Create a new SharePoint site column using PowerShell

The script below can be used to create a new site column. It assumes you are creating the column in the top-level site of a site collection. It can be used to create columns in a Content Type Hub site, which can then be propagated to other site collections in the farm using the Managed Metadata Service Application (a story for another blog article maybe).

The main advantages of using PowerShell to create the site column are that you can document the changes, easily repeat them across development, staging and production environments, and you can set some properties that are not available to select in the UI (e.g., the “ShowIn” properties at the end of the XML string).

#Assumes that you are creating the site column in the top-level site of a site collection
#Script can also be used to create a site column in the Content Type Hub

#Get site and web object
$site = Get-SPSite -Identity "http://portal"
$web = $site.RootWeb

#Assign fieldXML variable with XML string for site column
$fieldXML = '<Field Type="DateTime"
Name="TestDate"
Description="This is a test date column."
DisplayName="Test Date"
StaticName="TestDate"
Group="Test Custom Columns"
Hidden="FALSE"
Required="FALSE"
Sealed="FALSE"
ShowInDisplayForm="TRUE"
ShowInEditForm="TRUE"
ShowInListSettings="TRUE"
ShowInNewForm="TRUE"></Field>'

#Output XML to console
write-host $fieldXML

#Create site column from XML string
$web.Fields.AddFieldAsXml($fieldXML)

#Example of changing the site column settings after creation
#Configure Test Date column to be Date Only instead of Date & Time
$dtField = $web.Fields["Test Date"]
$dtField.DisplayFormat = "DateOnly"
$dtField.Update()

#Dispose of Web and Site objects
$web.Dispose()
$site.Dispose()

Note at the end of the script that I call the new column back so that I can change a setting. You could add column settings to the XML during creation, but changing it after creation can be useful if you have already created the column and wanted to make further changes.