Customize and edit the Viva Connections experience

The new Viva Connections desktop design serves as a new experience that centers essential job tasks, personalized content, easy access to other Viva experiences, and better aligns with the mobile experience. Learn more about the new Viva Connections desktop experience.

Note

The Viva Connections update is currently available to targeted release customers, with a planned roll out to all users in early Q1 2024. This includes the new News spotlight, the feed tab, branding and theming options, and the revised resources, and Viva suite footer section.

Elements of the new Viva Connections experience can be customized to fit your organization’s brand and the needs of your end users. Learn more about how to customize the banner, Dashboard content, and navigational links in Resources. Then, learn how to influence content in the Feed. Finally, learn how to manage access and permissions.

Note

  • If you already have Viva Connections set up, the new experience design uses current content and settings (like audience targeting) from your Dashboard and Resources and there will not be any impact to the mobile experience.
  • If your organization has a SharePoint home site, you can choose to use it as the default landing destination.
  • If you haven’t set up Viva Connections yet, the default experience includes cards on the dashboard but otherwise doesn’t impact the mobile experience.
  • The new Viva Connections experience uses a similar permission model to SharePoint and can be managed from Microsoft Teams.
  • You must have member level permissions or higher to edit the new desktop experience.
  • The Viva Connections desktop experience is unavailable in GCC, GCC High, and DoD environments. For more information, see the list of service availability for more information.

About the updated Viva Connections experience

The Connections experience has been redesigned to highlight news across your organization and still provide easy access to the top tasks, tools, and resources that help people in your organization get their jobs done. The updated design prominently features the following key elements to the Viva Connections experience - Announcements, Feed & News Spotlight, Dashboard, Resources, and Viva suite footer. Content for some of these elements can be filtered using audience targeting to create a personalized experience.

Note

Audience targeting is unavailable to targeted release customers using the new resources section and is planned to be implemented by the end of Q1 2024.

Screenshot of the full page Connections experience.

Announcements: Announcements from the organization display at the top of the Viva Connections experience and convey time-sensitive information to employees.

Feed: The Feed now has two areas:

  • The News spotlight displays updates from the home site in a scrolling banner. A future update is planned to include updates from organizational news sites.
  • The Feed tab provides access to more content that offers a personalized feed based on post-level targeting of groups that an employee belongs to, more updates and other organizational news content.

Dashboard: The Dashboard is your employee’s digital toolset. It brings together the tools your employees need, enabling quick and easy access whether they are in the office or in the field.

Resources: The Resources experience enables navigation across portals and destinations.

Viva Suite footer: Information and links to other Viva Suite apps licensed and enabled by your organization appear at the bottom of the experience.

Navigational elements: The navigational elements located in the top-right and top-left corners help viewers easily get to-and-from other landing pages and other Viva experiences.

Get started customizing the experience

Note

  • You must have member level permissions (or higher) to edit the new desktop experience.
  • If your organization has a SharePoint home site, you can choose to use it as the default Connections experience.

How to edit the Viva Connections desktop experience for the first time

If you already have Viva Connections setup, editors who have site owner or member permissions to the SharePoint home site will automatically have owner or member permissions to the new Connections experience in Teams. People with member permissions or higher will automatically see Edit buttons in the Connections experience.

If you're setting up Viva Connections for the first time, only owners of the SharePoint root site will be able to edit. When the home experience is edited for the first time, a special site container will get created on the backend. You want to assign (at least two) owners and members from this site to give permissions to others so they can edit the experience for the rest of the organization.

Give permission to edit from Viva Connections in Teams

If you're setting up Viva Connections for the first time, navigate to the Viva Connections app in Teams to assign owners and members who can edit the Viva Connections desktop experience.

  1. Navigate to the Viva Connections app in Teams.
  2. Select the ellipsis in the upper-right of your experience.
  3. Then select Manage access.
  4. Select Grant access.
  5. Under Site Access add users and select their level of permission from visitor, member, or owner.
  6. Select Add.

