Setup home site SharePoint Online Using PowerShell

In this “Setup home site SharePoint” article, we will learn about how to set up a home site in SharePoint Online using the PowerShell script.

What you will learn from this article?

• Introduction to home site app in SharePoint Online
• Capabilities of Home Site in SharePoint Online
• Set up a home site for your organization using the PowerShell script

Introduction: What is Home Site in SharePoint Online?

In SharePoint Online, a Home Site is a designated communication site that serves as the main portal or landing page for an organization’s intranet. It is designed to be the focal point for news, events, and organizational communication, providing a personalized and engaging experience for users.

Key Features of a Home Site

1. Centralized Hub
   • Acts as the central hub for the organization’s intranet, providing access to key resources, news, and important information.
   • Typically includes links to other sites, such as departmental sites, team sites, and project sites.
2. Modern Communication Site
   • Built using the modern SharePoint communication site template, which is designed for sharing news, showcasing stories, and providing easy navigation.
   • Features a responsive design that works well on various devices, including desktops, tablets, and mobile phones.
3. Global Navigation
   • Enables global navigation across the intranet, allowing users to easily find and access important sites and content.
   • Provides a consistent navigation experience throughout the organization.
4. Personalized Content
   • Delivers personalized content to users based on their role, department, and interests.
   • Uses Microsoft Graph and other personalization features to show relevant news, documents, and sites.
5. Integration with Microsoft 365
   • Integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft 365 services, such as Microsoft Teams, Yammer, and OneDrive.
   • Allows for the embedding of content and the use of web parts to display information from various Microsoft 365 apps.
6. Enhanced Search
   • Provides enhanced search capabilities, allowing users to easily find information across the intranet.
   • Includes search-driven web parts and other tools to help users locate documents, news, and other content quickly.

Benefits of a Home Site

1. Improved Communication
   • Centralizes organizational communication, making it easier for employees to stay informed about company news, announcements, and events.
   • Provides a single location for disseminating important information.
2. Better User Experience
   • Enhances the user experience by providing a clean, modern, and intuitive interface.
   • Offers personalized content that helps users find relevant information more efficiently.
3. Enhanced Collaboration
   • Facilitates collaboration by integrating with other Microsoft 365 tools and services.
   • Encourages engagement through interactive features like comments, likes, and social sharing.
4. Branding and Customization
   • Allows organizations to apply their branding, including logos, color schemes, and themes, to create a consistent look and feel.
   • Supports customization of the layout and content to meet specific organizational needs.
5. Increased Productivity
   • Helps employees quickly access the resources and information they need, reducing time spent searching for content.
   • Streamlines workflows by integrating with tools like Microsoft Power Automate and PowerApps.

Setting Up a Home Site

To designate a site as a Home Site, follow these steps:

1. Create or Choose a Communication Site
   • Create a new communication site or choose an existing one that you want to designate as the Home Site.
2. Customize the Site
   • Customize the site’s layout, design, and content to align with your organization’s branding and communication needs.
   • Add web parts and configure sections to display news, events, documents, and other important information.
3. Run PowerShell Command
   • Use the SharePoint Online Management Shell to run the PowerShell command that designates the site as the Home Site.

1. onfigure Global Navigation
   • Set up and configure global navigation to provide a consistent experience across your intranet.
   • Use the navigation settings in the SharePoint admin center or within the site settings.

Example Use Case

Imagine a large company with multiple departments and locations. By setting up a Home Site, the company can:

• Centralize Communication: Provide a single source of truth for company news, announcements, and events.
• Improve Navigation: Enable easy access to departmental sites, resources, and tools.
• Enhance Personalization: Deliver relevant content to employees based on their roles and interests, improving engagement and productivity.

How to Setup Home Site SharePoint Online?

The home site feature is newly introduced by Microsoft where we can design a more sophisticated user-friendly community site that can be used as a landing page for all users in your intranet. We can have news, events, embedded video and conversations, and other resources to deliver an engaging experience that reflects your organization’s voice, priorities, and brand, and it must be a modern communication site.

Capabilities of Home Site in SharePoint Online: Setup home site SharePoint

• The home site is easily accessible both from the SharePoint mobile app (Android and iOS). All users that have access to the home site will see a home button on the Find tab of the mobile app. Homesites are designed to be mobile-friendly from the start as the site is built based on the communication site template.
• Search for the site is scoped to global – meaning it can be searched from all sites within the organization.
• The site is automatically set up as an organization news site (what is an organization news site will discuss later in another article).
• On the in-home site, we can configure the global navigation in the SharePoint app bar.
• In Homesite, we can use the Viva Connections (we will write a separate article on viva connections)
• Once the site has been converted into a home site – it becomes a SharePoint home site app.
• The SharePoint home site can be configured as an app inside Microsoft Teams.

