Tracy van der Schyff

I think Alerts in SharePoint are pretty awesome, but a lot of people complain about getting alerts that do not apply to them. You can be selective about the alert being sent out, based on a filtered view created.

I have a custom list used for on-boarding requests. For example: Does the person require parking, a notebook, access to SAP etc. I’m not adding workflow or customizing forms, but I would like to notify the relevant people with an alert, when there is a requirement that they are responsible for.

In this post we’ll talk about setting up the filtered view, tomorrow I’ll show you how to create the filtered alert.

First step is then to write a filtered view. In this example I used a multiple select choice column in my list / library which contains the categories – of which parking will be one)

1. Create the view, give it a descriptive name “Parking”
2. Setup the fields to show and order
3. Under filters, select “show Items only when the following is true”
4. Select the column where the word “parking” has been selected
5. IMPORTANT – if this column is a check-box choice (allow multiple selections) it means you cannot choose when column “equals to” as the word “parking” will be part of a string. So you need to select “contains”. In other words, should the requirement be “Access Card,Desk + Chair,Notebook,Parking,Telephone”, the word “parking” will now form part of the string.
6. IMPORTANT – spelling has to be spot-on. If it doesn’t match – SharePoint will not find it. I normally copy and paste the text, just to make sure.
7. Save the view and add a test to make sure that any new requirement, which includes parking, now displays in this view.

See you tomorrow when I’ll show you how to create the ‘filtered’ alert.

To view the similar posts, click here and here.

Overview of my challenge: As an absolute lover of all things Microsoft, I’ve decided to undertake the challenge, of writing a blog every single day, for the next 365 days. Crazy, I know. And I’ll try my best, but if I cannot find something good to say about Office 365 and the Tools it includes for 365 days, I’m changing my profession. So let’s write this epic tale of “Around the Office in 365 Days”. My ode to Microsoft Office 365.