Can Web Parts Dynamically Update

Question

I have some custom list web parts on a SharePoint page and as I make changes to those lists in "List Settings" the lists will reflect those changes. However, when I revisit the page, the changes are not reflected and the page has the previous versions of the lists. Is there a way to have the page dynamically update its web part changes?

Answer 1

The short answer is unfortunately no.

List View Web Parts keep their own copy of the view that they display. When you first add a List View Web Part to a page, it gets set by default to use the default view of the list (usually "All Items"), but at that moment it makes it's own copy of that view's settings.

If you make changes to the list, like adding columns which then you add to the default All Items view (or to another view), or change the column ordering in the view, or filtering or sorting settings, etc., that change is not going to be immediately reflected in the List View Web Part on another page because it's using its own "cached" copy of the view settings.

You don't need to completely delete and re-add the List View Web Part to get the changes visible, but you do need to refresh the copy of the view settings local to the web part. You need to edit the web part, and then in the web part property pane where it says "List Views", change it from "Current view" and just re-select the view you just updated on the list. The changes will then get propagated to the List View Web Part.