SharePoint StrawberryTwo hundred list rows updated while you read the diff
A companion inspects the list’s real field names, cross-checks every row against the systems you are signed into, and proposes the whole batch as one thing you approve.
The equipment request list started as four columns and a view. It now has eleven columns, three hundred rows, and an approval convention encoded in a status field. Every quarter somebody exports it to Excel, fixes forty rows and pastes them back, which is how the version from the eleventh of March got overwritten.
A companion does the quarter in one pass. It inspects the list’s columns and their real API-facing names, reads the rows that match the filter, checks each one against the ticketing tool and the finance sheet in the tabs you are signed into, and proposes the forty changes as a single batch with a result per row.
| Copilot and the SharePoint UI | A Strawberry companion | |
|---|---|---|
| Answering a question from site content | Indexed and permission-aware | Reads the list, library and rows you point it at |
| Cross-checking rows against another system | Export and compare by hand | Reads both in one pass and patches the mismatches |
| Updating 200 list rows from another system | Export, edit, re-import | Batched writes with per-row results and ETag guards |
| Restoring a row or file to an earlier version | Yes, through the UI | Listed and restored as a tool, guarded by the current ETag |
| Replacing a document’s contents | Upload a new version | Whole-file overwrite, staged for approval; no partial edit exists |
| Creating a new list or deleting one | Yes, with site permissions | Possible, but requires elevated Sites.Manage.All scope |
What happens when two people edit the same row?
The row you are updating carries an ETag, a marker of the version that was read.
Updates and deletes can be bound to it, so a write built on a stale read fails instead of quietly overwriting somebody’s change.
Version history is a tool here, not an afternoon of scrolling. A companion lists the retained versions of a row with their historical values, reads one, and restores it, guarded by the current ETag so it cannot land on top of an edit made in the meantime.
Update the list without the Excel round trip
Inspect the columns, so field names are the API’s and not the display labels.
Read the rows that match the filter. Propose the forty changes as a batch, applied by unique key so a missing row is created and an existing one updated.
The gate sits before the batch, and what comes back afterwards is a ledger: which rows were created, which updated, which failed and why.
- Column inspection first, so writes use real field names rather than guesses.
- Up to 200 rows created, updated or deleted per batch, with per-operation results.
- Upsert by an indexed unique key column when you do not know what already exists.
- ETag guards on single-row updates, deletes and version restores.
Why is updating a library file the riskiest request here?
Because the file-update tools replace a document’s complete contents.
The write is a whole-file overwrite, so a misread instruction replaces all of it, which is why the request stops for approval.
The recovery path is the version tool: retained versions of a library file are listed newest-first and restored as the current version with the history preserved. Sharing has its own gates: a new link defaults to organisation-only and read-only, invitations grant read or write on one exact item, and listing effective permissions answers "who can see this" without opening anything.
Read the list, patch the forty rows that disagree
Read the list, cross-check each row against the ticketing tool and the finance sheet you are signed into, patch the forty that disagree, and file the exceptions where a person will see them. One instruction, three systems, one ledger at the end.
That is the same shape as any recurring operations job, next door to what the OneDrive tools do for personal files. Run it quarterly as a routine and the export-fix-import ritual stops existing.
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