Home Site
Common Use Cases
- Company intranet landing page: one official starting point where every employee finds news, resources, and navigation
- Organization-wide news: leadership announcements published from the home site automatically carry organization news status
- Intranet-wide search: a search box on the home site that returns results from across the intranet, not just one site
- Viva Connections in Teams: the same intranet experience delivered inside Microsoft Teams on desktop and mobile
- Global navigation: the SharePoint app bar’s global navigation panel, with links managed from the home site
- Frontline and mobile reach: a single branded destination that follows employees into the Viva Connections mobile experience
Benefits
- One front door: employees always know where the intranet starts, which drives adoption and reduces confusion
- Elevated news: organization news from the home site receives special visual treatment and priority in news feeds
- Broader search: the home site search scope covers the intranet rather than a single site
- Teams integration: designating a home site is the foundation for building a Viva Connections experience
- Persistent navigation: global navigation configured on the home site appears in the SharePoint app bar across all sites
- No custom code: all of this comes from a designation applied to a standard communication site
How It Works
- It starts as a communication site: any well-built communication site can be designated as the home site
- Administrators set the designation: SharePoint administrators designate, change, or remove the home site for the organization
- Designation unlocks capabilities: the site automatically becomes an organization news source and gains intranet-wide search
- Viva Connections builds on it: a Connections experience can be created from the home site, bringing it into Microsoft Teams
- Permissions stay standard: the designation does not change access, so the site should be shared with everyone in the organization
- Home site designation: managed by SharePoint administrators in the Microsoft 365 admin center, with PowerShell available as an alternative
- Global navigation: the app bar’s global navigation can be enabled from the home site, with its own logo, title, and link structure
- Viva Connections experiences: the home site can anchor a Connections experience, created alongside the home site designation
- Organization news: the home site joins the list of organization news sources automatically, and additional sources can be designated separately
Limits and Nuances
- Communication sites only: a home site must be a modern communication site, not a team site
- One experience with standard licensing: Microsoft 365 licenses support one Viva Connections experience, while Viva Suite or Viva Communications and Communities licensing for all users allows up to 50
- Tenant-level decision: the home site affects every employee, so the choice belongs to intranet governance, not an individual site owner
- Read access matters: employees need at least read permission on the home site to benefit from it, since designation does not grant access
- It does not have to be the root site: the home site can live at any URL, although many organizations align it with the root
- Hub pairing is common: home sites are frequently also registered as hub sites so the intranet navigation and the landing page stay connected
Common Questions About the Home Site
What is a home site in SharePoint?
A home site is a communication site that a SharePoint administrator designates as the official landing site for the organization’s intranet. The designation automatically makes the site an organization news source, expands its search scope to the entire intranet, and makes it the foundation for a Viva Connections experience in Microsoft Teams.
How many home sites can an organization have?
With standard Microsoft 365 licensing, an organization creates and uses one Viva Connections experience built on a single home site. Organizations where every user holds a Microsoft Viva Suite or Viva Communications and Communities license can create up to 50 Connections experiences, which allows separate intranet experiences for different audiences, regions, or subsidiaries.
What is the relationship between the home site and Viva Connections?
Viva Connections brings the intranet into Microsoft Teams, and a home site is the strongest foundation for it. When a Connections experience is built from the home site, employees see the same news, navigation, and dashboard in Teams on desktop and mobile that they see in the browser, keeping one intranet rather than two.
Does designating a home site change site permissions?
No. Designating a home site does not grant anyone access to it. The site keeps its normal SharePoint permissions, which is why the standard practice is to give everyone in the organization read access. Without that, employees would land on an intranet front door they cannot open.
Does the home site have to be the root site of the tenant?
No. The home site can be any communication site at any URL. Many organizations do place the intranet at the root for a clean address, but the home site designation works the same wherever the site lives, and administrators can change which site holds the designation as the intranet evolves.
Who designs and builds home sites?
Designating a home site is an administrative step, but designing one that works as a true intranet front door takes information architecture, navigation planning, and page design. Greg Zelfond, the consultant behind LookBook 365, specializes in building complete SharePoint home sites and intranets entirely out of the box, and the LookBook 365 gallery features homepage designs built that way.