EndUserSharePoint.com: How can I manage columns widths in list views?
The question of the day comes from Jenny:
What can I do to manage and/or set my column widths in a list? Whether I import an Excel spreadsheet for a list or create a list from scratch, there comes a time when the column widths go wacky. Sometimes the content does determine the width while at other times it doesn’t, like breaking up a phone number in the middle or having short comment lengths with plenty of space left over.
I tried to manage this, both in the Excel before importing and also another time with the datasheet view. The columns saved nicely in the datasheet view but didn’t translate to the “standard” view. Is there a trick or tip I’m missing?
Jenny – Yes this is a typical frustration with the layout scheme in lists and libraries. Using the out of the box functionality of SharePoint, there’s not much you can do about this. You’d have to go into SharePoint Designer to create a view you’d be satisfied with. I guess that’s the trade off: is it worth the time and effort or can you live with what you’ve got?
I’m interested in what other people are doing. I’ve heard the question so many times, I’d like to find a simple solutions.
Mark
I have actually made use of new web part pages in a document library for exceptionally wide lists. This turns off the quick launch bar and can allow you to get a few more columns before having to scroll left and right or loosing formatting.
Another option is to make use of the two stages of grouping when possible. If you have a list that has some common information (for example, a contact list where you have multiple contacts at a single company or within a single state), you can get rid of the redundant data and use it in grouping.
When it comes to very large lists that have a lot of columns, there really isn’t much else out there than to use SharePoint Designer and change the layout from a table to more of a repeating list style view.
I see what Chris is saying here, and the fixes that he proposes make sense. However sometimes I’ve found that the column will sometimes widen too much even though that column contains just a single character, like a number for example. While grouping can take care of this at times, if you need to display this column in your view the best way I can find is to put that column last so that additional space isn’t pushing the other data in the list. Other than that, SharePoint Designer is the way to go.
Could someone please provide a quick walkthrough on how to adjust the column width in SharePoint Designer? I opened my list in SPD and looked at the different view pages for my list but I can’t figure out how to adjust the column width. Am I looking in the wrong place?
Thanks, Manny
1. Open the list view in SPD.
2. In the ‘Design’ window, right click anywhere on the body of the list view.
3. Select ‘Convert to XSLT Data View’.
4. Click once on the column title you wish to adjust.
5. You should now be able to drag the column to the desired width.
Thank you very much Veenus. This is something that isn’t really documented anywhere and you’re instructions worked perfectly!!!
It’s a very minor thing but has cause a lot of grief!
Or just use jQuery to lookup the columns and change their width:
http://kjellsj.blogspot.com/2009/06/sharepoint-jquery-setting-td-column.html
Question about editing column widths. Once I edit in XSLT Data View, drag my column width over and save changes, I get a view that is no longer editable.
As in the view that I made changes to will no longer show me the option to add new columns or to rearrange, sort, filter, etc.
Does anyone know a fix for that?