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One of the key benefits of SharePoint is the ability to enter information once, and then view the data many different ways through the use of custom views. The views are created based off of the different list columns, and they can be configured through filtering and sorting to provide dynamic views of the data.
One of the most common requests I hear from people who are configuring views is the requirement to view information around dates in a more granular way. For instance, they may want to show all tasks group by the week they are due or show all documents that were uploaded for the month. Many times I find that to accomplish this, they have created additional list columns and require their users to enter the dates in a very granular fashion. While this works, end users don’t like that they have to enter the information in multiple formats.
An alternate approach would be using custom calculated columns that filter specific information out of an existing date column. This allows users to enter the date once and have it stored in multiple formats that can then be used for filtering and grouping the list data. Whenever the date referenced in the calculated field is modified, the calculated values will be updated to reflect the new value. Calculated fields are created by adding new list columns that use the calculated type and providing a custom formula. Some of the most common date formulas that I have used are as follows:
| Name |
Formula |
Display Type |
Example |
| Year |
=TEXT(YEAR([Start Date]),"000") |
Single Line of Text |
2009 |
| Month |
=CHOOSE(MONTH([Start Date]),"01-January",
"02-February",
"03-March","04-April","05-May","06-June",
"07-July","08-August",
"09-September","10-October",
"11-November","12-December") |
Single Line of Text |
01- January |
| Week |
=[Start Date]+7-WEEKDAY([Start Date]) |
Date & Time, Date Only |
2/2/2008 |
| Weekday |
=TEXT(WEEKDAY([Start Date]),"dddd") |
Single Line of Text |
Monday |
Using this approach allows you to provide a simple way for users to enter data that can then be presented to them in several different formats. Dates are just one example of what can be configured with calculated columns. The links below provide some additional information about calculated columns and can be used to help you get stared:
Jennifer Mason is a consultant with SharePoint 911.