Forum Discussion
Sharepoint Column - contact lookup in Outlook contacts/Sharepoint contact list
Hello,
Would need a suggestion how to solve the following need in SharePoint online library:
- Need to create a column that will search for existing contacts in outlook/exchange contacts or lookup inside Contact library in SharePoint online.
- This column is required when adding a new clients document, we need to know the contact person from the client's side for this specific document/work type.
- So what I would like to have is a column, that could be filed in from existing data in SharePoint contact library. After adding a new document, I could type in inside the Contact-Person name column and it will search the already existing name inside the Contact Library and suggest it.
What I've tried to do:
- Created a special contact library under my SharePoint online site
- Made a synchronization with Outlook
After the sync I can see those contacts from the SharePoint list inside Outlook.
Now, how exactly I should create this column in another library under the same site in order to force it too look the names inside my Contact Library.
I've tried to create a site column with Person or Group, but it looks only inside the directory of existing users and not contacts.
Please suggest a solution.
Thank you!
I would suggest doing a custom powerapp form for your SharePoint list, then you can add in a connector to their Exchange Online profile and pull the contacts from there.
There is a "Contacts" example application you can download and see how to pull the contacts data. You should be able to add this data source to your list application then do what you want on that column as far as lookups etc. and save to column.
Contact app is on this page: https://web.powerapps.com/environments/Default-9257cbd5-1c78-49a6-8006-0c3d549de3a0/home
Some learning involved but you should be able to do whatever you want using this method.Laura Rogers has a ton of good power hour demo's of creating PowerApp custom SharePoint forms you could learn alot from these if you've never done it before. https://www.youtube.com/user/WonderLaura67/videos
Thank you Christopher. Will definitely take a look on it.
But this sounds strange, when such a simple need should be brought with some complicated solutions.
Since I have the data in the same SharePoint site, well yes in two different library lists: one main document library another one is my contact library. Sound strange that I cannot go and create simple column that will look up for the existing name contact inside the Contact library.
- Oh, you can with lookup columns, the way you asked your question you were trying to pull contacts from Outlook from the person submitting the form "The whole trying to sync from outlook contacts peice".
If the contacts already exist in a SharePoint list, you create a column with the "Lookup Column" and it should allow you to pull from that. If lookup columns don't work for Contact list type you may just have to create a custom list, import your contacts then use lookup column to that custom list.
