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Help users find important content and resources no matter where they are in SharePoint. The SharePoint app bar improves the global way-finding and creation experiences while dynamically displaying personalized sites, news, files, and lists. The app bar is on the left-hand side anywhere in modern sites.
The SharePoint app bar:
The SharePoint app bar brings together intranet resources and personalized content like sites, news, files, and lists. Enable global navigation to allow users to easily navigate to important intranet resources anywhere in SharePoint. Customize global navigation details and the rest of the content will dynamically display and update personalized content for sites, news, and files. Create sites, files, and lists easily from anywhere in SharePoint.
Note
- Global navigation is the only app bar tab that can be customized.
- When global navigation is disabled or not configured, the home icon links to the SharePoint start page.
- Specific SharePoint app bar tabs cannot be disabled.
- The SharePoint app bar cannot be disabled on specific sites.
- The SharePoint app bar is not available on classic SharePoint sites.
- The SharePoint app bar may impact current page customizations, specifically those that appear on the left side.
- The SharePoint app bar will not display in SharePoint for external or guest users outside of your organization.
- In GCC High and DoD environments users may experience a degraded experience for the My sites panel in the app bar.
- Some additional restrictions may apply to tenants within the GCC High and DoD environments when using My News in the SharePoint app bar.
- The SharePoint app bar can be temporarily disabled between today and when it becomes available to all customers to give customers more time to prepare for this change. Temporarily disabling the app bar will delay the rollout of this feature in your organization until March 31, 2023.
- Global navigation in the SharePoint app bar must be enabled in order for SharePoint resources to display in the Microsoft Teams app bar for Viva Connections.
The SharePoint app bar is a significant change to the user experience and your organization's intranet information architecture. To ensure a seamless experience, we've created specific guidance on how to design current navigation to compliment the new global navigation feature. We have also created end-user guidance to help onboard the rest of your organization.
Customize global navigation in the app bar
Global navigation can be enabled and customized in the SharePoint app bar. Customize the global navigation logo, title, and source depending on your users’ and organization’s needs. If you choose to keep global navigation disabled, the home icon will link to the SharePoint start page.
Note
- When global navigation is disabled, the home icon will link to the SharePoint start page.
- Customizing global navigation requires a home site.
- Site owner permissions (or higher) to the home site are required to enable global navigation.
- Users need read access (or higher) to the home site to view the global navigation links.
- Audience targeting can be applied to menu links in global navigation.
- If you get an error after editing links to sites, try deleting the link and adding it again.
- Implementing global navigation may take up to 24 hours for the changes to take effect for users.
Get started customizing the global navigation tab
Set up a home site if your organization doesn’t already have one and make sure to share the home site with everyone in your tenant to ensure all users can access the global navigation links.
Navigate to your organization’s home site.
(Video) SharePoint App Bar - Global navigation and wayfindingSelect Settings and then select Global navigation settings.
Note
If you do not see Global navigation in the Settings pane on the home site, you may not have site owner permissions (or higher) to the home site.
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Next, add the Logo for global navigation that will be recognizable to users to replace the home icon in the app bar. No action is needed if you choose to keep the default home icon.
Global navigation logo specifications:
- The logo size should be 20x20 pixels
- PNG file type
- Transparent background recommended
Then, enter a Title that will be displayed at the top of the global navigation pane.
Finally, determine the Navigation source. Learn more about selecting a source in the next step.
Make edits to the selected global navigation source if needed by selecting Edit global navigation. Select Save when you are done. Updates to global navigation may take several minutes before they appear.
Note
(Video) All About the New SharePoint App Bar and Global Navigation- The global navigation source can be edited at any time by site owners or admins of the home site.
- The site and global navigation links and labels can be edited at any time by editors of the home site.
- Implementing global navigation may take up to 24 hours for the changes to take effect.
- If you get an error after editing links to sites, try deleting the link and adding it again.