Choose default cards for the intended audience

When you set up Viva Connections for the first time in Teams, you’ll be asked to choose a set of default cards. The default cards help you get started creating a dashboard and don’t need anything to get set-up. Default cards can be removed and edited after the initial selection.

Card descriptions Frontline worker Information worker
Audience description This audience consists of employees who are customer-facing, or don’t work primarily at a desk with a computer. Sometimes these roles are referred to as essential workers. Popular roles for frontline workers are retail sales associates, nurses, line workers and teachers. This audience consists of employees who usually get their work done from a desk using a computer. Popular roles for information workers are project managers, finance associates, administrative personnel, and business executives.
Default cards Approvals, Assigned tasks, Shifts, and Top news. Assigned tasks, Top news, Viva Learning, and Viva Topics.

Summary of default dashboard cards and how to set them up

By default, cards will already be on the dashboard and require minimal setup. Edit and preview the dashboard until you're ready to share with others. To edit existing cards, select the pencil icon to Edit the card. In the property pane that opens on the right, choose your card size from the Card size drop-down list.

Apply Audience targeting so this card is filtered to specific roles, regions, or departments. Learn more about audience targeting for Viva Connections.

Dashboard cards How to use the card Default card by audience
Approvals Request time off, approve expense reports, and sign off on documents. Frontline worker
Assigned tasks Review and complete daily tasks assigned by your manager or team. Frontline worker and Information worker
Shifts Clock-in and clock-out of shifts and view upcoming shifts and break times. Frontline worker
News View the most important news from inside your organization. Use Boosted news to get news posts from organizational news sites to display in this card. Frontline worker and Information worker
Viva Learning View recommended and required training courses. Information worker
Topics Share and contribute to your organization’s knowledge base. Information worker

Summary of customizable elements

Note

The Viva Connections desktop update is currently available to targeted release customers, with a planned roll out to all users in early Q1 2024. This includes the news spotlight, the feed tab, branding and theming options, the revised resources section, and Viva suite footer section.

Screenshot of the full page Connections experience with labels that explain which parts can be edited.

  1. App icon and label in the Teams app bar: Customize the app name and label in the Teams admin center.

  2. Entry point to secondary landing page: A link to the preferred default desktop experience will automatically display here.

  3. Change the look: Access the settings to apply themes to reflect your organizational brand colors consistently across experiences.

  4. Announcements: Create important time-sensitive notices targeted to members within your organization.

  5. Banner image: Upload a banner image and set the focal point to create a branded look consistent across desktop and mobile.

  6. Dashboard: Customize with cards and content specific to roles, regions, departments, and popular tasks.

  7. Resources: Create a list of navigational links and icons to useful sites and information.

Summary of non-customizable elements

Screenshot of the full page Connections experience with labels that explain which parts can be further edited.

  1. Shared Viva navigation: Helps viewers navigate between Viva experiences. Viva apps will automatically display in this menu when Viva licenses are detected.

  2. Feed tab: Content in the Feed is dynamically generated based on user interests, organizational news, and industry news. Learn more about how content in the Feed is sourced.

  3. Scoped Search: Users have the option to search within Viva Connections when using the search bar while in the Connections experience. As users type, the option to search for results within Connections (or Teams) will display.

    Note

    • Scoped Search is currently only available in Teams classic to all customers. A future update is planned to bring this feature to the new Teams client.
    • Scoped search in the new Teams client is not available for GCC and GCC High customers, and will be made available with a future update.
  4. Ellipses menu: Access more information about the Connections experience depending on your level of permissions.

  5. News spotlight: Content in the banner is dynamically displayed based on content from the home site. A future update is planned to include updates from organizational news sites.

    Note

    A future update is planned to make the News spotlight customizable.

  6. Viva navigational bar: This provides an opportunity to discover more Viva experiences and gets automatically generated when Viva licenses are detected.

Customize the app icon and label in the Teams app bar

Note

For customers with at least one F license:

  • The Viva Connections app is automatically pinned in the Teams app bar. If you don’t want the app pre-pinned, either turn off tailored apps for frontline workers, change the app settings, or edit how apps in Teams are managed.
  • For Targeted release customers (in Ring 3.6 or higher), all users at your organization will have access to the Viva Connections app. Use audience targeting to promote specific content to different groups until the experience becomes generally available in 2023 where you’ll have access to more than one home experience option for multiple audiences.

