Microsoft Lists: What it is and 6 features to track business data

Microsoft Lists is a new app in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem.

It's never been easier to organize your work and collaborate with others on your intranet or within your Teams groups.

Users can now create new lists within the same team or add existing lists from another SharePoint site to which they have access.

Microsoft List was created as an evolution of SharePoint intranet lists, which are widely used by businesses to organize and track internal information. It helps you distribute tasks in intuitive, intelligent, and flexible lists.

This way, you'll have more control over your daily tasks and will always be in touch with your team because you'll be working on the same priorities.

With the Lists app, you can:

• create lists for the work routine
• keep track of resources and events
• manage your inventory
• insert chats, groups, and calendars.

These lists are displayed on the SharePoint home page, which compiles all your favorite and recently visited pages into a single page. The page layouts are very similar.

You can find the home Lists by going to the lists section of Office 365. Additionally, by displaying your most recent and favorite sites in the foreground, you will be able to see a list of them. Each view is one-of-a-kind and tailored to your preferences.

People who work in groups frequently use Microsoft Lists.

You can collaborate within your group with lists that use flexible and intuitive views like grids, tabs, and calendars, thanks to this app.

You can also refine each list by adding new columns, defining the choices to be placed in drop-down menus, editing custom views, and sharing links to ensure that MS Lists works best for you and your team.

Lists will not only help you keep track of information, but they will also allow each item to speak for itself in a clear and visual manner.

In a single integrated experience, materials and conversations are kept side by side. The team maintains constant synchronization even when faced with minor changes.

Microsoft Lists is simple to use. Microsoft Lists is a centralized platform for viewing and managing all your individual and group lists.

You'll find all your favorites and most recent ones, as well as ones you've shared directly and those shared with you through a Teams group.

When creating each list, you can choose from four predefined views or four main views: list, grid, gallery, and calendar.

When creating a list, the grid is the first page you see.

They primarily consist of rows and columns that can be reordered and configured as desired. When you need to edit the information in a list quickly, the grid is the best option.

The list is similar to the grid, but it lacks the ability to edit.

The gallery, on the other hand, is ideal for highlighting lists that include images.

When the information in the lists includes dates, the best way to see everything is to use the calendar view.

You can also choose the views that best suit your needs, and thanks to the lists you've created, you can easily track the progress of your activities. Finally, you can change an element's background color: orange indicates the status is "Under review," while green indicates the status is "Approved."

The background, font color, and icons change dynamically when they meet certain criteria.

6 Microsoft Lists examples

Let's take a look at 6 Microsoft Lists examples of how to use the platform.

If you don't have time to create these lists from scratch, don't worry. You can take advantage of ready-made list templates that comply with the organization you belong to.

In fact, on the SharePoint intranet in the Microsoft List, tailor-made models have been designed for specific use cases such as the insertion of new hires, problem monitoring, resource management, itinerary travel management, and much more.

With one click, you can start common scenarios with structure, modules, and pre-configured features.

Here are some examples.

• Problem Management Template: You can track problems and fix them.
• Event Itinerary Template: You can organize all the details of the events.
• Patients Model: You can record patient needs and status for healthcare teams to monitor and coordinate care activities.
• Loans Model: you can track the status of loan applications.

These templates come with a predefined list structure, form layout, and formatting options for list view and details to allow users to use them quickly.

To confirm that you've chosen the most suitable model, the app first lets you access a preview of what the list will look like, along with some examples of data.

You can use all the new formatting items, views, and more to better represent your project information. Once you've chosen your template, whatever it is, you can get back to work.

You can always use customizable settings, rules, and smart alerts to keep everyone in the loop.

To save time, new lists can be created from existing ones while maintaining structure and formatting, or data from Excel tables can be imported to generate them immediately.

Once your list is ready, where do you save it?

Whether the elements of the lists you've created and saved are short or long, complex or simple, it's critical to collaborate and benefit from it.

It is possible to share personal and team lists owned by members of the team.

You can share a full list with editing permissions or send it with read-only permissions. If you don't want to share them all, you can choose which elements you want to share and then request a password to gain access to them.

You can also choose whether to allow them to be edited and set an expiration date. Other members can add comments or individual items to the list after the lists have been shared.

App permissions

The interactions of Lists: SharePoint, Teams, and Planner

Lists interact with SharePoint.

Whenever you fill in a directory, you will view it in the quick start of the homepage – same website. You can also add lists to a SharePoint page as a web part.

In addition to SharePoint, Lists has another great advantage: its integration with Microsoft Teams. You can add a list as a tab to your Team channel, so you have quick access to all the same information, whether you're using List, SharePoint, or Teams.

Just click + to open the tab library and add a new instance of the Lists app tab to a channel to get started.

• When a visitor leaves, you can automatically notify your agent at the front gate so they can check their vehicle.
• Save visitor data so that it doesn't have to be collected again on subsequent visits.
• Make use of a simple cloud-based registry.

3. Ticket tracker for customers

Another useful feature of Microsoft Lists is the ability to convert it into a light CRM program for tracking customer tickets using a built-in model.

Assign the responsible customer service agent, include a description of the problem or question, and prioritize and track the entire process.

4. Management of a project

Let's say you need to keep track of a project's progress but don't need an expensive and complicated project management application. In that case, Lists can easily handle yet another workflow.

Add tasks and deadlines, receive notifications when a task is marked as "completed" or "problem," and use the calendar view to see the entire project timeline.

5. Device resource management

You can easily track corporate devices and important related data. Include all these details in your resource list to save time and eliminate the need to spend hours looking up warranty information or the last service date.

Instead of scrolling down a list of spreadsheet names, a visual grid view makes it even easier to find the items you need at a glance.

6. Onboarding a new employee or supplier

Lists' onboarding model allows you to keep track of onboarding activities for employees and suppliers. By adding a notification rule, it automatically notifies the party in charge of the next activity.

When a "confidentiality agreement" item is marked as "signed," Lists can notify the HR department that the employee's account access to the cloud has been granted.

Let's summarize it all. In the table below, you'll find everything you need to know about Microsoft Lists: