January 2019 SharePoint Modernization News
Published Jan 23 2019 05:52 PM 76.6K Views
Microsoft

We've been continuing to update and modernize user experiences throughout OneDrive and SharePoint.  And as we noted earlier this month, we’re making it easier than ever to share these updates with more and more users. Today, we're happy to share news about modern features coming to SharePoint this quarter.  Some of these are updates to classic features, while others are brand new. Let's look.

Bulk check in/out

Coming in February 2019.  We had previously released the ability to make bulk edits to documents in a library. Now, you’ll be able to check in and check out multiple files at the same time from the command bar in the document library. When you check out a file you have exclusive edit control until it is “returned” (checked in).

Bulk check-in and check-outBulk check-in and check-out

Signals

Coming in February 2019.  Sharpeyed readers may notice some new icons next to the filenames in the screenshot above.   These are signals – visual cues about the status of a file.  Here’s what we’re rolling out:

 

Signal

Summary

Comments

 Malware.png

Malware

Malicious software or packages have been detected in the file.

 CheckoutMe.png

Personal checkout

This file has been checked out to you.

 CheckoutYou.png

Other checkout

This file has been checked out by someone else (not you).

 MissingMD.png

Missing metadata

Required metadata is missing for this file.

DLPB.png

DLP blocked

Sharing access to this file is blocked by a data loss protection (DLP) policy

DLPW.png

DLP warning

The file is triggering a warning from a data loss protection (DLP) policy.

Trending.png

Trending

This file has gathered increased viewership recently.

Record.png

Record

The file is tagged as a record - a read-only compliance policy is in effect.

New.png

“New”

The file has been recently created or uploaded.

Shared.png

Shared

The file has been shared with additional people.

 

Over time, we’ll be adding more signals to give you visual indicators about items and documents in lists and libraries.  We’ll also be extending them beyond SharePoint’s native views, in services such as OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, and the Office clients.

Column Totals

Coming in February 2019.  Custom views allow you to add calculated fields, such as totals or averages, to the footer of a group or the entire list.  Now, totals will display in the modern view without forcing users back to the classic interface.  Totals will also show in the modern web parts for lists and libraries.

Modern column totalsModern column totals

Sticky Headers

Coming in March 2019.  Libraries and lists can get extremely large – up to 30 million items in a single list.  Soon, as you scroll down through ever-larger lists, SharePoint keeps the column headers pinned at the top of the scrolling window.  This helps you identify list values as you move vertically and horizontally through the view.  Column headers will also remain in place inside the list/library web parts.

Add Columns in between columns

Coming in February 2019.  Those column headers are also getting additional capabilities.  Soon, you’ll be able to add a column in place between other columns in a view, without adding them at the end and moving them separately to your preferred location.  Just hover your mouse on the border between two columns to open up the column creation dialog.

Column insertColumn insert

Column Drag and Drop

Coming in February 2019.  If you need to move a column around in a list or library, that’s also getting simpler.  You can drag the column header to a new location to tailor the view to match your needs.Column drag & dropColumn drag & drop

Document sets

Coming in March 2019.  Document sets group related documents together with shared metadata, routing and visual experiences.   They’ve been available in classic mode, and now you can work with them from the modern experience as shown below. 

A document set shown in the modern user experienceA document set shown in the modern user experience

As a reminder, document sets require you to activate the site-collection scoped “Document Sets” feature in site settings.  Then you can add Document Set as a content type to the library.  We’ll have more updates for modern document sets in the future.

Conclusion

Our modern interface offers significant advantages in speed, simplicity, accessibility and responsive design.  And we’re not done.  We’re making it simpler to extend modern experiences of lists and libraries throughout Office 365, including OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, and the Office clients.  Microsoft is committed to updating all critical classic scenarios to the modern experience. 

 

Please share your feedback here on the Tech Community or on UserVoice.  Thanks.

81 Comments
Iron Contributor

These are some great updates however the one we have been waiting for is the Document Sets.  Really looking forward to getting our hands on these and learning more about them.  Any chance you can tell us if we were using them now on a modern site if these would be compatible for the new modern versions once they are released or will it require building new solutions using the updated modern version.  Great work.

Iron Contributor

Thanks for the update @Chris McNulty 

 

When you say coming in Feb 2019, do you mean coming to Targetted release? or Standard release?

