Add picture library to communication site – in modern SharePoint, we can create only two types of sites 1. Team Site and 2. Communication Site. In the modern communication or team site, we can not add all lists/libraries the way we used to add in the classic SharePoint site, because many templates are kept hidden due to some reason. In, the picture library is one among them – so, in this article, we’ll learn how to add a picture library to the communication or team site.
Add picture library to communication site – challenge in adding picture library in SharePoint Online
Before that let’s see practically, whether can we add a picture library from the out-of-the-box SharePoint communication site?

Go to the site contents page:

Notes:
- From the above “+ New” menu – we can see a very limited template, like – List, Page, Document library, App, and Subsite.
So, we cannot see the picture library option to create a picture library. Now, how can we create a picture library on the communication site?
The answer is, that there are three ways we can add or create a picture library in the SharePoint communication site.
- By activating site level feature – Team Collaboration Lists
- By adding the picture content type in the library
- By the PnP provisioning template
We will see the above – how does it work?
Activate site level feature – Team Collaboration Lists
To activate the site-level feature – Team Collaboration lists, we need to go to the below page:
https://globalsharepoint2019.sharepoint.com/sites/CommunicationSiteTest1/_layouts/15/ManageFeatures.aspx
Note:
- In the above URL, replace my site URL with your site.

Now go to the site contents -> Your Apps page.
We can see that the “Picture Libray” template has been added under the newest tab.

Add the picture content type in the library (add picture library to communication site)
Now we’ll see that now we can add a picture library template by adding the picture content type on the library setting page.
Here, I have taken the example of the default “Documents” library.
Go to the advanced settings page from the below page URL:
https://globalsharepoint2019.sharepoint.com/sites/CommunicationSiteTest1/_layouts/15/advsetng.aspx?List=%7BBBE37E7C%2D3884%2D44D9%2DB2DB%2DF242DB1D3C2A%7D
Select “Allow management of content types?” as yes and click on the OK button.

Click on the “Add from existing site content types” link as below:

From the “Add Content Types” page – add the “Picture” content type in the right side box then click on the OK button.

Click on the “Change new button order and default content type” link as below:

Change the New Button Order – make the “Document” content type invisible and make the “Position from the top” as 1 for the “Picture” content type, then click on the OK button.

Create a picture library using the PnP provisioning template
Creating a picture library using the PnP provisioning template is the simplest way than the previous two approaches which does not need any feature activation or configuration. However, it needs PnP PowerShell installed on your machine.
List creation PnP Template:
“<?xml version=”1.0”?>
<pnp:Provisioning xmlns:pnp=”http://schemas.dev.office.com/PnP/2018/07/ProvisioningSchema”>
<pnp:Preferences Generator=”OfficeDevPnP.Core, Version=3.7.1903.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=5e633289e95c321a” />
<pnp:Templates ID=”CONTAINER-TEMPLATE-C1181F206BE84C09AAAC4B3CB21FBE32″>
<pnp:ProvisioningTemplate ID=”TEMPLATE-C1181F206BE84C09AAAC4B3CB21FBE32″ Version=”1″ Scope=”Web”>
<pnp:Lists>
<pnp:ListInstance Title=”TestPictureLibrary29022020″ TemplateType=”109″ Url=”/TestPictureLibrary29022020″ EnableFolderCreation=”false”>
<pnp:ContentTypeBindings>
<pnp:ContentTypeBinding ContentTypeID=”0x01″ Default=”true” />
<pnp:ContentTypeBinding ContentTypeID=”0x0120″ />
</pnp:ContentTypeBindings>
<pnp:Views>
<View Name=”AllItems” DefaultView=”TRUE” Type=”HTML” DisplayName=”All Items” Level=”1″ BaseViewID=”1″ ContentTypeID=”0x”>
<Query>
<OrderBy>
<FieldRef Name=”ID” />
</OrderBy>
</Query>
<ViewFields>
<FieldRef Name=”PictureType” />
<FieldRef Name=”PictureTime” />
<FieldRef Name=”Remarks” />
</ViewFields>
<RowLimit Paged=”TRUE”>30</RowLimit>
</View>
</pnp:Views>
<pnp:Fields>
<Field ID=”{1212a012-1012-4cd9-900b-411f01f2b112}” DisplayName=”Picture Type” Name=”PictureType” Type=”Text”/>
<Field ID=”{3450c003-7607-46de-8345-6c64cd2a3345}” DisplayName=”Picture Time” Name=”PictureTime” Type=”Text”/>
<Field ID=”{70ef44ad-091f-4955-a957-b0fb9b42833b}” DisplayName=”Remarks” Name=”Remarks” Type=”Text”/>
</pnp:Fields>
</pnp:ListInstance>
</pnp:Lists>
</pnp:ProvisioningTemplate>
</pnp:Templates>
</pnp:Provisioning>”
Add List/Libray to SharePoint Online using PnP Script: add picture library to communication site
CLS $userName = "Global-sharepoint2019@globalsharepoint2019.onmicrosoft.com" $passWord = "YourSPOPassword" $encPassWord = convertto-securestring -String $passWord -AsPlainText -Force $cred = new-object -typename System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -argumentlist $userName, $encPassWord Connect-PnPOnline -Url "https://globalsharepoint2019.sharepoint.com/sites/CommunicationSiteTest1" -Credentials $cred Apply-PnPProvisioningTemplate -Path "C:\PnP Provisioning Template\Create List\CreateListTemplate.xml" Write-host "Successfully a list has been created in SharePoint online."
Verify that Picture Libray got created using the PnP Provisioning template:

Summary: add picture library to communication site
Thus, in this article we have learned the below:
- How to create a picture library in the modern SharePoint online communication site.
- How to create a picture library in the modern SharePoint Online team site.
- How to create a picture library in the modern Sharepoint online site using the PnP Provisioning template.
- How to deal with when the Picture Libray template is missing the site modern communication site.
See Also: add picture library to communication site
- Image Map in SharePoint Online: Use ANY Image to provide Dynamic Information with Links
- Learn Image Maps in HTML and SharePoint Online step by step
- SharePoint generation or version history from the year 2000 to 2020
- Office 365: Getting started with SharePoint PnP PowerShell – installation
- In 2 steps convert a classic SharePoint page to modern using PnP
- Office 365: Retrieve hub sites and associated sites using PnP Powershell
- Create a modern team site using PnP PowerShell in SharePoint
- In 4 steps access SharePoint online data using postman tool
- SharePoint admin center: Learn SharePoint online administration in an hour – step by step
- SharePoint REST API: GET vs POST vs PUT vs DELETE vs PATCH
- Office 365: Understanding the hub site in SharePoint online
- Create SharePoint online list using PnP provisioning template
- List Template IDs In SharePoint Online/SharePoint 2019/2016/2013/2010/2007
- Introduction to SharePoint information architecture
