Site Navigation
Common Use Cases
- Department site menus: organizing policies, forms, and team pages so employees find them without resorting to search
- Intranet wayfinding: a mega menu on the main communication site that lays out the entire intranet by category
- Role-based menus: audience targeting that shows manager resources only to managers and field links only to frontline staff
- External quick links: direct links to payroll, benefits portals, and other systems employees use every day
- Grouping with labels: non-clickable labels that organize related links into clean, scannable sections
- Hub-connected families: hub navigation that ties related sites together above each site’s own local menu
Benefits
- Findability: clear menus cut the time people spend hunting for content and reduce reliance on tribal knowledge
- Three levels of structure: both menu styles support up to three levels of links for organized hierarchies
- Personalized menus: audience targeting trims menus down to what each person actually needs
- No-code styling: mega menu and cascading layouts are a built-in choice, not a customization project
- Easy upkeep: owners add, reorder, nest, and remove links directly on the site
- Works with hubs: local, hub, and footer menus combine into one coherent wayfinding system
How It Works
- Quick launch: team sites display their navigation vertically on the left, close to the lists and libraries people work in
- Top navigation: communication sites run their menu horizontally across the top of every page
- Cascading style: links open as compact drop-downs, a good fit when the menu only needs a level or two
- Mega menu: a full-width panel that shows second and third level links in columns all at once, ideal for content-rich sites
- Audience targeting: when enabled for navigation, each link can be targeted to up to 10 Microsoft 365 or security groups, and targeting applies across site, hub, and footer menus
- Link types: menu entries can point to pages and libraries on the site, other sites, external URLs, or act as plain labels for grouping
- Menu style: the choice between mega menu and cascading drop-downs for the site’s horizontal navigation
- Link management: adding, editing, reordering, nesting, and removing links and labels
- Navigation visibility: the site menu can be shown or hidden entirely when a minimal page design calls for it
Limits and Nuances
- Mega menu placement: the mega menu style applies to horizontal navigation on communication sites and hubs, while the team site quick launch stays vertical
- Three-level ceiling: menus support three levels of nesting, so deeper hierarchies call for restructuring rather than more indenting
- Targeting hides, not secures: audience targeting trims what menus display, but a hidden link is not a permission boundary
- Ten audiences per link: each navigation link can be targeted to a maximum of 10 groups
- Edit rights required: changing navigation requires edit permissions on the site, so visitors never alter menus
- Hub menu is separate: hub navigation is edited at the hub level and appears above local navigation on every associated site
Common Questions About Site Navigation
What is the difference between quick launch and top navigation?
Quick launch is the vertical menu on the left side of a team site, sitting close to the lists, libraries, and pages members work in daily. Top navigation is the horizontal menu across a communication site, built for broadcasting to a wide audience. Same concept, different placement, and which one a site has depends on the site type it was created from.
Should I use a mega menu or a cascading menu?
Use cascading drop-downs when the menu is small, with one or two levels and a handful of links. Switch to the mega menu when a site carries a lot of structured content, because it displays second and third level links in organized columns all at once. Intranet landing sites almost always benefit from the mega menu’s at-a-glance layout.
How does audience targeting work on navigation links?
Once audience targeting is enabled for site navigation, each link can be aimed at up to 10 Microsoft 365 groups or security groups, and people outside those groups simply do not see the link. The setting applies to all menus on the site, including hub and footer menus. It is a display filter only, so underlying permissions still control actual access.
How many levels can SharePoint navigation have?
Three. The first level is the main set of menu entries, the second level sits beneath each entry, and the third level nests one step further. Both mega menu and cascading styles honor the same structure. If you find yourself wishing for a fourth level, that is usually a sign the information architecture needs flattening, not a deeper menu.
Can people change my site’s navigation?
Only people with edit permissions on the site can modify its navigation, so visitors and read-only audiences never alter menus. Hub navigation is managed separately at the hub site, which keeps the shared menu under central control while each associated site maintains its own local links. That separation is what lets ownership stay local without sacrificing consistency.
What does good intranet navigation look like?
It is built around tasks and topics employees recognize, not the org chart, and it gets people anywhere in three clicks or fewer. Labels are short, levels are shallow, and audience targeting removes noise. Navigation is one of the first things Greg Zelfond designs in every LookBook 365 intranet, because structure decides whether the rest of the build gets used.