Have you ever looked at a SharePoint List? I mean, really LOOKED at it?

Remember the SharePoint Custom Column Pack? Bah, of course you do. Since you purchased it (you did purchase it, right?), it's helped you simplify your data entry, maintain consistent list information, and make the use of lookup columns the rewarding experience it was always meant to be.

Well, I don't know if I mentioned this before, but to be honest, we've got pretty big plans for the Custom Column Pack. As you're probably aware, there's a lot more to SharePoint lists that can be improved upon besides just lookup columns, and "the pack" is where we plan to do a lot of it. And while you've been frittering away your summer watching this guy do laps in a pool, we here at Bamboo have been chugging away, adding arms and legs to the Voltron-like monster that is our SharePoint Custom Column Pack.

Bamboo Rich Text

Yes, we know -- most of you treat SharePoint lists like online Excel spreadsheets, and no, there's nothing inherently wrong with that. But you are limiting yourself; out-of-the box SharePoint includes a Rich Text column, which enables you to fill a field with long-form, styled text (you know, the kind of thing you'd normally see in a Word document). That's pretty cool, as it allows you to store more complex text data without resorting to the use of a document library (plus you can edit it without using Office), but we've gone ahead and made it cooler.

First of all, we've added spell-check -- if you're going to be entering in full-text knowledge base articles or design documents, or even some friendly feedback, you're going to want to make sure things are spelled correctly. With Bamboo Rich Text, it's easy to do exactly that; just click spell-check, and right there, corrections are recommended and can be implemented in-line. Look, you just spelled "antidisestablishmentarianism" correctly... in a SharePoint list!

Next, we've improved the usually dicey process that's required to embed images into a Rich Text field. If you're uploading a new image file, and you're in SharePoint, shouldn't the new image go into (wait for it...) a SharePoint Picture Library? Doesn't that make more sense than secretly sticking "000000XYX1.jpg" in some obscure location? With Bamboo Rich Text, you simply select the Picture Library to use when you create the column, and all new images are placed there by default.

There are a few other goodies, too (ahem... CSS style support), but if you're going to be doing heavy duty, longer form editing within a SharePoint list, these features alone make Bamboo Rich Text a better way to do your business.

Bamboo Visual Indicator

It's okay to admit it -- sometimes, when scrolling through hundreds or thousands of list items, you miss one. Or two. Or fifty. Believe it or not, people weren't meant make decisions based on their ability to distinguish between small blocks of slightly differing text. Why do you think traffic lights exist? Imagine if they just said "STOP", "SLOW", and "GO" in tiny, monochromatic letters -- I'd be lucky to have even made it to work this morning.

So if you're roaring through your SharePoint lists and missing items you should be looking at, maybe the answer lies in making your lists a little less textual and a little more visual. And therein lies the purpose of the Bamboo Visual Indicator, which takes data from one column (choice, lookup, percentage, etc.) and maps it into a the Visual Indicator column in the form of either a colored box, or progress bar. You can mark category-type items with the color bar (status, department, priority, and such), and percentage-type items with the progress bar, which also displays the actual, numeric percentage, in case you need more specific metrics than "about halfway done".

There's no shame in admitting you respond better to colors than words and numbers. The first step is admitting you have a problem -- the second is installing the free 15-day trial of Bamboo Visual Indicator.

The 4-Pack

With these two new additions, the SharePoint Custom Column Pack has bulked up to the "4-Pack", which includes these two new columns along with the previously chronicled Bamboo Selectors (which recently got some new features of their own). Plus, if you purchase the 4-Pack, you get a licensing bundle for the entire pack, which means you can activate the entire thing at once, instead of piece by piece. So for now, enjoy the new column types, and never fear -- we'll be back with more before you know it.

And if you think I'm not posting some kind of beer and/or abdomen-themed entry when this becomes the "6-Pack", you're crazy.