SharePoint
Organizations usually have an Intranet, which is an internal site that contains digital services, documentation, and organization tools for better internal communication. To access externally, an Extranet is used, which provides secure and controlled access to the organization’s Intranet.
One of the tools available to create these sites is through SharePoint. This makes it possible to create, share, organize, and discover information inside and outsidethe company.
SharePoint Online VS SharePoint on-premises VS SharePoint Hybrid
Organizations can choose to have the SharePoint environment in a variety of ways such as on-premises, online or hybrid.
- SharePoint Online is a hosted solution that you can get by itself or with a Microsoft 365 subscription.
- SharePoint Server (on-premises) is an on-premises solution.
- SharePoint Hybrid is enables users in SharePoint on-premises to take advantage of SharePoint Online functionality.
With SharePoint Server hybrid, productivity services in SharePoint in Microsoft 365 can be integrated with on-premises SharePoint Server to provide unified functionality and access to data. For enterprises that want to gradually move their existing on-premises SharePoint Server services to the cloud, SharePoint Server hybrid provides a staged migration path by extending high-impact SharePoint Server workloads to SharePoint in Microsoft 365.
A SharePoint Server hybrid environment enables trusted communications between SharePoint in Microsoft 365 and SharePoint Server. When you have established this trust framework, you can configure integrated functionality between services and features such as Search, Follow, and user profiles.
What is SharePoint Site
Organizations use Microsoft SharePoint to create websites and all you need is a web browser, such as Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, or Firefox.
A SharePoint site it is just reguler website that can have one or more pages to display content from SharePoint components named SharePoint Web Parts.
SharePoint Web Parts can be:
- Bing maps, adds a map to your page.
- Button, easily adds a button to your page with your own label and link.
- Call to Action, creates a button with a call to action for users.
- Code snippet, easily displays code as text on your page for others to use or learn from.
- Connectors, you can get messages, alerts, and notifications from your favorite external services on a group-connected team site page.
- Countdown timer, displays a count down (or count up) to an event.
- Divider, inserts a line between other web parts to help break up your page and make it easier to read.
- Document Library, displays a document library and customize it with your own title, view, and even size.
- Embed, displays content on your page from other sites like YouTube videos.
- Events, allows you to add and display upcoming events on your page.
- File viewer, insert a files on your page. File types you can insert include Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Visio, .PDFs, 3D Models, videos, and more.
- Group calendar, puts a group calendar right on your page so that it is easily visible to your readers.
- Hero, is a great way to bring focus and visual interest to your page.
- Highlighted content, dynamically displays content based on content type (documents, pages, news, videos, images, etc), filtering, or a search string.
- Image, inserts an image on the page, either from your site, your OneDrive, or your hard drive.
- Image Gallery, shares collections of pictures on a page.
- Kindle Instant Preview, shares a preview of a Kindle book.
- Link, adds a link to an internal or external page, video, image, or document.
- List, displays a list that you can customize with your own title, view, and even size.
- List properties, connects to a list web part on the same page and display items from the list based on what a user selects.
- Markdown, adds text to your page and format it using Markdown language.
- Microsoft Forms, can create surveys, quizzes, and polls on a page.
- My feed, shows a mix of content from across Microsoft 365, based on what’s likely to be most relevant to the current user at any given time.
- News, keeps your team in the loop as well as engages them with important or interesting stories.
- Organization chart, show a visual organization chart by choosing a person to build the chart around.
- Page properties, provides details about your page, such as title, date, content type, and more.
- Planner, adds your team’s tasks and assignments on a page using Microsoft Planner.
- PowerApps, is a service that lets you build business apps that run in a browser or on a phone or tablet, with no coding experience required.
- Power BI, easily embeds an interactive Power BI report on your page. The embedded reports are fully secure so you can easily create secure internal portals.
- Quick Chart, adds simple charts to your page.
- Quick Links, “pins” items to your page for easy access.
- Recent documents, displays documents that have been recently added or edited.
- Saved for later, users can “save” pages, news posts, and documents to view later in SharePoint.
- Site activity, automatically shows recent activity on your site, such as files uploaded, edits made, lists and libraries created, and so on.
- Sites, showcases sites on a page.
- Spacer, allows you to control vertical space on your page.
- Stream (classic), displays a video right on your page from your organization’s Microsoft Stream (classic) video portal.
- Text, adds paragraphs and tables to your page. Formatting options like styles, bullets, indentations, highlighting, and links are available.
- Twitter, shows tweets that are relevant to you or your audience right on your page.
- Weather, shows the current weather on your page.
- World clock, hows the time in different locations around the world.
- Yammer web part enhances collaboration by embedding Yammer conversations on your page.
- YouTube, easily embeds YouTube videos right on your page.
SharePoint Site Collection
In addition to the SharePoint site, there is also a SharePoint Site Collection. It is a collection of SharePoint Sites. Each site collection contains a single top-level site and subsites below it.
Every SharePoint Server site belongs to only one site collection and a site collection is made up of one top-level site and all sites below it.
The following figure, a site collection is the top level of organization.
Image source: Microsoft
Example site collection models
Image source: Microsoft
Team sites
Modern team sites are more collaborative than ever. They use Microsoft 365 Groups for a simpler permissions model. Team sites also come pre-populated with modern news, quick links, and and site activity. As with all modern features, team sites are optimized to look great on mobile devices.
Classic Sites vs Modern Sites
The modern site experience is designed to be compelling, flexible, mobile, and easier to use.
