A new SharePoint site doesn't have to start empty. With site templates you immediately get a structure with pages, web parts, navigation and sample content, for example for a department, a project, an HR portal or an event. You replace the sample text with your own content and your site is ready in an hour instead of a week. This article shows how to apply a template and what exactly happens.
Team site or communication site?
The templates you see depend on the type of site:
- A team site is for working together: a group of people sharing files, tasks and news. It's often connected to a Microsoft 365 group or a team in Teams.
- A communication site is for informing a large audience: an intranet, a department page, an HR portal. Few people write, many people read.
Apply a template
- Open the site as a site owner.
- Click Settings (the gear) > Apply a site template. On a new site the template picker often appears by itself at the top of the home page.
- Choose the From Microsoft or From your organization tab.
- Click a template to see a preview: it shows which pages and web parts it contains.
- Click Use template and wait while SharePoint creates the pages and parts.
What does a template do and not do?
- It adds pages and web parts, with sample text and images that you replace.
- It often changes the theme, the home page and the navigation.
- Some templates also create lists or libraries, such as a task list for a project.
- Existing pages, documents and lists stay. Nothing is deleted.
- It doesn't change permissions: whoever had access keeps it.
If you apply another template later, extra pages are added. The old ones remain, so clean up what you don't use.
Template examples
- Team sites: Project management, Team collaboration, Training and courses, Event planning, IT help desk.
- Communication sites: Department, Human resources, Showcase, Event, Leadership connection, Learning central.
After applying
- Go through every new page and replace the sample text and images. Look for words like "sample" or "lorem".
- Remove web parts you don't need. A simple page reads better.
- Check the navigation on the left or at the top and rename items.
- Republish the pages, otherwise visitors don't see your changes.
How to build a page yourself is in create a page in SharePoint. Starting an intranet? Also read create a communication site.
Your organisation's own templates
Admins can use PowerShell to create custom site templates based on a site script: a JSON file describing which lists, columns, themes and settings a site gets. Those templates appear under From your organization, optionally only for certain groups. That way every new project or department gets the same structure, with your company's branding and agreements. Write those agreements down in a governance plan for SharePoint Online.