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Create, Update, Copy, Delete SharePoint List Views using PowerShell

Salaudeen Rajack 2 Comments , , , , , ,

Requirement: There are plenty of document libraries in a SharePoint site. Periodically, in all libraries, there is a need to:

  • Create a new view
  • Update an existing view with a new filter condition
  • Create a new view by copying the existing view and modifying the filter
  • Delete an existing view
  • Add a new field to the existing view

The team wanted to automate the creation process of new SharePoint list views, Delete existing views, Update filters on existing views and copy existing views. Wrote PowerShell code to do the above:

Create SharePoint List View in PowerShell:

#Function to create new View
Function CreateNewView()
{  
	Param( [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string]$SiteURL, [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string]$ListName, [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string]$ViewName ) 

	$site = Get-SPSite $SiteURL
	$web = $site.openweb()

	#Get the List
	$list=$web.lists[$ListName]

	#View Fields 
	$viewFields = New-Object System.Collections.Specialized.StringCollection

	#Add fields to the view
	$viewFields.Add("Global Entity") > $null
	$viewFields.Add("Document Type")> $null
	$viewFields.Add("Risk")> $null
	$viewFields.Add("Year")> $null

	#Set View options
	$viewRowLimit="100"
	$viewPaged=$true
	$viewDefaultView=$false
	$viewQuery="<Where><Eq><FieldRef Name='Document_x0020_Type' /><Value Type='Choice'>Customer Reconciliation</Value></Eq></Where>"

	#Create new view
	$newview = $list.Views.Add($ViewName, $viewFields, $viewQuery, $viewRowLimit, $viewPaged, $viewDefaultView)

	#Send message to output console
	write-host "New View $($ViewName) Created Successfully!" -foregroundcolor green 

	$web.Dispose()          
	$site.Dispose()          
}

Update Existing SharePoint View with PowerShell:

#Function to Update Existing View
Function UpdateViewFilter()
{  
	Param( [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string]$SiteURL, [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string]$ListName, [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string]$ViewName, [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string]$ViewQuery ) 

	$site = Get-SPSite $SiteURL
	$web = $site.openweb()
	#Get the List
	$list=$web.lists[$ListName]
	#Get the View
	$view = $list.Views[$ViewName]

	#Update the view
	if($view -ne $null)
	{
		$view.Query = $ViewQuery
		$view.Update()
		$list.update()
		#Send message to output console
		write-host "View $($ViewName) Updated Successfully!" -foregroundcolor green 
	}
	else
	{
		write-host "Could Not find: $($ViewName)!" -foregroundcolor red 
	}
	$web.Dispose()          
	$site.Dispose()          
}

Copy SharePoint list view in PowerShell:

#Function to Update Existing View
Function CopyView()
{  
	Param( [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string]$SiteURL, [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string]$ListName, [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string]$SourceView, [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string]$TargetView ) 

	$site = Get-SPSite $SiteURL
	$web = $site.openweb()
	#Get the List
	$list=$web.lists[$ListName]
	#Get the source View
	$view = $list.Views[$SourceView]

	#Copy the source view
	if($view -ne $null)
	{
		#Get View Fields from an existing view
		$Viewfields = $list.Views[$SourceView].ViewFields.ToStringCollection()
		#Set View options
		$viewRowLimit="100"
		$viewPaged=$true
		$viewDefaultView=$false
		$viewQuery="<Where><Eq><FieldRef Name='Document_x0020_Type' /><Value Type='Choice'>Customer Reconciliation</Value></Eq></Where>"

		#Create new view
		$newview = $list.Views.Add($TargetView, $viewFields, $viewQuery, $viewRowLimit, $viewPaged, $viewDefaultView)

		#Send message to output console
		write-host "View $($SourceView) Copied Successfully!" -foregroundcolor green 
	}
	else
	{
		write-host "Could Not find: $($SourceView)!" -foregroundcolor red 
	}

	$web.Dispose()          
	$site.Dispose()          
}

Delete SharePoint List View in PowerShell:

#Function to Delete View
Function DeleteView()
{  
	Param( [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string]$SiteURL, [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string]$ListName, [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string]$ViewName ) 

