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Views

A view defines how a list or library is displayed: which columns to show, the sort order, filters, and grouping. Every list has a default view and can have many custom views.

Prerequisites

Requirement Description Reference
Read access to the list Required to read views. Member role on list to create/update/delete views. SharePoint admin roles

How views work

A view consists of: - View fields — the columns displayed (in order) - View query — filter/sort/group CAML - Default flag — the view shown when the list is opened

graph TD
    List["List / Library"]
    List --> DV["Default View"]
    List --> CV["Custom Views"]
    DV --> F1["Columns (view fields)"]
    DV --> Q1["Filter / sort (view query)"]
    CV --> F2["Columns"]
    CV --> Q2["Filter / sort"]

Examples

Operation File Required role API reference
Create a custom view create_view.py Member on list Views REST API
Read items from the default or a custom view read_items.py Read access Views REST API
Update a view (rename, default, hidden) + render as HTML update_view.py Member on list Views REST API
Add / remove / reorder view columns view_columns.py Member on list Views REST API
Export the view definition (column mapping) as JSON export_view.py Read access Views REST API
Export view items to CSV export_items.py Read access Views REST API
Delete a view delete_view.py Member on list Views REST API

Quick start

from office365.sharepoint.client_context import ClientContext

ctx = ClientContext("https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/team").with_client_certificate(
    "contoso.onmicrosoft.com", client_id="client_id", thumbprint="thumbprint", cert_path="./cert.pem"
)

target_list = ctx.web.lists.get_by_title("Documents")

# Get the default view
default_view = target_list.default_view.get().execute_query()
print(f"Default view: {default_view.title}  (type: {default_view.view_type})")

# List all views
views = target_list.views.get().execute_query()
for v in views:
    print(f"  {v.title}  {'[default]' if v.default_view else ''}")

API reference