Microsoft introduced a new Image column type to SharePoint Online lists and libraries. Using this column, list and library users will be able to add a single image file from their computer to an item in a list or a library.

History & Roadmap

• Microsoft announced Image column first time via admin message center on July 31, 2020 (Message Center ID: MC219652).
• When it was added to Microsoft 365 roadmap, it was expected to complete the rollout of image column to all by mid-August 2020.
• On August 19, 2020, Microsoft delayed the rollout of this feature & updated the announcement stating, “To ensure the best possible experience for our users, we are delaying some of our deployments to reduce the amount of change flowing into the services.”
• Finally, Image column feature released to all SharePoint Online tenants in October 2020 release, Roadmap.

Creating an Image Column

Follow below steps to create an image column in a SharePoint Online list:

1. Go to SharePoint Online list where you want to create an image column.
2. Click on Add column in list view and select Image. If you are not able to see the Image column option, then click on More…
3. Name your column and make sure type is selected as Image.
4. You can specify additional column settings as per your requirements and then click OK

When you create an Image column, it will be shown as a Thumbnail column in Columns section under list settings:

Adding Image to list items

When you create a new item in list, Image column will be shown like below on list form. When you click on Add an image, you will be able to add a single image file from your computer to an item.

After you select an image from computer, the file name will be shown in the form. If you want to replace the image, you can click on Edit icon.

Display in list view

Once you Save the list form, Image column will show the thumbnail of selected image in list view. If you want to see the image in full size, you need to click on image thumbnail in list view.

Where the Images will be stored?

After adding images to your SharePoint list items, you must be wondering about where these images will be stored in your SharePoint Online site.

Image columns in SharePoint online stores the images by default in a sub folder inside Site Assets library which has format in general like Site Assets –> Lists –> <GUID of list>

Update: With the recent updates to SharePoint Online and Microsoft Lists, if the attachments option is enabled in your list, images will be stored in same SharePoint list and general format for image location will be like below as mentioned in the article, Download Image from SharePoint Image column using JSON formatting:

https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/MySite/Lists/MyList/Attachments/[ID]/[ImageFileName]

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See also

• Power Apps can now display images from SharePoint Online/Microsoft Lists
• Add, update, or delete images in SharePoint/Microsoft Lists using Power Apps
• Add/Update image columns in SharePoint lists using CLI for Microsoft 365
• Update image in SharePoint/Microsoft Lists Image columns using Power Automate
• Add/Update image columns in SharePoint/Microsoft Lists using PnP PowerShell