---
title: "Auto-Generate Column Values with Number Generator"
description: "How to set up numbering schemes and formulas in the Vitextra Number Generator for SharePoint — reference columns and sequences, format numbers and dates, and use system fields."
url: https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10041
language: en
published: 2021-08-28
modified: 2026-10-10
products:
  - "Number Generator"
author: "Lidija Reising"
tags: ["Vitextra Number Generator", "SharePoint auto number column", "numbering scheme SharePoint", "generate document number", "column formula SharePoint", "sequence numbering", "format numeric date SharePoint", "system fields column"]
---

# Auto-Generate Column Values with Number Generator

How to set up numbering schemes and formulas in the Vitextra Number Generator for SharePoint — reference columns and sequences, format numbers and dates, and use system fields.

Vitextra Number Generator can automatically generate numbers or names in a SharePoint document library or list.

📝 **Note**  
Number Generator supports specific column types such as ID and Lookup, as well as custom types.

## Prerequisites

To set up and use formulas, make sure the **Vitextra: Number Generator** feature is activated on the site collection.

Go to **Site Settings** and click **Site collection features**:

![Site settings](https://static.vitextra.com/articles/10041/site-collection-features.png)
*Site settings*

Scroll down to the feature and click **Activate** if it isn't activated yet:

![Number Generator site collection feature](https://static.vitextra.com/articles/10041/number-generator-feature.png)
*Number Generator site collection feature*

## Numbering Schemes

Column value generation is managed by numbering schemes defined at the list or library level.
Go to the settings of the list or library where you want to apply column auto-population, and select **Number Generator** under the **General Settings** heading:

![SharePoint Library settings](https://static.vitextra.com/articles/10041/library-settings.png)
*SharePoint Library settings*

Use this list to manage the numbering schemes for the list or library. Click the **New Item** button to create a new numbering scheme.

![SharePoint Library settings](https://static.vitextra.com/articles/10041/numbering-schemes-new-item-button.png)
*SharePoint Library settings*

The numbering scheme form contains the following fields:

- **Name**
- **Content Type**
- **Field**
- **Formula**
- **Regenerate**

![Numbering scheme form](https://static.vitextra.com/articles/10041/numbering-scheme-form.png)
*Numbering scheme form*

📝 **Note**  
The Content Type field is greyed out if content types are disabled for the list or document library.

## Formula Format

The numbering formula supports three types of data:

- Text
- Column
- Sequence

To reference a **Column**, wrap its display or internal name in square brackets:

```
[Column Name]
```

To reference a **Sequence**, wrap the sequence name in square brackets with a leading "!" symbol:

```
[!Sequence Name]
```

All other text in the formula appears as-is in the result.

Sample formula:

```
ID: [ID]. Created at [Created:MM/dd/yyyy]
```

Result of the formula above for an item created on 4/12/2020 with ID = 1:

```
ID: 1. Created at 04/12/2020
```

## Samples

For this demo, we use a document library with the following custom fields:

- Product. Single line of text
- Status. Choice
- Publish Date. Date and Time
- Number. Single line of text

The sample formulas below populate the *Number* column in the document library.

### Sample #1. Populate column with ID field

A numbering scheme formula that populates the column with the ID field:

```
[ID]
```

Result in the document library:

![Sample #1. Result](https://static.vitextra.com/articles/10041/sample1-result.png)
*Sample #1. Result*

You can combine multiple fields to populate the column value:

```
[ID].[Status]
```

![Sample #1. Result](https://static.vitextra.com/articles/10041/sample1b-result.png)
*Sample #1. Result*

### Sample #2. Format Numeric Field

Number Generator supports formatting. To define a field's format, specify it after a colon: [**Field**:**Format**].
Supported format specifiers:

Format Specifier|Name|Description
--|--|--
0|Zero placeholder|Replaces the zero with the corresponding digit if one is present; otherwise, zero appears in the result string.
#|Digit placeholder|Replaces the "#" symbol with the corresponding digit if one is present; otherwise, no digit appears in the result string.
.|Decimal point|Determines the location of the decimal separator in the result string.
,|Group separator|Inserts a localized group-separator character between each group.

💡 **Tip**  
For more details about numeric formats, see the [Custom numeric format strings](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/base-types/custom-numeric-format-strings) article.

Format a column using the ID field repeated in different formats:

```
[ID:0000] - [ID:####] - [ID:##00]
```

![Sample #2. Result](https://static.vitextra.com/articles/10041/sample2-result.png)
*Sample #2. Result*

### Sample #3. Format Date Field

You can use the same approach to format a date column.

Format a date column (Publish Date) in different formats:

```
[Publish_x0020_Date:MM/dd/yyyy] - [Publish_x0020_Date:yy-MM-dd-HH-mm-ss]
```

![Sample #3. Result](https://static.vitextra.com/articles/10041/sample3-result.png)
*Sample #3. Result*

💡 **Tip**  
For more details about date formats, see the [Custom date and time format strings](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/base-types/custom-date-and-time-format-strings) article.

### Sample #4. Reference Sequence

Number Generator supports cross-site sequences to generate unique numbers.
To reference a sequence in a formula, use its name with a leading **!**:

```
[!ManualSequence]
```

![Sample #4. Result](https://static.vitextra.com/articles/10041/sample4-result.png)
*Sample #4. Result*

### Sample #5. Use System Fields

Number Generator lets you populate a column with system field values.
Some of the system fields are listed in the table below:

Field|Description|Examples
--|--|--
File_x0020_Type | Extension of the file | docx, pdf
UniqueId | Unique identifier of the item | 95fed722-c225-4f02-8c8d-7b0515e0777f
FileSizeDisplay | Size of the file | 616311
ContentVersion | Version of content of the file | 2
_UIVersionString | Version of the item | 15.0
Author | User who created the item | John Harrison
Editor | User who last modified the item | Henry McDavid

```
[Author].[Created:yyyy] v.[_UIVersionString]
```

![Sample #5. Result](https://static.vitextra.com/articles/10041/sample5-result.png)
*Sample #5. Result*