SharePoint Overview
SharePoint is an online content and document management tool available for students, faculty, and staff to create web sites and manage file libraries. SharePoint sites are typically created for collaboration among multiple users. SharePoint is part of the Microsoft Office 365 applications, along with other Office 365 Applications such as OneDrive, Office Online, and OneNote.
The SharePoint site owner is responsible for managing the site content, giving user access and assigning permissions.
Benefits and Features
SharePoint Online features include:
- Customizable web forms
- Document libraries with file versioning for collaboration
- Online discussion forums
- Picture and slide libraries with thumbnails
- Subsites for teams and projects
- Team calendaring with integration with Outlook
- Simultaneous user collaboration on Office Documents
Available To
Students
Faculty
Staff
Cost
None
Request This Service
Students, faculty, and staff interested in requesting a SharePoint "site collection" must complete the Collaboration Services Request Form.
How to Access
All SharePoint sites access require a NetID and NetID password. When a user visits a site that they do not have access to, they will see a web form that can be used to request access. This request will then be sent to the site owner (usually local school or department technology staff), or other local technology support staff as designated by the site owner.
SharePoint access is distributed and managed by independent local site owners. Access to new site collections is initially limited to the predetermined site owners, who will then designate appropriate user permissions in their area for authorized users.
Site owners and their designated approvers may permit access to:
- Entire site collections
- Individual sites
- libraries and lists
- Individual documents or other items
Roles and Permissions
Browser Support for SharePoint Online
Microsoft has a chart of supported browsers available at Office Online browser support. In general, most SharePoint Online features are supported in the latest versions of Internet Explorer, Edge, Chrome, Firefox and Safari. One notable feature that is only available on some browsers is the "Open with Explorer" feature that allows document libraries to be opened as if they are a normal Windows folder.
Additional Resources
Visit the SharePoint/OneDrive User Resources page for online video tutorials, user guides, and other training materials that provide instructions on some of the options SharePoint provides.
Last Updated: 4 June 2020
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