SharePoint Online on a laptop

SharePoint Online Resources To Get Started

SharePoint used to be a behemoth of a “thing” to tackle.  It required various people with a range of expertise.  And users hated it because they typically received little training and SharePoint just didn’t feel intuitive.  Plus, it always felt like what seemed like the same quest to work on a file went slightly different each time.  With no rhyme or reason, working in SharePoint created more work.  We’ve got a perfectly good file server–why use SharePoint?!

SharePoint Online from Microsoft 365

Let me start by saying, that in 2021, SharePoint is still a very powerful application.  It can be incredibly complex.  However, it can also be incredibly simple to use.  The advent of multi-user simultaneous collaboration is a huge part of that. No more checking out documents and checking them back in if you don’t want to–just open the document in SharePoint, work on it there and then close out.  Easy peazy! There are also some simple built-in themes to choose from if you want to spice things up, or just keep it simple and use the clean out-of-the-box look.  Plus, you have a Microsoft Teams front-end, if you want to manage SharePoint that way.  And in our opinion, Microsoft Teams is the real game changer.

How to Get Started with SharePoint Online

Listen, we could write a big long blog post, optimizing SEO, linking back to authoritative sites and put in lots of quotes.  But, the blog on SharePoint Online has been written.  In fact, it’s been written 1,000 times.  And there are some really great guides out there to get started with SharePoint.  So, instead of re-writing them, we’ve compiled a list of great resources to check out.  If you need help decommissioning your server and moving to SharePoint Online, we’ve got you covered.  Or if you want help organizing commissions with Azure AD, we can help you there, too!  Just drop us a note in the contact form or give us a call.  Helping is our favorite!

Resources

Straight from the horse’s mouth: Microsoft How-To SharePoint Online. Read this.  It’s great and will get you started with your very first site.

This a great companion to the above article. Once you’ve created a site, this is a great cheat sheet to keep in your bookmarks.

This is our favorite beginner guide.  It is like a mini-course in basic, beginner SharePoint.  It’s in my favorite bookmarks and it should be in yours!

If you are a visual learner, then check out these videos from Microsoft.  Microsoft does a great job training in bite-size articles with video presentations.

Training means increased engagement and efficiency for your workforce.  Microsoft saw the gap and filled it with Learning Pathways.

This isn’t so much a setup guide, but it points out great basic features that help you use SharePoint the right way.  And when you use it the right way, it’s a great tool!

I Hate SharePoint…Still

We get it.  SharePoint is not for everyone.  Maybe you just have a bad taste in your mouth and you just want something else.  If that’s the case, checkout our favorite cloud file storage solution: Workplace.  We love it and we think you will, too!  It’s just like having a file server without the hardware capex spend.