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How to get item ID in Calculated column using Document ID

In my previous post, I explained about a new feature "Document ID Service". Using this feature, we can resolve one of the basic problems we had for long in SharePoint history. And that is the title of this post!

There is no way you could get the item ID in a calculated column using ID field. When you try to create a calculated column, it is very evident that ID column is not listed under fields. However, if you go ahead and use ID column, it will not prompt any error.

For example, I have created a calculated column and it's formula is =[ID]. When I add a new item, this column returns 0 as shown below.
Calculated Column using ID field
However, if you edit an item, the calculated column shows the correct value. This has been the problem since MOSS 2007 version (I started my SharePoint journey with 2007 version, so I don't know about prior versions). One workaround was to create SharePoint Designer to do this calculation and set the value.

Now with Document ID feature, we can do a small tweak and get the item ID. If you notice carefully how Document ID is formed, the item ID is suffixed at the end. So we'll use Document ID column to extract the item ID. Now create a calculated column and if you observe, Document ID column is listed over there! This is how my formula looks like:
Formula

I'm doing string manipulations to get the item ID. One assumption I have made here is that the item ID will not touch 5 digits. I think this hard coding can also be worked out to make it generic.

Now when I add an item, this calculated column shows correct item ID as shown below.
Calculated Column using Document ID field

Instead of implementing SPD workflow, we can just use this out of the box feature to get item ID.

End Notes: This solution is not tested for all cases. So use it as appropriate. Obviously this is applicable only to Library and not to the List.

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