Auto incrementing number ID in a List

Today one of my user wanted a Auto incrementing number/ ID in a list .

We have a Out of box ID which keeps on incrementing in a list .
Out of box the column is not added in the view . we have to add it by going to the Modify this view .
Check the box for ID and get it to the top by changing the number in front of it to 1.

there are limitations to this ID .

The ID keeps incrementing if you delete any item the ID doesnt start from 1 .

its just keeps incrementing . you cannot reset the ID .

You cannot rename the column ID.

to reset the ID you need to create a new list and copy/move over the contents to the new list . 

How to find out the ID of a site collection .

1. Open the Central Administration


2. Application Management


3. SharePoint Site Management


4. site collection quotas and locks

Select the appropriate site collection  and you will get the ID of that specific site collection



How to find out the ID of a subsite:

1. Save the current site as site template[.STP extension]


2. Save it to disk somewhere.


3. Now, navigate to that location and rename the file to .CAB extension.


4. Extract the CAB file and find the manifest.xml file.


5. Now, in the file check for the site ID/TemplateID string and get the value.


6. Navigate to end of this post for the TemplateID to Name mapping.

How to find out the List ID:

1. Navigate to the SharePoint list using the browser.


2. Select the Settings + List Settings menu command.


3. Copy the URL from the browser address bar into Notepad. It will look something like:

https://personal.collaborationtools.consumer.citigroup.net/personal/ag14178/_layouts/listedit.aspx?List=%7B47F2F5E2%2D6474%2D4929%2DB986%2D64BBE801C97A%7D



Delete everying before and including “List=”.

Change “%7B” to “{”

Change all “%2D” to “-“

Chnage “%7D” to “}”

You are now left with the Id:



{47F2F5E2-6474-4929-B986-64BBE801C97A}