Your organization’s Viva Connections app can display a custom icon and label in the Teams app bar. This customization takes place in the Teams admin center which requires Teams admin permissions or higher. It’s recommended that you also apply app settings that pre-pin and pre-install the app to make sure people in your organization can more easily discover it and get immediate use. Learn more about customizing the Viva Connections icon, label, and app settings.

Customize announcements

Create targeted, time-sensitive messages that display at the top of your Viva Connections experience to members of your organization. Learn more about using announcements in Viva Connections.

Customize the banner image

Change the banner image in the header and set the focal point for the image. The banner image and focal point can only be set on the desktop app but will be visible across desktop and mobile.

Note

  • The greeting is automatically generated and cannot be customized.
  • Depending on your organization’s license type, you may see additional dynamic information displayed in the banner.
  • The banner image and focal point will resize when viewed via the tablet and mobile app.

To change the banner image:

  1. Start by selecting Edit and then select Change image.
  2. Select the image you’d like to use and then select Reposition.
  3. Once you're satisfied with the focal point, select Set focal point and then Save. There's no draft state for the banner image. It will be displayed for all users when you select Save.

Customize the look

Further customize your Connections experience and SharePoint home site by applying preexisting SharePoint themes or a custom theme to reflect your organizational brand colors consistently across all instances of your desktop, tablet, and mobile experiences. Users can apply themes from within their Connections experience, or SharePoint home site. Only users who have permissions to edit the Connections experience will be able to apply themes.

Note

  • Applying themes to your Connections experience is currently available to targeted release customers only, with a full rollout to general audiences by early Q1 in 2024.
  • If you have never selected a theme for your home site, the default SharePoint theme will be used for the home site and Connections experience.

To apply a SharePoint or custom theme:

  1. Select the ellipsis, then select Change the look.

    Screenshot of the settings menu open with Change the look option highlighted.

  2. Select Theme.

  3. Make a selection from the list of available themes.

    • Themes from your organization can't be customized.
    • SharePoint themes from Microsoft can be customized.

    Screenshot showing examples of organization created themes and Microsoft default themes.

    Note

    • If an end user has selected dark mode on their mobile or tablet device, the dashboard and other Connections components will render in dark mode with the default color and will not apply the theme colors.
    • Dark themes (has the property isInverted=True), won’t be applied to the mobile experience. If the dark theme is selected, mobile will continue showing Connections with the user’s selected mode (light or dark) and the default colors.
  4. Select Save.

    The home site color theme reflects automatically in the Viva Connections desktop experience.

    Note

    Using accent colors under the app customization feature will only apply to the app icon outline color on the Teams chrome, and will not apply all colors to the Connections experience. For consistency of theming, it is a best practice to set the accent color same as the theme primary color from SharePoint.

    Screenshot showing how accent colors will apply.

Customize the dashboard

The Viva Connections dashboard provides fast and easy access to information and job-related tasks. Add and edit cards that help users quickly access the tools and resources they use in their day-to-day role. Cards on the dashboard can be targeted to users based on specific roles, regions, and interests. Edits (including audience targeting settings) made to cards on the dashboard will also automatically be applied to the Dashboard web part and the mobile experience.

Note

  • If your organization already has Viva Connections set up, you’ll see your existing cards and settings displayed in the new home experience.
  • If your organization doesn’t already have Viva Connections set up, you’ll see a set of default cards that need minimal configuration.

Learn more about adding third-party cards and creating custom cards

In addition to the core set of dashboard cards, cards from third-party partner solutions can be added to the card toolbox from the SharePoint store. Learn more about third-party cards and how to request them. Additionally, customers can create custom cards for the Viva Connections dashboard by using the SharePoint Framework (SPFx) to create Adaptive Card Extensions (ACEs). Learn more about this framework and view the ACE solution gallery.

