Microsoft Lists: Tips & Tricks

Microsoft Lists help streamline workflow and processes, increase efficiency, and encourage fluid collaboration. As discussed in Microsoft Lists, we learned about Board View, creating a Board View, Lookup Columns, and Creating and Viewing Lists from SharePoint among a few other features, but they are a few tips and tricks which will elevate your skills and usage of Microsoft List.

Easy List Access with Favourites

Simply by clicking on the star icon, you can Favourite Your List so that it becomes easily accessible when there is a break in your work routine or flow. Favourite Your List lists will appear at the top of the Lists home page on mobile and desktop. The star icon can be found next to your list’s title when you are in the list itself, on your Lists home page under your recent lists, or within the Lists app for iOS. Clicking on the star icon again will unfavour the list and it will no longer appear at the top of your List on your home page.

Create a List from a Template

Templates are underrated and underutilized. There are 11 templates in Teams and eight available to use as is or as the start of a customized List. These available templates address many scenarios, including employee onboarding, asset managing, and progress tracking. Simply find the template that suits your needs, choose the Use Template button, name your list, assign a colour, and assign an icon. You now have a List that will be populated with pre-defined columns, pre-populated choice fields, and more that can be used as-is or you can customize it to your needs.

Lists on the Go for iOS

For iPhone and iPad, the Microsoft Lists app for iOS provides you the freedom to access your Lists when you are on the move. Not only will you be able to access your Lists, but you will also be able to access those that have been shared with you along with editing, writing, creating, and sharing Lists with other people.

Lists and Microsoft Teams Channel

In your Microsoft Teams Channel, you can add a new or existing List so your team can organize, collaborate, track, and chat side by side. You can easily add or create your List by going to the channel that you want to start a tracking list. Next, hit the plus (+) button and select the Lists app from the tab gallery. Once the tab is added, you can either create a new list or bring in another list from a SharePoint site or from another Team into the channel as a new tab. Personal Lists cannot be added. You can now track your List in the Teams mobile app too by going to the channel the List has been added to.

@Mention Colleagues in the Team Chat and a List Item

Contributors in the Lists app in Teams and the Lists app on the web can be called out with @mention which will send them either a Teams notification (for Lists in Teams) or email notification (for the web app) and will link them directly to the list item. An icon will appear next to the List item if there is a comment attached to it. The comment can be viewed by clicking on it, and it can be deleted by the originating author.

Visualize Item Milestones in Calendar View

For a quick snapshot of events and milestone dates, your list can be viewed as a calendar. Unlike the default views, this view must be created but it can live alongside the default views or other custom views.

Make Quick Updates with Grid View and Bulk Actions

In the Edit in Grid View, quick updates or edits to multiple list items can be performed with ease. In the item card, you can edit freely by double-clicking on the item cell or by selecting multiple cells. In edit mode, you can navigate from cell to cell by keyboard commands, adjust columns, and many more actions.

Get Notified When Information Changes

How do you know if someone alters information in your list? Simple. By creating a rule that will send an email notifying you with a direct link to the changed item.

Applying Conditional Formatting to Change How Your Lists and List Items Appear

Conditional formatting, based on the criteria of your list items, can be applied in Lists to improve how columns and rows are displayed. This can be set up by:

1. Open the column drop-down menu;
2. Select column settings;
3. Select format this column;
4. Check the conditional formatting option
5. Select manage rule to create the conditional simple, sentence-based rule. For example, If [Deadline] [is before] [Today], show list item as [red colour] will result in overdue list items to be highlighted red.

Notably, you can add more than one condition, allowing you to highlight and visually bring forward information to the eye by setting it apart from the other information.

These are just a few tips and tricks that will help manage, utilize, and maximize productivity through Lists.