Using Content Types to Hide Edit Form Fields in a List

I was recently asked if I could make some list fields read-only because a department was having problems with users filling out fields they weren’t supposed to. They attempted to control this by creating a column called “END OF CUSTOMER INPUT SECTION. INTERNAL USE ONLY BEYOND THIS POINT.” One of the first rules I’ve learned when helping users leverage the power of SharePoint is “What the customer WANTS is not necessarily what the customer NEEDS.” Although the customer was requesting that Permissions be used to control who can edit what fields, I knew that wasn’t the solution, not the least of which because it isn’t even possible to set permissions at the column level. So how did I approach this?

First I looked at the list settings. 112 columns. Yikes! This many columns would be a nightmare to fill out. Imagine creating a new list item and being presented with 112 fields. No wonder users ignored warnings and continued to fill out the form. After filling out a mind-numbing 75 fields what’s another 35 fields?!

Next I asked how this list was used and who were the users who interacted with the list (the audience). The process was explained this way: a user requests a new project by filling out a new list item. The list manager is notified via an Alert that a new project was requested. The list manager assigns the project to a Project Liaison, who works with a finance person and a design person who will input additional information. With 4 user groups identified, we then placed them into four functional areas:

1. Customer

2. Finance and Approvals

3. ADT Design Status

4. Project Status

What Fields do the Users Need to See?

Now that we have identified 4 user groups, the next question is “What fields do each group need to see?” I asked for a list of column names, in the correct order, for each user group. With that in hand I determined that the best approach to meet the customer’s NEED (only display certain columns to a certain audience) was through the use of Content Types.

Creating Content Types

Here is how to create a Content Type:

1. Site Settings -> Site content types

2. Click Create

3. Give it the name of one of your user groups

4. Select “List Content Type” and “Item” under Parent Content Type (because we are creating a list Content Type).

5. When you create your first Content Type, create a new group with a period in front of it (.Demand in the example above). This way the new Content Type will sort to the top of the Site Content Types page. (Thanks to Susan Hanley for this tip!)

6. Click OK

Do this for each of your user groups.

Configuring Our List to Use Content Types

1. List Settings -> Advanced settings

2. Select “Yes” under “Allow management of content types?”

3. Click OK

Adding Content Types

From the List Settings page, click “Add from existing site content types”

Select .Demand from the dropdown to see the Content Types you just created. Add them one by one. Click OK.

Assign List Columns to Content Types

1. Click on a Content Type

2. Click “Add from existing site or list columns”

3. Select columns from: List Columns

4. Add the appropriate columns then click OK

5. Repeat for each Content Type

You can click “Column order” if you need to change the order of a column.

Because the Customer user group will be creating a new list item, make “Customer” the default content type by clicking on “Change new button order and default content type” and changing the Position from Top to 1:

Wrapping Things Up

With the Content Types added, this is the new user experience:

1. A Customer creates a new Item. They are presented with only the fields they need to fill out (37 fields instead of 112)

2. The Item is saved as a Customer content type. When a member of another user group edits the item it will open up in the Customer content type (or whatever the content type happened to be when the item was previously edited and saved). Users are trained to select the appropriate Content Type from the dropdown list in order to see their pertinent fields:

The “Item” content type is still available for the list manager who needs access to every field.

To improve the user experience we can add instructions to the default display form:

1. From the List tab click the Form Web Parts dropdown and select Default Display Form

2. Add a Content Editor web part and add the appropriate instructions. This is what mine looks like:

Now the user experience is much friendlier with only the necessary fields displayed!

by Darrell Houghton via Everyone's Blog Posts - SharePoint Community