Display List from Top-Level Site to SubSite in SharePoint

Requirement: We have an announcement list in the Top-level site of a SharePoint 2013 site collection and wanted it to appear on each subsite!

Solution: Requirements to show Lists/Libraries from Root site to Sub-site or Sub-site to Root site are quite common. In short, the solution idea is: Export the List view web part to the web part gallery (so that it’s stored on the root site’s web part gallery) and insert the web part to subsite pages wherever required. Here are the detailed steps.

Step 1: Export the Source List View Web Part using SharePoint Designer 2013

1. Open your Site in SharePoint Designer, navigate to the Lists and Libraries node in the left navigation tree view. Click on the All Items view to open it in SharePoint Designer.

   

2. Go to Insert Tab, Click on the Dataview and choose your Source List from the dropdown.

   

3. Now click on the Web Parts tab, Click on the Site Gallery button from the ribbon.

   

4. Provide a Name and description to the web part you export and click on OK.

   

5. You’ll get a prompt: “Do you want this Web Part to always show list data from the current web site? If you select No, the web part will show data from the list at the path your list location, relative to the site in which it is used.” Confirm “Yes” to the prompt.

   

This saves the list view web part along with the list contents to the site collection web part gallery, and you can insert it to any page within the site collection.

Step 2: Insert the Web Part to Target Page(s):

1. Go to your Subsite (or target site), Click on Site Settings gear, Choose Edit Page
2. Under Insert Tab, Click on Web Part
3. Navigate to the Miscellaneous tab, pick the web part you exported in step 1, and insert it to the relevant section of your page.

   

That’s all! You’ll get the list from the parent site, and its content gets updated whenever there is a change made on the source. Please note, this method works only within the same site collection!