Preview the dashboard before sharing with others

After creating or editing cards on the Dashboard, make sure you preview the experience for each audience and on both desktop and mobile devices by selecting Preview in the top-right corner of the editing experience. What you see in preview mode approximates how the Dashboard will display for certain audiences and devices. When you apply audience targeting to cards, you can preview how different people will view the Dashboard depending on the audience or device.

Customize resources

Resources provide links to the most popular portals and destinations at your organization and can be found below the dashboard of the Connections experience. Links in the Resources section can be targeted to specific audiences and any edits made will also impact the mobile experience.

Note

Global navigation can be accessed by clicking on the Connections icon in the Teams app bar. Refer to this document if you're setting up global navigation for the first time.

To edit Resources

  1. Start by selecting Edit.

  2. To add a new link, select + Add Link.

Screenshot showing options to add a link, reorder links, or finish editing (done).

  1. In the Add a Link window that opens, paste the link to the site in the URL field.

    • Only modern SharePoint sites and certain Microsoft 365 experiences will display in Teams. All other types of content will open in a separate browser window.
  2. Enter a Display name.

  3. Under Thumbnail, select a choice to represent your resource link:

    • Auto-selected: the icon will be generated based on the URL, if applicable (a link icon will display by default if one cannot be auto-generated).
    • Icon: choose an icon from a pre-existing list by selecting edit icon.
  4. To apply audience targeting to this resource, enter the M365 group(s) in the Audiences to target field (up to 10 audiences can be targeted). Learn more about audience targeting for resources.

  5. Select Save.

Screenshot showing the add a link properties.

  1. The new resource will appear. If audience targeting has been applied, you’ll see an icon in the upper left of the resource link.

Screenshot of the audience targeting icon shown in the upper left of the resource link.

  1. Start by selecting Edit in the Resources section of your Connections experience.

  2. Hover over the resource link and select the ellipsis.

  3. Select Edit to open the resource link and change its settings.

Screenshot of the resource link drop-down menu with the edit option highlighted.

  1. Start by selecting Edit in the Resources section of your Connections experience.

  2. Hover over the resource link and select the ellipsis.

  3. Select Delete.

Screenshot of the resource link drop-down menu with the delete option highlighted.

  1. When asked to confirm, select Delete.
  1. Start by selecting Edit in the Resources section of your Connections experience.

  2. Select Reorder.

Screenshot showing the option to reorder links.

  1. Select a resource link and drag it to its new location.

Learn more about how to influence content in the feed

There’s no configuration required to get the Feed working in the desktop or mobile apps. Content in the Feed can’t be edited because content is aggregated from across your Microsoft 365 environment. Content comes from multiple sources: organizational news published in SharePoint, industry news, meeting insights, and files and information from frequent collaborators.

The Feed web part for Viva Connections displays the same content and can be added to other SharePoint sites. Content that is displayed in the Feed can’t be edited but the ranking can be influenced with the following actions:

  • Promote important ‘official’ communications - Use News boost to raise the visibility of crucial news posts from organizational news sites.
  • Highlight community discussions - Feature posts in public Viva Engage communities that you’d like seen by the entire organization.
  • Publish from official news sources - Like organizational news sites or SharePoint home sites. Where content is from impacts the ranking.
  • Follow colleagues within your organization – Users can see information and posts added to their own feed that have been made by colleagues they have followed.
  • Learn more about how the feed works here: Discover and learn with Microsoft Feed.

Language and multilingual settings

Note

Viva Connections desktop applies the users’ SharePoint preferred language but not the Microsoft Teams language setting. However, for the mobile app, Viva Connections applies the device settings.

The Viva Connections experience can be set in more than one language. Learn more about how different elements of the experience can be edited to display in more than one language and how to create a multilingual dashboard.

Manage permissions

The permissions model for the new Viva Connections landing experience is similar to the permissions in SharePoint. Certain levels of permission will grant access to specific editing tools and the ability to manage permissions and sharing.

Note

At least two people should be assigned to Owner level permissions.

Owner Member Visitor
Can edit content in the banner, Dashboard, and Resources.

