Lists, libraries, items, documents, and other apps

Lists, libraries, items, documents, and other apps

In SharePoint 2013, Microsoft has introduced a new feature called “Apps”. As per MSDN, Apps for SharePoint are self-contained pieces of functionality that extend the capabilities of a SharePoint website. Lists, Libraries, Calendars, Discussion boards, Surveys are all called “Apps”. For example, a Custom List template is now called a “Custom List App” and a Document Library template is now a “Document Library App”.

Every site template includes some predefined lists that are created when you construct a site using that template. For example, a team site provides a Documents library, a Site Assets library, a Site Pages library, and a few other predefined lists and libraries. Regardless of the site template you start from, you can always create new lists, libraries, and content, as well as activate features to customize your site.


You can browse the contents of these lists and libraries, and, if you have the proper permissions, you can create new apps, which can be lists of contents, libraries, or custom apps either taken from the public marketplace or installed from the corporate catalog. Consider that in SharePoint 2013, everything is called an app. However, a list or a library is still what it is—nothing more and nothing less. You can also add items to already existing lists or upload new files (for libraries) by simply dragging and dropping them from the file system to the webpage.

When you want to create a new app, you simply click the gear icon, which is located in the upper-right corner of the webpage, and then select Add An App. As shown in Figure, you’ll see the Apps You Can Add list, from which you can select the type of app that you would like to create

If none of the supplied templates of lists and libraries quite fits your needs, you can try or buy an app from the marketplace, and you can install an app from a corporate catalog. Of course, in order to access these, your farm should be connected to the Internet and configured for supporting apps.