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Although you can create lists one item at a time on your SharePoint team Web site by using a Web browser, a faster method—especially for a large list—is to create it in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and then import the spreadsheet to your team Web site.

Note  Although you can also export lists from a team Web site to Excel, you cannot re-import them directly. Instead, you must delete the original list and then re-import the list, as if it were a new list.

Format the spreadsheet for SharePoint Team Services

When you design the spreadsheet, keep in mind how it will appear as a list on the team Web site.

Use the first row of the spreadsheet for column headings   If the format of the first row is different from the second row, the content of the cells in the first row will be the column titles on the team Web site. For example, format first row cells as text and second row cells as numbers, or format the first row with bold text and all other rows with normal text.

Note  If all the rows are formatted the same, SharePoint Team Services uses all the rows for items of the list and assigns column titles such as Field 1, Field 2, and so on. If the first two rows are formatted the same, but are formatted differently from the third row, SharePoint Team Services combines the content of the first two rows in each column to determine the column title.

Position the columns in the order you want them to be in the default view of the list   You can change the order of the columns in the browser, but it's simpler to import the spreadsheet the way you want it to appear.

Sort the items in the order you want them to be in the default view of the list   That way, you won't need to customize the default view in the browser. Team members can sort the list as desired, and you can create custom views to display different sort orders.

Format special kinds of numbers as text   For numeric information that does not represent quantity—such as dates, telephone numbers, or postal codes—format them as text. Otherwise, a grouping symbol appears in the numbers: for example, 2,002 instead of the year 2002.

Don't use merged cells   When you import a spreadsheet that includes merged cells, SharePoint Team Services creates a new, empty, cell to account for the missing cell. If the cells are merged across columns in the header row, SharePoint Team Services creates a new column and assigns it a title such as Field1. If the cells are merged across rows, SharePoint Team Services creates a new item in the list with a name such as "(no title)."

Save the spreadsheet as a workbook or a Web page

When you've created the spreadsheet, save it on your hard disk or a shared location on your local area network (LAN). You can save it as a workbook (.xls file) or as a Web page. However, if you choose to save it as a Web page, save only the sheet, and do not enable interactivity.

1. On the File menu, click Save as Web page.
2. Click Selection: Sheet, and in the File name box, type a name for the file.
3. Click Save.

On the team Web site, import the spreadsheet

In a Web browser, open your SharePoint team Web site and create a new list by importing the spreadsheet you just saved.

1. In the team Web site, on the top link bar, click Create.
2. On the Create Page page, click Import Spreadsheet.
3. In the Name box , type a name for the list. This field is required.
4. In the Description box , type text that describes the purpose of the list. This field is optional.
5. In the Import from Spreadsheet section, click Browse to find the spreadsheet that contains the list you want to import, and then click Open.
6. Under Navigation, if you want a hyperlink to this list to appear on the Quick Launch bar, click Yes.
7. Click Import.
8. In the Import to SharePoint List dialog box, specify the columns and rows that you want to import.

   How?

   1. Click the Select Range box to select a range of cells to import, and then drag through the spreadsheet areas that you want to import.
   2. If the spreadsheet uses names to represent cells, in the Range Type box, click Named Range, and in the Select Range box, click the name.
9. Click Import.

   A page that displays the default view of your new list is added to the team Web site, and a hyperlink to the new list appears on the Lists page and on the Quick Launch bar if you selected Yes in step 6.

Making the round trip

When the list is on the team Web site, team members can add items to it using their Web browser. However, to make large-scale changes, they may want to save the list to a hard disk, edit it, and import it back to the site.

To save a SharePoint Team Services list to a hard disk

1. On the team Web site, go to the list you want to save, and on the page that displays the list, click Export.
2. When you are prompted to save the file or to open it from its current location, open the file from its current location.
3. Excel opens the list as a Web query on a sheet in a new workbook.
4. Edit the sheet as desired.
5. On the File menu, click Save As and save the file as a workbook (.xls) or Web page.

   Note  If you save the file as a Web page, save the sheet only (not the entire workbook), and do not enable interactivity.

To re-import the list

1. On the team Web site, delete the original list.

   How?

   1. Go to the original list, and click Modify settings and columns.
   2. Under General Settings, click Delete this list.
2. Import the revised list, as explained previously, under "On the team Web site, import the spreadsheet."