky/floating headers to a SharePoint list

Outcome:

stickyheadersbeforeafter

Intro:

Large lists carry with them a number of challenges, one being the ease of keeping everything straight when you’re thirty scrolls deep into a page. Sticky/floating headers are an excellent addition to your SharePoint lists that keep your headers at the top of your columns no matter where you’re at in the list for ease of viewing. This solution uses a script created by Daniel Stölzner of spoodoo.com and I’ve added a reference to jquery to simplify steps for those of you without jquery built into your master page.

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SharePoint workflow that creates a document based on a template

Outcome:

process

docoutcome

Intro:

Look at that workflow above – have you ever seen something so beautifully simple? I’m excited to share several solutions with you in this one post. This post should cover the following:

  1. Working with content types
  2. Creating a template for each content type capable of having merge fields
  3. Finding a way to merge list item info into a new document via workflow
  4. And if you’re super ambitious, expanding the workflow just a bit with an if/then statement to use different templates based on conditions in your list

But because this is a massive topic and could be tailored an infinite number of ways, I encourage you to comment or tweet me for additional guidance more specific to your scenario. So here we go!

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Alternating row shading in a SharePoint list

outcomerowshading

Update 9/12/17: Video tutorial at bottom of post

Alternating list row colors can help your list go from zero to hero in just a few minutes. It’s another quick fix that makes your data easier on your viewers’ eyes and helps with user adoption, especially those coming from programs and platforms that had alternating row colors built-in.

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Resizing multiple SharePoint calendar overlay links

Outcome:overlaysbeforeafter.PNGIntro:

So you’ve made a SharePoint calendar. In fact, you’ve even made some different views for it and then made those views into overlays. Hoorah!

But now, looking at the finished product, the unevenness of the overlay links leaves something to be desired. This post will show you how to take your overlays and, in just a few minutes, turn them into a more polished look as seen above.

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