How to Import SharePoint 2013 List Items to LibreOffice Calc

There are many blog posts that discuss how to use "Open Remote..." within LibreOffice to work with documents hosted in either a SharePoint 2010 or 2013 environment. This incredibly useful, but it leaves out how to interact with SharePoint list items, in the use-case of building reports or simply wishing to work with other spreadsheet-spliced data. For reference, this is a common feature between SharePoint and MS Excel, but does not appear in any discussions or documentation for LibreOffice. To solve this, a few steps are needed that are not difficult, but require knowledge of which features to use. For completeness, the following steps were successful using Brave browser and LibreOffice 7.3.7.2 on Ubuntu Linux 22.04.4. NOTE - this workaround approach was necessary, as ActiveX is not available in the Linux environment and is likewise being phased out (to my knowledge) in Windows environment as well. 

Things needed:

• User account and password with full rights to the desired SharePoint list.
• SharePoint list view that displays all needed fields.

Steps to import list items to LibreOffice Calc:

1)  View the desired SharePoint list as XML. This can be done by building URL like this

http://sharepoint.com/_vti_bin/owssvr.dll?Cmd=Display&List={E04E74B3-93F2-43C8-831E-28490AEF31A7}&View={c64759da-2241-45a8-9fea-3cedaa948687}&Query=*&XMLDATA=TRUE

Notes:

• The start of the link should correctly use either http: or https: as configured in your SharePoint environment. 
• If the desired list is within a sub-site, append the sub-site to the beginning - http://sharepoint.com/subsite/...
• The List and View GUIDs can be found editing the respective list view that contains all the desired columns or fields, then scrolling to the bottom of the settings and reviewing the "Web address for this mobile view:" section. Copy the respective string of characters to the proper place in the URL (List={} or View={}), placing the characters within the curly braces. NOTE - any uses of %2D should be replaced with a dash(-), as shown in the example.

List

View

2) Once the XML loads into the browser, right click within and select "Save as..."

3) Set the file type to "All Files", enter a file name within Name (ensuring that it ends with .XML), then save the file within the desired location. NOTE - This file will be needed in Step 5. Also, the browser may flag the file and prevent it from being downloaded. To continue, view the current downloads and select "Keep", to allow the XML file to be downloaded.

4) Within LibreOffice Calc, select Data, then "XML Source". NOTE it may be necessary to enable this feature by navigating to Tools, then Options, and enabling "Enable experimental features" under Advanced.

5) Click the folder button under "Source File" and select the XML file, saved from the browser.

6) Within "Ma to Document", select "ns3:row" (the fields underneath will all be selected). Set the "Mapped cell" to A1, using the selector to choose the A1 cell within Calc, then clicking the 

7) Click Import to complete the import. The fields can be updated and worked with as desired within Calc. 

The Community Information Age

Free Open Source Software (FOSS), when discussed, can lead to very polarized positions. There is a civil war among the open source community. Community-driven innovation has both the capacity to welcome creativity in an agile approach while also inviting diverse opinions, often oppositional. Paradoxically, the greatest strength of open source development is also its most formidable adversary. The most common appearance of such is when two FOSS-driven tools, built with the same objectives, are embraced not as equals, but as competitors. This can be seen with GIMP and Krita, which are graphical, illustrative tools that share many of the same features. Under close examination, each reveals strengths and weaknesses. Both take very different approaches to interface, workflow, and format. Yet each brings a value proposition which appeals to different artists. The trouble begins when these two “camps” single out the other as less valuable or less sophisticated. Instead of observing the use-cases for each tool, the respective communities exchange unpleasantries. Thankfully, this internal conflict does not extend to all FOSS. 

Putting aside the sibling rivalry within, FOSS does have the potential to be the future of software development. It is flexible, as anyone can use the ideas (and code) to create new things at will. It is powerful, leveraging more versatile frameworks than commercial counterparts. It is adaptive, not seeking to reinvent good ideas but to build alongside them, using components that already provide irrefutable value. This is why Google’s map service took over GPS. It’s why Kubernetes has captured application providers, who can offer their service without massive redevelopment. “If you can’t beat them, join them,” as the proverb maintains. 

It may seem tantamount to fantasy to suggest that FOSS will take the lead role for product development, but this can already be observed using content creators as an example. Artists, streamers, and video producers dominantly rely on FOSS tools for sharing broadcast needs, with Open Broadcast Software (OBS) being among the most popular. These tools are reaching a level of market permeation that could very well phase out much of the commercial product model. This shift could instantiate an “Information Age Part 2”, which I propose be dubbed “Community Information Age”.