title: What are the killer uses of Content Types for Lists (not Document Libraries)?
body: <p>I've seen a lot of blogs, articles and discussions across the web that lead me to believe that custom Content Types are must-use functionality in a SharePoint site - especially where no-code customization of SharePoint/MOSS sites are concerned.</p>
  
  <p>However, after a few hours of directed research on the subject, the uses of Content Types (for Lists, not for Document Libraries) don't seem all that impressive to me:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>(1) I can group similar kinds of records (e.g. Tasks and Milestones) in the same List, and assign a custom set of fields (and different choices in those fields) to each kind of record in the List.</li>
  <li>e.g. a Task content type might have “Assigned To” field and a Status field whose choices include “Not Started, In Progress, Done, Waived”; the Milestone content type could skip the “Assigned To” field, and provide a Status field whose choices are “Incomplete, Completed, Waived”.</li>
  <li>However, why not just create separate Lists? One reason to group different Content Types in one List is so that you can create one Workflow and have it process all Content Types in that List.  If you had two separate Lists, you’d have to create the Workflow twice, and maintain any updates in two places – big pain in the butt.</li>
  <li>(2) When I have different sets of fields for each Content Type, SharePoint will automatically generate different “New Item” and “Edit Item” forms for each – only showing/requesting the fields that are actually relevant to one content type or another.</li>
  <li>e.g. When I create a new Task item, the input form created by SharePoint automatically includes the “Assigned To” field; when I create a new Milestone item, the input form SharePoint creates does not include the “Assigned To” field, thus making it easier for users (and keeping the data cleaner).</li>
  <li>(3) Workflows per Content Type – while workflows can only be associated with one List, you can also associate a workflow to a Content Type.  This gives you two opportunities:</li>
  <li>Create a different workflow with different Actions and Conditions that are appropriate for each Content Type.</li>
  <li>Create a single Workflow that operates on a single Content Type, and use that Content Type in more than one List.  (Then you get “same workflow in multiple Lists”, in a certain way of looking at things.) </li>
  <li>(4) I can create a certain type of record in a List, and then configure things so that all records of that “type” are Read-only (i.e. cannot be edited after they’re created). </li>
  <li>(5) Filtered Lookups: <a href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/mossms/archive/2009/07/23/filtered-lookups-across-content-types.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.sharepointblogs.com/mossms/archive/2009/07/23/filtered-lookups-across-content-types.aspx</a> </li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>Am I missing something?  Is there some usage scenario for custom Content Types in Lists that I'm not seeing, and that makes them a must-use feature of SharePoint for you?</p>