Editing Multiple Records Simultaneously
Typically when users add an item to a SharePoint list, they would have to do so one at a time. This is incredibly tedious; a quicker method is Quick Edit.
Quick Edit (or Datasheet view in older versions of SharePoint) turns the list into an Excel table. To access Quick Edit:
- Access the list you want to edit.
- Click on List tab or Library tab on upper left.
- Click on Quick Edit.
- The list turns into a spreadsheet interface, and data entry is now a breeze!
Unlike the conventional way of adding list items, Quick Edit does not require you to clicking the OK button after each entry. SharePoint automatically saves the changes as you go. Less clicking, more efficiency! To exit out of Quick Edit, click on the View button next to the Quick button, or just exit out of the list.
Familiar Excel Shortcuts
Quick Edit is most useful for importing data from Excel to SharePoint. Although SharePoint lets you export a list to Excel, there is no easy way of doing the reverse.
In order to import data from Excel to SharePoint, enable Quick Edit and then copy-and-paste the data into SharePoint. Given Quick Edit behaves like Excel, you can also leverage many of the Excel shortcuts (e.g. auto-complete, auto-fill) with few mouse clicks.
Caveats
Quick Edit, however, does have some limitations. You can only input data columns that are already visible before enabling Quick Edit. For example, if you want to input a “Date Manufactured” which is not visible yet in the given view, then you would have to go back and add the column.
Congratulations! You have just become more effective in managing data in SharePoint! If you have any questions about adding or migrating data to SharePoint, feel free to contact us. Cheers!