SharePoint 2010 : Switch List Views in Lists and Libraries

There are two ways to switch views. First, in the regular navigation ribbon, you can click on the name of the view in the breadcrumbs to see the options of other views for that list (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Click on the name of the view in the breadcrumbs to show other views you can switch to.

Alternatively, in most lists you can switch to the List or Library ribbon. In the ribbon, locate the Current View drop-down, which is usually to the left of the E-mail a Link button. When you open this drop-down, you see the names of all the views that are available for you in the list (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. The view selector drop-down in the List ribbon.

Note

The ribbon name may change depending on the type of list or library. For example, in calendar lists, the name of the ribbon is Calendar, while in most other lists, the name of the ribbon is List.

These views are either public views (that everyone sees on that list) or a private view that you have created for yourself.

Tip

Investigate the different views. Some views may be more efficient and helpful for you to quickly find data. There are some things you can do beyond filtering and sorting that you can do only by creating views, so take a look at your options.

Some special instances of views have subviews, which offer other ways to see the same view. For example, in calendar views you can switch between the daily subview, the weekly subview (see Figure 3), and the monthly subview by using buttons on the ribbon. These subviews show the information that is defined in the view itself (filtering the items, ordering the items) but in a different manner.

Figure 3. The weekly subview of a calendar.

To switch between the subviews of a calendar view, you use the Day, Week, and Month links in the Calendar ribbon when in a calendar view.

Picture libraries also have subviews, but to access them you have to open the view selector, as shown in Figure 4. The Details, Thumbnails, and Filmstrip views show the same data in different ways.

Figure 4. Picture libraries offer subviews for each view.

Note

Both picture libraries and surveys are unique in that they do not offer ribbons (at the time of this writing). Instead, these two list types offer a toolbar at the top of the page with buttons that allow you to do most of what is available in the corresponding ribbons in other lists and libraries.

Switch to a Datasheet View

It allows you to copy information from the list to spreadsheet applications or do some calculations on data in the list. To switch to the datasheet view, switch to the List or Library ribbon and click on the Datasheet View button (see Figure 5).

Figure 5. The Datasheet View button in the List ribbon.

As shown in Figure 6, the datasheet view displays all the columns from the standard view.

Figure 6. The datasheet view, showing the list in a spreadsheet format with additional special buttons available in the view.

Add Totals Calculations to the Datasheet View

If you want to calculate data in the datasheet view, you can add totals to the view by switching to the List or Library ribbon and clicking the Show Totals button (refer to Figure 6). This way, you can add a totals row to the view, with options to perform mathematical calculations on the items in the view.

After you add the totals row, any numeric column is automatically calculated with a sum, so that the sum of the values in that column is displayed in the totals row (see Figure 7).

Figure 7. The Sale Price column showing a total for the values of all items in the view.

You can choose the type of mathematical calculation for each column by clicking on the cell at the bottom of the column (see Figure 8). For numeric columns, this includes the sum (which is displayed by default), the average (which shows the average of all the values in the view), the maximum (largest value in the view), the minimum (smallest value in the view), and more.

Figure 8. Numeric columns can do many different calculations.

For non-numeric columns, you can choose the Count calculation to see how many values there are (see Figures 9 and 10). If you have 20 list items in the view, the count shows 20 as the total.

Figure 9. Non-numeric columns can only have the Count total.

Figure 10. The Count total shows the number of items.