SharePoint list title column (Complete tutorial)

I know you want to understand the SharePoint list title column. In this tutorial, I will explain what is the title column in SharePoint list, how to change title column in SharePoint list. Also, we will see how to remove the title column from SharePoint list or document library, how to delete SharePoint list title column, etc.

I will show you how to rename the SharePoint list title column and how to work with the SharePoint list title column programmatically.

SharePoint list title column

Let us first try to understand what is the title column in a SharePoint list or document library?

By default when you will create a list or library, SharePoint will add a column as “Title” to the list or library. Apart from this, it will also add a few other columns like Created, Modified, CreatedBy, ModifiedBy, etc.

Like any other metadata, SharePoint list title column is a metadata column added to the list or library.

The title column is mandatory in a SharePoint list where as it is optional in a SharePoint document library.

The Title column is a main column that is used to open, edit and work with the items in a SharePoint list.

Another important usage of the Title column is that this column is used in the View settings in 3 ways: Display the Title in text format, text (linked to item), and text (linked to item with edit menu).

You can see below the title column in a SharePoint custom list. Here the Title is a mandatory column.

At the same time, if you have created a document library, then the Title column will not appear in the view. You can modify the view to add the Title column and it appears like below:

Do we always need the Title Column?

If the question coming to your mind, whether we really required the Title column in list or library? The answer is No, we do not always need the Title column.

Based on your requirement, we can rename the list title column, we can also hide the SharePoint list title column. In SharePoint list, we can also make the Title column as optional.

SharePoint does not allow us to delete the SharePoint list title column, neither it allows us to change the data type of the column.

Below are the different ways, we will see how we can use the SharePoint list title column.

SharePoint list change title column

Let us see how to change title column in SharePoint list? or how we can rename the SharePoint list title column.

If you are using the modern SharePoint list, click on the little arrow in the title column, then click on Column settings -> Rename.

Then it will show us a dialog box to provide a name like below:

Then click on the Save button, then you can see the Title column is renamed.

This is how we can rename the SharePoint list title column.

You may like to read, Power Automate Delete all items in SharePoint list.

Rename SharePoint list title column (Classic List)

To rename the SharePoint list Title column, go to the List Settings page, and then under the Columns section click on the Title column. Then change the Column name like below:

Then Save and the new column name will get reflected. Remember it will just change the display name of the column but the internal name will be same. The column will appear like below:

This is how we can rename SharePoint list column (classic list).

Also, read, How to change column order in SharePoint List new form (List View).

SharePoint list hide title column

Let us see how to hide SharePoint list or library title column.

To hide SharePoint list title column and to make the title as not required field follow the below step.

Open SharePoint List Settings or Library Settings page and from the list settings page click on “Advanced settings” link which is under the General Settings section.

Then in the Advanced Settings page, in the Content Type section select Yes on “Allow management of content types?” like below:

Then go back to the Settings page and you can see the Item content type link under the Content Types section like below:

For library, it will be Document content type.

Once you click on the content type you can see the Column in the Columns section of the Content type.

In the List Content Type page, you can see the columns here. Click on the Title column.

Then in the Change Content Type Column page, in the Column Settings, you can make your column as Required, Hidden, or Optional as shown in the fig above.

Once you choose the Option-click on OK. It will save the changes. This is how we can hide the title column in SharePoint list or document library.

Also, you may like, Disable attachments in SharePoint list.

Why you should not hide the title column in SharePoint list

In the above approach, you can easily hide the title column in the SharePoint document library. But if you will hide the title column in the SharePoint list, then you will loose the ECB menu that looks like below:

How to make SharePoint list title column optional

The title column in SharePoint list is a mandatory column, meaning you need to enter some value before saving an item to the SharePoint list.

To make the title column option in a SharePoint list, go to the same list content type page and then choose the option as Optional (May contain information) like below:

Then click on OK, then Title column will become an optional column in the SharePoint list.

Also, you may like to read, PowerApps: Submit data to two SharePoint Lists.

Change SharePoint list title column programmatically

Let us see now how to change SharePoint list title column programmatically using PnP CSOM.

Hide SharePoint List Title Column Programmatically

For this requirement, I have a SharePoint Online List as “TSInfo Project“. In this SharePoint Online List, I have totally four columns including “Title” column which is by default.

Here first, I will show you how to hide the SharePoint Online List “Title” column from the List content type.

