SharePoint Start Page
SharePoint Start Page is the place that users in can find and access all the SharePoint sites and portals of the company.
Before this location was called “home page”, it is now the easier way to access SharePoint sites from the launcher. You you can easily find and access SharePoint sites and portals within your organization.oft 365.
Notes:
- The look of the SharePoint start page has recently changed.
- SharePoint home page has been renamed as SharePoint start page in SharePoint in Microsoft 365.>
Explorer SharePoint Start Page
SharePoint is a browser-based app that you connect to through your web browser, like so:
- Go to office portal https://portal.office.com, and sign in to your work or school account.
- In the upper left corner of the window, select the app launcher
> All apps > SharePoint 
.
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Tip: If you don’t see the SharePoint app under All apps, use the Search box near the top of the window to search for SharePoint.
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- Search for SharePoint
What you’ll see on the SharePoint Start Page
 Image source: Microsoft |
1. Search - A search box where you can search for sites you’ve recently visited or files you’ve recently viewed or edited. You can also search for other sites, files, or people in your organization. 2. Create a site - The ability to create a new site if enabled by your administrator. See create a new team site or Create a communication site in SharePoint Online for more info. 3. Create a new post - The ability to create a news post. 4. Following - SharePoint sites you’re following. 5. Recent - Recent SharePoint sites you’ve visited. Clicking See all will take you to a page that lists all recent SharePoint sites you’ve visited. 6. Featured links - Links to SharePoint sites and portals featured by your organization. 7. News from sites - A News section that shows recent news from the sites you’re following, sites you visit frequently, and other news suggested by the Office Graph. Click See all to see a list of the 100 latest articles. 8. Frequent sites - SharePoint sites you visit frequently. In addition to the site name and link, you will also see recent activity information about the site, for example, if something on the site has been recently updated. If 12 or more sites are listed in this section, you’ll see a See all link that, when clicked, will take you to a page that lists all of the SharePoint sites you visit frequently. 9. Suggested sites - Suggested SharePoint sites generated by the Office Graph. 10. Save for later - News posts saved for later will display here. |
Follow a site
You can follow a SharePoint in Microsoft 365 site and a link to that site will be added to the Following section of the SharePoint in Microsoft 365 start page. Sites are listed in the order in which they were followed with the most recently followed site showing up first in the list.
To follow a site
- Locate the SharePoint in Microsoft 365 site you want to follow. You can locate a site by either searching for it in the search box at the top of the SharePoint in Microsoft 365 start page or by finding it in one of the sections on the SharePoint in Microsoft 365 start page.
- If you’re on the SharePoint in Microsoft 365 start page, do one of the following:
- Click the star next to the site name in the left nav bar to follow the site. The star will turn solid to show you are following the site
- If you’re on the site you want to follow, click
a SharePoint site located on the right-hand side of the menu bar to add it to your list of followed sites.
A link to the site will be added to the list of followed sites in the left-hand pane of the SharePoint in Microsoft 365 start page.
Stop following a site You can stop following a SharePoint site and the link to that site will be removed from the Following section of the SharePoint start page.
To stop following a site
- On the SharePoint in Microsoft 365 start page in the Following section, locate the site you want to stop following.
- Do one of the following:
- Click the star next to the site name on the left nav bar. The star will turn hollow and a link to the site will no longer appear in your list of followed sites.
- Click the star on a site in the left nav bar
- If you’re on the site you want to follow,
a SharePoint site located on the right-hand side of the menu bar to stop following a site.
Home Site
The home site it is the main site with the main purpose to act as the landing page. It brings together news, events, embedded video and conversations, and other resources to deliver an engaging experience that reflects your organization’s voice, priorities, and brand.
You only need one home site to take advantage of home site features. Home sites do not replace communication or team sites, but instead provide a landing place for your organization. Think of home sites as an add-on to your intranet design. Home sites are SharePoint communication sites that have special capabilities such as being marked as an official source of news in the organization. Consider making your tenant’s root site the home site. Next, review key differences between standard SharePoint communication sites and home sites.
You can change the look and the home site will include the following option and modern web parts like:
- Search box
- Create a site
- Create a new post
- Following
- Recent
- Featured links
- News from sites
- Frequent sites
- Suggested sites
- Save for later
SharePoint administrator can set home site using the SharePoint admin center or by using PowerShell.