Determine the global navigation source depending on your home site’s configuration:
If you haven’t set up your home site, do that first and if you are setting up a home site specifically to implement global navigation, review this guidance.
For home sites that are a hub, you have two source options:
Select the site navigation source to display the home site’s navigation.
Select the Hub or global navigation source to display the home site’s hub navigation.
Note
When you apply the extended header layout to the site, you will no longer see the site navigation.
For home sites that are not a hub, you have two source options:
Select the site navigation source to display the home site navigation.
Create a secondary set of navigation nodes specifically for the global navigation panel by selecting Hub or global navigation. Then, select Edit global navigation to create the new global navigation menu. Select Save when you are done.
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For home sites that are not a hub site and choose to create a secondary set of navigational nodes for the global navigation pane - if you decide to make your home site a hub in the future, the new hub site navigation will inherit the current navigational nodes for global navigation and can be edited at any time.
See all the different ways you can set up global navigation
Depending on the content you want to make available in the global navigation, you can configure your home site navigation and global navigation in three different ways.
Display the home site’s navigation in global navigation
Display hub and site navigation on the home page, and the home site navigation in the global navigation panel.
- Navigate to the home site’s Settings and then Global navigation.
- Enable global navigation, enter a Title, and then select Home site navigation as the source.
- Select Save. Changes may take a few minutes to reflect.
Display the home site’s hub navigation in global navigation
Display hub and site navigation on the home page, and the hub navigation in the global navigation panel.
- Navigate to the home site’s Settings and then Global navigation.
- Enable global navigation, enter a Title, and then select Hub or global navigation as the source.
- Select Save. Changes may take a few minutes to reflect.
Hide the site navigation and display it in the global navigation
Display just the hub navigation on the home page, and the site navigation in the global navigation panel.
Start by hiding the site navigation using one of two methods:
- Go to Settings, then Change the look, then Navigation and toggle the Display site navigation to Hide.
- Go to Settings, then Change the look, then Header and choose Extended layout.
Then, navigate to the home site’s Settings and then Global navigation.
Enable global navigation, enter a Title, and then select Home site navigation as the source.
Select Save. Changes may take a few minutes to reflect.
Set up a home site for the first time
A home site is a SharePoint communication site that you create and set as the top landing page for all users in your intranet. It brings together news, events, embedded video and conversations, and other resources to deliver an engaging experience that reflects your organization's voice, priorities, and brand. It is recommended that you set up a home site for your organization to take full advantage of SharePoint’s communication and collaboration features and is required to enable and customize global navigation in the SharePoint app bar.
Set up a home site just for global navigation
If you are creating a home site for the main purpose of setting up global navigation, you can simplify the steps recommended to plan and launch a home site. Learn more about planning navigation in SharePoint and apply information architecture principles to your new home site’s navigational design.
Note
- Only one communication site can be set as the home site.
- The first time you set up a home site, it might take up to several minutes for the changes to take effect.
- Global admin credentials are required to use the SharePoint Online Management Shell tool that is required to transform a communication site into a home site.
- Start by creating a SharePoint communication site.
- Customize the communication site navigation to reflect the view you’d like to see in the global navigation pane. You can make edits to the navigation source and individual labels and links at any time.
- Set this communication site as a home site using SharePoint Online Management Shell tool.
- Share the home site with users so they can access the global navigation links.
- On the home site, select Settings and then Global navigation to enable and customize.
- For the global navigation source, select Home site navigation to display the home site navigation that you created in the global navigation panel, then select Save.
Understand how the app bar may impact page customizations
The SharePoint app bar may impact current page customizations, specifically those positioned to the left of your page.For organizations using page placeholders, the SharePoint app bar will cover parts of both the header and footer page placeholder. In the following image, the placeholder footprint is in red:
The SharePoint app bar will only appear in modern SharePoint sites and pages.
We highly recommend modernizing classic sites not only to display the SharePoint app bar but for a more consistent user experience. Learn more about how to modernize classic SharePoint sites and pages using the open-source SharePoint PnP Page Transformation solution.
