Great SharePoint Modern updates Feb 2019 #makespintranetcoolagain

During Ignite 2018, Microsoft showcased some great updates that are going to change how we implement SharePoint Intranets. It will scale Modern Communication sites to new heights to become the Next-gen Intranet.

Since Ignite 2018, there have been many steady releases and some great updates on SharePoint Modern communication sites. Following this blog, I am planning to start with a detailed blog series about how to build cool Modern Intranets in SharePoint #makespintranetcoolagain.

Here is quick blog for these updates.

Megamenus

This is the first time in SharePoint history that we have an Out of Box Multi-Navigation menu which goes beyond two level hierarchy. This will allow us to include any level of navigation hierarchy. Here is blog link mentioning this release

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-SharePoint-Blog/Organize-your-SharePoint-sites-with-megamenu-navigation-and-new/ba-p/328068

Modern SharePoint Webparts

There are few great additions to the existing list of SharePoint Webparts. The blog below talks about these in more detail. Some of the noted ones are:

1. New Yammer Conversations web part

2. My Recent and My Documents

3. Code Snippet for Devs and Markdown for Authors

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-SharePoint-Blog/SharePoint-web-part-updates-Yammer-Conversations-My-Documents/ba-p/303719

Updated SharePoint Page editing experience

Now we could style page headers and update backgrounds for sections in SharePoint Pages. It is surely a valuable addition for Designers and Content Authors who are looking for ways to improve the design and content real estate on their sites.

Column Formatting on the Fly

Now applying column formatting is way simpler than using the Out of Box column JSON formatter. We were always able to do it using JSON but now we could set it using the UI designer directly. Isn’t that fabulostatic !!

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-SharePoint-Blog/New-no-code-solutions-for-custom-formatting-in-SharePoint/ba-p/302498

Site Settings and Apply Site Design updates

Now we could apply a site design on an existing site from the site menu and see the status of the process. There is more information in the below link.

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/manage-your-sharepoint-site-settings-8376034d-d0c7-446e-9178-6ab51c58df42

Page Designs

This is still in build but when released they will be a great addition to setting up page layouts in Modern environment.

Improved SharePoint Admin Center experience

SharePoint Admins Rejoice!! Now we could set external sharing, change Site admins and filter on site properties for eg. Hub site from the modern Admin Center. How cool is that.

Webpart Connections

This is a great announcement for devs of SPFx Framework. Now we could connect and send information within two connected webparts as mentioned below

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/spfx/dynamic-data

Conclusion

Above we saw some of the cool updates released recently for the Modern Experience. In the upcoming blog series – SharePoint Modern Intranet #makespintranetcoolagain, we will be looking at some of them in detail and use them on real use cases.