8 Best SharePoint Tips for Beginners

Learn the basics and best practices to kickstart your SharePoint journey!

If your business needs an excellent tool, consider using SharePoint. It allows easy site creation and efficient information management and storage. Though this tool offers many features, it may be overwhelming for new users. To help you make the most of it, we have created a helpful guide below with SharePoint tips and tricks for beginners.

sharepoint tips for beginners

Best SharePoint Tips for Beginners

Although SharePoint doesn’t get many updates, it still has a modern look and has all the necessary functions to offer you a good user experience. The best thing is it is available cross-platform. With the help of the tips provided in the guide below, you can make the most of the numerous features of SharePoint. So, keep reading to learn how to use it effectively!

1. Understand Different Types of Sites

To make the most of SharePoint, start by creating a perfect site. Sites are crucial for SharePoint’s system. Spend time building it thoughtfully, knowing your purpose to use it effectively.

SharePoint has two types of sites: communication site and team site. Even though they may seem similar, they are different in reality. Before building your site, choose the type that aligns with your goals best.

2. Use Description Carefully

When using SharePoint, a tip and trick to remember by beginners is that others will see your input. So, always provide a clear and concise description, especially when creating a document library. Describing its content will prevent confusion and frustration for users. For example, if you’re making a financial document library, specify its contents like tax statements, budgets, payroll, and reports. This way, everyone will understand what’s inside.

3. Name Documents Correctly

Choosing the right name for documents in SharePoint is vital. Since spaces aren’t allowed, using symbols can make it hard to read. Instead, capitalize the first letters, like DuckDuckGo, for a simpler and easier-to-read name.

4. Pin Important Files

If you have many files in a document library and need quick access to a specific file daily, you can pin it as important. It will always stay at the top, even if you add more files later. Using the pin feature saves time and makes you more efficient.

Also Read: Amazing SharePoint List Tips and Tricks You Need to Know

5. Sync Libraries to OneDrive

Think of SharePoint and OneDrive as inseparable partners. SharePoint is incomplete without OneDrive. Install OneDrive, sync your document libraries, and access all your files effortlessly through both platforms. This is another one of the great SharePoint tips and tricks for beginners.

6. Use File Version History

As humans, we all make mistakes sometimes. If you accidentally change something or an employee edits an important file by mistake, don’t worry! Use the file version history feature to bring back the previous data. We highly recommend using this feature to save time.

7. Give Necessary Permissions

Allowing employees to have appropriate permissions and some creative freedom is essential for your organization’s growth. In SharePoint, you can easily customize permissions for each employee, giving them only what they need, unlike other software where you have to give all or none.

8. Enable Notifications

Once you grant permissions, employees can edit the site, documents, and lists. But what if they make important changes? It can be a headache. To deal with this, a great tip for beginners is to enable notifications in SharePoint. You will be notified whenever someone makes changes. However, we recommend customizing the notifications to avoid being bombarded with alerts every time someone adds or edits something.

SharePoint Tutorial for Beginners

Let us now cover some basic points for the Microsoft SharePoint tutorial that will be helpful for beginners.

1. How to Create SharePoint Site

As we said SharePoint sites are the building blocks of this platform. So, we will first know how to build them with these steps:

1. Click on the Create site option and select which type of site you want to create, i.e., Team site or Communication site.

Click on Create site

2. Enter the Site name and description.

Enter the Site name and description | sharepoint tips for beginners

3. Now enter the owner’s name and select Finish.

Also Read: Amazing SharePoint Document Library Tips and Tricks

2. How to Add List or Document Library

After you know how to create a site, now let’s know how to add a list or document library and help you with a SharePoint tutorial for beginners.

1. Select the site to which you want to add the list/document library and click on New.

Click New

2. Select what you want to create, List, Document library, or other options from the list.

Click on List, Document library, or other options

3. Enter the name and description.

4. Select Create.

3. How to Add Page

Pages are quite an important part of your whole SharePoint site. So, now let’s know how to create a page in this Microsoft SharePoint tutorial:

1. Choose the site on which you want to create a page.

2. Select New and then Page from the other options.

Click on Page | sharepoint tips for beginners

3. Select a template and click on Create page.

Click on Create page

4. Select a name and any other content like photos, text, or web parts.

5. Now, click on Publish.

Click on Publish | sharepoint tips for beginners

4. How to Use Filters

You can also find the right content with filters in SharePoint. To know more about it, follow these steps:

1. Select a Library or List.

2. Select the filter icon.

Now, use the filter according to your need.

5. How to Add Web Part

Lastly, adding Web Part in SharePoint is another helpful tutorial for beginners. This is how you can add them:

1. In the News post or Page and click on the plus icon.

2. Select which web part you want to add, i.e., Text, Picture, or Document.

3. After adding the web part, click on Post news or Publish.

Click on Post news

We trust that our guide on SharePoint tips for beginners was useful to you. If you have any other questions, feel free to share them in the comment section, and our team will be happy to assist you. Thank you for reading!

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