More guidance on how to display the SharePoint app bar on a classic site will be available soon.
Teach end users about this feature
Help end users understand how the new SharePoint app bar works.
You can temporarily disable the SharePoint app bar in your tenant to prepare for this change or control its rollout to users. The tool that disables the app bar will be available until September 30, 2022. Updates and more information about temporarily disabling the SharePoint app bar will be shared in future Message Center posts.
Temporarily disable the SharePoint app bar:
Download the latest SharePoint Online Management Shell.
Note
If you installed a previous version of the SharePoint Online Management Shell, go to Add or remove programs and uninstall "SharePoint Online Management Shell."
Connect to SharePoint as a global admin or SharePoint admin in Microsoft 365. To learn how, see Getting started with SharePoint Online Management Shell.
Run the following command:
Set-SPOTemporarilyDisableAppBar $trueIf you need to confirm if the app bar has been disabled or enabled, check the app bar status by running the following command:
Get-SPOTemporarilyDisableAppBar
Note
- It can take up to an hour for the app bar to be removed on a tenant where the app bar is already showing up.
- Running the command without the
$falseor$truevalue will cause it to fail. - You must be using the latest version of PowerShell.
- If you are using previous versions, uninstall the previous version and then install the most up to date version. Previous versions of PowerShell can't coexist with the most up-to-date version of PowerShell.
Once you’re ready to display the SharePoint app bar, run the following command:
Set-SPOTemporarilyDisableAppBar $falseNote
It can take up to an hour for the app bar to show up on a tenant where the app bar was disabled previously.
(Video) What is SharePoint App Bar and how to configure itIf you need to confirm if the app bar has been disabled or enabled, check the app bar status by running the following command:
Get-SPOTemporarilyDisableAppBar
Resources
- Learn more about home sites
- Learn more about planning and creating hub sites
- Learn more about navigation and information architecture in SharePoint
- Learn more about sharing and permissions in SharePoint
FAQs
How do I get to Global navigation in SharePoint? ›
Navigate to your organization's home site. Select Settings and then select Global navigation settings. If you do not see Global navigation in the Settings pane on the home site, you may not have site owner permissions (or higher) to the home site. Switch the Enable global navigation toggle to On.
How do I customize the navigation bar in SharePoint? ›Select Pages from the left-hand menu, select the page you want to add, and then click ... either next to the page in the list or in the top navigation bar. Click Add to navigation. When finished customizing the navigation, click Save or, to discard changes, click Cancel.
How do I enable global navigation in SharePoint online? ›More instructions: Getting Started with SharePoint Online Home Sites). Click the Settings icon from the Home site, then “Global Navigation” (It takes a moment to get this menu item If you have just configured the home site!). Turn on the Enable global navigation option.
Where is my global navigation bar? ›The Global Navigation Menu is located on the left side of every page in Canvas. Global Navigation links provide quick access to frequently used Canvas features. These links provide access to all your courses collectively.
What is a global navigation bar? ›Thirdly, as previously stated, a global navigation bar provides the highest-level means of navigation in one position across all different sections of the user interface – so, no matter where users are, they can hop to and from groups of content.
What is global navigation menu? ›The Global Navigation menu is always located on the left side of the screen in Canvas, and contains quick links to your (Canvas) Account, the Dashboard, Courses (List), Calendar, Inbox (Messages), and Help. Click on the link to access that area of Canvas.
Can you customize navigation bar? ›From Settings, tap Display, and then tap Navigation bar. Make sure Buttons is selected, and then you can choose your desired button setup at the bottom of the screen. Note: This option will also affect the location you swipe from when using Swipe gestures.
How do I change the top navigation bar in SharePoint online? ›Go to SharePoint site you'd like to edit the Top Link Bar. In the top left, click on Site Actions and select Site Settings. Under Look and Feel, click on Top link bar. and does not use the same top link bar as the parent site.