Can add or remove owners, members, and visitors.
Can edit content in the banner, Dashboard, and Resources. Visitors are the end users in your organization.

They can view and interact with content but can’t edit content or share the page with others.

If you already have Viva Connections setup, editors who have site owner or member permissions to the SharePoint home site will automatically have owner or member permissions to edit the new Connections experience in Teams.

  • People with member permissions or higher will automatically see Edit buttons in the Connections experience.
  • People with member permissions or higher will be able to view permissions to the page by navigating to the ellipsis menu in the top-right and selecting Manage permissions.

If you're setting it up for the first time, only the SharePoint root site owners are able to edit the Connections experience in Teams. When the Connections experience is edited for the first time, a SharePoint site on the backend will get created. You’ll want to assign owners and members from this site to give permissions to others so they can edit the experience for the rest of the organization. Manage permissions from the Viva Connections app in Teams to assign owner or member level permissions. Once permission levels are assigned, people with owner or member permissions will automatically see Edit buttons in the Connections experience.

How to add, view, and edit permissions

If you have member permissions or higher you can view who has permission to view and edit the Connections experience. Access permissions by navigating to the ellipsis menu (...) in the top-right corner and then select Manage permissions.

If you have owner permissions or higher, you can give access to new people and change the roles of the people who already have access. Select Share to give access to new people. Edit the roles of existing people by selecting the drop-down arrow and then select a new role. Changes will be applied immediately.

Help end users in your organization learn more

Note

For customers who already have Viva Connections setup, your end users will be automatically routed to the new Viva Connections home experience in Teams if your organization decides to use the new design as the default experience. If your organization has a SharePoint home site, you can choose to keep it as the default home experience when the new experience is available.

If your organization already has a SharePoint home site, and you want to keep it as the landing experience for the Connections desktop experience, use the PowerShell command listed in the following section to use the SharePoint home site. Learn more about setting up Viva Connections in the Microsoft 365 admin center.

Choose the default landing experience for Viva Connections desktop

If your organization already has a SharePoint home site and you want to keep it as the landing experience for Viva Connections desktop, use the PowerShell command listed below. If you decide to change the default experience from a home site back to the Viva Connections home experience, you'll need to run this command again using the $false parameter. To run this cmdlet, you must be a Global admin or a SharePoint admin.

  1. Download the latest SharePoint Online Management Shell.

    Note

    • If you installed a previous version of SharePoint Online Management Shell, go to Add, or Remove programs and uninstall "SharePoint Online Management Shell."
    • Run the command as a Global Administrator or a SharePoint Administrator.
    • This command allows you to choose the default experience for the desktop app and doesn't impact the mobile experience.
  2. Connect to SharePoint as a Global Administrator in Microsoft 365. To learn how, see Getting started with SharePoint Online Management Shell.

  3. Run Set-SPOHomeSite -HomeSiteUrl <homesiteURL> -VivaConnectionsDefaultStart <$true/$false>

    • The parameter should be set to $false to use the new Connections desktop experience as the default landing experience.
    • The parameter should be set to $true to use a SharePoint home site as the default landing experience.

    Example:

    Contoso’s SharePoint home site URL is https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/homeSite in this example.

    To set the default landing to the SharePoint home site:

    Set-SPOHomeSite -HomeSiteUrl "https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/homeSite" -VivaConnectionsDefaultStart $true

    To set the default landing to the new Viva Connections desktop experience:

    Set-SPOHomeSite -HomeSiteUrl "https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/homeSite" -VivaConnectionsDefaultStart $false

Note

  • It may take up to 15 minutes to see the updated default landing experience.
  • If you change the SharePoint home site to a different SharePoint home site, it may take up to a week for users in Viva Connections to be directed to the new site. However, users can logout and log back in to clear the cache to view the new SharePoint home site sooner.

Make the experience available to the end user

Once finished customizing your Viva Connections experience, follow the steps to enable the experience to make it visible to your audience.

Learn more

More options coming soon for the Viva Connections desktop experience

Overview: Viva Connections

Use audience targeting in Viva Connections to personalize the experience

Overview of Microsoft Feed