The Microsoft 365 family has added another product to its expanding arsenal. Nearly a year old, Microsoft Lists was unveiled to the public in May of last year, with the multinational tech company including their latest addition to the Microsoft Teams app.
Designed to help organizations streamline and monitor their work, Microsoft Lists allows users to create straightforward, intelligent, and versatile lists to help one keep abreast with team updates, meetings, and other relevant information. Now available for government, education, and commercial subscribers, consider the Lists app a dream come true for employees and independent professionals alike.
Here’s what you need to know about one of Microsoft’s newest digital creations.
What makes Microsoft Lists stand out?
Microsoft Lists lets users perform numerous tasks. Through the app, users can manage inventory, build and navigate agendas, monitor issues, establish FAQs, and a whole lot more. Still, it’s worth noting that Lists isn’t an entirely novel application, nor is its concept new; it’s merely an improved version of SharePoint Lists, an existing Microsoft product. Nonetheless, unlike its predecessor, the upgraded Lists is available for Microsoft 365 subscribers, is protected by Microsoft’s premium security mechanism, making it immensely secure.
Usage
Because Lists is a Microsoft product, you can already guarantee that it works seamlessly with other applications developed from the same family. From Power BI to Excel, and Power Automate to other Power apps, users can leverage multiple Microsoft applications to develop powerful data-tracking initiatives.
The app packs several project management features and is groomed to go against popular tech organizational solutions like Asana and monday.com. At present, Microsoft 365 is a go-to digital powerhouse to millions of people, with its users relying on the company’s various apps to manage tasks, track issues, and other similar workloads. Although each app under Microsoft’s line of subscription services remain functional and updated, Lists is a breakthrough on its own as it enables users to build personalized solutions to meet custom users needs sans the need to write code. Simply put, Lists adds to the long list of available no-code solutions for everyone to enjoy.
That said, similar to what one can do with platforms like Bubble, Airtable, and Glide, users can establish smart rules, create custom views, and share their work with teammates with Lists. Available in four unique views, Lists can come in a Grid, a Calendar, a Gallery, and, of course, a List. While each of these views is simple and easy to use, each view packs its own punch, providing unique advantages.
Grid — when you first create a list, the primary format you see includes mostly rows and columns that can be reordered and configured. If you’re looking to quickly edit the data you input, this is the best visual arrangement.
Calendar — when your data is data-heavy, the calendar format should be your most suitable choice.
Gallery — when your data is photo-heavy, this selection should work best.
List — minus the point-and-click editing features, the list format is similar to what you would see with SharePoint.
Through conditional formatting, users can adjust how they want to see data. For instance, you can change an element’s fill color to yellow if it’s “processing” and then green when your pending activity is “complete.”
Features
As specified above, Lists a stellar management app that supplies a long array of available features. Here are many of them:
- Smart and customizable views
- Reminders and timely alerts to make sure teams are on the same page
- Enterprise-grade security
- Accessible in both mobile and web app formats
- Pre-built templates
- Directly import from Excel
- Seamless integration with several Microsoft apps
- Easily customizable rules and filters to suit one’s preference and needs
No-Code is the future
There is now a wealth of resources online on what one can do with Microsoft Lists and how to do them.
If anything, Lists is a perfect example of how organizations are rapidly embracing the no-code movement. Now available to subscribers, those who turn to Microsoft 365 services will notice an array of Lists-related updates. The urgency for teams to automate services and work processes has long been a trend, the pandemic has only amplified this necessity. With workforces operating remotely, the cruciality for employees and leaders to contemporize how they work is warranted.
Furthermore, business process automation helps reduce operational expenses, too, allowing workers to focus on higher-level tasks. And because computers are stellar help when it comes to perfecting menial duties, the room for human error is slim. Well-balanced relationships are vital in organizations, and automation helps build better connections among colleagues.
Lists is a gilt-edged work of digital art, but if you’re looking to future-proof your business with a customized management tool, turning to no-code to build a web app for your team is even better.
If you’re thinking of developing enterprise software, we’re the team for you.
