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Row Actions

You can use column and view formatting to create buttons that perform pre-defined actions when clicked. This sample provides a quick format that demonstrates the use of each of the possible actions.

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Shared by Chris Kent
Updated Jul 31, 2025

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14 definitions

Review the requirements below, then paste this JSON into the matching formatting panel. Show me where.

Use your list's internal column names and replace any tenant-specific URLs or flow IDs. Formatting is presentation, not a way to secure data.

Column formatting
Download JSON
{
  "$schema": "https://developer.microsoft.com/json-schemas/sp/v2/column-formatting.schema.json",
  "elmType": "button",
  "customRowAction": {
    "action": "comment"
  },
  "attributes": {
    "class": "ms-fontColor-themePrimary ms-fontColor-themeDark--hover",
    "title": "Comment"
  },
  "style": {
    "border": "none",
    "background-color": "transparent",
    "cursor": "pointer"
  },
  "children": [
    {
      "elmType": "span",
      "attributes": {
        "iconName": "Comment",
        "class": "ms-font-xxl"
      }
    }
  ]
}
View sourceLink to this definitioncomment.json
Schema compatibility review notes

This historical definition differs from the pinned Microsoft schema. This may indicate an unsupported pattern or a schema limitation. Check the original requirements and test in your tenant before use.

  • /customRowAction/action must be equal to one of the allowed values
  • /customRowAction must match a schema in anyOf

From the contributor

How to use this sample

Summary

You can use column and view formatting to create buttons that perform pre-defined actions when clicked. This sample provides several quick formats that demonstrates the use of each of the possible actions.

These samples are all built for column formatting, but these can be easily adapted to work with view formatting.

Custom row actions only work when placed inside of button, div, or span elements. However, you can adjust the element's styles/children to customize the look entirely (you can even wrap your entire format in a button - see Bulletin Board for an example).

screenshot of the sample

Actions are supported in lists and libraries in SharePoint and Microsoft Lists

screenshot of the sample - document library

Some actions, however, are only supported in document libraries

defaultClick (generic-rowactions.json)

This action will open the list item. This is equivalent to double-clicking an item.

screenshot of defaultClick

editProps (editProps.json)

This action will open the list item in edit mode. This is equivalent to double-clicking an item and then pressing Edit all.

screenshot of editProps

share (share.json)

This action will launch the Share dialog for an item. This is equivalent to selecting the item and then pressing the Share command bar button.

screenshot of share

This action will launch the Copy Link dialog for an item and copy the link to the clipboard. This is equivalent to selecting the item and then pressing the Copy link command bar button.

screenshot of copyLink

comment (comment.json)

This action will open the list item and place the focus in the comment input box. This is equivalent to double-clicking an item and then clicking in the comment box.

screenshot of comment

delete (delete.json)

This action will prompt the user with a Deletion confirmation dialog and delete the item if they choose yes. This is equivalent to selecting the item and then pressing the Delete command bar button.

screenshot of delete

executeFlow (executeFlow.json)

This action will launch a Power Automate flow for the item as the selected item. This action requires additional configuration through the actionParams property. The ID is always required, but you can also optionally include headerText and/or runFlowButtonText properties as well to customize the Flow panel.

Note - the headerText and runFlowButtonText parameters are not available in SharePoint 2019

screenshot of executeFlow

To obtain a Flow's ID:

  1. Click Flow > See your flows in the SharePoint list where the Flow is configured
  2. Click on the Flow you want to run
  3. Copy the ID from the end of the URL

Alternatively, this information is available in the Power Automate environment where your flow lives and can be found in flow details

actionParams

actionParams are JSON values but because they are inside a JSON format, they have to be entered as a JSON string value. In order to do that, you have to escape all the double quotes. So the JSON for actionParams may look like this:

{
  "id": "f7ecec0b-15c5-419f-8211-302a5d4e94f1",
  "headerText": "It's Flow Time!",
  "runFlowButtonText": "Do it"
}

It has to be put into a single string value for the actionParams property so we put a backslash (\) in front of each double quote (") and put it all on one line:

"actionParams": "{\"id\":\"f7ecec0b-15c5-419f-8211-302a5d4e94f1\", \"headerText\":\"It's Flow Time!\",\"runFlowButtonText\":\"Do it\"}"

This value can even be written using expressions but you'll need to remember to build it with all the escapes as well.