Really awesome!

Bronze Contributor
Hi Chris, can we expect that current implementations of documents will just be upgraded and no changes on our end is needed?
Silver Contributor
A great set of Content Services updates. Really hoping these timescales are stuck with. I’m assuming the dates quoted are TR. @Mark Kashman does a great recap on rollout on the latest #Intrazone BTW.

After the update Document Sets will be automatically shown in the modern UI unless you have opted to show that document library as classic. :) 

Brass Contributor

Will signals be retrievable in MS Flow? If not - is there a plan for implementing that? If not - please do it. Some signals (missing metadata, document check out for someone else, malware) will crave for that.

Copper Contributor

Most of these updates look really promising. However, the gif image of the Document Sets looks pretty disappointing and pretty much exactly like a folder? I hope there is more information to come soon about what we can hope to expect come March?

Copper Contributor

The majority of the site collections in our tenant are classic sites.  The modern site page looks better but they're so limited.  I can't add a discussion board, task, or issue app part to a home landing page.  Will that ever be possible?  I'm now creating modern team and communication sites for new requests but we have over a thousand sites in classic mode.  

 

Modern team and communication sites don't have a Discussion Board app.  Our Exchange is on premise and probably won't be moved to O365 for years so the features that rely on having an O365 Outlook account don't work for us.   I hope Microsoft doesn't forget about customers who have Outlook on premise. 

 

 

Iron Contributor

@Chris McNulty  Thank you for this awesome update! Everything sounds really great, and I must say I'm a big fan of your including a specific month for rollout. That makes it much easier to know when to watch for changes! When I read "soon," I think Microsoft could mean a month or a year. :)

 

Any chance Microsoft is working on further improving modern in these areas?

 

1. How multiple lines of text fields are displayed when filling out list forms? We have had people lose data because of the clunky UI for this. They have to click a separate edit icon to fill in text in that field, then the save button isn't obvious, and they exit out and see they lost all of their notes. In classic, it's perfect. No confusion, all data saved, no extra pop up windows and menus. Any hope for that experience in modern? This is one of the main reasons I force lists to open in classic.

 

2. How multiple lines of text fields are displayed in views? We have lots of complaints about this as well. You can see a couple lines of text and then it grays out, so you can read all of the data. In classic, you can read all the data in a default view. And we often use "newsletter" views to more beautifully display lists that have sizeable content in MLT fields. I would kill for a newsletter view in modern!

 

3. Batch editing? I was really excited when this option was rolled out with modern. I thought it was so cool that I could click on a few items and batch edit them in the details pane. But I quickly noticed a flaw- data I was NOT editing was getting wiped out. Feel free to reach out to me if you are not aware of this and need details, and I can share specifics. But needless to say, I stopped using the batch editing and went back to datasheet after I realized I was wiping data.

 

Thanks so much! I'm excited about all the changes and improvements you and your team continuing providing us!

Copper Contributor

Are these changes included in SP on premises?

Silver Contributor

@Marker707not immediately, they may get added to a future Feature Pack for SP 2019, but i can't imagine that happening for quite a while

Bronze Contributor

I was pleasantly surprised to see 2 of these show up today since we aren't TR- the 'add columns between columns' and 'drag/drop columns'. I always get so impatient when I know something new is coming.

Steel Contributor

@JMU Cloud ShareI have discussion boards and all my regular apps in the modern team and Team sites. Communication sites are more limited because they are basically publishing sites for one-way communication. You're right, you cannot put an issue app ON the page in a web part. Those web parts are coming - I saw them on the O365 roadmap today. In the meantime, I use a link from the page to those lists.

 

And why not switch to Yammer for discussion? Or Microsoft Teams for a smaller group?

 

It took me a long while to convince some of my colleagues to give up the classic pages. But there is SO much more that you can do now with modern pages that the few missing parts don't outweigh the major gains. Just imagine building a page that looks just equally good on a 21" monitor and the tiny crappy projector in your worst conference room, let alone a phone. 

 

Lastly, you don't HAVE to migrate all your content from your traditional sites to entirely new modern sites to take advantage of all the new features unless you want to take advantage of O365 groups and hub sites. All you have to do is enable the modern site pages on your traditional sites and they will work 100% like a modern team site, except for the O365 group stuff. 

