Modern SharePoint has some advantages, I love the modern pages and use them every day. But the modern lists and libraries drive me crazy. They just take up far too much real-estate when we’re working with tons of data; we have to click far more times than was necessary in classic view; and you can’t create views from scratch, you can only edit or save-as on existing views. There was and is nothing wrong with classic SharePoint lists and libraries in my opinion. This is how much space we used to have in SharePoint 2010 – compare that to how much of our actual data we can see in modern SharePoint Online, it’s madness how much screen space we’ve lost. Companies work with tons of operational data; we need to be able to see what we are doing and more than 5 and half records at a time.

I like to get the best of both worlds and blend modern and classic by using modern pages for home pages, news, photos, policies and procedures, and any other static information. And then force the lists and libraries into classic. You can do this one at a time, or do it for the whole site collection.

Click on Site Settings > Site Information > View All Site Settings > Site Collection Features. Scroll down to this feature and activate it.

It does not affect your ability to have modern pages on the site. Win win.

PS : Don’t do this if you are planning on using PowerApps all over the site. Then rather switch the modern experience off on an individual basis. To do this, click on the list or library you want changed, then Site Settings > List / Library Settings > Advanced Settings. Scroll all the way down to the bottom and toggle as needed.

And now I’m going to sit and wait for people to freak out just because I don’t like modern lists….. 😀 #LoveTheSharePointCommunity