Microsoft Loop: Reusable Drop-Downs

Key insights

• Label Groups: Reusable drop-down sets you create once and apply across components on the same Microsoft Loop page.
  They store named choices and colors to keep tagging consistent.
• How to create: Add a component (for example, a table), open the column menu, choose Change column type > Label, then select Add label group and define names and colors.
  Once saved, the group is available to other components on that page.
• Supported components: Works with Table, Voting Table, Progress Tracker, Kanban Board, Team Retrospective, and Label components.
  Not every Loop component supports Label Groups yet.
• Benefits: Speeds up tagging and keeps labels consistent across a page.
  Customization and color coding improve clarity and team coordination.
• Limitations: Label Groups currently stay on the same Loop page and can’t be shared across pages.
  Deleting or managing groups is limited and multi-label selection per cell is not fully streamlined yet.
• Best practices: Keep label lists short and clear, use colors for status or priority, and create standard groups per page for consistent workflows.
  Reuse groups across components on the page to avoid repeated setup.

The following article summarizes a YouTube tutorial from SharePoint Maven Inc that demonstrates a practical tip for Microsoft Loop. The video focuses on creating reusable drop-downs using a feature called Label Groups, and it aims to help teams reduce repetitive setup while keeping labels consistent across components. This write-up is an objective news-style summary that highlights what the video shows, the steps involved, the benefits, and the tradeoffs organizations should consider.

What the video demonstrates

The presenter opens with a clear demonstration of how Label Groups work inside Microsoft Loop. First, they show adding a component such as a table or Kanban board, and then changing a column type to Label to apply a reusable set of choices. Next, the video walks through selecting built-in label sets or creating a custom group with names and colors to match a team workflow. Finally, the presenter applies the same Label Group to other components on the same Loop page to show consistent behavior in action.

Step-by-step how-to highlights

In practical terms, the video lists a few simple steps to create a Label Group: add a component, switch a column to the Label type, and choose “Add label group” when you need a custom set. Then you give the group a name, define the label values, and pick color codes to visually distinguish choices across items. The tutorial also points out that once created the Label Group becomes available to other components on the same page, making it quick to standardize choices without recreating them repeatedly.

Moreover, the presenter demonstrates a small workaround for multi-label needs by manually adding more than one label to a cell, although the UI does not yet support selecting multiple labels in a single step. They also show how built-in groups like Priority can be used immediately, which helps viewers understand both out-of-the-box and custom options. Throughout the walkthrough, the visuals emphasize speed and clarity, helping teams see how labels improve tracking and communication. The video keeps the steps concise so users can replicate them quickly during their own Loop sessions.

Benefits and tradeoffs

The key benefits the narrator highlights include reusability, visual clarity, and faster tagging across components, which together streamline collaborative work. Using Label Groups reduces repetitive setup and helps teams maintain consistent naming and color coding for statuses, priorities, or categories. However, the video also points out tradeoffs: the groups are bound to the same Loop page, which limits reuse across multiple pages and wider team templates.

Balancing reusability and governance becomes important, especially for larger teams that need consistent labels across projects. On the one hand, local Label Groups speed up page-level workflows and support quick decisions; on the other hand, teams lose the convenience of a centralized label library that applies everywhere. Therefore, teams must weigh whether page-level convenience outweighs the need for organization-wide standardization and plan naming schemes accordingly.

Limitations and practical challenges

The video is candid about current limits in Microsoft Loop, noting that Label Groups cannot yet be shared across different pages, and deletion of custom groups is not intuitive. It also explains that not all Loop components support Label Groups, with support currently limited to tables, voting tables, progress trackers, Kanban boards, team retrospectives, and label components. These points reveal that adoption will vary depending on which components teams use most often.

Another practical challenge involves collaboration and change control when many users edit the same page, since conflicting edits to label names or colors can cause confusion without clear ownership. Accessibility is also a concern because color choices need readable labels and alternatives for colorblind users, which the video briefly recommends addressing. Finally, teams that require cross-page consistency will need processes or templates to replicate label groups and manage upkeep until broader platform features appear.

Recommendations and next steps

Based on the video, teams should start by testing Label Groups on a few pilot pages and agree on simple naming conventions to reduce confusion. They should document which page-level groups exist and who owns them, so collaborators avoid accidental changes that could break consistency on active pages. Additionally, teams can use templates or controlled page copies to mimic a centralized library until platform-level cross-page sharing becomes available.

In conclusion, the YouTube tutorial from SharePoint Maven Inc offers a compact and useful guide to a practical productivity feature in Microsoft Loop. While Label Groups clearly help streamline choice lists and boost visual clarity, teams must balance the convenience of page-level reuse with the need for broader governance and accessibility. As a next step, organizations should experiment with the feature, refine conventions, and track platform updates that may address current limits.

Keywords

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