Bulk Field Management in SharePoint Lists with the Commander Tool

Lists are, hands down, one of the most powerful features of SharePoint. As both an administrator and a developer, I often prefer lists over libraries. From a technical perspective, lists and libraries are almost interchangeable—both store items, both support metadata, and both integrate with views and workflows.

But if you’ve ever worked extensively with lists, you’ve probably encountered one of the biggest frustrations: field (column) creation and management.

The Pain of List Field Management

Through the native SharePoint interface, list field creation is a time-consuming process.

• Using List Settings – You’re forced into a multi-step process: navigate to settings, select Create Column, configure properties, save, and repeat… for every single field.

• Using Quick Add via Headers – While you can add simple columns directly from the list view, this approach still requires multiple clicks, and it lacks flexibility for more advanced field types.

Microsoft’s own documentation confirms that column creation is intentionally designed to be “one at a time”:

Validated Context: How SharePoint Handles Column Creation

“To add a column to a list or library, select Add column … Configure your options and select Save. Repeat this process for each additional column you want to create.”— Microsoft, Add a column to a list or library (2024) Source

For small lists, this is acceptable. But for any enterprise scenario—migrations, structured metadata implementations, or solution development—managing fields this way quickly becomes inefficient.

How the Commander Tool Solves This

The Commander Tool removes these bottlenecks by introducing bulk field management:

• Bulk Field Creation Modal – Instead of creating fields one-by-one, you can enter an entire set of field names and configure types in a single session.

• CSV Import – If you have a file with all the fields defined, Commander lets you import it and assign field types on the fly.

• Bulk Export & Import – Field definitions can be exported for reuse across environments or imported to instantly replicate configurations.

• Full Range of Types – Every standard SharePoint column type is supported, including text, choice, number, lookup, date/time, and more.

Bulk processing isn’t an afterthought—it’s a cornerstone of the Commander Tool’s design.

Why This Matters

In practice, this capability changes how administrators and developers work:

• Rapid Prototyping – Define all list fields up front and spin up working prototypes in minutes, not hours.

• Migrations – Move list structures between sites or farms with confidence and repeatability.

• Consistency – Reduce human error by leveraging predefined CSV files or templates.

• Scalability – Whether you’re defining 5 fields or 50, the process takes the same streamlined path.

Closing Thought

SharePoint lists are powerful, but Microsoft’s out-of-the-box experience for field creation is still very manual. With the Commander Tool, you can work smarter—building, scaling, and managing lists with bulk precision rather than repetitive clicks.