Use a screen reader to create a custom view of a document library in SharePoint Online

This article is for people who use a screen reader program such as Windows Narrator, JAWS, or NVDA with Microsoft 365 products. This article is part of the Microsoft 365 screen reader support content set where you can find more accessibility information on our apps. For general help, visit Microsoft Support.

Use SharePoint in Microsoft 365 with your keyboard and a screen reader to create a custom view of a document library to display items in a way that makes sense for you. We have tested it with Narrator, JAWS, and NVDA, but it might work with other screen readers as long as they follow common accessibility standards and techniques. You'll learn how to add and arrange columns. You'll also learn how to customize the view by sorting, grouping, or filtering items.

Notes:

New Microsoft 365 features are released gradually to Microsoft 365 subscribers, so your app might not have these features yet. To learn how you can get new features faster, join the Office Insider program.
To learn more about screen readers, go to How screen readers work with Microsoft 365.
When you use SharePoint in Microsoft 365, we recommend that you use Microsoft Edge as your web browser. Because SharePoint in Microsoft 365 runs in your web browser, the keyboard shortcuts are different from those in a desktop program. For example, you’ll use Ctrl+F6 instead of F6 for jumping in and out of the commands. Also, common shortcuts like F1 (Help) and Ctrl+O (Open) apply to the web browser – not SharePoint in Microsoft 365.

In this topic

Add a column
Hide a column
Arrange the columns in a document library
Sort items in a document library
Filter items in a document library
Group items in a document library
Delete an item in a document library
Name and save a custom view in a document library
Set the default view for a document library
Delete a custom view of a document library

Add a column

Go to the document library where you want to add a column.
In the List view, press the Tab key until you hear: “Toggle selection for all items." With JAWS, you hear: "Entering table."
Press the Right arrow key until you hear “Add column," and press Enter. The Add Column menu opens.
To move through the column options, press the Down arrow key until you hear the option you want, and then press Enter. The Create a column dialog box opens with the focus on the Column name edit box.
Type a name for the new column.
Press the Tab key until you reach the Save button and press Enter. The column is added to the right of your existing columns.

Hide a column

Go to the document library where you want to hide a column.
In the List view, press the Tab key until you hear: “Toggle selection for all items." With JAWS, you hear: "Entering table."
Press the Right arrow key until you hear the name of the column you want to hide and press Enter. The column menu opens.
Press the Down arrow key until you hear “Column settings,” and then press the Right arrow key to expand the menu item.
Press the Down arrow key until you hear “Hide this column,” and press Enter.

Arrange the columns in a document library

Go to the document library which has the columns that you want to arrange.
In the List view, press the Tab key until you hear: “Toggle selection for all items." With JAWS, you hear: "Entering table."
Press the Right arrow key until you hear the name of the column you want to move, and press Enter. The column menu opens.
Press the Down arrow key until you hear “Column settings,” and then press the Right arrow key to expand the menu item.
To move the column, press the Down arrow key until you hear either "Move left" or "Move right," and press Enter. The column moves one step to the left or right.

Repeat the steps from 2 to 5 for each column you want to move.

Sort items in a document library

Go to the document library which has the columns that you want to sort.
In the List view, press the Tab key until you hear: “Toggle selection for all items." With JAWS, you hear: "Entering table."
Press the Right arrow key until you hear the name of the column you want to sort the items by, and press Enter. The column menu opens.
The available sorting options depend on the type of data found in that column, for example, A to Z, Older to newer, or Smaller to larger. To select an option, press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the option you want, and press Enter.

The order of the items in the library is changed and the focus moves to the first library item.

Filter items in a document library

Go to the document library which has the columns that you want to filter.
In the List view, press the Tab key until you hear: “Toggle selection for all items." With JAWS, you hear: "Entering table."
Press the Right arrow key until you hear the name of the column you want to filter the items by, and press Enter. The column menu opens.
Press the Down arrow key until you hear “Filter by,” and then press Enter. The Filter by dialog box opens.
Press the Tab key once to move the focus to the list of the available filtering values. The values available depend on the data in that column. For example, if you filter by the Modified column, you can select dates.
Press the Down arrow key until you hear the filtering value you want, and press Spacebar to select it. You can select multiple values.
To apply your selections, press the Tab key until you hear "Apply," and press Enter. Only items that match the value you've chosen are displayed in the list.

Note: To remove a filter, move to the column with the filter, open the column menu, press the Down arrow key until you hear "Filter by,” and press Enter. Press the Tab key until you hear "Clear all," and press Enter. Press Shift+Tab until you hear "Apply," and press Enter.

Group items in a document library

Go to the document library which has the columns that you want to group.
In the List view, press the Tab key until you hear: “Toggle selection for all items." With JAWS, you hear: "Entering table."
Press the Right arrow key until you hear the name of the column you want to group the items by, and press Enter. The column menu opens.
Press the Down arrow key until you hear “Group by,” followed by the name of the column, and press Enter.

The documents in your library are grouped by the value you selected. For example, the items in the Modified column are grouped by the date on which they were changed.

Delete an item in a document library

Go to the document library which has the item that you want to delete.
Press the Tab key until you hear the first or the currently selected item in the list of files and folders.
Press the Up and Down arrow keys until you hear the item you want to delete.
Press Shift+F10 to open the context menu.
In the context menu, press the Down arrow key until you hear “Delete,” and press Enter. The Delete dialog box opens with the focus on the Cancel button.
Press the Tab key until you hear "Delete button," and then press Enter. The item is moved to the Recycle Bin, and the focus returns to the library list.

Name and save a custom view in a document library

Once you're happy with the customized view, just give the view a name and save it. The custom view is added to the list of views.

To indicate that the view has unsaved changes, at the top right of the document library page, an asterisk appears next to the name of the view. For example, if you made changes to the All Documents view, your screen reader announces it as "All documents, asterisk."

Press the Tab key until you hear: “Command bar.”
Press the Left or Right arrow key until you hear “All documents view,” and press Enter.
Press the Down arrow key until you hear “Save view as,” and press Enter. The Save as dialog box opens with the focus in the Save current view or type a new name edit box.
Type a new name for the view.
To save your changes, press the Tab key until you hear "Save button," and press Enter.

Your custom view is added to the view menu of the document library and the asterisk next to the view name is removed.

Set the default view for a document library

To set the default view for a document library, you must have library owner or admin permissions for that library. For more information, refer to Settings for views.

Delete a custom view of a document library

To delete a custom view of a document library, you must have library owner or admin permissions for that library. For the steps to delete a custom view of a document library, refer to Delete a view.

Technical support for customers with disabilities

Microsoft wants to provide the best possible experience for all our customers. If you have a disability or questions related to accessibility, please contact the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk for technical assistance. The Disability Answer Desk support team is trained in using many popular assistive technologies and can offer assistance in English, Spanish, French, and American Sign Language. Please go to the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk site to find out the contact details for your region.

If you are a government, commercial, or enterprise user, please contact the enterprise Disability Answer Desk.