How do I set up certain types of data in an imported Microsoft List?

William Thompson 120 Reputation points
2024-02-12T23:17:53.5066667+00:00

I have moved a Microsoft List from one shared platform to my platform. The way I did this was to first download it as an Excel file to my local computer. Then I formatted the CSV data to be an actual Table in Excel. Then I saved this into an Excel Workbook file.

Now, I assume it goes without saying that, doing all this and using the resulting file to upload and create a new Microsoft List would mean that all the data type information is lost and each column would be assumed to be text.

After I have used the Excel Workbook file to set up the new Microsoft List, I am taken to the "Customize" phase where I can define the column type. I can match the "Title" column to be the same as the Microsoft List I am copying from. I can set data types defined as Choice to be a Choice type. But here I come to my first question. How do I further set up a Choice data types to be a set of types and have them color-coded as they are in the List I am copying from?

And here is my second question. A few of the columns are Person types. How do I set up a Person type? The Person option is not even available as an option in the Customize phase.

The only options I am given are:

  • Single Line of Text
  • Multiple Line of Text
  • Choice
  • Title
  • Do Not Import
Excel
Excel
A family of Microsoft spreadsheet software with tools for analyzing, charting, and communicating data.
1,830 questions
SharePoint Development
SharePoint Development
SharePoint: A group of Microsoft Products and technologies used for sharing and managing content, knowledge, and applications.Development: The process of researching, productizing, and refining new or existing technologies.
2,938 questions
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Accepted answer
  1. Emily Du-MSFT 45,746 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor
    2024-02-13T10:05:29.22+00:00

    What does "set up a Choice data types to be a set of types" refer to?

    You could import data from an excel file into SharePoint list, but you cannot import color formatting from an excel file into SharePoint list. You should do color formatting directly in the SharePoint list.

    For people column, there is no OOTB way. You should use flow to import data from an excel file into SharePoint list.

    Here is a post about how to step by step to create a flow for your reference:

    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/1361772/specific-user-can-not-be-found-while-running-power


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