SharePoint 3.0: Setting Default Expires Date on Announcements

Description:

When using the out of box Annoucements web part in SharePoint 3.0, items do not have a default value. For practical purposes, when using the web part in sites, it usually makes sense to limit the number of announcements that display in the view that is positioned on the Web page.

So, in order to limit the items in a view, it makes sense to use sorting on a field such as Expires in conjunction with an item limit on the view. And, if you are going to sort (on Expires), you need to make sure that all items have a value to be sorted on. Otherwise, those items lacking the Expires won't appear.

Solution:

An easy way to ensure that all items have an Expires date is to set the default value of the column. To do this, navigate to the Announcements list, to Settings, List Settings. In the "Additional Column Settings" area, set the "Default Value" to a "Calculated Value" of =[TODAY]+60. This will default the Expires date to be sixty days from when the announcement item is cerated.