1. Introduction
SharePoint Online is Microsoft’s cloud-based collaboration platform that helps teams share, manage, and organize content with ease. Whether you’re working on documents, accessing team resources, or navigating your organisation’s intranet, SharePoint Online offers a centralized space to stay connected and productive.
This guide will walk you through the essentials of navigating SharePoint Online. You’ll learn how to access your sites, understand the site structure, and use key features like navigation bars, document libraries, and quick links.
Whether you’re a first-time user or looking to sharpen your skills, this guide is designed to help you confidently explore and make the most of SharePoint Online.
2. Getting started with SharePoint Online
2.1 Accessing SharePoint Online
To begin using SharePoint Online, you can access it through Microsoft 365 by navigating to portal.office.com and selecting SharePoint from the app launcher. Alternatively, you can access it directly via a site URL provided by your organization.
2.2 Understanding Site Structure
SharePoint Online consists of various site types and structures that help organize content and collaboration.
The table below gives a brief explanation of each component followed by an example of how the structure may look:
| Hub Sites | Purpose: Hub Sites are used to connect and organize related sites. They provide a unified navigation and search experience across associated sites Use Case: Ideal for grouping together project sites, department sites, or any related sites to create a cohesive structure Example: A company might have a Hub Site for the Marketing department, linking all marketing-related project sites |
| Sites (Teams or Communication) | Purpose: Sites are individual SharePoint sites that can be used for various purposes like team collaboration or communication Types: Team Sites: Designed for collaboration, where team members can work together on documents, share information, and manage projects Communication Sites: Used to share news, reports, and other information with a broader audience Example: A Team Site for the Sales team to collaborate on sales documents, or a Communication Site to share company news |
| Document Libraries | Purpose: Libraries are used to store and manage documents. They offer features like version control, co-authoring and permissions Use Case: Ideal for organising and sharing documents within a site Example: A Document Library in a Team Site where team members can upload, share, and collaborate on files |
| Lists (Same level as Document Libraries) | Purpose: Lists are used to store data in a structured format (tables), that function like spreadsheets but with enhanced collaboration and automation Use Case: Great for tracking tasks, managing contacts, or any other data that needs to be organized and easily accessible Example: A Task List in a Team Site to track project tasks and deadlines |
2.2.1 Example of a SharePoint Online structure
3. Navigating through SharePoint Online
3.1 Global Navigation Bar & Departmental Navigation Bar
The global navigation bar ensures that users can easily access key resources no matter where they are in the SharePoint environment, while the departmental navigation bar focuses on providing quick access to resources specific to a particular department or team.
| Feature | Global Navigation Bar | Departmental Navigation Bar |
| Scope | Is consistent across the entire SharePoint site collection Provides a stable way to move across sites without losing your place | Is specific to a department or team |
| Location | Found at the top of the page Also available by clicking the SharePoint icon on the left-hand side of the screen | Communication Sites: Usually found at the top of the page Teams Sites: Typically found on the left side (Quick Launch) |
| Purpose | Provides a consistent set of navigational links across all sites in the organisation | Offers navigation links providing quick access to specific departments or teams |
| Content | Links to the most important intranet resources, such as home sites, hub sites, and frequently used sites | Links to departmental resources, such as team sites, document libraries, and lists |
| Customisation | Can be customized to display organisation-wide relevant links and use audience targeting to surface important content to specific audiences | Can be customized to meet the specific needs and structure of the department or team |
| Example | A global navigation bar might include links to the company’s home site, HR site, IT support site, and general company news | A departmental navigation bar for the Marketing team might include links to campaign documents, social media guidelines, and project timelines |
3.2 SharePoint Start Page (Waffle Menu)
Clicking SharePoint from the Microsoft 365 Waffle Menu may not take you to an expected homepage but instead to a dashboard customized to show relevant content.
This page tends to include:
- News: Updates from your organisation
- Your Sites: Recently accessed and followed sites
- Suggested Sites: Based on your activity and role
This view may seem overwhelming at first, but over time, it becomes more of a personalised content hub
3.3 What is a Document Library?
A document library provides a secure place to store files where you and your co-workers can find them easily, work on them together, and access them from any device at any time. For example, you can use a document library on a site in SharePoint to store all files related to a specific project or a specific client.
In a document library, you can:
- Add, edit, delete a file, folder, or link from a SharePoint document library, co-author, and download documents
- Control who has access to a library, a folder within a library, or an individual file within a library
- Share files or folders with others
- Add a link in a document library to something that is stored outside of the library, i.e., a link to a file located in a different library or even a link to an external web page
- Highlight a link, file or folder in a document library so you and others can get to them quickly
3.3.1 Navigating a document library
| Navigating a Document Library | |
| Open a document library by clicking its name in the navigation In this example, the document library is called ‘HR UK’ |  |
| You can browse folders, search for files, and view version history |   |
| Access the Filter Pane: Click on the filter icon (funnel) in the top right corner of the document library. This will open the filter pane on the right side. Apply Filters: You can filter files based on various criteria such as file type, modified date, created by, and more. Select the criteria you want to filter by, and the document library will update to show only the files that match your filters | |
| Sort by Column Headers: Click on the column headers (e.g., Name, Modified, Modified By) to sort the files. Clicking once will sort in ascending order, and clicking again will sort in descending order |  |
| Example: | Imagine you want to find the most recently modified documents: Open the Document Library Click on the ‘Modified’ Column Header to sort the files by the date they were last modified Use the Filter Pane to narrow down the results further, such as filtering by a specific author or file type These features make it easier to manage and locate files, especially in large document libraries |
Remember, if you get lost, navigate back to the Home Page for a fresh start
3.4 Quick Links
Quick Links provides easy access to important resources like documents, pages, or external websites directly from a SharePoint page.
- The Quick Links icon is located on the left-hand side
- These links are often customized to reflect:
- Important sites
- Frequently accessed documents
- Internal tools & resources
- Expect to revisit Quick Links often as they evolve to meet business needs over time
3.5 Favouriting a Site
Marking a site as a favourite makes it easier to access in the future. It helps to quickly access frequently used sites without having to search for them each time.
| To favourite a Site | |
| Navigate to the specific SharePoint site you want to favourite. Look for the star icon near the top right corner of the site. Clicking this icon will add the site to your favourites. You will see the text change from ‘Not following’ to ‘Following’ |   |
| The site will now appear under your Following section on the SharePoint start page. These favourites also sync with your Quick Links, making it easy and quick to navigate |  |
| Note: | While favouriting a site helps you quickly access it from the SharePoint home page, Quick Links allow you to ‘pin’ specific resources within a site for easy access These features complement each other but operate independently |
