Hide a SharePoint Field

Often for workflows, or to manage documents, it is useful to have a hidden field. I have seen a lot of tricks to do this (programatically add the field as hidden, set up a UI to be able to edit a list's hidden attributes, even changing the javascript on the edit page), but is there a way to do this out of the box, without needing to program?

Fortunately, the answer is yes, and it is pretty easy. You just need to do the following:

1) You need to allow management of content types. This option is in the List advanced settings. Make sure this is set to "Yes." Making this change will present additional configuration options in the List settings pages.

2) Now, find the column you want to hide in the List settings page. When you click on the column, you are presented with options for the column, including the ability to hide the column.


It's that simple! Now you can create a column for many purposes--I frequently use this feature to hold a status to facilitate workflows. The status can even be displayed in a view if needed, without it being editable in a New or Edit item page.

Good luck out there!