Do you need a SharePoint team site or a SharePoint communication site?
Team site
If you want to share documents with your team or a small group, you can request a new Team in Microsoft Teams. Each Team includes a SharePoint site for file sharing. You can see this in the ‘Files’ tab of the Team.
Communication site
If you want a SharePoint site so that you can create an internal website or intranet, you can request a new SharePoint communications site. You can also use this for storing documents that you need to share with a larger group of people. You shouldn’t use the sites for files that should only be restricted to a few people.
Read 'Teams site vs communication site: which one should I choose?' on the Microsoft support website for more information
Request a new SharePoint team site
You can use our website app if you want a new Team with a SharePoint team site for sharing files with a small group:
Request a new Team in Microsoft Teams
Request a new SharePoint communication site
Things to know about SharePoint Online and requesting a communication site
Be aware that 'out of the box' SharePoint Online does not offer much content management system functionality. For example:
- there are no redirects
- there are only basic analytics, it does not compare to products like Google Analytics
Users will not be able to find your site without a direct link or by following the site so that it appears on the SharePoint homepage. The pages do not get indexed by search engines so they cannot find them by searching in Google or other search engines.
What to do before you request a SharePoint communication site
You'll need to:
- complete a content audit, if there is any existing content. You could use the audit template (.xlsx) provided by the Content Community.
- complete the Content Community essentials training and read the create user-friendly pages in SharePoint web page.
- agree 2 or more people to be 'site owners'. They will be responsible for user management and permissions.
- provide a business justification as to why you need the site. You will be asked for this when you complete the request.
- familiarise yourself with how to set up SharePoint site permissions and how to monitor your SharePoint permission settings.
We also recommend that:
- site owners join the User_UoC_SharePoint user group MS Team for peer-to-peer support
- all content editors sign up to the Content Community mailing list
How to request a SharePoint communication site
Complete a Service Request to request a new SharePoint communications site
Training and guidance
Our help pages
- Set up SharePoint site permissions
- Monitor SharePoint site permissions
- Create user-friendly pages in SharePoint
- Migrate files and folders over to SharePoint
Learn how to use SharePoint
If you are not familiar with SharePoint Online already, use the training resources on LinkedIn Learning. It is important that you understand how Teams and SharePoint interact, and how this affects your users.
- Collaboration Tools - Team Collaboration in Office 365 - Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive
- SharePoint 365 Online - Essential Training, The Basics
- SharePoint 365 Online - Essential Training, Beyond The Basics
- Learning SharePoint Online - Document Libraries
- SharePoint - Creating Communication Sites
Learn how to create effective content
- Content Community training and guidance
- Content principles
- Style guide
- Create user-friendly pages in SharePoint
- Create accessible SharePoint Online sites by Microsoft