Microsoft SharePoint Online is the core collaborative application within Office 365. SharePoint is commonly referred to as a SharePoint Site or a Team Site. Team Sites are used for collaboration on documents, files and ideas.
The easiest way to get started is to click the Create Site link within the SharePoint hub.
SharePoint is also a component of other Office 365 tools:
- Communication Sites
- Primarily used for communication to an audience. While only a few people author content, these sites are intended to be more public. Think of these as blogs.
- Team Sites
- Primarily for collaboration within a defined team of people. The intent is that all members have read/write ability to work with documents. These sites are private to the team by default. Traditionally, previous versions of SharePoint were used this way. The main way to interact with a Team Site is through a web browser.
- Outlook or Office Groups
- Part of the Team Site functionality that is presented as part of Microsoft Outlook. Every Team Site also has an Outlook Calendar, Conversation Inbox and internal email address. These tools can be accessed from the Team Site in the web or through the Outlook desktop and web clients.
- Planner
- An agile project planning tool. This can be used directly within a Team Site or through the Planner application tile. Every Plan created comes with a SharePoint Team Site.
- Teams (not yet available)
- Part of Team Site functionality that is presented as a Skype-like experience for real-time collaboration using chat, video and voice. Every Team created comes with a SharePoint Team Site
- Streams (ot yet available)
- Part of Team Site functionality that presents video content in a You-Tube-like experience. Every Streams channel created comes with a SharePoint Team Site.
All SharePoint Sites contain:
- a Document Library for sharing and collaborating on documents and files
- a OneNote notebook for unstructured note-taking and brainstorming
SharePoint Sites are extensible and additional elements can be added:
- Document Libraries
- Picture Libraries
- Tasks Lists
- Calendars
- Project Lists
NOTE: All SharePoint Team Sites are set to expire one year after creation. One month prior, the site owner(s) will be notified with a one-click option to Renew the Site for another year.
ALSO NOTE: You are required to have at least two (2) site owners for every SharePoint site. This reduces the risk of accidental expiry/deletion.
To learn more about SharePoint, visit the SharePoint KB hub on Technology Service Desk and the Microsoft Office Training Center.