Build your SharePoint communication site

Understanding site contents

Every communication site includes several default lists and libraries:

• Documents library – a location to upload files. Your site comes with one default library, but you can add more as needed.

• Events list – the list where calendar entries are stored.

• Site pages library – the library where all your Site Pages live.

• Form templates and style library - these libraries are legacy libraries carried over from pervious versions of SharePoint

Tips for configuring site content:

• Add the page title before you add an image to the page. If you don’t add the page title first, the Site Assets sub-folder name (found in Site Assets) for your page may be a string of random characters , making it much harder to find the images associated with your page later.

• Do not upload documents using the Quick links web part. Always upload them to a document library, and then link to them from Quick links. If you upload a document while you are adding a link in Quick links, the document will be stored in the Site Assets library – which will make it much harder to find if you need to update it later.

• Put spaces (not dashes or underscores) between words in file names to improve readability. File names and document titles should be meaningful to users because this information will become important when users search your site for content.

• Avoid using dates and version numbers in file names. SharePoint will automatically keep track of versions for you. If you add a date to a file name and then add a newer copy of the file, your links to the old file will not automatically be updated. If you upload a new version of a file that has the same name as an existing file, your links are updated automatically.

• Use recognizable labels for all hyperlinks. Do not invent terms when you are linking to content in your site. For additional guidance about link labels, review the guidance for labels in Planning navigation for the modern SharePoint experience. The label naming guidance in this article applies not only to top navigation labels, but for any link on your page.

Target content to specific audiences

A great way to ensure that your site content is more relevant for visitors is to customize the way your visitors view pages and news by using audience targeting. Audience targeting enables content to be targeted to users who are part of a specific audience. Audience targeting also enables news to be prioritized to audience members on the SharePoint start page, news on the mobile app, and in News web part.

Audience targeting is configured first in the Site pages library and then in the News or Highlighted content web parts. If an audience is specified for a page, these web parts will only display the page to people who are members of the audience. A non-member could find the content using search, because targeting a page is not the same as security a page. However, the non-member will not be presented with the page or news article.

Audience targeting can also be added to the navigation for your site. This allows you to choose who sees which content in your site navigation using the same audiences available for pages.

Create automatic page approvals

Do you want someone or a group to approve pages before they are published? Major and minor versions are enabled by default in the Site Pages library. With this feature enabled, you can easily configure page approval from the Automate drop down in the Site Pages library. This can be a good idea if you plan to have multiple authors and you want to review final pages before they are published. Note that even without page approval enabled, only members and owners can view pages that are unpublished (although Visitors can view the last published version of the page).

Customize permissions for lists and libraries

Do you want to have some lists or libraries where site visitors can contribute? You can customize permissions for one or more lists or libraries on your site to assign Contribute permissions to your visitors group. As a best practice, try to avoid breaking permissions in the Site Pages library. Breaking permissions in the Site Pages library can result in complex and confusing user experiences and needs to be very carefully managed to make sure that you don’t accidentally remove permissions from a page that all users need. You can also use the Microsoft Forms web part to add a form to a page where visitors can contribute or the Power Apps web part to add an app that you have configured.

Best practices for migrating:

• Use the move to a new communication site to re-think your site’s story and ensure content is still relevant. Plan your new site using the guidance described previously. This doesn’t mean that you should forget about what you have already – especially if the content is being used and has been kept up-to-date. But, is this the case for all your current content?

• Talk to your site visitors. Find out what they really need. Does the content on your former site still meet the goals for your new site? Look at usage data for the existing site. Use this information to determine which content should be migrated to your new site.

• Create and review the content inventory for your current site. For each element in the inventory, identify whether it should be:

  • Deleted - if so, do it now!

  • Archived - because it is a business record

  • Migrated - because it is current, and you still need it

  • Updated and then migrated

  • Placed on another site and linked on your own site

• Content should earn its place on your new site. 

  • Is this content adding value to the business/visitor?

  • Am I committed to keeping it up-to-date?

  • Is my business group responsible for this content? If not, it’s time to say goodbye to the content. If it’s not yours, get the owner to add it to their site and create a link to the content on your site.

• Find a “home” for new content. Make sure every element has a home and, if not, think about whether you may have missed a category in your planning.