An Introduction to SharePoint

Many organisations still rely on file servers, email attachments, and spreadsheets for document storage and collaboration. These approaches lead to version conflicts, lost files, and scattered information. SharePoint addresses these issues as a secure platform for content management, intranets, and team collaboration within Microsoft 365.

In this beginner-focused session, April Dunnam (Partner Technical Architect at Microsoft, PowerApps MVP Alumni) provides a comprehensive overview of SharePoint Online. She demonstrates site creation, document libraries, lists, and page customisation through live examples, assuming no prior knowledge.

What You Will Learn

• SharePoint's role in Microsoft 365, including its integration with Teams files tab and intranet capabilities
• Creating communication sites for company homepages and team sites backed by Office 365 groups
• Building document libraries with metadata columns, custom views, filtering, sorting, and versioning
• Setting up SharePoint lists (now Microsoft Lists) with column types like person, date, currency, lookup, and location
• Customising site pages by adding web parts such as lists, news, hero, quick links, and integrations with Planner or Power BI
• Publishing news articles with templates, stock images, and responsive layouts
• Applying list and column formatting with conditional colours, alternating rows, and JSON samples from PnP GitHub

Key Takeaways

1. Prioritise metadata over folders in document libraries. April shows how adding columns like choice fields for document type enables filtering and searching, reducing reliance on nested folders.
2. Use views for personalised data displays. Create filtered views like 'My Uploads' with sorting by created date and security trimming to show only accessible items.
3. Leverage real-time co-authoring and OneDrive sync. Edit Office files directly in the browser with automatic saves, collaborate simultaneously, and sync libraries for offline access.
4. Start customisation with web parts in edit mode. Add lists or news to homepages, adjust properties like item limits, and republish changes for team visibility.

About the Speaker

April Dunnam is a Partner Technical Architect at Microsoft and PowerApps MVP Alumni. She is an active speaker at Collab365 events, blogger at sharepointsiren.com, and YouTuber covering SharePoint, PowerApps, Power Automate, and Teams.

Who Should Watch This

This session suits complete beginners to SharePoint or those new to Microsoft 365 who need a foundational understanding before diving deeper. IT pros managing Teams or intranets will benefit from seeing how SharePoint powers files and content behind the scenes.

Power users handling documents in spreadsheets or file shares get practical demos on migrating to libraries and lists. Skip if you already build custom sites or integrate PowerApps with SharePoint data.