	$site = Get-SPSite $SiteURL
	$web = $site.openweb()
	#Get the List
	$list=$web.lists[$ListName]
	#Get the View
	$view = $list.Views[$ViewName]

	#Delte the view
	if($view -ne $null)
	{
		$list.Views.Delete($view.ID)  
		#Send message to output console
		write-host "View $($ViewName) Deleted Successfully!" -foregroundcolor green 
	}
	else
	{
		write-host "Could Not find: $($ViewName)!" -foregroundcolor red 
	}

	$web.Dispose()          
	$site.Dispose()          
}

Add New Field to Existing View:

#Function to Update Existing View
Function UpdateView()
 {  
  Param( [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string]$SiteURL, [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string]$ListName, [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string]$FieldName) 
  
  #Get the site object
  $site = Get-SPSite $SiteURL
  #Get the Web object
  $web = $site.openweb()
  #Get the List
  $list=$web.lists[$ListName]
  
  #Process Each view
  0..($list.Views.Count-1) | foreach-object {
      #Get the view
      $view = $list.Views[$_]
      
      #Skip Hidden views and Explorer view
      if ( ($view.Title -ne "Explorer View") -and ($view.hidden -eq $false) )
      {
      
        #Delete if already exist
        #while($view.ViewFields.ToStringCollection().Contains($FieldName))
        #{
        #$view.ViewFields.delete($FieldName)
        #$view.Update()
        #}

        #Check if view has the specific field already!
        if(!$view.ViewFields.ToStringCollection().Contains($FieldName))
            {
                #Add new field to existing view
                $view.ViewFields.add($FieldName)
                $view.Update()
                write-host "Field Added to View: $($view.Title) in the list $($list.title)"
            }
       }
         
    }
   
  #Dispose the objects
  $web.Dispose()          
  $site.Dispose()      
}

Added MOSS 2007 compatibility to support SharePoint 2007 environments

# For MOSS 2007 compatibility
[void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SharePoint")

#Region MOSS2007-CmdLets

Function global:Get-SPSite()
{
  Param( [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string]$SiteCollURL )

   if($SiteCollURL -ne '')
    {
    return new-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSite($SiteCollURL)
   }
}
 
Function global:Get-SPWeb()
{
 Param( [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string]$SiteURL )
  $site = Get-SPSite($SiteURL)
        if($site -ne $null)
            {
               $web=$site.OpenWeb();
            }
    return $web
}
#EndRegion

Once tested the above snippets, placed them inside my PowerShell script, and called those functions wherever required.

$WebURL="https://sharepoint.crescent.com/sites/finance/"

#Get the Target Site
$Web=Get-SPWeb $WebURL

foreach($List in $web.lists)
{
	if ( ($List.BaseType -eq "DocumentLibrary") -and ($List.Hidden -eq $false) )
	{
		write-host "Processing List: $($list.title)"

		#Call function to create a new view 
		CreateNewView $WebURL $List.title "Global Customers"

		#Call the Function to Delete view
		DeleteView $WebURL $List.title "Journal Vouchers"

		#Call function to Update existing view 
		UpdateViewFilter $WebURL $List.title "Vendor Reconciliation" "<Where><Eq><FieldRef Name='Document_x0020_Type' /><Value Type='Choice'>Vendor Reconciliation</Value></Eq></Where>"

		#Call function to copy the existing view
		CopyView $WebURL $List.title "Vendor Reconciliation" "Customer Reconciliation"

		#Call the function to update view with Internal Name of the new field to be added
		UpdateView $WebURL $list.title "Management_x0020_System_x0020_Department" 
	}
}

BTW, This is a PowerShell version of my existing work, where I did a similar thing using the .Net Object Model (C#).  How to Create Update Delete SharePoint Views Programmatically?

Salaudeen Rajack

Salaudeen Rajack - Information Technology Expert with Two decades of hands-on experience, specializing in SharePoint, PowerShell, Microsoft 365, and related products. Passionate about sharing the deep technical knowledge and experience to help others, through the real-world articles!

2 thoughts on “Create, Update, Copy, Delete SharePoint List Views using PowerShell”

  • hi, Where i can provide URL and other details?

    Reply

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