Set up a home site for your organization using the PowerShell script

Using the below PowerShell script, we can convert a modern communication site to the home site:

####The below script is used to convert the modern communication site to a home site.

cls

$PSshell = Get-PSSnapin "Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell" -ErrorVariable err -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
if($PSshell -eq $null)
{
Add-PSSnapin "Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell"
}

$fileName = "ConvertToHomeSiteUsingPowerShell"

#'yyyyMMddhhmm yyyyMMdd
$enddate = (Get-Date).tostring("yyyyMMddhhmmss")
$logFileName = $fileName +"_"+ $enddate+"_Log.txt"
$invocation = (Get-Variable MyInvocation).Value
$directoryPath = Split-Path $invocation.MyCommand.Path

$directoryPathForLog=$directoryPath+"\"+"LogFiles"
if(!(Test-Path -path $directoryPathForLog))
{
New-Item -ItemType directory -Path $directoryPathForLog
#Write-Host "Please Provide Proper Log Path" -ForegroundColor Red
}

$logPath = $directoryPathForLog + "\" + $logFileName

$isLogFileCreated = $False

function Write-Log([string]$logMsg)
{
if(!$isLogFileCreated){
Write-Host "Creating Log File..."
if(!(Test-Path -path $directoryPath))
{
Write-Host "Please Provide Proper Log Path" -ForegroundColor Red
}
else
{
$script:isLogFileCreated = $True
Write-Host "Log File ($logFileName) Created..."
[string]$logMessage = [System.String]::Format("[$(Get-Date)] - {0}", $logMsg)
Add-Content -Path $logPath -Value $logMessage
}
}
else
{
[string]$logMessage = [System.String]::Format("[$(Get-Date)] - {0}", $logMsg)
Add-Content -Path $logPath -Value $logMessage
}
}

#Paramaters area
$adminSiteURL="globalsharepoint2020-admin.sharepoint.com"
$homeSiteURL="globalsharepoint2020.sharepoint.com/sites/Home"
#Paramaters area - Ends

try
{

Connect-SPOService -Url $adminSiteURL

#Command Syntax
#Set-SPOHomeSite -HomeSiteUrl 

#Command example
Set-SPOHomeSite -HomeSiteUrl $homeSiteURL
Write-Host "The site has been converted to a home site Successfully" -BackgroundColor Green


}
catch
{

$ErrorMessage = $_.Exception.Message +"in converting to home site!:"
Write-Host $ErrorMessage -BackgroundColor Red
Write-Log $ErrorMessage

}

Notes:

• The account that runs the script should be a global administrator role.
• The home site should be a modern communication site.

SharePoint home site examples – Setup home site SharePoint

After executing the script, if we navigate to the home site URL, we can see the below screen:

There click on the gear icon from the top right corner link.

From the site settings, under the SharePoint section, we can see the “Global navigation” link to configure which indicates that this is a home site app – this was not there before converting or running the script.

Note:

The global navigation link from the SharePoint site settings page indicates that this is a home site and a modern communication site can be converted to a home site only using the PowerShell command – as of today, there is no option in the SharePoint Online Admin Center tool where we can do this conversion.

Summary: Setup Home Site SharePoint Online

Thus, in this article, we have learned the below with respect to setting up the home site in SharePoint Online:

• Introduction to home site app in SharePoint Online
• Capabilities of Home Site in SharePoint Online
• Set up a home site for your organization using the PowerShell script
• SharePoint home site examples
• How to set up a landing site for your organization on the intranet using the SharePoint Online home site app
• How to configure the home site app in SharePoint Online tenant?

The Home Site in SharePoint Online is a powerful feature that transforms a communication site into the central hub of an organization’s intranet. By providing a unified, personalized, and engaging experience, the Home Site enhances communication, collaboration, and productivity across the organization. Properly setting up and utilizing a Home Site can significantly improve how information is disseminated and accessed, fostering a more connected and informed workforce.

See Also: SharePoint PowerShell Tutorials

You may also like the following SharePoint PowerShell tutorials:

• How to replace root site in SharePoint Online from Microsoft 365?
• How to create hub site in SharePoint Online using PnP PowerShell?
• [Verified]: Find all InfoPath forms in SharePoint using PowerShell
• [Verified]: Remove recycle bin items in SharePoint using PowerShell
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• SharePoint Online: Remove custom app using PnP PowerShell
• Office 365: How to create content type in SharePoint Online using PowerShell?
• Office 365: How to create document library in SharePoint Online using PowerShell?
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• SharePoint Automation: PowerShell script to get remote server information
• Office 365: Retrieve hub sites and associated sites using PnP Powershell
• SharePoint Online Automation – O365 – Upload files to document library using PowerShell CSOM
• SharePoint Online Automation – O365 – Create multiple items in a list using PowerShell CSOM
• SharePoint Online Automation – O365 – Update document library metadata using PowerShell CSOM
• SharePoint Online: List operations using PnP PowerShell
• Set-SPOHomeSite MSDN Article

About Post Author

SP Maven

As a SharePoint and Power Platform Maven, my greatest joy comes from sharing my expertise with colleagues, friends, and the tech community, helping them navigate the ever-evolving world of technology and guiding them through the dynamic landscape of modern technology.

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