Here we will see how to remove or hide SharePoint Online List “Title” Column programmatically from the List content type. Before hiding the Title column from List content type, It looks like below screenshot:

CSOM Code to Hide SharePoint Online List Title Column

using Microsoft.SharePoint.Client;
using OfficeDevPnP.Core;

public void HideTitleColumn()
        {
            try
            {
                AuthenticationManager authManager = new AuthenticationManager();
                var context = authManager.GetWebLoginClientContext
("SiteURL");
                Field field = context.Web.Lists.GetByTitle("TSInfo Project").Fields.GetByTitle("Title");
                context.Load(field);
                context.ExecuteQuery();
                field.Hidden = true;
                field.Update();
                context.ExecuteQuery();
                lblMessage.Text = "Title hidden successfully";            
            }
            catch (Exception)
            {
                throw;
            }
        }

Hence I have written this CSOM Code in button click, So when I clicked to button, then the code executed. Once the code will execute, it will appear like the below screenshot:

Here in this above CSOM Code, I have used a Label Toolbar to show the status message. I have written this label message in CSOM Code, that’s why the status message is showing as like “Title hidden successfully“.

Finally the result will display as shown in below:

In this above screenshot, You can see the “Title” column is removed from the List Content Type.

Rename SharePoint List Title Column Programmatically

Here we will see how we can rename SharePoint Online List “Title” Column programmatically in the List Content Type. Before renaming the Title column in the List Content Type, It looks like the below screenshot:

CSOM Code to Rename SharePoint List Title Column

using Microsoft.SharePoint.Client;
using OfficeDevPnP.Core;

public void RenameTitleColumn()
        {
            try
            {
                AuthenticationManager authManager = new AuthenticationManager();
                var context = authManager.GetWebLoginClientContext
("SiteURL");
                Field field = context.Web.Lists.GetByTitle("TSInfo Project").Fields.GetByTitle("Title");
                field.Title = "Project Title";
                field.Update();
                context.ExecuteQuery();
                lblRenameMessage.Text = "Title Renamed Successfully";
            }
            catch (Exception)
            {
                throw;
            }
        }

Hence I have written this CSOM Code in button click, So when I clicked to button, then the code executed. Once the code will execute, it will appear like the below screenshot:

In this above CSOM Code, I have used a Label Toolbar to show the status message. I have written this label message in CSOM Code, that’s why the status message is showing as like “Title Renamed successfully“.

Finally the result will display as shown in below:

In this above screenshot, You can see the “Title” column is renamed as “Project Title” in the List Content Type.

Make SharePoint List Title Column Optional Programmatically

Now, we will see how we can make SharePoint list Title column optional programmatically using PnP CSOM.

using Microsoft.SharePoint.Client;
using OfficeDevPnP.Core;

public void MakeTitleColumnOptional()
        {
            try
            {
                AuthenticationManager authManager = new AuthenticationManager();
                var context = authManager.GetWebLoginClientContext("https://onlysharepoint2013.sharepoint.com/sites/TSInfoTeam");
                Field field = context.Web.Lists.GetByTitle("TSInfo Project").Fields.GetByTitle("Title");
                context.Load(field);
                context.ExecuteQuery();
                field.Hidden = false;
                field.Required = false;
                field.Update();
                context.ExecuteQuery();
                lblMessage.Text = "Title hidden successfully";            
            }
            catch (Exception)
            {
                throw;
            }
        }

Once you run the above code, the Title column will become optional.

This is how we can make the list title column optional programmatically in SharePoint.

SharePoint list delete title column

Sometimes, you might not want to hide or rename the Title column from the SharePoint list or library, you just want to delete the title column.

We can not delete the title column in the SharePoint list. It does not allow us to delete. Rather we can make it hidden by following the above approach.

In case you delete the Title column from the content type, the title column will be removed from the list of document content type itself and that is not a good practice.

SharePoint list change title column type

By default the data type for the list title column in Single line text. And SharePoint does not allow us to change the SharePoint list change title column type.

You may like the following SharePoint list tutorials:

• How to display SharePoint list data in an HTML table using JavaScript
• How to Create a Canvas app from SharePoint List in PowerApps
• Create Collection from SharePoint List in PowerApps

In this SharePoint tutorial we learned:

• What is the title column in a SharePoint list or SharePoint document library
• How to change title column in sharepoint list or library
• SharePoint list rename title column
• How to hide list title column
• How to make SharePoint list title column optional
• How to hide SharePoint list title column programmatically using pnp
• How to rename SharePoint list title column programmatically using pnp
• How to make SharePoint list title column optional programmatically