SharePoint is where your team's shared files, company policies, announcements, and resources live. It sits behind every Teams channel, every shared document library, and many internal communication pages. Once you know how it is structured and how to find your way around, it becomes one of the most useful tools in your M365 toolkit.

 

🌐  Get there: Go to office.com and click SharePoint in the left navigation, or go directly to your organisation's SharePoint address. Your IT team can provide the URL for your main SharePoint hub.

 

Part 1: What Is SharePoint and How Is It Structured?

SharePoint is a web-based platform for storing, organising, and sharing files and information across your team or organisation. Think of it as the company's internal website and shared filing system combined.

 

Here are the main building blocks you will encounter:

 

Element	What it is	Think of it like...
Hub site	The top-level SharePoint home for your organisation - links to all other sites	The company headquarters building
Team site	A SharePoint site for a specific team, location, or department - created automatically when you create a Team in Teams	A department office
Communication site	A site designed for broadcasting information to a wide audience - news, announcements, policies	A company noticeboard
Document library	A container for storing files - like a shared folder, but with version history, metadata, and access controls	A filing cabinet
List	A structured table of data - tasks, contacts, inventory, requests - like a spreadsheet but with richer data types	A spreadsheet pinned to the wall
Page	A web page within a SharePoint site - can contain text, images, news articles, embedded documents, and web parts	A printed notice on a bulletin board
Web part	A building block on a page - a document viewer, a news feed, a calendar, a people directory, etc.	A widget or tile on a dashboard

 

💡  SharePoint and Teams are the same files. Every Team in Microsoft Teams has a SharePoint site created automatically behind it. The Files tab you see in a Teams channel is a view into that SharePoint site's document library. They are not two separate places - they are one place with two interfaces.

 

Part 2: Finding Your SharePoint Sites

There are several ways to reach your SharePoint sites depending on what you already know and where you are starting from:

 

Method	How to use it	Best when...
SharePoint home page	Go to office.com → click SharePoint. Your followed and frequent sites appear here.	Finding sites you visit regularly
office.com waffle menu	Click the nine-dot grid in the top left of office.com and select SharePoint.	Quick access from any M365 app
Teams Files tab	In Teams, click a channel → Files tab → Open in SharePoint. Takes you directly to that team's library.	When you already know which Team the files belong to
Direct URL	Your IT team can provide the URL for specific sites - bookmark ones you use frequently.	Sites you visit daily - fastest access
SharePoint search	From any SharePoint page, use the search bar at the top. Searches across all sites you have access to.	Looking for a document without knowing which site it's on
M365 global search	In office.com or Teams, use the main search bar. Filter results to Sites to find SharePoint sites by name.	When you remember the site name but not the URL

 

The SharePoint home page - your starting point

1. Go to office.com and sign in.
2. Click the SharePoint icon in the left navigation panel (or in the waffle menu).
3. The SharePoint home page shows: Featured links (set by IT), Frequent sites (sites you visit most), Following (sites you have starred), and Recent (sites you have visited lately).
4. Click any site tile to open it.

 

Following a site

Following a site pins it to your SharePoint home page so you can find it quickly every time.

1. Open the SharePoint site you want to follow.
2. Click the star icon (or the Not following button) that appears near the top right of the site - it may say Follow.
3. The site will now appear in the Following section of your SharePoint home page.
4. To unfollow, click the star again - it will toggle off.

 

Part 3: Understanding the SharePoint Site Interface

Once you open a SharePoint site, you will see a consistent layout across all sites. Here is what each part does:

 

Top navigation bar

• The site logo and name appear in the top left - clicking them takes you back to the site home page from anywhere within the site.
• The navigation links across the top (Home, Documents, Pages, etc.) are the main sections of this site - these are customised per site by the site owner.
• The search bar at the top searches within this site by default. Switch to searching across all of SharePoint using the toggle that appears in the search results.

 

Left navigation panel

• Some sites have a left-side navigation panel listing sub-sections, document libraries, or lists within the site.
• If you do not see a left panel, the site uses top navigation only - all sections are in the links across the top.

 

Breadcrumb trail

As you drill into folders within a document library, a breadcrumb trail appears at the top of the content area showing your path - e.g. Documents > 2025 > HR Policies. Click any part of the breadcrumb to jump back to that level.

Part 4: Document Libraries - Finding and Opening Files

A document library is the most common thing you will use in SharePoint. It is a list of files and folders with a toolbar for managing them.

 

Navigating a document library

1. Click the Documents link in the site navigation (or the name of any library) to open it.
2. Files and folders are listed in the main content area. Click a folder to open it.
3. Click a file name to open it in the browser for viewing or editing.
4. Use the toolbar at the top of the library to upload, create new files, sort, filter, or switch between list and grid view.

 

Switching views

• List view: Shows files as rows with columns (Name, Modified, Modified By, Size). Best for finding specific files.
• Grid / tiles view: Shows files as large tiles with preview thumbnails. Best for image-heavy libraries.
• Compact list: Tighter row spacing - fits more files on screen at once.
• Custom views: Site owners can create saved views that filter or group files - you may see named views in the view dropdown in the top right of the library.

