Using SharePoint Online is easier than ever thanks to the templates provided by Microsoft. Whether you want to create a new site for an upcoming project or a communication site, you can now create one in a few minutes using SharePoint templates as a starting point. Are the default templates not good? you can now create customized SharePoint templates to adapt them to specific workflows and business processes. In this article, we are going to see what they are and the fundamental aspects of using SharePoint templates and the method and best practices for creating customized ones.
Templates in SharePoint are nothing more than predefined templates that are used to create sites and web pages with a specific structure, design, and functionality. These templates allow users to quickly create sites that meet specific needs without having to build each component from scratch.
Site templates have always existed within the SharePoint ecosystem but only recently has Microsoft decided to really enhance them and significantly expand their offer, even including a new user interface for the template screen and an “Apply a template” option within all the settings panels for SharePoint sites.
This new approach aims to provide users with greater freedom and to speed up their work rhythms, allowing collaboration on corporate digital spaces at any level of expertise.
Even non-technical users, such as content creators, event managers, recruiters, and external vendors, can easily create customized sites in their SharePoint Online ecosystem using the available templates. This saves time and resources in applying business guidelines for site design, branding and functionality.
Although the functionality has always existed, 'Site template' is the new name used in SharePoint Online for what was previously defined as 'site design', i.e. the default starting points used for creating SharePoint sites.
When creating a new corporate site, SharePoint offers, in addition to the 'empty' option, a series of templates to activate in a few seconds a portal already configured with specific content snippets, page layout and web parts.
These models are highly flexible and can be customized in every aspect. The user who creates a site can choose and apply the template that best suits their needs in terms of functionality and content.
After applying the model, the user can make all the customizations made available by SharePoint, having an easily modelable starting base available to start working on their project. But what exactly are these models?
Before we begin, let's take a look at the macro categories of sites that you can create on Microsoft's web collaboration platform. Specifically, you have the option to choose between three macro-categories of site templates:
Each of these macro categories allows you to create sites that meet specific business needs with customized functionality and content. Let's look at them in a little more detail.
Team sites are designed to facilitate collaboration within a work group. They're ideal for teams working on common projects, as they provide a centralized space where team members can share and co-edit documents, manage tasks, schedule meetings, and communicate through integrated conversations.
Team sites are usually linked to an Office 365 group, which means they include tools like Outlook, Planner, OneNote, and Teams. The interface is geared toward group productivity, with document libraries, lists, and other SharePoint applications that are customizable to meet specific team needs.
Communication sites are designed for the dissemination of information on a large scale within the organization. They are used to convey news, announcements, events, and other important business information to a large audience.
Unlike team sites, which are focused on group collaboration, communication sites are designed for one-way communication from the company to the employees. The interface of these sites is highly visual, with sections for news, events and content pages that may include images, videos and other multimedia elements.
Communication sites help keep employees informed and engaged, providing a central point where they can find important business updates and resources
Hub sites represent a higher level of organization and connection between various SharePoint sites within a company.
They are not just standalone sites, but a mechanism for connecting and grouping different team and communication sites under a single hierarchical structure. This facilitates navigation and the consistency of information between linked sites. When a site is associated with a hub site, it automatically inherits the theme, navigation structure, and other settings configured at the hub level.
Hub sites are useful for centralizing the management of related sites, offering a unified view of the news, activities, and content coming from linked sites. In addition, they improve the search and discovery of information, since users can search for content on all the sites associated with the hub.
After clarifying the macro categories, let's take a closer look at the subcategories of sites that can be created using templates in SharePoint for each of the macro categories listed above.
As we have seen, the communication site is the default site for responding to a company's varied communication needs and is designed to share news, updates and reports. This type of site is characterized by a balanced combination of functionality and attractive graphics and, like a store window, it adapts to different needs, thus creating particular sites that stand out for their form and functionality.
So let's take a look at the most used templates for this macro-category:
As far as team sites are concerned, they have been designed for centralize and share resourcing quickly and fluidly between the different members of a business team, going to stem the problem of the dispersion of relevant information within different applications.
One of their distinctive features is the connection to existing Microsoft 365 groups, so as to expand and consolidate the digital work environment in which a workgroup operates.
Below is a small list of the most popular team site templates:
Finally, as far as hub sites are concerned, as we have already mentioned before, they act as mechanisms to connect and group different team and communication sites under a single hierarchical structure and centralize the management of related sites, offering a unified view of the news, activities and content coming from the linked sites.
