Format SharePoint 2013 Lists In Design View

With SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint Designer 2010 you could design SharePoint lists and web parts in a smooth way even if you did not have much knowledge about HTML. SharePoint 2013 + SharePoint Designer 2013 does not work that well, as Microsoft has removed the Design view from SharePoint Designer 2013.

In the tutorial below. about how to apply conditional color coding to a SharePoint 2013 list I demonstrate a workaround makes it possible to work with a SharePoint 2013 lists in Design View.

Not a popular decision
Microsoft's decision to remove the Design view from SharePoint Designer 2013 has not been popular. The official announcement in the Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog was met by shocked and angry comments, and several other blog authors have joined the chorus of complaints.

I agree that removing the design tools from SharePoint Designer was a bad decision, but as a born problem solver I see the change as a challenge. A problem is something to be dealt with, and here is my solution:

Color coded list
As an example on how to work with SharePoint 2013 in a design view, I have chosen to create color codes for a Project list in a SharePoint 2013 site. I have made it a bit too colorful, but of course you may select any shades to mark projects that are in progress, cancelled, on hold and so on.

Excel export
I begin with formatting an Excel sheet with project data as a table, to be able to export it to a list on my SharePoint 2013 site. After modifying the view I am ready to start working with the list in SharePoint Designer.

SharePoint Designer 2010
To add conditional formatting to my SharePoint 2013 project list, I open it in SharePoint Designer 2010 instead of 2013. Then I will get a Design view,  but as the list is in a SharePoint 2013 site I cannot use it as I could with a SharePoint 2010 list. One more step is needed.

Create new ASPX page
The trick for getting a functional Design view is to create a new ASPX page in SharePoint Designer 2010. When this is done, I can insert a data view in the page, and of course I will select to insert my Project list. Then I can work with it just as I did with SharePoint 2010 lists and web parts.

SharePoint 2013 has some very good features, so I hope people will not hesitate to upgrade from 2010 because of the missing design tools in SharePoint Designer. But I also hope that Microsoft will put the design tools back again, or give us a good replacement. In the long run we cannot use a workaround that includes the SharePoint 2010 Designer.



In the Tips section of the kalmstrom.com website you can find this and many other tutorials, most of them with step by step instructions. Please have a look!

Kanban Task Manager
For more advanced project and task management in SharePoint I recommend my app Kanban Task Manager. You can drag and drop tasks, filter tasks, show several projects on the same kanban board and much more in this kanban style solution. Kanban Task Manager shows the tasks and the work process in a way that is good for both the individuals, the team and the managers.

By Peter Kalmström
CEO and Systems Designer
kalmstrom.com Business Solutions


Comment 22 April: We have seen that it is not always possible to open a SharePoint 2013 list in SharePoint Designer 2010, but we have not yet found a pattern. The kalmstrom.com QAs are researching it, and I hope to soon come back with information on when it works and when it does not. Please comment or contact us at support@kalmstrom.com if you have insight in this problem.