Microsoft has recently announced the launch of the new SharePoint start page, designed to enhance user experience and boost productivity. As a SharePoint user (and yes, you’re a user even if you’re an admin), you’re probably wondering what this new start page has to offer and why you should start using it. In this blog post, we’ll dive into the features and benefits of the new SharePoint start page and explore why it might become your new go-to destination.
How To Get To It
The old start page is still there, for now. You’ll see an option to go to this new experience at the top of the page.
A Personalized Experience
The new SharePoint start page
is all about providing a personalized experience tailored to your needs. We had this before, to an extend. This goes a lot further. The moment you log in, you’ll be greeted with a new interface that shows your relevant content. This new experience is all about creating pages, so in this case the content you see will be pages you’ve worked on recently, regardless of what site the page is on. This means you’ll get to see the information that matters most to you, without having to navigate through multiple pages and sites. Nice feature!
is all about providing a personalized experience tailored to your needs. We had this before, to an extend. This goes a lot further. The moment you log in, you’ll be greeted with a new interface that shows your relevant content. This new experience is all about creating pages, so in this case the content you see will be pages you’ve worked on recently, regardless of what site the page is on. This means you’ll get to see the information that matters most to you, without having to navigate through multiple pages and sites. Nice feature!Key Features
So, what makes the new SharePoint start page so special? Here are some of the key features you can look forward to:
Create First, Deploy Later
Ever want to start creating
content but don’t yet know which site the page needs to be deployed on? No problem! You can create the page now, leave it in draft mode, and publish it to a site later. The page will live in your OneDrive until you publish it to another site. It’s just that easy! You’ll see a list of sites under the publish button for whenever you’re ready.
content but don’t yet know which site the page needs to be deployed on? No problem! You can create the page now, leave it in draft mode, and publish it to a site later. The page will live in your OneDrive until you publish it to another site. It’s just that easy! You’ll see a list of sites under the publish button for whenever you’re ready.Quick Access to Your Pages
The new start page provides
quick access to your pages, making it easier to get to the content you need fast. You’ll see all of the pages you’ve created across the tenant. That means you no longer have to go hunting for that page you edited last week in order to update it.
quick access to your pages, making it easier to get to the content you need fast. You’ll see all of the pages you’ve created across the tenant. That means you no longer have to go hunting for that page you edited last week in order to update it.
Where did the sites go?
Did you notice that the recent/favorited sites no longer appear? That’s intentional. The quick access to your favorited sites will be moving to the SharePoint App bar at some point. Since this is a content-first experience, it just made sense. The old SharePoint start page is still there, still has the list of sites, and is the default when you go to the SharePoint app in the tile menu, but once this new experience is the only experience for that app, you’ll find your sites in the app bar.
Why You’ll Love the New SharePoint Start Page
So, why should you start using the new SharePoint start page? Here are just a few reasons:
View counts
With the new start page, you’ll
see how many views your pages have had (without excess clicking like the old method). This means you’ll see what users found interesting, and help you determine what future content to create that users will likely enjoy as well.
Better Visibility
You’ll also see a column
showing the recent activity, such as when the file was edited and by whom.
Collaboration
While working on your draft page, it lives in your OneDrive account. You can still share it with others to work on it and get it ready for publishing. Coauthoring still works here as well! You have several options in the page editor to share your page with collaborators
Final Thoughts
The new SharePoint start page could possibly revolutionize the way you work with SharePoint. I can see myself using this on a regular basis, not just on my own tenant, but client tenants as well. I can bookmark one page instead of all the various site collections I usually work on. It’s a content-first approach, and I’m liking it!
So, what are you waiting for? Start exploring the new SharePoint start page today and discover a whole new world of possibilities!
