How do I create a Sharepoint glossary without using an app?

[AMJ_Devon]

Hello everyone,

Me again! I'm wondering if you can give me some advice about to create a glossary in SharePoint.

The topic my SharePoint is about is quite complicated and I want an easily searchable glossary of terms. Unfortunately our IT department won't let me download the free app that I've seen suggested without applying for them to look at it, test it etc. This process is likely to take several months. 

Because of the length of time and with no guarantee of being able to have it at the end of it, I really need to create the glossary from scratch. Ideally I'm looking for a navigation bar with the letters of the alphabet and then being able to click on the letter to bring up all terms starting with that letter. Does anyone know a simple way of doing this?

Thanks in advance as always,

Amber

[#2]

Hi @AMJ_Devon ,

the simplest way to do this is a just a Custom List where you add a Multiple Lines of Text field called 'Defintion' . All lists have a built in search box and users can filter/sort based on the Title. you could also add another Choice (dropdown) field called 'Category' and categorize each entry. This would allow users to sort by another column and you could group your entries in a way that may be more intuitive than simply alphabetical. 

You can also create custom views where the results are refined to Titles that start with a certain letter. SharePoint will build the list of views for you so you don't need to manually add the links to the views on a page.

Hope this helps. Happy to jump on a private message thread if you want help with this.

[#3]

Hi @Kelly_Edinger

Yes please!

[#4]

@AMJ_Devon Ours is built using views starting with each letter -- works great!  

[#5]

@Cindy ZalmeYes this is what I'm looking for but haven't managed to quite figure it out yet!

[#6]

@AMJ_Devon 

1. Create your columns - Word, Definition, Starting Letter(could be a calculated column)
2. Add your content
3. Create your views -
   1. View Name - "specific letter of the Alphabet"
   2. Sort by the Word
   3. Filter by Starting Letter -- Is equal to -- D
4. Add web parts to a page -- as illustrated and putting your letters into a table for an orderly presentation. 

This is quite cryptic but I hope you get the picture.  

Hope this helps.  I can't take credit for the solution but lots of people depend on this content in our organization. 

[#7]

@Cindy ZalmeThanks so much for that. I have set it up as instructed but I think I've fallen at the last hurdle!

I've created all the views and created a table with all my hyperlinks. However when I click on the hyperlinks it takes them away to a new page. I really want the glossary to all be in one page (as your example) but I can't seem how to do it. I'm sure this is a simple fix but could you please advise?

Thank you,

Amber

[#8]

Hi @AMJ_Devon,

I'm curious whether you got the final part of this sorted out? I'm trying something similar and wrestling with getting the list to display in page based on the letter selected.

Thanks

Stu

[#9]

Acronyms with Microsoft Search! Great potential in this solution. However, you might need more permissions from your IT department.

[#10]

@smynard I'm sorry but I left a key part out of the original instruction. 

1. Create the text/table you as you want it to appear using a HTML editor and save the file as an html file.  You can copy and paste the HTML into Notepad and save it by tacking ".html" on the the end of the file name. 

2. Add a content editor web parts wherever you want on each page. 

3. Put the web part into edit mode. 

4. Paste the address of the file as follows /sites/????/sitename/documentsorassetslibrary/filename.html into the Content link field. 

5. Apply

6. Ok

That "should" do it.  I'm not all that familiar with any of this so there may be a better or easier way to accomplish the same. 

Also, I have built a Wiki as a PowerApp but it is not yet ready for primetime.  I may post it at a later time. 

Hope this helps. 

[#11]

@Cindy Zalme - thanks very much for the update.

[#12]

Thank you for sharing this! It's a great idea and layout shown above!

[#13]

Hi @AMJ_Devon ,

A customized list can be a simple solution to host your glossary.

What I would do a little bit more is to:

1. Create a list called "Alphabet".
   • Configure a customized column called "Initials"
   • Then Create 26 items starting from A to Z;
2. Create another list called "Glossary".
   • Configure the list with all the customized columns you want. For example, definition, submitted by...
   • Then add another column called "Initials"(and make this field mandatory too)
   • Then add all the glossary you have as items (Remember to fill out the “Initials” column for your glossary). 
3. Create a SharePoint page and add these two lists there as two web parts (side by side, or up and down).
4. Use "Dynamic Filter" to connect these two web parts.

In this way, you should be able to avoid being redirected to a new page when clicking on an initial.

[#14]

@Natasha2020 
Another tip to add to the last post...  Instead of the "Initials" column, I use a calculated column to automatically enter the first character of the acronym. Use this calculated column to connect the A, B, C ... filter to the list.  I used the following: 
=IF(ISNUMBER(VALUE(LEFT(Acronym,1))),"123",LEFT(Acronym,1))

If the first character is a number it returns "123" otherwise it returns the first letter (I included "123" in my filter list of the alphabet). In my example "Acronym" is the name of the column.  

[#15]

Hi @Natasha2020, @AMJ_Devon:  Using Daynamic filter, I am able to select a term from Glossary terms which makes the related alphabet selected from Glossary Filter list but the reverse is not working. I want that once user selected an alphabet from Glossary Filter list then respective all terms starting with that alphabet should appear in Glossary Terms List. Can somebody help on this. I followed all the steps listed in last message. Thanks,

Rohit

[#16]

Here are links to more information about Acronyms answers in Microsoft Search:
* Introducing acronym answers in Microsoft Search https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-search-blog/introducing-acronym-answers-in-microsof...
* Manage Acronyms answers in Microsoft Search https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftsearch/manage-acronyms