 

Seriously, try it. I can't imagine it's that critical to have those things ON the page that you're willing to pass up all this other GREAT functionality. I mean really Sticky Headers vs discussion board or an issue app ON the page? Is that even a competition?

Good stuff, Chris! Thanks for sharing. I know some folks I'm working with are particularly happy to see some of the arrivals (like sticky headers)  :)

Deleted
Not applicable

Really nice updates for improved end user functionality. Now can we make the Check in/out process even more intuitive by having the buttons appear in the command bar when documents are selected, rather than hiding them under an ellipsis menu?

 

Current (no selection):

current-no-selection.jpg

 

Current (doc selected):

current-selected-full.jpg

 

Proposed (doc selected):

proposed-selected.jpg

 

Copper Contributor

Sticky headers and totals have finally landed for lists. :) Very soon I will be able to switch across to the modern view.

 

 


@Chris McNulty wrote:

We've been continuing to update and modernize user experiences throughout OneDrive and SharePoint.  And as we noted earlier this month, we’re making it easier than ever to share these updates with more and more users. Today, we're happy to share news about modern features coming to SharePoint this quarter.  Some of these are updates to classic features, while others are brand new. Let's look.

Bulk check in/out

Coming in February 2019.  We had previously released the ability to make bulk edits to documents in a library. Now, you’ll be able to check in and check out multiple files at the same time from the command bar in the document library. When you check out a file you have exclusive edit control until it is “returned” (checked in).

Bulk check-in and check-outBulk check-in and check-out

Signals

Coming in February 2019.  Sharpeyed readers may notice some new icons next to the filenames in the screenshot above.   These are signals – visual cues about the status of a file.  Here’s what we’re rolling out:

 

Signal

Summary

Comments

 Malware.png

Malware

Malicious software or packages have been detected in the file.

 CheckoutMe.png

Personal checkout

This file has been checked out to you.

 CheckoutYou.png

Other checkout

This file has been checked out by someone else (not you).

 MissingMD.png

Missing metadata

Required metadata is missing for this file.

DLPB.png

DLP blocked

Sharing access to this file is blocked by a data loss protection (DLP) policy

DLPW.png

DLP warning

The file is triggering a warning from a data loss protection (DLP) policy.

Trending.png

Trending

This file has gathered increased viewership recently.

Record.png

Record

The file is tagged as a record - a read-only compliance policy is in effect.

New.png

“New”

The file has been recently created or uploaded.

Shared.png

Shared

The file has been shared with additional people.

 

Over time, we’ll be adding more signals to give you visual indicators about items and documents in lists and libraries.  We’ll also be extending them beyond SharePoint’s native views, in services such as OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, and the Office clients.

Column Totals

Coming in February 2019.  Custom views allow you to add calculated fields, such as totals or averages, to the footer of a group or the entire list.  Now, totals will display in the modern view without forcing users back to the classic interface.  Totals will also show in the modern web parts for lists and libraries.

Modern column totalsModern column totals

Sticky Headers

Coming in March 2019.  Libraries and lists can get extremely large – up to 30 million items in a single list.  Soon, as you scroll down through ever-larger lists, SharePoint keeps the column headers pinned at the top of the scrolling window.  This helps you identify list values as you move vertically and horizontally through the view.  Column headers will also remain in place inside the list/library web parts.

Add Columns in between columns

Coming in February 2019.  Those column headers are also getting additional capabilities.  Soon, you’ll be able to add a column in place between other columns in a view, without adding them at the end and moving them separately to your preferred location.  Just hover your mouse on the border between two columns to open up the column creation dialog.

Column insertColumn insert

Column Drag and Drop

Coming in February 2019.  If you need to move a column around in a list or library, that’s also getting simpler.  You can drag the column header to a new location to tailor the view to match your needs.Column drag & dropColumn drag & drop

Document sets

Coming in March 2019.  Document sets group related documents together with shared metadata, routing and visual experiences.   They’ve been available in classic mode, and now you can work with them from the modern experience as shown below. 

A document set shown in the modern user experienceA document set shown in the modern user experience

As a reminder, document sets require you to activate the site-collection scoped “Document Sets” feature in site settings.  Then you can add Document Set as a content type to the library.  We’ll have more updates for modern document sets in the future.

