Organization Assets Library
Common Use Cases
- Brand asset distribution: Marketing teams store approved logos, brand imagery, and icon sets, making them directly accessible in the SharePoint image picker across all sites
- Document template library: HR and Legal publish approved Word and PowerPoint templates, surfacing them in the New Document dialog across team sites
- Photography library: a centralized approved photography library ensures employees use only licensed, brand-appropriate images when creating news posts and pages
- Icon and illustration sets: custom icon sets for modern SharePoint pages are stored centrally, giving page authors easy access without designer intervention
- Multi-regional assets: organizations with regional brands store region-specific asset libraries, with appropriate libraries designated per region for targeted access
Benefits
- Centralized discovery: assets surface automatically in SharePoint’s image and template pickers, so users need not know file storage locations
- Brand compliance: restricting approved assets to a designated library reduces the use of off-brand, unlicensed, or outdated imagery
- No per-site duplication: assets maintained in one place eliminate per-site copies, reducing storage use and version drift
- Admin-controlled curation: only designated admins or contributors can add assets, maintaining quality and approval governance
- Tenant-wide reach: a single library is accessible from every modern SharePoint site across the tenant, regardless of site collection boundaries
Details
- Feature Category: Sites & Navigation
How It Works
- Host site plus a PowerShell command: pick or build a SharePoint site to host the assets, upload files to ordinary document libraries on it, and a SharePoint Administrator designates each library with PowerShell so it surfaces in the Microsoft 365 pickers
- Two library types: an image library holds logos, photos, and icons and appears under ‘Your organization’ in the image picker, while a template library surfaces templates in the Office apps’ template galleries
- Template formats: templates must be saved as .dotx for Word, .xltx for Excel, and .potx for PowerPoint
- Built-in CDN: designating a library enables a content delivery network so assets load fast everywhere, with private CDN as the default
- Curation is just library permissions: anyone with edit access to the host site’s libraries can maintain the assets
Limits and Nuances
- PowerShell-only setup: there is no option in the SharePoint admin center UI, and designation requires at least the SharePoint Administrator role
- 30-library ceiling on one host site: up to 30 organization asset libraries are supported per tenant and all must live on the same host site, so choose it deliberately and segment by asset type, brand, or region
- Whole libraries only: a folder inside a library cannot be designated
- Template requirements: files must be saved as .dotx, .xltx, or .potx; desktop galleries need Microsoft 365 Apps Version 2002 or later and PowerPoint on the web needs an E3 or E5 license, while Word and Excel on the web do not show organization templates
- Read access and thumbnails: add ‘Everyone except external users’ as Visitors on the host site, and keep each picker thumbnail on the same site as its library, or users will not see the assets
- Propagation delay: allow up to 24 hours for a newly designated library to appear in pickers and desktop apps
- Permission customization cap: no more than 100 files or folders inside an organization assets library can carry custom permissions
- Brand Center placement: when the SharePoint Brand Center is provisioned, it lands on the site already hosting your organization assets, so this library decides where your brand home lives
Common Questions About the Organization Assets Library
What is an Organization Assets Library in SharePoint?
It is a regular SharePoint document library that a SharePoint Administrator promotes to tenant-wide status. Once designated, the files in it – approved logos, photos, icons, or Office templates – appear automatically in the image picker on every modern SharePoint page and in the template galleries of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Users get one trusted source of on-brand assets without hunting for the right site.
How is an Organization Assets Library set up?
It is an admin-level task with no admin center page. A SharePoint Administrator picks a host site, uploads the assets to a document library, then runs the Add-SPOOrgAssetsLibrary command in the SharePoint Online Management Shell, choosing the library type (images or Office templates) and a thumbnail. The site also needs ‘Everyone except external users’ as Visitors so the whole organization can read the assets.
Where do users actually see organization assets?
Image libraries appear under ‘Your organization’ in the file picker whenever someone adds an image to a modern SharePoint page or web part. Template libraries appear as your organization’s tab when creating a new document in the Word, Excel, or PowerPoint desktop apps, and on the PowerPoint start page on the web. Word and Excel on the web do not show organization templates.
How many Organization Assets Libraries can a tenant have?
Up to 30, and every one of them must live on the same SharePoint site. Most organizations use far fewer – typically one library for brand imagery, one for icons, and one or two template libraries. The 30-library budget is best spent on meaningful segmentation, such as separating regional brands or splitting photography from logos, rather than scattering small libraries everywhere.
Why are organization assets not showing up for users?
The usual suspects are time and permissions. New designations can take up to 24 hours to propagate to pickers and desktop apps. Users must have read access – ‘Everyone except external users’ added as Visitors on the host site covers this. For templates, desktop apps need Microsoft 365 Apps Version 2002 or later, PowerPoint on the web needs an E3 or E5 license, and files must be saved as .dotx, .xltx, or .potx.
Do you still need an Organization Assets Library with the SharePoint Brand Center?
They work together rather than compete. The Brand Center manages brand fonts, colors, and themes, and when it is provisioned, Microsoft creates it on the site that already hosts your organization assets if one exists. The assets library remains the mechanism that surfaces approved images and templates in pickers. Greg Zelfond typically sets up the assets library first, so the Brand Center lands on a deliberately chosen branding site.