Existing team site home pages and other site pages like wiki and web part pages are classic site experiences.
| Classic Sites | Modern Sites |
|---|---|
 |
 |
| Great for people already working with SharePoint locally or online | Great for people who have never worked with SharePoint Online |
| Uses a classic environment | Uses a modern environment |
| Inlcude all the web parts from SharePoint | Inlcude: - Libraries - Pages - Site Contents |
There are not many differences between the classic site and the Modern site although the homepage, term definition and libraries are different.
The default SharePoint modern site is currently set but Microsoft 365 administrators are still able to create a SharePoint classic site but the result will be half of the features are in classic site and the rest in modem site. Which means it’s kind of a mixture of both and it can be extremely challenging.
Pages and web parts
Modern pages provide a fast, easy way to build responsive pages using the functionality of modern web parts. Pages are similar to classic web part pages and publishing pages, but are less structured and easier to create.
| Classic pages web parts | Modern pages web parts |
| — | — |
| 
| 
|
Image source: Microsoft
Modern web parts are designed to be easier to use, to be faster, and to look great. With modern web parts, there is no need to employ any code. It is important to note that, for security reasons, modern web parts do not allow for the insertion of code like JScript. It is also important to know that classic web parts cannot be used on modern pages, and modern web parts cannot be used on classic pages (unless a developer creates a custom web part that is designed to be used on a classic page). Additionally, there is not a 1:1 mapping of classic to modern web parts, but there are web parts that have similar purposes.
For developers, the SharePoint Framework allows for the building of custom modern web parts that show up right in the web part toolbox. The SharePoint Framework also allows for custom extensions and use of the Microsoft Graph API. Additionally, developers can check out the SharePoint starter kit, where you’ll find as solution that includes numerous web parts, extensions, and other components that you can use as an example and inspiration for your own customizations.
Mobile ready Unlike classic pages, modern pages (and in fact all modern features) are designed to be responsive and look great on mobile devices. Get the mobile SharePoint app.
Layout When you create a classic web part page, you choose a layout with web part zones to use. The layout can’t be changed after the fact. With modern pages, the layout is flexible and can be changed at any time.
Wiki pages Another type of page in SharePoint is a Wiki page. There is no modern equivalent of a Wiki page.
Lists and libraries
The default lists and library experience is optimized for your most common tasks. Copy and move files using the command bar. Pin documents, add files as links, filter and sort easily, and apply formatting to columns.
Differences between classic and modern lists and libraries
Classic library on the left, modern library on the right Image source: Microsoft
There are some classic features that are different or not available in the modern view. These include some column types and some customizations.
With the modern experience, you can:
- Create modern folders and upload folders the same way you do in OneDrive, using the new command bar instead of the classic ribbon. You can also easily copy and move files using the command bar.
- Pin documents to the top to highlight them.
- Add files as links instead of copying them between sites.
- Easily add, reorder, resize, sort, filter, and group columns, and create custom views.
- Quickly change file info, and easily access previews and additional details.
- Improve the display of lists with column formatting and list view formatting.
- Add rich location data from Bing Maps or your organization directory.
The modern experience also supports themes, navigation, and custom buttons that were created in the classic experience.
It is possible to switch between classic and modern views of lists and libraries.
Communication site
A communication site is a great place to communicate information out to others. You can share news, reports, statuses, and other information in a visually compelling format. The purpose of a communication site is similar to the purpose of classic publishing sites, but there are many differences. In general, Communication sites are simpler to create and don’t rely on publishing site infrastructure. Communication site
Differences between communication sites and publishing sites
A SharePoint publishing site is typically used to create intranet and communication portals. Publishing sites are typically more structured, and built using a master page and site publishing template. Because a publishing portal is a site collection, it may also include sub sites. To create a publishing site, publishing features must be activated. A complete solution for a publishing site may involve deeper design and development work to create custom master pages and design page layouts.
A communication site doesn’t rely on activation of publishing features; doesn’t use a master page; and is generally less structured. It is designed to be used without sub-sites. It uses modern pages and web parts. While there is less structure and enforcement on a communication site, it is easy to create a beautiful, mobile-ready page without code. It is created with one of three templates: Topic (with web parts to get you started sharing information such as news and events), Showcase (with web parts to use photos or images that showcase a product, team or event), or Blank to create your own design.
How to move to communication sites
There is not a 1:1 mapping between publishing sites and communication sites, and no automatic way to update publishing sites to communication sites. By default, modern page functionality is not enabled on a SharePoint publishing portal. When you’re ready, we recommend you plan for and begin creating new communication sites as needed.
Search
Modern search is personal and the results you see are different from what other people see, even when you search for the same words. You’ll see results before you start typing in the search box, and the results update as you type.
You find modern search boxes on the SharePoint start page, communication sites, and modern team sites.
Certain classic search features are different or not available in modern search.
SharePoint mobile App
Get your intranet in your pocket with the SharePoint mobile app. With easy on-the-go access, the SharePoint mobile app helps keep your work moving forward by providing quick access to your team sites, organization portals and resources, and the people you work with. You can see site activities, get quick access to recent and popular files, and view and edit lists on your team sites.
SharePoint mobile App is available on the following platforms:
When you launch the SharePoint app, you might be asked to add an account. Adding a SharePoint account to SharePoint for Android follows the same steps as signing in to Microsoft 365. If this is your first time signing in to Microsoft 365, you can read more in Where to sign in to Microsoft 365.
More help for SharePoint for Android or IOS
- Ask your question in the SharePoint Android Community or
- Ask your question in the SharePoint iOS Community
SharePoint Online Quick Start Guide
You can download Microsoft SharePoint Online Quick Start Guide here
Section: SharePoint
| « Microsoft 365 Group | back to top | Back to Table of Content | SharePoint Start Page » |