A list in Microsoft Lists becomes really useful when colleagues help fill it: sign-ups, reports, stock or a project overview. You have two options for that. You share the list itself with edit rights, so colleagues see everything and can change it, or you share only a form, so they enter new data without seeing the rest of the list. This article shows how both work and when to pick which.
Share or use a form: which do you choose?
- Sharing with edit rights fits when colleagues work on the list together: changing items, updating statuses, adding comments or filtering in views.
- A form fits when people only need to submit something, such as a request, a sign-up or a report. They don't see what others entered.
New to Lists? Read getting started with Microsoft Lists first.
First: where does your list live?
Where your list is stored determines who already has access:
- If the list is in My lists, only you have access. So you always need to share it. Note: such a list belongs to your own account.
- If the list is on a SharePoint site or in a team, the members of that site or team already have access. Extra sharing is only needed for people outside that group.
For shared data, a site or team is almost always the better choice. Working with an older list that already lives on a site? Read how to use an existing SharePoint list in Microsoft Lists.
Share a list
- Open the list in Lists or in Teams.
- Select Share at the top right.
- Type your colleagues' names and choose Can edit, so they can add and change items. Choose Can view if they should only read along.
- Optionally add a short message, so they know what you expect.
- Select Send, or copy the link and paste it into a chat or email.
In the link settings you choose who the link works for: only specific people, people in your organization or, if your admin allows it, people outside the organization too. The exact names of these options can differ slightly.
Only fill in via a form
Should colleagues only add new data without seeing the whole list? Use the form that Lists creates itself:
- In the list, select Forms and create a new form.
- Give the form a title and choose which columns appear as questions. Hide columns meant only for you, such as a status or an internal note.
- Choose Publish form and copy the link.
- Share the link in an email, a channel or on a SharePoint page.
Every response becomes a new item in the list. Filling in the form doesn't give anyone access to the list itself.
Need more question types or branching? Then Microsoft Forms is an alternative. The responses don't land in your list by themselves, though; for that you need a Power Automate flow.
Tips for usable data
- Make the columns you really need required.
- Use a choice column instead of free text, so you can filter and group later.
- Use a person column for names, so you don't get spelling variants.
- Set a rule to get notified when someone adds an item or changes a value. More in rules and notifications in SharePoint.
- If the list lives in a team, add it as a tab in a channel. That way everyone can find it.
- Want your own input screen with extra logic? Create a Power App based on the list.
Common problems
A colleague gets "You don't have access".
The link probably only works for specific people. Share again with that person, or change the link settings.
Colleagues see each other's items, and they shouldn't.
Use a form. In the advanced list settings you can also set users to read and edit only their own items.
I can't share with someone outside the organization.
External sharing depends on the settings of the site and of SharePoint. Check with your admin.
Tip for admins
Lists uses the permissions and sharing settings of SharePoint. When you share a list with specific people, that list often gets its own permissions, separate from the site. That's harder to keep track of. Agree that shared lists live on a team site and that access preferably comes through the members of the site or team.
Nederlandstalige versie: Een lijst delen zodat collega's gegevens kunnen invullen