Blog Post

Microsoft 365 Blog
4 MIN READ

Microsoft Lists announcements at Microsoft Ignite 2020

Mark-Kashman's avatar
Mark-Kashman
Icon for Microsoft rankMicrosoft
Sep 22, 2020

Microsoft began rolling out Microsoft Lists in Microsoft 365 back in July, 2020 – along with the new Lists app in Microsoft Teams. We have received a lot of positive feedback and usage is growing fast. Today, we are pleased to share, as announced at Microsoft Ignite 2020, future Lists innovation – to help you be productive on the go, take information offline and stay connected:

 

  • Microsoft Lists app for iOS (preview)
  • Take your lists offline
  • Recover from mistakes with Undo / Redo
  • Notify people with @mentions in list comments

 

 

Microsoft Lists is a Microsoft 365 app that helps you track information and organize work. Lists are simple, smart, and flexible, so you can stay on top of what matters most to your team. Track issues, assets, routines, contacts, inventory and more using customizable views and smart rules to keep everyone notified and in sync. With ready-made templates, you can quickly start lists online, on our new mobile app, or with Microsoft Teams. And because it is part of Microsoft 365, you can rely on enterprise-ready security and compliance.

 

Microsoft Lists app for iOS (preview)

Early adopters, this one is for you. The Lists app for iOS is ready for preview. It brings mobile access to the lists you own and that have been shared with you. You can create new lists, edit list items, and easily share with other people. While sipping coffee - create an Issue tracker list. In the passenger’s seat zipping from place to place - share a link to the session item from the Event itinerary list. Or standing in grocery line waiting to check out – update the status of an item based on information from a team chat. Work and information management don’t have to stop when you’re on the go.

 

The Microsoft Lists app for iOS, showing various screens from left-to-right: Home page with favorite and recent lists, creating a list from ready-made templates, viewing lists items in a list, and editing a list item.

You can start a list in several ways - from scratch with ready-made templates, from an Excel file, or from an existing list. Beyond creation, you’ll see all your favorited and recent lists – ones you own or that have been shared with you. You’ll be able to create both personal lists you own and can share, and team lists owned by members of your teams. And as a bonus, the Lists app for iOS supports offline data consumption and dark mode :smile:; come to the dark side, even when you put your device in “Tie Fighter” mode.

 

Microsoft Lists – Lists app for iOS | Roadmap IDs Roadmap ID: 64161.

 

Take your lists offline

You will be able view and edit your lists, whether you have a connection to the Internet, or not. Offline is both a state of mind and an opportunity to remain productive. Whether you are on or offline, you’ll be able to instantly sort, filter, group, add, and adjust items – especially those large lists. Access is important whether you have low or no internet. What’s more, offline mode not only causes no harm to performance, it enhances performance.

 

The same list header shown three times (top-to-bottom) indicating status of connection: when syncing data, changes awaiting to be synced, and all changes in sync. Note: I volunteer to be on the Galaxy Exploration crew.

The same underlying technology - "Project Nucleus" - that will power offline lists will also improve the experience when you’re connected to the Internet. Offline-powered lists operate against a local cache of your data, so operations no longer must make synchronous round trips between your device and the Microsoft 365 service. So, when you do things like sort, filter, group, or scroll in a large list, these things happen instantly, without any throttling. 

 

Microsoft Lists – offline mode | Roadmap ID: 68809. [preview by EOY 2020]

 

Recover from mistakes with Undo / Redo

Oops is no longer a four-letter word. It is simply a state you can recover from. As you work across rows and columns within Microsoft Lists, mistakes will happen, and we’re making it easy to recover your information with a brand-new Undo button. The same is true in reverse if there was something in a field previously that you in fact liked – just bring it back by clicking Redo.

 

Click Undo or Redo to revert changes or remove mistakes within Microsoft Lists.

Microsoft Lists – undo / redo | Roadmap IDs: 68810.

 

Notify people with @mentions in list comments

Get a colleague's attention to an item in a list by @mentioning them within list comments. That person will receive a notification and a link that takes them directly back to the item, to review the comment and take the requested action.

 

@mention a colleague within list comments to notify them and bring them into the discussion.

Microsoft Lists – @mentions in comments | Roadmap IDs: 68811.

 

Additional resources

Getting started with Microsoft Lists” breakout session presented by Lincoln DeMaris and Bharath Manoj Manda:

 

Listen to The Intrazone episode, "Ignite news with Omar Shahine" - VP of OneDrive and SharePoint program management (engineering); Omar discusses new Microsoft Lists innovation among several other topics like Project Cortex, Microsoft Stream v 2.0, education templates, and more:

 

 

 

In closing…

Millions of SharePoint users have benefitted from using lists over the years. Microsoft Lists builds on this trusted information platform – bringing new user experiences and capabilities to the foundational innovation of SharePoint lists. Rest assured that all your lists, including lists that you have inside SharePoint sites today, will benefit from all the innovations described here. Lists are lists are lists and we’re constantly improving lists across all fronts. Additionally, the value of existing integrations with the Power Platform continue when you need to further customize list forms with Power Apps and design robust workflows with Power Automate. And for developers, the power and value of the Lists API extends custom solutions to connect the list data as a source via Microsoft Graph. And because it’s part of Microsoft 365, you can rely on enterprise-ready security and compliance while building lists as core content within your governance plans.

 

To learn more about Lists throughout the year, please visit our updated Microsoft Lists resource center for blogs, demos, videos, podcasts, and more.

 

Track what matters most. Make a list and let it flow.

 

Thanks, Mark Kashman – senior product manager – Microsoft 365

Updated May 06, 2021
Version 9.0