In addition, here is a list of some of the most used templates in corporate hub sites:
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The SharePoint site template screen shows all the available templates that can be applied to a SharePoint Online site. The platform organizes the templates in two separate tabs: 'From Microsoft' and 'From your organization'.
The first tab provides all the SharePoint Online templates offered in-the-box by the Redmond house to meet the needs of a whole series of specific scenarios. You can use any template from the list to create effective SharePoint sites for team communications, hiring staff, managing events, or managing projects.
To experiment with the design and the dynamics of use, you can also visit the SharePoint Look Book portal. This portal hosts a preview and description of all the SharePoint templates that Microsoft offers for free.
The “From Your Organization” tab on the SharePoint Online template selection screen, on the other hand, allows users to access customized site templates created specifically for internal business needs. These templates are designed and configured by the organization's administrator or IT team to ensure consistency and compliance with business standards, offering predefined functionality that responds to specific work processes or business flows.
Applying and customizing SharePoint site templates is quick and easy. If you are the owner of the SharePoint site or have high-level permissions given by the administrator, you can apply SharePoint templates to a site without problems.
To try using a template, just follow the following steps:
Ok, we have applied our template, but let's say we want to customize it to re-brand the site according to your company's guidelines. For example, we want to apply the project management site template provided by Microsoft to a team site dedicated to an ongoing project.
The template will automatically populate the essential contents for project management with items such as Calendar, Home Page, Project Monitoring List, Document Library, Issue Monitoring List, Status Report Template, and Recycle Bin.
However, if the simple addition of these elements is not enough for us but we want to modify them in any way, we just have to follow the following steps:
It should be clear by now that organizations are using custom SharePoint templates to save time, ensure consistency across intranet sites, and spread data compliance everywhere. Custom templates offer portability, extensibility, and effortless development. All elements that are absolutely fundamental in the landscape of contemporary digital work environments.
But, sometimes, the predefined templates offered by Microsoft may not be enough to meet the needs of our company and we may need to develop custom templates ad hoc in order to achieve the desired result.
As we mentioned before, SharePoint Online gives the possibility to use custom templates, designed and created to measure to meet the peculiarities of our internal business processes and in this section we will briefly see the steps with which you can create one:
A simple design capable of reflecting the identity of your organization is essential for an intranet or any corporate site and when building your private network it can be extremely easy to make mistakes trying to balance elegance and operability.
A sin of anonymity can lead to workspaces that, although functional, can be unengaging for our employees and, at the opposite extreme, stepping too heavily on the aesthetic personalization of the intranet risks leading to tacky results, heavy to support and use and, consequently, not functional for what a work space should be.
For this reason, it is therefore very important to follow the Best practice most important to apply to your SharePoint models in order to achieve maximum results and an intranet that is as intuitive and engaging for the user as it is practical and useful in carrying out their tasks.
Here, then, is a list of the best practices to follow when creating your custom templates to achieve optimal results in your corporate digital communication:
To conclude our overview of SharePoint templates, I want to emphasize once again how their use represents a fundamental strategic advantage for companies that adopt Microsoft's web collaboration platform.
The ease of use of the templates allows even non-experts to create and customize professional websites in a few clicks, saving precious time and resources. By maintaining the visual and functional consistency of their sites through predefined or customized templates, organizations can ensure compliance with business requirements.
I invite you to explore the potential offered by implementing SharePoint templates for your business web solutions and to experiment with the development options provided by Microsoft. For over twenty years, SharePoint has been the go-to choice for creating and managing intranets and extranets for more than 200,000 organizations around the world.
SharePoint templates are predefined site structures that help users quickly create sites with specific layouts, designs, and functionalities without starting from scratch.
SharePoint templates provide ready-to-use designs for sites, which can be customized based on user needs. Users select a template, apply it, and then modify it to fit their specific project requirements.
There are three main types of SharePoint templates: Team sites, Communication sites, and Hub sites, each serving different business needs.
To apply a SharePoint template, create a site, go to settings, select "Apply a site template," and choose the desired template. After applying, you can customize web parts, layouts, and content as needed.
Yes, SharePoint allows users to create custom templates by configuring a site and saving it as a template for reuse, ensuring consistency and saving time across projects.
When designing SharePoint intranet templates, focus on consistent branding, easy navigation, and accessibility. Include interactive elements like search bars, carousels, and feedback mechanisms to engage users.
The Modern Work team effectively and swiftly addresses IT needs, primarily focusing on software development. The technical staff is well-trained in implementing software projects using Microsoft technology stacks and is skilled in managing both agile and long-term projects.
