Truncate "Multiple lines of text" column in Sharepoint Online

Question

Hi guys,

I would like to ask if there's someone here who could verify if it's possible/there's a way to truncate "Multiple lines of text" column in a sharepoint online list.

Like to limit the number of columns in a multiple lines of text column on a sharepoint list.

Even if it's through a 3rd party or scripting, just wanted to verify if it's somewhat possible. Thank you!

Answer 1

Hi RaizelX,

Thanks for posting in the community, according to your description, I did some research and tests on my side, but I can’t reproduce your situation since I’m little confused about “truncate”, and you also said that “limit the number of columns in a multiple lines of text column on a sharepoint list”, regarding the “columns”, I can only think of two points:

1.    Limit the number of columns of the tables in the content.

2.    Limit the number of columns of the list.

I’m sorry I can’t provide an accurate suggestion without some detailed information, could you please point out your needs in detail? For example, you can post some screenshot of your expected results.

In addition, we can indeed format the "Multiple lines of text" column by adding JASON, here are some related articles that I hope will be helpful to you:

-      List and library column types and options

-      Column formatting

-      Use column formatting to customize SharePoint

Best Regards,

Arck

Answer 2

Hi Arck,

The 3rd article you sent to me seems promising. 

Basically, when you create a sharepoint list. You can add different columns right? I'm specifically asking about the "Multiple lines of text" column.

For that column, based on the 1st article you've sent to me. "A Multiple lines of text column can store up to 63,999 characters" so imagine your 1 sharepoint online list entry has 30k characters for the multiple lines of text column. 

On the image that I've attached, the column "Description" is a "Multiple lines of text" column so we can enter up to 63,999 characters there. Imagine having that many, what do you think will happen if one of your entry has that many characters for that column. It's going to eat up the display page right? So youre going to scroll down and down just to see the next entry. 

So, I'm checking if there's any way to truncate/limit how big that column can "display" on the list page. So like, limiting it only up to 5 columns and then like add a See more option if the column has more characters to it.

I hope I'm clear about this. 

With all that being said, do you think we can achieve it by adding JSON?

Thank you!

Answer 3

Hi RaizelX,

Thanks for your response, I can fully understand your needs now, according to this article: Use column formatting to customize SharePoint**, I believe that there is a way to use JSON to limit the text display in the multiple lines of text column, like we can set it to show only two lines, and there is a button to expand the hidden part.

I did some research and test and try my best to do this, but I failed, I don't have the ability to provide the effective JSON codes.

I’m sorry for this, considering that your question may need to scripting, I would like to suggest you post a new thread in MSDN or SharePoint Community, these are our dedicated platforms that can cope with the related questions and issues.

We are willing to help you, but we are afraid of providing any incorrect understandings that may not benefit for you, we sincerely hope you can get these problems resolved with the help of experienced supports and community members' help. We also welcome any community members to share new ideas about your problems if one has related experiences.

Also, I found a idea in UserVoice with the same problem as yours, users want to have an option to achieve this directly, you can vote for it or post a new one, it is the best way to let the related team hear your needs, anyone’s suggestion could have a chance to be adopted be Microsoft.

Reference: Add an option to truncate/show all by default "Multiple lines of text" column in a Sharepoint list

I hope the above information can help you, your understanding will be highly appreciated!

Best Regards,

Arck