SharePoint for Beginners: 5 Tips for Microsoft’s Collaboration Tool

Did you know that over 250,000 businesses use SharePoint alongside other Office 365 products? The same data showed that over 100 million individuals use the tool every month!

If you just started using this product for your company, you may feel confused over all the features included and not even know where to start. After all, SharePoint can help with everything from document and calendar management to project management and collaboration.

These five tips on SharePoint for beginners can help you get started.

1. Set Up Your Company’s Portal

When you learn SharePoint, the first thing you should do is make a companywide portal. This provides a place where your staff can log in and see all important company information in a central location.

The portal will have things like upcoming events, links to important documents, important notices, and even work schedules. You can also post important news and link to external websites that help your employees.

Later, you can make additional portals for specific work teams or departments with similar features.

2. Know About Custom Views and Filtering

When you or your staff log in to the SharePoint library, it can seem overwhelming seeing so many files to sort through. So, you should work on some custom views and filter out what’s nonessential.

For example, you can create a view for a specific team and only show documents made by those employees. You can also filter out documents to show them only to people who have permission to collaborate on them.

3. Take Advantage of Document Collaboration

Discussing SharePoint basics wouldn’t be complete without talking about how the tool lets you easily manage and collaborate on documents. You can upload files that your staff will need to view and edit right to the online service.

Your workers can then search for documents they need, or you can link to them right on the company portal. They can collaborate on documents together or alone, and you can track changes along the way.

4. Try Out SharePoint’s Built-in Apps

Another one of the best SharePoint tips for beginners is to know and use the built-in apps. After all, SharePoint is more than a library of documents and links.

For example, there’s a contacts app that will show all Outlook contacts as well as a calendar app where you can post important company events and deadlines. There’s also a custom lists feature that comes in handy for managing items.

5. Consider Getting Professional Guidance

Understanding all the SharePoint uses and features takes some time and a lot of learning. So, a great tip for beginners is to hire SharePoint consulting professionals to offer guidance along the way.

These professionals can assess your business’s needs and tailor SharePoint to use the features you need most. This also saves you a lot of time trying to figure out the tool!

Use These Handy Tips on SharePoint for Beginners

Now that you know some suggestions for using SharePoint for beginners, you can start to dive in and benefit from this tool.

Don’t feel that you need to use every SharePoint feature, especially if you run a small business. Consider starting with basics like a company portal and document sharing and adding more as needed.

If you want more tips on technology solutions for your business, check out our other posts.