How do I create a horizontal navigation bar in SharePoint online? ›Login to your SharePoint Online site >> Click on the Settings gear. Click on “Change the Look” in the settings menu. Click on “Navigation” under “Change the look” pane. Now, you can set the orientation of the navigation to either “Horizontal” or “Vertical”.
How do I activate nav menu? ›To set the active class to the navigation menu dynamically by scrolling or clicking on the navigation links, the active class is to be set on each section depending on the position of the webpage. To add methods and variables, JavaScript is used.
What is site navigation in SharePoint? ›
Site navigation are the sets of controls and links in your site collections, sites and pages that help orient users to where they are and help them easily get to other relevant locations.
What are the two 2 types of navigation bars? ›Typically, web sites will have a primary navigation bar and a secondary navigation bar on all pages. These sections of the webpage will include links to the most important sections of the site. The implementation and design of navigation bars is a crucial aspect of web design and web usability.
What is the difference between global navigation and local navigation? ›Global navigation refers to the top navigation which is there at the top side on your page, and local navigation is on the left side of the page. Local navigation is as per the content of your local site.
What are the three 3 main types of navigation? ›Three main types of navigation are celestial, GPS, and map and compass. In order to better understand why we teach map and compass at High Trails, it is helpful to learn the basics of all three techniques.
What is a navigation menu on an app? ›The navigation menu is a guide in your app that helps the user through all phases of interaction with the product. In simple terms, navigation is an easy way to navigate from one function to another. Using the mobile navigation menus, the user can easily understand the app's interface and get to the page of interest.
Which of the following is located in the Global navigation menu area? ›The links in the Global Navigation area provide quick access to all of your courses. The links that are available include Account, Dashboard, Courses, Groups, Calendar, Inbox, Commons, and Help.
What is the purpose of navigation menu in your app? ›Navigation refers to the interactions that allow users to navigate across, into, and back out from the different pieces of content within your app. Android Jetpack's Navigation component helps you implement navigation, from simple button clicks to more complex patterns, such as app bars and the navigation drawer.
Where is navigation settings? ›Android devices have the option to manage Navigate Settings. To activate the menu, first go to the general settings menu in the side bar and check Navigate Settings to ON. Next time you tap Navigate on a Stop, the Navigate Settings menu will appear.
What are the 4 types of navigation? ›The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, marine navigation, aeronautic navigation, and space navigation.
Why is my navigation bar not working? ›The most common cause of links in the Navigation Bar being broken is a change to the Domain Name, Folder Name, or Domain Mapping. Links in the Navigation Bar and Blog Footer will not automatically update with changes to the URLs for your blog's content.
What are the main buttons in the navigation bar? ›
There are four navigational buttons that you can use to move throughout a menu: up, down, right, and left. Each button corresponds to the direction that you can move in a menu.
What is AppBar configuration? ›AppBarConfiguration.OnNavigateUpListener. a OnNavigateUpListener for providing custom up navigation logic, if one was set.
How do I style an app bar? ›Here's how you do it:
Step 1: Locate the file where you have placed the AppBar widget. Step 2: Inside the AppBar widget, find the Text widget inside the title parameter. Step 3: Inside the Text widget, add the style parameter and add the TextStyle widget.
SharePoint team site contains two main types of navigation: Quick launch navigation and site collection navigation.
How to add left navigation in SharePoint Online communication site? ›Using SharePoint app bar you can have the global navigation at the left side of your SharePoint sites (which will be shown on all modern sites - communication & team). So, to have both side navigation, I will suggest to create a communication site & leverage global navigation in SharePoint app bar.
How do I managed navigation in SharePoint online? ›, select Site settings. On the Site Settings page, in the Look and Feel section, select Navigation. On the Navigation Settings page, in the Global Navigation section, select Managed Navigation: The navigation items will be represented using a Managed Metadata term set.
What is global and local navigation? ›Global navigation refers to the top navigation which is there at the top side on your page, and local navigation is on the left side of the page. Local navigation is as per the content of your local site.