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Office 365 Tips: How to Sort, Filter, and Group in List Views

Target Audience: Office 365/SharePoint Users

Good news: SharePoint lists and libraries can contain a huge number of items.
Bad news: Finding the right items requires more efforts.
SharePoint, by default, displays every list item alphabetically. Clicking on column headings allows you to sort and filter items, but that setting disappears as soon as you navigate away from that specific page (aka “stateless”). Using List Views circumvents that issue.
You can create a brand new, reusable view (or modify existing ones). Simply override the sort, filter, grouping, and pagination behaviors:

  • Go to a list or library.
  • Click on the List tab or Library Tab.
  • Click on Create View.
  • Choose the type of view that you want. For simplicity, select All Documents or All Items.
  • Name the view and modify the options for sorting and filtering accordingly.

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The list settings are largely self-explanatory.  For example, you can sort items by Created, in descending order. Items will be displayed based on when they are added, with the most recent item up top.
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Filtering lets you see items that are most relevant to you. For instance, the screenshot below illustrates how to filter list items containing “Information Technology and Services” in the Industry metadata column.
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Armed with this knowledge, you can now find the documents you want with ease! If want more help on enhancing SharePoint usability and accessibility, please feel free to contact us. Be water, my friend!