SharePoint Essentials: Getting to Know Your List’s Column GUID

We require the column GUID in Sharepoint for various tasks, from customization to automation. In this blog, you will learn how you can easily locate your lists column GUIDs using two different methods.

Table of Contents:

1. Getting Column GUID by Using Sharepoint’s REST API
2. Getting Column GUID by Using URL

For this tutorial I will be working on the “Company Members” list, and will be retrieving the column GUID for the “Member ID” column

1. Getting Column GUID by Using Sharepoint’s REST API

1.1 Copy your site’s URL

• Open the site containing the list and copy its URL.
• In this case, my site’s URL will be:

https://SharepointSiteName.sharepoint.com/sites/CompanySite1

1.2 Making changes to the URL

• To the site’s URL, change and append the following link:

/_api/web/lists/getByTitle(‘Company Members’)/Fields

1.3 Obtaining the xml code

• After pasting and searching the link in the search engine, the xml code for the list shows up

1.4 Identifying column GUID

• Copy and paste your list’s xml code into any online xml formatter
• Then copy and paste the formatted code in notepad
• In notepad, press Ctrl + F and search the name of the field. The number after the ID is the field GUID

2. Getting Column GUID by Using Specified URL

2.1 Obtaining list GUID

• Open the list and go to the list settings

• After opening the list settings, the complete URL for the list is given at the top
• In this case, my list’s URL is

https://SharepointSiteName.sharepoint.com/sites/CompanySite1/_layouts/15/listedit.aspx?List=%7B653314f8-40c9-41f5-9876-ac51b64b1aef%7D

• The last part of this URL after “List=” represents the list’s GUID. Copy and paste the URL in notepad and replace the given terms in the GUID as follows:

1. %7B to {
2. %2D to –
3. %7D to }

• In this case, my list’s GUID will become:

{653314f8–40c9–41f5–9876-ac51b64b1aef}

2.2 Getting column GUID

• To view the column GUID and other information about the list, make changes and append the list GUID to the following link:

https://SharepointSiteName.sharepoint.com/sites/CompanySite1/_vti_bin/owssvr.dll?Cmd=ExportList&List=653314f8-40c9-41f5-9876-ac51b64b1aef

• Upon pasting and searching the newly created URL you will be prompted to download the xml file containing the information regarding the list.
• Open the downloaded file with either your browser or with notepad and search the column’s name

That’s IT Folks