Fernandezc4 OFFICE 365

WHAT IS SHAREPOINT AND HOW CAN I USE IT

There can be lots of confusion on what Sharepoint is and what it is not. SharePoint is one of those incredible products that you can almost shape into anything that you need. Sharepoint is a collaboration platform where you and your team members can collaborate, communicate, exchange data, store documents, and create a large variety of content. Many leverage SharePoint as a content management system or an Intranet and others have used SharePoint for something as simple as a quick website or blog.

Here are some high-level ideas on how you can use SharePoint:

  • File Versioning: This would allow SharePoint to manage revisions.
  • Check-in/Check-out of documents: This allows you the user to lock a file from changes by another user.
  • Indexing and Searching: Arguably the most powerful feature within SharePoint.
  • Web UI: The ability to access through the web has made SharePoint extremely popular as a one stop shop for group collaboration for small and large businesses.
  • Integration with Windows: It just works. You can access SharePoint as simple and easy as you can access Microsoft Word.

SharePoint and Office 365:

Think of SharePoint as a Web Content Platform. In this platform, you can create pages and publish them as a website. A very common use for SharePoint in Office 365 is to use them for a department team and leverage key webpaprts to meet your needs for communication to your audience. Included in these web parts can be things like announcements, document libraries or even individual documents like Word or Excel.  The most popular SharePoint use for many companies and organizations is an Intranet. Creating your own Intranet through SharePoint could easily give you access to private a and secure data through a few clicks.

SharePoint and other platforms:

SharePoint has evolved over the years. You can easily find and access SharePoint on Windows, Mac OS, IOS, and even Android. Check first with your company/organization to see if there is already a SharePoint environment set up.

So where do I start:

You are going to want to set up a SharePoint Site first, then add content, widgets, web parts or any other feature that you think might make the most sense. You do this all by accessing Office 365  or your organizations corporate SharePoint Server site, click SharePoint or Sites in the app launcher navigation or top bar. This will allow you entry to SharePoint.

Here is a great site that clearly outlines 10 things that you can do to get started with SharePoint.