Jim Naroski covers recent enhancements to Office 365, Microsoft’s cloud-based productivity solution for the modern workplace. The course transcript, complete with all links mentioned, is available at https://aka.ms/o365update-blog.
This month’s topics: PowerPoint [0:18] Access [1:38] Teams [3:32] Power BI [5:55] Flow [7:31] Sharepoint [8:22] Security [9:41]
File insights
A SharePoint communication site is a great place to share information with others. You can share news, reports, statuses, and other information in a visually compelling format.
Note: Some functionality is introduced gradually to organizations that have set up the targeted release options in Office 365. This means that you may not yet see this feature or it may look different than what is described in the help articles.
Mobile view
When you create a communication site in SharePoint Online, you can start with a blank site or choose one of the other site designs, each of which comes with a default set of web parts. The options available are:
No matter which one you choose, you can add, remove, or reorder web parts as needed.
If you have permission to edit the site, there’s also a link at the top of the communication site to add a new list, document library, page, news post, or web app to the site.
When you choose the Topic design, you get a home page that includes several web parts ready for you to customize. The web parts included by default on a Communication site that uses the Topic design are:
The Showcase design also comes with a home page that includes several web parts ready for you to customize. Here are the web parts included by default on a Communication site that uses the Showcase design:
When you start with a blank communication site, there’s no need to remove web parts you don’t need. Just choose your page layout and add the web parts you want.
In addition to changing the order of web parts on a page, you can also change the page layout for any of the site designs. For more information, see Add, remove, and change columns on a page.
SharePoint powers content collaboration in Office 365. At work, it is important for every team member to streamline efforts and stay on the same page. Group-connected SharePoint team sites provide a central location to manage team files, input and connect to important data, and share timely news. With insight into what drives the most engagement and value, people can course correct and optimize for greatest impact.
Users have been adopting modern SharePoint lists and libraries and creating modern pages. And now it’s time to bring the full power of SharePoint and Office 365 to all your sites. We’re excited to announce that you can now further modernize your existing (classic) sites by connecting them to new Office 365 groups.
Q: How can I expect connecting existing SharePoint sites to new Office 365 Groups to roll out to Office 365 customers?
A: The ability to connect existing SharePoint sites to new Office 365 Groups Communication sites will begin to roll out to all Targeted Release customers this week, and will be completed within 2–3 weeks. We then are targeting end of July 2018 for complete worldwide roll out into production.
Q: What types of sites can I connect to new Office 365 Groups?
A: You can connect top-level site collections that use the team site web template (also known as STS#0). You cannot group-connect subsites.
Q: What permissions do I need to have to connect my existing site to a new group?
A: Site collection administrators of the existing SharePoint site have the appropriate permissions to initiate the group connection process from the upper-right gear icon menu. Global admins can use PowerShell cmdlet or API tools as well.
Q: What if my site has items with unique permissions? Do they change?
A: The group connection process does not change permissions on items with unique permissions.
Q: Can I limit the availability of this feature to just my global admins?
A: Yes, there is an admin setting that lets you control whether this feature is available for site administrators from the gear menu.
1:07 Video ; Discover how Office 365’s integrated experience can help you start and grow your small business. Empower your employees with the tools they need to collaborate efficiently, communicate on the go, and access files with ease. Run your business with the Business Apps, allowing you to manage bookkeeping, customer scheduling, referrals and more.
