How to Remove a Column from SharePoint List using PowerShell?
Problem: The user has created a calculated column with an error in its formula! That caused the list view web part to crash! Couldn’t remove the column from the SharePoint list using web UI.
How to delete a Column from SharePoint List?
Do you need to delete a column in a SharePoint list? PowerShell makes it easy. In this article, We’ll walk you through the process of deleting a column from a SharePoint list. We will also show you how to use PowerShell to remove a column from your SharePoint list.
From SharePoint Web UI, to remove a field from a list or library, follow these steps:
- Browse to the List or Library in which you want to remove the column. Click on the List or Library tab.
- Click on List Settings / Library Settings from the Ribbon.
- From the List Settings page, Under the Columns section, click on the name of the column that you wish to delete.
- Scroll down to the bottom and then click on “Delete” button. Confirm the prompt.
PowerShell script to delete the column from SharePoint list
If you need to remove a column from a SharePoint list, but the web browser UI didn’t help, then PowerShell is the way to go! Here is the PowerShell to remove a column from the list:
Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
#Variables
$SiteURL="https://intranet.crescent.com/"
$ListName="Change Request"
$ColumnName="Activity Status"
#Get Internal Name of the columns
$web = Get-SPWeb $SiteURL
#Get the list
$list = $web.Lists.TryGetList($ListName)
if($List -ne $null)
{
#Get the column
$column = $list.Fields[$ColumnName]
if($column -ne $null)
{
#Reset column properties to allow delete
$column.Hidden = $false
$column.ReadOnlyField = $false
$column.AllowDeletion = $true
$column.Update()
#delete column in sharepoint list
$list.Fields.Delete($column)
write-host "Column has been deleted!" -f Green
}
else
{
write-host "Specified column name not found!" -ForegroundColor Red
}
}
Bulk remove columns from SharePoint list using PowerShell:
Let’s wrap the code inside a function and call to bulk delete columns from the SharePoint list to make it reusable.
Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
#Custom Function to delete a column with PowerShell
Function Remove-Column($WebURL, $ListName, $ColumnName)
{
#Get Internal Name of the columns
$web = Get-SPWeb $WebURL
#Get the list
$list = $web.Lists.TryGetList($ListName)
if($List -ne $null)
{
#Get the column
$column = $list.Fields[$ColumnName]
if($column -ne $null)
{
#Reset column properties to allow delete
$column.Hidden = $false
$column.ReadOnlyField = $false
$column.AllowDeletion = $true
$column.Update()
#Delete the column from list
$list.Fields.Delete($column)
write-host "Column '$ColumnName' has been deleted!" -f Green
}
else
{
write-host "Specified column name not found!" -ForegroundColor Red
}
}
else
{
write-host "Specified List is not found!" -ForegroundColor Red
}
}
#Variables
$WebURL="https://intranet.crescent.com"
$ListName="Change Request"
#Array to hold column titles
[email protected]("Change Type","Approvers","Proposed Date and Time")
#Process each column
$ColumnNames | foreach {
#Call the function to delete column from sharepoint list
Remove-Column $WebURL $ListName $_
}
As always, make sure you have backed up your data before deleting any columns. Because, when you delete a column, all of the data in that column is also deleted. (and there is no undo or restore from recycle bin options!)
to remove the column from all sites, how can I change the script?
Thanks, works very fine! Nice script.
Hi folks,
Your code is awesome but unfortunately the Update doesn’t work 🙁
Try: $column.Sealed = $false
yup, that works, thanks a lot