SharePoint Designer 2007 Blog Series
Right out of the box, a few lists and libraries are 'hidden' from the browser. An example of this is the Workflow History list.
Can you create a new Workflow History list from the UI? Nope! It gets created on your behalf when you create a workflow. Does it require special permissions to browse to this list? The answer is No here as well. It's just not readily visible when you click on the 'View All Site Content' link on the site. So how do you make your own list or library 'invisible' to the user yet still have it available to be used through web parts? This cannot be done through the browser. However, it's pretty easy to configure through SharePoint Designer 2007.
Here's a scenario:
I want the Calendar list view web part (that gets deployed when a new Team Site is created) to be the only way a user can see and interact with the Calendar list. I do not want them to browse to the list to create new events. Here is the initial view of the site with both the list view web part and the link to the list showing:
To hide the Calendar list link, open the site in SharePoint Designer. Navigate to the Calendar list in the Folder List task pane, right click on it and select Properties
The List Properties dialog box shows up. Click on the Settings tab and select the checkbox for 'Hide from browsers'.
Click OK and that's it! Navigate to the site using the browser. The Calendar list view web part should still be visible and available on the main page of the site, but the Calendar list link should not be there anymore.
The list will now be hidden from the browser. To confirm this, click on the 'View All Site Content' link in the browser and look for the link to Calendars list. It should not be there anymore.
The question you might be asking: what if someone bookmarked the location of the list? Can they use that link to get there? The answer is Yes, they can. The link to the Calendar list is now hidden, but the list itself has not been secured and is still browse-able if you have its address. If you are looking to secure the list, you need to do it through the security mechanisms available in SharePoint.