How to create a Gallery View on a Document Library

Many users probably do not realize this, but you can create a Gallery view on a Document Library. You might wonder why you would need to do so, as you are used to seeing a document library in a typical folder view. In this article, I will explain how to create a Gallery View on a document library and then provide a few use cases for you as well.

Step 1: Create a Gallery View

1. For me to demonstrate this example, I will use an existing Policies document library with metadata tags
2. In the upper-right-hand-corner, click on the Views drop-down and click on Create new view
3. Give your view a name, and make sure to select the Gallery button. Click Create.
4. The view is created at this point. However, it needs further configuration

Step 2: Configure the Gallery Card

1. Click on the Views drop-down again and choose Format current view
2. Next, click on the Edit card link
3. You can then choose the fields you want to display and their order on the card.
4. In my case, I hid the thumbnail and changed the order of the fields. Once you make the changes, click Save.
5. At this point, the Gallery view is created and ready for you to use.

Use Cases for creating a Gallery View on a document library

If you use a document library for collaboration, I believe you will be using the default list view (folders or metadata) on a day-to-day basis, so switching to Gallery View on a document library will be a pretty rare occurrence. However, there might be a few unique cases for you to consider.

• Provide an alternate view for documents when using metadata
• Provide a visually-appealing way to view folders
• Embed a few important documents from a given document library on a SharePoint page
• Display document sets in a visually appealing format