If you’ve ever asked, “Why can’t I find my files in SharePoint?”—you’re not alone. One of the biggest gaps in SharePoint training is understanding and using views in document libraries. Most end users are never shown how to create or switch views, yet this simple feature is one of the easiest ways to organise, filter and actually find your files fast. In this post, I’ll show you why custom views matter and how fixing this one thing can change the way you work in SharePoint as well as give you the five views that I recommend setting up (and use myself) in almost every library build.
Custom Views in SharePoint
Custom views in SharePoint let you change how you see files in a document library so that the most important ones are easier to find. Instead of scrolling through everything or using search, you can create a view that only shows the files you care about—like documents for your team, items due this week, or files you’ve created. You can sort, filter, or group them however you like, without moving or copying anything. It’s a quick way to make your SharePoint library feel more organised and useful for your everyday work. To see the real power of views and learn how to create one, refer to the following post on How to Create a View.
The 5 SharePoint Views I Always Set Up First
1. Flat View (No Folders)
“If I’m using folders, I always build a flat view.”
Even if you’re working with folders you can still make things easier to navigate by creating a view that shows all files—no matter which folder they’re in.
Here’s how I handle it: I match each top-level folder to a value in a metadata column. So, if someone uploads a file into a folder called “Marketing,” the Function or Department column is set to “Marketing” too.
Why do this? Because it lets you sort, filter, and group files across the entire library—even when they’re stored in folders. It gives you the benefits of metadata while still working with the folder habits people are used to.
2. Auto-Tagged by Folder View
“There’s nothing worse than untagged files when you’re filtering.”
I take it a step further by making the metadata apply automatically using folder-level default values. For example, if someone uploads a file into the Marketing folder, the Function column is automatically set to “Marketing.” No one needs to manually tag the file—and your views and filters work exactly as they should. Want to set this up? Just go to Library Settings > Column default value settings and assign a default value for each folder. I’ve created a step-by-step video to walk you through it—watch it here: How to Automatically Tag Metadata Folders in SharePoint.
3. “My View” – Your Personal Default
“I always create a view called ‘My View’—it’s clean, sorted how I like it, and I can find it fast.”
Whether you want documents sorted by modified date, grouped by document type, or filtered to show only your team’s content—this is your view.
Create it, name it something obvious and pin it as your default. There’s no better feeling than clicking into a document library and instantly seeing what you need.
4. Modified by Me or My Team – Last 30 Days
This is one of my go-to views when setting up a new library that is going to contain a lot of working documents across multiple teams. It filters the content to show only files that have been updated in the last 30 days and were modified by you or your team. It’s ideal for staying across recent activity without getting lost in updates from the entire organisation. I use it to keep the focus on what matters—current work, team contributions and active documents. To create it, filter the Modified column to “is greater than [Today]-30” and the Modified By column to either “is equal to [Me]” or include specific team members. It’s a powerful way to stay on top of your team’s work at a glance.
5. Needs Attention / Untagged Files
This is one of the most underrated but valuable views you can create—especially in libraries that rely on metadata. It filters for items where a key metadata column “is empty,” helping you instantly spot documents that were uploaded without being properly tagged. Whether it’s due to a rushed upload or someone skipping metadata altogether, this view gives you a quick way to catch and clean up anything that’s slipped through the cracks—before it causes bigger problems with sorting, filtering, or search.
Bonus Views You Might Love
By Document Type: Group or filter by ‘Policy’, ‘Template’, ‘Procedure’, etc.
By Created By (You): Filter to Created by [Me] to find your own uploads fast
Approaching Review Date: If using metadata or retention columns, set up a view to show content coming up for review
Checked Out Files: Only shows items currently checked out—great for tracking bottlenecks
Keep Simplifying SharePoint
You’ve learned how to make SharePoint work smarter — now take it further. Explore Simply SharePoint’s growing library of courses, bundles, and templates designed to help you build clean, organized, and AI-ready environments that actually work.
Further Resources
Podcast
Want to explore further about views? My latest podcast episode, “Beyond the Basics: Why Your Microsoft 365 Training Is Falling Short (And How to Fix It!)”, explores this and other training gaps across Microsoft 365.
5 SharePoint Views Guide
I also created a slide show of my top 5 views that you can view and download below.