 

Sorting and filtering

• Click any column header to sort by that column - click again to reverse the sort.
• Click the Filter icon (funnel) in the top right of the library to open a filter panel - filter by date modified, file type, or custom metadata columns.
• Use the search bar at the top of the page to search within the current library - faster than scrolling for specific files.

 

💡  Grid view for quick browsing, list view for finding. Switch between them using the view toggle in the top right corner of the library. There is no wrong choice - use whichever helps you find what you need faster.

 

Part 5: Document Libraries vs. Lists - 30 Seconds

You may see both document libraries and lists in the left navigation of a SharePoint site. Here is the quick difference:

 

Document library: Stores files - Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PDFs, images. Has version history and preview. You open files from here. List: Stores structured data - tasks, contacts, requests, inventory. Each row is a record with columns of information. You fill in or read data from here.

 

For most PFM users, document libraries are the main thing you will interact with. Lists are more commonly used for tracking, workflow, or admin purposes set up by IT or management.

 

Part 6: Searching in SharePoint

SharePoint has a powerful search that can find files, pages, people, and lists across every site you have access to - not just the one you are currently on.

 

Searching within a site

1. Click the search bar at the top of any SharePoint page.
2. Type a file name, keyword, or phrase. Results appear immediately as you type.
3. Results show files, pages, and people from the current site by default.
4. Click a result to open it directly.

 

Searching across all SharePoint sites

1. From the search results, look for a toggle or link that says Search across all sites or Search in all of SharePoint.
2. This expands results to every site you have access to - useful when you do not know which site a file lives on.
3. Filter results by file type, date modified, or author using the filter options on the left side of the results page.

 

💡  Search tips: Use quotes for exact phrases ("Q2 report" finds that exact title). Use the Author filter to find all files uploaded by a specific person. If you remember part of a file name, even two or three words from the middle, SharePoint search will usually find it.

 

Part 7: Syncing a SharePoint Library to Your Computer

You can sync a SharePoint document library to File Explorer so the files appear as a folder on your computer - no browser needed to access them.

 

1. Navigate to the document library you want to sync in your browser.
2. Click Sync in the toolbar at the top of the library.
3. Your browser may ask permission to open OneDrive - click Allow or Open.
4. OneDrive will sync the library and it appears in File Explorer under your OneDrive folder, labelled with the site name.
5. Files sync automatically - changes made in File Explorer appear in SharePoint and vice versa.

 

⚠️  Only sync libraries you actually use. Syncing too many libraries slows down OneDrive and uses local storage. Sync the two or three libraries you access most often - browse everything else in the browser.

 

💡  Add shortcut vs Sync — what is the difference? Newer SharePoint sites offer Add shortcut to OneDrive instead of Sync. This does the same thing but is lighter - it adds a shortcut rather than syncing every file locally. Files download on demand when you open them. This is the recommended option for most users.

 

Part 8: SharePoint Navigation Tips and Shortcuts

 

• Bookmark your most-used sites. Once you find a site you visit daily, press Ctrl+D in your browser to bookmark it. Faster than navigating from office.com every time.
• Use the back button confidently. SharePoint pages are web pages - the browser back button works perfectly for retracing your steps within a site.
• Right-click a file for quick actions. Right-clicking any file in a document library gives you a context menu with Share, Download, Copy link, Rename, Delete, Version history, and more - without needing to open the file.
• Check the breadcrumb before deleting. Before deleting anything in SharePoint, check the breadcrumb to make sure you are in the right library and folder. Deleted files go to the SharePoint Recycle Bin but recovery still requires knowing where to look.
• Pin sites to Teams. In Teams, you can add a SharePoint page as a tab in a channel. Click the + next to the channel tabs → SharePoint → choose a page or library. Your team can access it without leaving Teams.
• Use @mentions in files. In Word or Excel files open from SharePoint, type @ followed by a colleague's name to mention them - they receive a notification and a link to the document. Useful for flagging something that needs their attention.

 

Part 9: Troubleshooting

 

Problem	Fix
"Access Denied" when opening a site	You do not have permission to that site. Contact the site owner or IT to request access. If you clicked a shared link, ask the sender to confirm you have been granted access.
The site looks different from what a colleague described	SharePoint sites are customisable - your organisation may have set up pages and navigation differently. Ask your colleague to share their exact URL or walk you through where they went.
I can't find a document using SharePoint search	Check that you are searching from within the correct site, and that you have permission to that document library. If the document was recently uploaded, wait a few minutes - new files can take time to be indexed by search.
The site appears in my browser history but now gives Access Denied	Your access may have been removed by IT or the site owner. Contact IT to check your current permissions.
I followed a site but it no longer appears on my SharePoint home	You may have un-followed it accidentally. Go to the site directly → click the star icon (Follow) to re-follow it. It will reappear on your SharePoint home.
A SharePoint page is loading very slowly	Try clearing your browser cache (Ctrl+Shift+Delete → All time). Also check if the same issue occurs in a private window - if it loads faster there, cache is the cause.
I can't find the Recycle Bin on a SharePoint site	Click the Settings gear icon → Site contents → Recycle Bin. Alternatively, add /recyclebin to the end of the site URL.

 

🛟  Still stuck? Contact the IT Help Desk. Have the name of the SharePoint site and a description of what you were trying to find or do.