Rules for Microsoft Lists are starting to roll out. Rules offer new opportunities for users to extend the functionality of their Lists without the relying on IT and without the steep learning curve that is sometimes associated with new technology. In this blog post I am going to walk through the experience of creating Rules using my favorite Microsoft Lists template, the Issue tracker.

Rules can be found in the “Automate” menu and provide you options to “Create a rule” and “Manage rules”. Rules are currently limited to email notifications. I am hopeful that this list of actions will expand in the future.

Scenario 1: A new item is created

Our first scenario will notify the person assigned to a new issue when it is created. From the Issue tracker list:

• Click Automate and then click Create a rule.
• Select A new item is created.

• Select the Assigned to column and then click Create.

• The Manage rules screen will confirm your new rule and allow you to disable, edit and delete as required.
  

• When the rule is triggered the person assigned to a new issue will receive the following message:

Scenario 2: A column value changes

Our second scenario will notify the person who raised the issue to let them know that it has been resolved. From the Issue tracker list:

• Click Automate and then click Create a rule.
• Select A column value changes.

• Set When to the “Status” column, is to the “Complete” value and send email to to the “Issue logged by” column and then click Create.

• When the rule is triggered the person who raised the issue will receive the following message:

Scenario 3: A column changes

Our third scenario will notify the assigned to person if the due date changes. From the Issue tracker list:

• Click Automate and then click Create a rule.
• Select A column changes.

• Set “When” to “Due Date” and “send email to” to “Assigned to”.

• When the rule is triggered the person assigned to the issue will receive the following message:

Scenario 4: An item is deleted

Our fourth and final scenario is to notify the assigned to person if the issue has been deleted. In the “real-world” you would probably create a clone of this rule to also notify the person who raised the issue. From the Issue tracker list:

• Click Automate and then click Create a rule.
• Select An item id deleted.

• Set send email to to the “Assigned to” column

• When the rule is triggered the person assigned to the issue will receive the following message:

The Manage rules screen will allow you to enable or disable, modify and delete rules. It is important to note that only 15 rules can be created for any one list.

List Rules offer new opportunities for users to work smarter using simple event driven automations with no technical debt and no reliance on tradition IT. When you consider the other investments into Microsoft Lists like the dedicated apps (M365 & mobile), column/view formatting, form customizations and so on, Lists becomes a platform for transforming your users business data into its own turn-key solution.

Thanks for reading.

NY

• Microsoft Lists
• SharePoint