SharePoint Online List Attachment Column

In this SharePoint Online Tutorial, we are going to discuss the SharePoint Online list attachment column, the default attachment column in a SharePoint Online List, and also how to display the attachment column in the SharePoint Online list view. Also, we discuss

• How to enable or disable an attachment column in the SharePoint list.
• SharePoint Online list attachment URL and its Location.
• Delete SharePoint list attachment column.
• SharePoint list Attachment limitation.

SharePoint Online List Attachment Column

We can attach files to a SharePoint Online list item as an attachment.

By default, the attachment column will be present inside the list. We do not need to create an attachment column in the SharePoint Online list. If we don’t want to attach files to items in a SharePoint list, then we can disable it.

Example:- We have created a list for RENA Technologies, a company based out in the United States of America.

Based on the business scenario, the client stored the Semiconductor Transaction list in SharePoint Online. They stored information like:

• Transaction ID
• Client ID
• Product ID
• Supplied Product
• Product Supplied Date
• Product Cost
• Product Payment, etc.

For each product, we wanted to store the product bill (.pdf), so we use the attachment column of the SharePoint Online list.

Default attachment column in a SharePoint Online List

By default, when we create a SharePoint Online list column, the attachment column will be there. We do not need to create an attachment column in the SharePoint list.

You can see below, when we try to add an item to the list, to the New item form, the attachment column is there. Here we can add multiple attachments.

The steps to add an attachment column to SharePoint List are:

• Open the SharePoint List that is already created, else Navigate to https://<tenantname>.sharepoint.com/sites/<sitename>/Lists/<ListName> For Example: https://tsinfotechnologies.sharepoint.com/sites/RenaTechnologies/Lists/SemiconductorTransactionDetails
• Then select the SharePoint Online list item, to which we want to add attachments -> Click Edit Button.

• The Edit Form will open, Scroll down -> Click on the Add attachments (In the attachment area, you can drop a file (or files) would upload it. Example: Product Bill).

• Now let’s add attachments to understand how the attachments are stored inside a list. We can upload a document, from our device.

• Click on the Save Button.

But we can’t find the attachment column in SharePoint Online, that we have added, so we need to display an attachment column in the SharePoint Online list.

How to Display an attachment column in a SharePoint List View

There are two different approaches to displaying an attachment column in the SharePoint list. These are:

• Display a SharePoint List attachment column using list view options.
• Display a SharePoint List attachment column using list Settings.

The steps to display an attachment column in the SharePoint list are:

Approach-1: Display a SharePoint List attachment column using the list view option

• Go to SharePoint List where we need to display an attachment column(in my case it is Semiconductor Transaction Details).
• Click on All items on the right corner of the page -> Select Edit Current View.

• Under columns, select Attachments to display in the column of SharePoint list.

• Click on the Ok button.

Now we can see the attachment column in the SharePoint Online list.

Approach-2: Display a SharePoint List attachment column using list Settings

There is another way to display a SharePoint List attachment column using list Settings

• Go to SharePoint List where we need to display an attachment column (in my case it is Semiconductor Transaction Details).
• Click on any column name, which we have created -> Select Column Settings.

• It expands with column settings -> Click on Show/Hide Columns.

• Select the column to display in the SharePoint List, Select Attachments -> Click on Apply Button.

• Now we can see the attachment column in the SharePoint Online list.

These are the approaches to display an attachment column in the SharePoint list.

How to Enable or Disable attachment column in SharePoint List

As per the User Requirement, we can enable or disable the attachments in SharePoint Online List. Follow the below steps to enable or disable the attachment column in the SharePoint Online list.

• Go to the Settings gear icon in the top-right corner of the SharePoint list page -> Click on the List Settings

• In the List Settings Window, Click on the Advanced Settings

• In the Advanced Settings page, Find the “Attachments” section, and choose whether you can:
  • Enable: Enabling the attachments Column to Display in the SharePoint list.
  • Disable: Disable the attachments Column to Display in the SharePoint list.

• Click on the OK button to save your changes.

Once the option is Enabled, the Attachment item will be displayed in the SharePoint list column. Else, if we Disable it deletes all existing attachments from all items in the SharePoint Online list.

SharePoint list attachment URL

We can get the attachment URL

• Go to SharePoint List where we have added the attachment item (in my case it is Semiconductor Transaction Details).
• On the list page window, Select a Transaction ID, to which you want to check the attachment URL-> Click Edit Button.

• A New Item form will be opened, In the attachment section, right-click on your attachment, -> Copy link address as shown below:

Let’s see, how are the attachments link stored in the list

 https://tsinfotechnologies.sharepoint.com/sites/RenaTechnologies/Lists/SemiconductorTransactionDetails/Attachments/2/IC-Payment-Receipt-11321.xlsx?web=1

Let’s look at the attachment URL

• Current Site Name: https://tsinfotechnologies.sharepoint.com/sites/RenaTechnologies/
• List Name: Lists/SemiconductorTransactionDetails/
• Attachments Item ID: Attachments/2/
• Filename: IC-Payment-Receipt-11321.xlsx(in excel form)

So there is a structural storage that stores all the attachments for each list item in SharePoint.

Delete SharePoint List attachment column

There is no option to delete the SharePoint List attachment column. Instead of that, we can enable or disable the SharePoint List attachments inside the List Advanced Settings.

SharePoint List Attachment Limitation

The Maximum size for files attached to the SharePoint List Items is 250MB.

Conclusion

In this SharePoint Online Tutorial, we discussed the SharePoint list attachment column, the default attachment column in a SharePoint Online List, and also how to display the attachment column in the SharePoint Online list. Also, we discussed

• How to enable or disable an attachment column in the SharePoint list.
• The SharePoint Online list attachment URL and its Location.
• Deleting the SharePoint list attachment column.
• SharePoint list Attachment limitation.

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• Recycle bin on SharePoint Online site
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