Conclusion

Our modern interface offers significant advantages in speed, simplicity, accessibility and responsive design.  And we’re not done.  We’re making it simpler to extend modern experiences of lists and libraries throughout Office 365, including OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, and the Office clients.  Microsoft is committed to updating all critical classic scenarios to the modern experience. 

 

Please share your feedback here on the Tech Community or on UserVoice.  Thanks.


 

Deleted
Not applicable

Hi Paul,

Are you in the GCC?
Copper Contributor

Signals looks great, but how do they combine? i.e. do you see multiple icons for multiple statuses? if not which ones take precedence. 

Brass Contributor

@Chris McNultyThanks for the update! All good stuff. Also I echo @Michal Guzowski comment re: Flow. That would be awesome! @Jon Levesque  would the SP signals be visible in Flow?

Microsoft

Thanks - we’re considering adding signal events, label events, and AI events to the Flow connector, but no plans to share yet @Chakkaradeep (Chaks) Chinnakonda Chandran 

Copper Contributor

Hi Chris, Firstly thanks for the update.

I have concerns regarding the changes/enhancements with the new personalised Check-Out Icon.

 

The beauty of the standard old green icon was that it was always on no matter if you selected it or not. The new one in my testing does not do this. It only shows when it is unselected. In addition, the old one was larger and persistent you could hover over it and it would reveal the person who has it checked-out. The new one disappears when you hover over it - this is a design issue as I should be able to look at the view of documents and quickly identify checked-out documents whether or not they are selected. So the new design identifies documents i have checked out only if I have not selected them? Also, hovering on the ellipsis gives no information on the checkedout status. I have since had to add the old checked out to column in my views to at least remediate this.

 

I think the eradication of the old classic list\library view will only be successful if you can successfully port the same functionality and user expectation across to the modern views. I do hope this is only occurring in my tennant as there are a lot of solutions out there that will be effected by this. Also, the addition of another variance in visual indicators and action nuances is a double edged sword - it will frustrate the heck out of basic end users but keep us 'experts' employed :)

 

Thanks for the update - very timely although the changes have been problematic - I appreciate the comms.

 

Brass Contributor

This comes as a pleasant surprise today (I'm slow to catch these posts when I'm busy) and so please to see the multiple check-in of files coming to the modern view - in fact I've already seen/used it being the only one in the targetted release settings of my organisation. I was really quite annoyed at only a week or two ago at having to go to classic mode to check-in multiple files because of a long standing user issue with required fields and uploading two or more files at the same time.

Copper Contributor
Will I be able to use list totals in Powerapps or API (at the moment have to run a workflow to get a total of few list to put into another list so it can be used in a Powerapp) ?
Brass Contributor

@Chris McNulty - thanks as always for great info.  Related to column totals - when I first read this, I thought you meant the 'Totals' capability (available when adding/editing list views) - which doesn't work in modern views - was being updated to work with modern views.  Was glad to see that and hoped it might even work better.  Then I read the piece again and noticed you mentioned calculated columns and custom views.  So, in classic view, these 'classic' view Totals work alone - meaning, you don't have to create a calculated column and then create a 'custom' view to show them.  Is the ability to use the classic 'Totals' capability being fixed to work in modern views or is this new 'totals' enhancement actually something more/different.....

Copper Contributor

Thanks for the updates, I have already started using some of the features on my Developer tenant. I have built a collaboration work-space for a client using the Modern Experience and can't wait for all this features to be rolled out . Mega menu, Compact Navigation and Modern List customization are the main functionalities that will make Modern design to create robust and presentable "intranets"

 

Sample HR hubsiteSample HR hubsite

 

Copper Contributor

Hi @Chris McNulty, do you have an ETA for Signals availability through an API (REST/MS Graph)? Any docs available now?

Brass Contributor

Really cool end user features. Loved the signal icons, insert columns in between columns and moving by dragging from being in normal list mode. Thanks team.

Copper Contributor

Very well written!

 

You have concise description of the feature and then an image or gif to go along with it. There is white space. Super easy to read. 

Thank you, @Chris McNulty 

All Microsoft Forums/Blogs should be written like this. 

