SharePoint Designer 2013: Dataview is grayed out

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Introduction

In SharePoint Designer 2013, in some cases, when trying to add a DataView in a web part page, you may find that the** DataView is disabled** as shown below:

https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/site/view/file/184585/1/DataView%20is%20disabled%20in%20SharePoint%20Designer%202013.png

In this article, we will list most of the causes of this issue and how to solve it?

Cause

In SharePoint Designer 2013, the DataView may be grayed out  in case of:

  • The current site Master Page is Oslo Master Page.
  • The page is not checked out and edited in Advanced Mode.
  • The HTML is not parsed properly.
  • The Data View is not added to an inappropriate tag/place.

Solution

The current site Master Page is Oslo Master Page

It looks like a bug in SharePoint designer 2013 where you can't add DataView to a page in a site has Oslo Master Page.

https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/site/view/file/184586/1/The%20current%20site%20is%20using%20the%20Oslo%20Master%20Page.gif

To overcome this issue,

  • You should temporarily change the master page from Oslo to Seattle.
  • Add your DataView to your page in SharePoint Designer.
  • Go back to change the Master Page again from Seattle to Oslo.

To change the Master Page on the Team site from Oslo to Seattle.

https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/site/view/file/184588/1/change%20the%20Master%20Page%20on%20the%20team%20site%20from%20Oslo%20to%20Seattle.gif

To change the Master Page on the Publishing site from Oslo to Seattle.

https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/site/view/file/184589/1/To%20change%20the%20Master%20Page%20on%20the%20Publishing%20site%20from%20Oslo%20to%20Seattle.gif

After changing the Master Page from Oslo to Seattle, you can now add DataView to your page without any issue as shown below.

https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/site/view/file/184590/1/DataView%20is%20disabled%20in%20SharePoint%20Designer%202013.gif

Now, you can change back your master page to the old one as you prefer!

The page is not checked out and edited in advanced mode

In case you didn't check out the page and it is not edited in Advanced Mode,

  • You will note that the Data View is enabled but You are not able to add it to list or other data source,
  • The only available data view is the Empty Data View.

https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/site/view/file/184591/1/The%20page%20is%20not%20checked%20out%20and%20edited%20in%20advanced%20mode%20issue.gif

So to make the page is ready for Edit, you should do the following:

  • Right-click the page > Check out the page.
  • Again, right-click the page  > Edit File in Advanced Mode.

https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/site/view/file/184592/1/The%20page%20is%20not%20checked%20out%20and%20edited%20in%20advanced%20mode%20Sol.gif

The Data View is not added to an inappropriate tag/place

The Data View web part should be added to your page within  WebPartPages:WebPartZone  before </ZoneTemplate>

**Note: ** there are specific tags/places that do not accept to add the Dataview to it like PlaceHolderPageTitle

https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/site/view/file/184597/1/You%20are%20trying%20to%20add%20the%20DataView%20in%20an%20inappropriate%C2%A0place..gif

So make sure that you try to add the data view in the correct place.

The HTML is not parsed properly

As we have above mentioned, the Data View Web Part should be added within WebPartPages:WebPartZone before </ZoneTemplate>

But if you have clicked enter or space on the keyboard. In this case, the HTML will not be parsed properly and you should click on HTML Parse button in the Edit Tab from the above ribbon to can add the Data View.

https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/site/view/file/184594/1/The%20HTML%20is%20not%20parsed%20properly.gif

Applies To

  • SharePoint 2013.
  • SharePoint 2016.

Reference

Conclusion

In this article, we explained the common causes of Dataview disabled and how to enable it in SharePoint Designer 2013.

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