Direct Sync of SharePoint Lists with KanBo

Table of Contents

Prerequisites

This article describes how to install a component that is only available for the on-premises version of KanBo. This feature is not available for the M365 version.

This component requires you to create a connection between a SharePoint list and a card template. To do so, you will need the access to:

  • The space with the desired card template,
  • The SharePoint list.

You need the Setup role to access the plugin UI for configuration.

Modifying the KanBo appsettings.json file

This component is not loaded by default, so you must specify it in your KanBo’s appsettings.json file.

To enable the component:

  1. Add “splist-to-card” to the “Plugins” section of the file.
  1. Restart KanBo.

Setting up a SharePoint list and a card template for integration

In the card template that you created, the name of each card element will be referenced in the corresponding SharePoint list column (x -> KanBo_x). For example, if you create a note titled “Customer” in the card template, the SharePoint list column that stores information about the note’s content will be named “KanBo_Customer”.

However, there are three exceptions to this rule:

  • The name of the card is always “KanBo_CardTitle“,
  • The start date of the card is always “KanBo_StartDate”,
  • The due date of the card is always “KanBo_DueDate”.

There is also a naming convention. Element names from KanBo cards are processed without spaces. For example, the name “Customer Info” in the card becomes “KanBo_CustomerInfo” in the SharePoint list.

  1. Create a card template that meets your needs. Below is an example of what a card template could look like:
  1. This is what the SharePoint list based on this card template should look like:

A couple of important things to note when it comes to column types:

  • The “KanBo_CardTitle” column should always be a single line of text.
  • Any column referencing a KanBo date should also be a date column.
  • If the date column does not include a time, KanBo will set the time to 12:00 a.m.
  • When using the multiple line of text column to add breaks to the note content or multiple items to a checklist, always switch “Use enhanced rich text” off (see the red frame below).

Validating and adding the connection

To add the connection:

  1. Go to the plugins page by adding /plugins/splist to your KanBo URL.

If you have the necessary KanBo permissions, you should see the following:

  1. Enter the URL of your SharePoint list and the ID of your card template, which you can find in the URL when you open it.
  2. Select Validate.
  1. Check which list columns reference which elements in the specified card template, and make sure there are no unhandled columns.
  2. If everything is validated properly, select Add.
  3. After adding the connection, a new card will automatically be created in the space hosting the card template each time a new item is created in a list.

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