Copper Contributor

@Chris McNulty when will we see sticky headers?!

Copper Contributor

@Chris McNulty can you please confirm if Bulk check in/out is still going to be released? as i can see it has been removed from the roadmap.

Copper Contributor

Hello,

 

I Agree with @Kashif MAJEED , @Chris McNulty has this been removed from the Roadmap? As the ID no longer shows any progress report. Has anyone from MS please got an update on the Bulk check in/out functionality being released?

 

Thanks,

Copper Contributor

@Chris McNulty - Microsoft should disable adding comments to these pages if MS is not bothered to reply back. Is there anyone in MS who can provide an update to my and @iiLaura question above (Bulk Checkin/out )?

Microsoft

Thanks for the question - we are currently sitting at 10% deployed on the bulk check-in/check-out roll out - please be patient!   Not sure why the item slipped off the roadmap but I've checked and its being republished.

Just a quick reminder - these forums are for community discussions, but if you are having a problem and need service, opening a ticket is the best way to resolve issues.  Thank you!

Microsoft

@Breezy thanks

@MBowling Sticky header rollout has started, so we hope it reaches all tenants over the next month.

Copper Contributor

Thanks for replying @Chris McNulty . We have large number of sites with check in/out enabled, this will have a massive impact on large number of user in our organisation once all sites are forced to use modern expereince from 1st April. It's not feasible for us to opt-out of modern experience update for all of these sites hence it created a frustration when we couldn't find Bulk check in/out on the roadmap!

 

Do we have a rough timescale when it will reach all tenants? Or is possible to request this update for your tenant?

Copper Contributor

I am also not able to see option for bulk check in.

 

Any ETA for this update !

 

Thank you,

Soyeb Malek

Copper Contributor

Has the modern Document Set experience roll-out started?

Iron Contributor

How can you check what features have started rolling out in your Tennant. I'm patiently waiting for the Sticky Header and Documents Sets to arrive as, it was mentioned they would be deployed in March and here is April with no signs of them.

Brass Contributor

I agree. I've sent out internal communications on our company intranet warning of this change, and it's yet to land in our production tenancy today. How can we plan for any changes and internally discuss them in change boards and communicate to our own user community, with a promised/fixed date? This really needs to be improved - it has been this way for far too long.

Steel Contributor

Changes usually take at least 30-60 days to filter throughout out tenant. So I add 1 month for when users might begin to see a new feature and +2 months for mostly complete roll-out. Signals was tagged as Feb 2019 and I've just started seeing it the other day. I haven't checked column totals or bulk check in. Sticky headers was tagged as March, so I wouldn't even expect to see it until the end of April or even into May with full roll-out throughout our tenant not expected before June. 

 

That math has been mostly accurate for the last year or so.

Copper Contributor

Thanks @Chris McNulty for a great update.

Will the Modern Document Sets have the welcome page summary metadata as in the classic experience?

With the Sticky Headers item, you mention scrolling horizontally, does this mean we can specify columns that stick also? 

Steel Contributor

@Adrian_Mandile  - wouldn't specifying columns to stick the same a creating a view? When you define a list or library view, you choose which columns will "stick" to that particular view. Sticky headers just means that as you scroll down the view, you don't lose sight of the column titles.

Copper Contributor

Where will we see the option for sticky headers/columns?  Will this be in the ribbon, list settings or as a new option in column formatting?  Thanks

Iron Contributor

Hey @Chris McNulty 

 

Any new ETA on the Modern Document Sets reaching TR? I have a client who is very interested in the usage of Modern Documents. Of when they are available in GA. 

Iron Contributor

Regarding the Sticky Headers ...that feature appeared in our SharePoint Online environment a couple of weeks ago, but it has now disappeared. How do we get it back?

Deleted
Not applicable

@Rob Barker Have seen the same thing happen in our tenant previously, it magically came back after a few days.

Brass Contributor

@Rob Barker @Deleted  Same happened to us. No notices or information that this could/would be happening.
I'm hoping they will confirm a good roll-out. Here it shows as still in development!

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365/roadmap?filters=&searchterms=46103

 

 

Brass Contributor

and as if by Magic, today it's back!

 

Iron Contributor

Yep ...same here, I just checked and the sticky headers are suddenly back as of today.

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