Examples of a SharePoint starter site
- Provide a gateway to other high-traffic portals
- Connect people with an intranet-wide search experience
- Showcase targeted news and content
- Take advantage of the new people engagement tool, Viva Connections
Best practices for creating home sites:
- Because a home site is used by the entire organization, the site needs to be inclusive and easily accessible on all devices
- For the same reason above, consider other languages that might be needed
- The home site will be viewed by high volume of users. Make sure you manage site performance through the planning and building phases
- Links in the home site navigation can direct users to content on the home site and global navigation can be used to lead users to universally used resources and portals
- After creating your home site, replace the site with the current root site
- Make sure the home site is discoverable by adding an entry point to the Microsoft 365 app launcher and a featured link on the SharePoint start page
- News published from the home site should be relevant to the entire organization
Considerations:
- Align the branding on the home site to the overall intranet brand where possible
- For organizations with many portals and resources, consider making your home site a hub site to expand navigational options and easily sync permissions and branding across many sites
- If the site you want to be your home site isn’t currently your root site and you want it to be, first replace your root site with the site, and then make the site your home site
- Use a home site template from the SharePoint look book called The Landing to jump-start the design process
Hub Site
SharePoint hub sites help you organize your intranet. Getting the most value from hub sites requires some up-front planning.
- Discover related content such as news and other site activities
- Apply common navigation, branding, and site structure across associated sites
- Search across all associated sites
Example of hub site home page
Image source: Microsoft
SharePoint hub allow you meet the needs of your organization by connecting and organizing sites based on project, department, division, region, etc.
Image source: Microsoft
Site hubs are created by the global admin or SharePoint admin in Microsoft 365 SharePoint admin center, they can convert any existing site to a hub site.
Team site VS Communication site VS Hub site
| Team site | Communication site | Hub site |
|---|---|---|
| Collaborate | Communicate | Connect |
| All members are content authors | Small number of content authors and a much larger number of content readers or consumers. | Hub site owner defines the shared experiences for hub navigation and theme. Hub site members create content on the hub site as with any other SharePoint site. |
| Norms typically determined by the team. Practices are aligned in the best way to get work done. | Policies often determined by the organization to ensure consistency of experience and effective management of organizational information. | Governance determined by each owner of the associated site based on the type of site and organizational policies. The best experience for visitors is achieved when everyone has at least read permissions for associated sites (but this is not required). |
| Created by Site owner (unless this has been disabled in your organization) or admin. | Created by Site owner (unless this has been disabled in your organization) | Created by Global admin or SharePoint admin in Microsoft 365 |
| Examples: - Project team working together to complete deliverables and manage tasks. - Holiday party planning committee planning the annual get-together. - HR performance management team. - Executive committee—different leadership groups within the organization. - Extranet site to work with Partner A. |
Examples: - Travel team publishing guidelines about corporate travel. - Policies and procedures. - Micro-site for a new corporate initiative. - Resources for the sales team for a product or service. |
Examples: - HR hub that provides a connection and roll-up for all HR functions, such as benefits, compensation, performance management, talent acquisition, and a manager portal. - Sales hub providing enterprise resources for the Sales organization and connecting regional sales team and communication sites. - Location-specific hub that groups the communication and team sites for a specific location (for example, the New York office). |
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can a site be associate with multiple Hub sites? No. A site may only be associated with a single Hub site at any one time.
- There is a limit to associate a site with a Hub site? There is no limit in the number of sites you can associate with a Hub site.
- It is possible to have multiple Hub sites? Yes. What type of site as a Hub site can be registered on Hub site?
- Modern communication or modern team sites.
Root Site
The root site is automatically provisioned by Microsoft online services and exists at the top of your SharePoint URL domain https://[orgdomain].sharepoint.com.
Before April 2019, the root site was a classic team site, in a new Microsoft 365 tenant, the root site is a modern communication site.
There is one rule, you must never delete the root since it’s the “root site”. All other team site or communication on the environment will exist within this domain, for example:
https://[yourdomain].sharepoint.com/sites/[SiteUrl]https://[yourdomain].sharepoint.com/teams/[SiteUrl]
SharePoint administrators can replace the root site with another modern site using SharePoint admin center.
Section: SharePoint Start Page
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