Cannot remove required column!

Question

Greetings,

I added the pre-defined column "Active" (RoutingEnabled) column by accident to my content type in my sharepoint list. Now, I cannot edit it under "List Settings", "Site Settings", or under the individual content types. It is marked 'Required' and all three options are greyed out. When I choose to edit the column, I only have the option to edit the name, description, or JSON content. I am able to edit the column settings in the sharepoint list item view, but the settings do not stay after saving. How can I remove this field?

Thank you.

Answer 1

Dear PuddlePir8,

Good day! Thank you for posting to Microsoft Community. We are happy to help you.

As per your description, it seems that you are having issue deleting a pre-defined required column that has been added by accident.

We've noticed that the column is added to the content type in SharePoint list, as per Delete a site column from SharePoint - Microsoft Support has shared, we need to remove the column from content type referencing it. Given this, please check if you can remove the column from content type and then delete it.

For your reference: Remove columns from a content type - Microsoft Support

If the scenario above is not consistent with yours or any further assistance needed, please feel free to post back and point that, I will continue helping you. Meanwhile, any screenshots would be appreciated.

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding. We hope you stay safe and healthy always.

Sincerely,

Rhoda | Microsoft Community Moderator

Answer 2

Thank you for the reply. I cannot remove the column from the content types. When I go to the column settings under the content type all of the options are greyed out and there is only Ok/Cancel buttons available. Additionally, I am in Sharepoint modern.

Answer 3

Dear PuddlePir8,

We've done a quick test by "adding columns from existing site or list columns" to the Item content type as well by creating a new content type to test, and we cannot reproduce a similar situation in our test environment. We can remove the added column, and all three options are note greyed out either for the system column or the column we added. We've attached the screenshots of our test at end of our reply for your reference.

Given this, we're afraid that issue could be related to the background service which need to be checked from the backend, more resources need to be involved in to help you further.

In this situation, we sincerely recommend you contact your Microsoft 365 administrator, follow steps in this article to create a support ticket with Online Support. The support team over there has higher permission than us, they can remotely help check the situation on your side, involve more resource to collect logs and help you do troubleshoot. This would be a more efficient way in handling this case for you.

For reference: How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin?

Meanwhile, to help save time, we'd recommend you test with another user who has permission to edit content type in this site to check the outcome. This can help narrow down if the issue is related to account or site to help save time.

Sorry for the inconvenience again. Your patience and understanding are highly appreciated. Hope you stay safe and healthy.

Sincerely,

Rhoda | Microsoft Community Moderator

Screenshots of our test for your reference:

Add column to item content type in SharePoint list:

And remove button is there:

System column:

SharePoint admin center > Content type gallery: