All We Should Know About Site Columns In SharePoint Online

In this article, I am going to describe Site Columns for SharePoint Online and other versions of on-premises.

So, let’s start.

What are the site columns in SharePoint?

From the definition of Site Columns, a site column is a column of a list or a document library, and it can be used in all document libraries or lists in the site in which it is created, including the the subsites of that site. SharePoint Site Columns allow us to add additional metadata to files in a site or its sub-sites.

Site Columns are defined by a site manager instead of adding a specific column of data. In most of the lists or libraries, we can add it once and manage it from a central location. (In lists and libraries, on the other hand, columns can be created separately.)

Columns: A column stores information about each document in the document library because this document library allows multiple content types, some column settings, such as whether information is required or optional for a column, are now specified by the content type of the document.

Site columns are really very useful. We can reuse site columns multiple times and can save a lot of time. We need to pay some more attention when going to custom site columns, as we have most of the site columns available on the SharePoint Site columns . But the requirement of every organization is unique and we need to create information according to your customer.

If we will navigate our site to site columns under site settings there will be a number of site columns on the page, that we can filter by group which is available by default.

So let’s start. After describing site columns, in this article I will be covering the below points,

How to add site columns from existing SharePoint List or Library
How to Create Site columns and New group for the same
How to delete created or default site columns from site settings

How to add site columns from existing SharePoint List or Library

To add site columns for existing or New SharePoint List or Library can be done in a few steps.

Open the List or Library and go the setting page , if it is List then it will call as List Setting under the List ribbon. In case it is Document Library then open document setting from the Library ribbon.

Now on the List or Library setting page we will get an option called Add from existing site columns from columns options, see below screen shot,

Click on Add from existing site columns, it will take us to Add Columns from Site Columns, on the page of Add columns from site columns we will get many options to add Columns:

Select Columns: Select which site columns to add to this list, from the drop down just select the group you want to add, then down the page we will get available site columns box, here just select the desired column name and click on Add> button.

Once columns are added, the option for default view check box will be added, If you want to add in view add it or unbox then click on save.

After saving it will take us back to the site setting page where we can see the site columns have been added under the columns.
Once you're all done go back to the list or library and we can see the site columns will be added to the page.

How to Create Site columns and New group using site setting page

We can create new site columns which we can use for List, Document Library, Site, Subsite also.

Login to the Site or subsite page with appropriate user account and password.
Go to the site setting page and select Site columns under web designer and galleries. We need to follow the same steps for site collection or subsite.

On the site columns page, click on Create option

After clicking on create option it will take us to create columns page, here we need to assign,

Name and Type
Type a name for this column, and select the type of information you want to store in the column.

Group
specify a site column group. Categorizing columns into groups will make it easier for users to find them

Additional Column Settings
Specify detailed options for the type of information you selected.

Column Validation
Specify the formula that you want to use to validate the data in this column when new items are saved to this list. The formula must evaluate to TRUE for validation to pass.

Message
Some details will be availble under the columns validation

Once all done click on ok and wait till it is getting created, after being created it will take us to site columns page, here you can find created site columns.

Now we can add the new created custom columns to the list as described above.

How to delete created site columns from site settings

Here I would like to describe how to delete created custom site columns or change the Group, Also I will be showing you how to delete or modify default created site columns.

Login to the Site or subsite page with appropriate user account and password.
Go to the site setting page and select Site columns under web designer and galleries. We need to follow the same steps for site collection or subsite.

Now open any created or default site columns from this page by clicking on site columns under the defined group
Site columns will get opened in edit mode, where we will have the option for modifying or we can delete directly from here,

To modify select the part which you want to modify or update, like name, existing group or create new group for selected columns, description, required content information, length for document library etc…, see below screen shot for more details,

If we wish to delete the site columns, just click on delete option from down of page and wait till getting delete.
The verified created site columns in the site collection will get created in the subsite automatically, here we don't need to create any site colums. This is most important and useful for us to reduce task levels. Adding on the root site collection will effect all dependent sites as well subsites.

Hope you find it useful. Please comment if you have any questions.

2 Comments

Join the conversation! Your thoughts help the community grow.

Prashant Kumar9y ago
Yes, we can change the display name of this column, the Internal name cannot be changed.
Jasmine Tea9y ago
Thank you for the detail instruction, it's very helpful. I do have a question. Can someone with Site Collection permission level changes the system column "Modify By" data/value for all the documents and lists in a site? I think this can be done by running a PowerShell or a custom C# coded program. However, is there any way to achieve this without coding? Many thanks in advanced for your help.