"actionParams": "='{\"id\":\"' + if([$Status] == 'New', 'f7ecec0b-15c5-419f-8211-302a5d4e94f1', 'b8rcwc6d-26d3-562n-5657-201b5a2c32d0') + '\"}'"

openApprovalDialog (openApprovalDialog.json)

This action will open the Approval Dialog for the item (at whatever stage of approval it is in). This requires Content Approval to be enabled for the list/library. This is equivalent to selecting an item and pressing the Request Approval command bar button.

screenshot of openApprovalDialog

openContextMenu (openContextMenu.json)

This action will open the context menu for an item. This is equivalent to right-clicking (or CTRL-clicking on Mac) and item.

screenshot of openContextMenu

embed (embed.json)

This action will open a callout with content embedded in it. You must specify the src value as part of actionInput to determine what content is loaded. You can also specify width and height of the callout using optional properties.

screenshot of embed

actionInput

There are 3 properties that can be set within actionInput with src being required.

  • src: This is the embeddable URL of the content to load in the callout (via iframe)
  • width: This is an optional property that determines the width of the callout in pixels. Enter the value as a plain number.
  • height: This is an optional property that determines the height of the callout in pixels. Enter the value as a plain number.

Getting an embed URL

The src property is the URL of the embeddable content. You can generally find it as the src attribute of a generated iframe element on a site that provides embed options.

Note - SharePoint restricts the domains that can be used for this. This can be adjusted on individual site collections or for the whole tenant. Allow or restrict the ability to embed content on SharePoint Lists using custom formatters

For example, you can get an embed URL for a public YouTube video by clicking on Share then selecting Embed and copying the src value and the width and height values from the generated markup:

embedding from YouTube

setValue (setValue.json)

This action allows you to update the values of one or more fields for a given item. You specify the fields and their updated values using actionInput.

screenshot of setValue

previewFileAction (previewFileAction.json)

This action will open the default preview handler for the file directly in the library interface.

screenshot of previewFileAction

copyFile (copyFile.json)

This action will send a copy of a file to another library. You specify the destination library and/or sub folder within that library using actionParams. This is equivalent to selecting a file and clicking the Copy to command bar button with the added benefit of already specifying the destination.

screenshot of copyFile

actionParams

Just like with executeFlow the actionParams are escaped JSON but there's currently only one property that needs to be specified: destinationUrl. This is a full URL (using @currentWeb to avoid hard coding your tenant) directly to the library and/or the folder within that library you want the file copied to.

User's permissions on the destination library/folder are not verified ahead of time and users without permission will receive an error.

moveFile (moveFile.json)

This action will move a file to another library (removing it from the source library). You specify the destination library and/or sub folder within that library using actionParams. This is equivalent to selecting a file and clicking the Move to command bar button with the added benefit of already specifying the destination.

screenshot of moveFile

actionParams

Just like with executeFlow the actionParams are escaped JSON but there's currently only one property that needs to be specified: destinationUrl. This is a full URL (using @currentWeb to avoid hard coding your tenant) directly to the library and/or the folder within that library you want the file moved to.

User's permissions on the destination library/folder are not verified ahead of time and users without permission will receive an error.

View requirements

  • These formats can be applied to any column type (its value is ignored)
  • If using the executeFlow action, the list/library is expected to have an associated Flow, the ID of this flow needs to be included in the actionParams for the button
  • The setValue.json sample expects a number column named Value
  • The previewFileAction.json, copyFile.json, and moveFile.json formats can only be used within document libraries

Tip - You can apply these formats to a Calculated Column with a formula of ="". This makes it obvious the fields aren't expected to hold values and you can configure the columns of your form to hide them easily.

Sample

Solution Author(s)
generic-rowactions.json Chris Kent
editProps.json Chris Kent
share.json Chris Kent
copyLink.json Chris Kent
comment.json Chris Kent
delete.json Chris Kent
executeFlow.json Chris Kent
openApprovalDialog.json Chris Kent
openContextMenu.json Chris Kent
embed.json Chris Kent
setValue.json Chris Kent
previewFileAction.json Chris Kent
copyFile.json Chris Kent
moveFile.json Chris Kent

Version history

Version Date Comments
1.0 April 18, 2019 Initial release
2.0 July 31, 2025 Additional actions

Disclaimer

THIS CODE IS PROVIDED AS IS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, MERCHANTABILITY, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT.

Additional notes

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