What are the Different SharePoint Site Types? [A Detailed Guide]
SharePoint is widely used in organizations for several purposes. The SharePoint site types contribute to its popularity among organizations. With numerous types of sites in SharePoint, sometimes users might get confused about which one to choose. In this write-up, we will discuss on the types of SharePoint sites in detail. So, users can find the best option as per their requirements. So, let’s get started.
Table of Content
What is the Significance of Different Types of SharePoint Sites?
The admin is responsible for creating and managing the SharePoint sites in the organization. The sites helps to maintain the consistent productivity of the organization such as:
- By creating the different sites in SharePoint Online, the sharing of information with the other team members becomes easy. Only the permitted members can view the site content.
- The sites help the project managers to specify the deadlines for the projects and to inform the members about the meetings and schedules as well.
- SharePoint sites manage the documents related to the organization efficiently. Because of its version tracking feature, the changes in the document can be easily tracked.
- SharePoint sites are not only contributing to the organization but also to the outside of the organization.
- SharePoint sites are also beneficial for the organization partners to share the required details.
- Because SharePoint is part of Office 365, then the SharePoint app can be easily integrated with other Office 365 apps such as Power BI, OneDrive, and many more.
- The admin can add or remove the users in SharePoint because of its scalability. So, it is the best fit for any size of the organization.
Top 3 SharePoint Site Types
As per the features of SharePoint, there are different types of sites in SharePoint Online. Let’s start discussing every site in detail.
1. Team Sites
The Team site is created in SharePoint for the particular team within an organization. These SharePoint site types are used to share information, doubts, deadlines, and other details with the team members of the organization. It helps to keep updating all the team members regarding the project status. Because of SharePoint Online, SharePoint can be accessed from any location just with the help of the Internet, the team members can also carry on their tasks from different locations.
There are Document libraries in SharePoint Online to store the information. Due to this, the users are not required to manage the storage. It requires the Office 365 Group template to create the sites through the below steps.
- Step 1. Open SharePoint and go to the Home Page.
- Step 2. Click on the Create Site.
- Step 3. Choose the Team Site option.
- Step 4. Complete the details on the Team site such as Name, Description, Privacy settings, and others.
- Step 5. Add the members and hit on the Finish button.
Also Read: How to Create groups in SharePoint?
2. Communication Sites
The Communication sites are not the same as the Team sites. The communication sites are different types of SharePoint sites that are not used to improve collaboration. These SharePoint site types are used to share information with the audience. It is a one-way process where less number of members are creating and publishing the content. The more number of members are consuming the content. The administrator creates the communication sites as per the need. For instance, HR needs to inform about the updated policies of the organization to the members. At that time HR releases the document having all the information and publishes it on the Communication site.
These sites are not linked with Teams, Planner, Outlook, and other Office 365 apps. You need the SharePoint Admin credentials to make this type of site using the below steps.
- Step 1. Run the SharePoint and move to the Home Page.
- Step 2. Click on the Create Site option from the top-left corner.
- Step 3. Choose the Communication Site option.
- Step 4. Enter the Name and Description of the site and hit on Finish button.
3. Classic Team Sites
The classic team sites were used in the earlier days to improve the collaboration of the organization. These SharePoint sites types in SharePoint Online were creating the blog sites. These sites require more customizations because they do not have more features. Now the classic sites are depreciated and if you are using these types of sites then upgrade to the Modern team sites for better user experience.
- Step 1. Open the SharePoint Admin Center.
- Step 2. Now click on the Sites and then Active Sites.
- Step 3. Choose the option of Create and then other options.
- Step 4. In the other options window, select the option more templates.
- Step 5. Now enter the required details related to the classic site and hit OK.
Comparison of SharePoint Site Types
| Feature | Classic SharePoint Sites | Teams Sites | Communication Sites |
| Purpose | These are the General-purpose sites for various use cases | For enhancing collaboration within Teams. | Mostly used to share information and news within an organization |
| Layout | Easy to customize with the help of web parts. | Modern layout designed as per team requirements. | Modern, visually appealing layouts. |
| Features | Supports a wide range of features, including document libraries, lists, calendars, and web parts | Integrated with Microsoft Teams, to provide functions such as chat, video conferencing, and file sharing | Highly focused on communication, with its enormous features such as announcements, news articles, and surveys. |
| Use Cases | Project Management | Team discussions, project’s progress tracking | Internal communications |
| Accessibility | Accessible to permitted users | Accessible to Team members | Mostly accessible to all users within the organization, the rest depending on the permissions. |
| Integration | Integrates with other Microsoft products | Integrates with Microsoft Teams | Integrates with other Microsoft products, especially Office 365 |
| Modernization | Supports modern features. | Supports Modern design | Modern by design |
Some Other Different Classifications of SharePoint Sites
- Document Center site – All the documents stored in the document center sites such as Word, PDF, and others.
- Enterprise Wiki site – The Wiki sites provide the information in a large volume.
- Phishing Portal site – While publishing content for a large audience, portal sites make the process easier.
- Developer site – The Developers handle the developer site. Here the developers build and deploy the apps in the organization.
- Project site – These sites helps to track the status of the projects to calculate how far the project is from the deadline
- Community site – These sites are open to sharing opinions and ideas.
- BI center – These act as a container to store the data analysis reports.
How We Can Help You?
These all are the SharePoint site types that can improve the collaboration of the organization. But what if the organization needs to shift to another SharePoint account because of several needs such as merging and acquiring with the other organization? Do not worry about this situation, because here you will also find out how to move SharePoint site to another site in your SharePoint account.
The Migrator Wizard SharePoint Online Migration Tool is the one that is used to perform SharePoint tenant-to-tenant migration. This tool is recommended by the SharePoint Administrators for an efficient process.
As per the data storage of sites in SharePoint, the List and Document library plays a vital role. So this tool can migrate the list and document library without affecting the folder hierarchy. Moreover, the smart date-based filter is also incorporated into the tool to specify the data.
Conclusion
There are different SharePoint site types. Due to this, the administrator gets confused most of the time to select which site and when. That’s why through this write-up, we have explained all the varieties of SharePoint sites in a detailed manner. Now you can pick the right one as per the organization’s requirement.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. What are the different types of SharePoint sites?
A – There are multiple sites in SharePoint. For instance, communication site, Teams, site, Developer, Project, and so on. You can create your SharePoint site as per the requirement.
Q2. What are the contents of the SharePoint sites?
A – SharePoint site content includes lists, libraries, apps, and subsites. You can view all of the associated data of the site in one place.
Q3. Can we customize the SharePoint sites as per requirements?
A – Yes, it is possible to customize the SharePoint site types by adding or removing the web parts, and modifying layouts, and permissions as well.