How to get a Tree View in a Document Library in a Modern SharePoint site

WHAT

I’ve been asked many times in the past for a method to show the classic SharePoint “Tree View” for SharePoint Document Libraries in a Modern SharePoint site.

So What

Today I was asked again and opted to make a video about it because our philosophy at Regroove is “Sharing is Caring” and we all need some caring right now.

I open with why you might want to still avoid it and I even propose sync’ng the SharePoint Site with your OneDrive for Business Client and leave the SharePoint site alone … but in the end, I give in for my dear old friend Tony and lay out the goods because I love him.

So here’s my quick thoughts on the approaches you could take, starting with ‘don’t do it’.

Recommended Option – Don’t Do It

• Use Managed Metadata Navigation (design the library differently)
• Create views or other methods to show the data in a meaningful way, not the classic way

Shut Up Sean!

Now What

If you are just looking for the straight goods, including the almost forgotten (and hidden) settings URL, here they are:

The short version is

1. Set the library mode to “Classic Experience”
2. Go to the (now secret) NavOptions page (_layouts/navoptions.aspx) and enable the Tree View (caveat: how long this remains available, I have no idea, so don’t hold me to it…)

Have you considered using OneDrive for Business Sync?

While I’m not a fan (at all) of sync’ing everything these days and maintaining folders ala DropBox (Barf!), this might be one of those scenarios. Take that library offline and get your Explorer view, in Windows Explorer itself!