The following discusses the key differences between Microsoft lists and SharePoint lists and application fields.

What are Microsoft Lists?

Microsoft sums this up like this:

Track information. Organize work. Get things done.

Microsoft Lists are – as the name suggests – lists, namely SharePoint lists! As already known, these are available via the App Launcher in O365. These lists find their areas of application, e.g. for information exchange, task tracking or joint collaboration.

The setup is based on a SharePoint list and has four possible views: list, table shape similar to Excel, gallery, and calendar. The right display for many application areas.
These can also be further adapted to your wishes.

List views

Microsoft Lists vs. SharePoint Lists - Differences & Applications

As already mentioned, the “new” Microsoft lists are simply the already known SP lists, but with some extensions and customizations.

While lists in SP are only assigned to one web at a time, Microsoft lists are organizationally more flexible or should appear detached from them.
Basically, however, these are assigned to a web to be selected when creating and also appear in it.

Admittedly, it is also possible to create your own “organization web” with various lists for different areas and applications. But in terms of collaboration and customizing, Microsoft lists go one step further.

While standard SharePoint lists are designed more for data, the new Microsoft lists also include a certain social interaction aspect.
For example, integration with Teams, and the ability to leave comments on an item. The interface also offers more collaboration possibilities.
The missing link, which does not exist in the standard SharePoint list integration in Teams.

Timeline, Global Availability, and Integration

  • Starting at the end of June, the Microsoft Lists feature will be rolled out on a trial basis in Europe.
  • The official launch date is given in August.
  • The lists are integrated as a standalone app in O365 and in both Teams and SharePoint.
  • In addition, there are also new connectors in Power Automate.

For more information, see the more detailed information about Microsoft Lists. In addition, Microsoft provides a Youtube product demo. Browse through our posts and find out how we use lists internally!

Integrate Microsoft Lists into Outlook?

Microsoft provides a lot of standard functionalities for Lists, but there is no Outlook integration. If you need that, we recommend our O2S – Office 2 SharePoint. So you have every SharePoint or Microsoft List available in your Outlook and you can work with it directly from Outlook. For example, you can add mails or attachments to list entries, send one or more list entries as links, etc. Simply install and try it out for free.