What's new for SharePoint home sites

This article highlights SharePoint home site updates rolling out starting May 2026 and details the specific changes due to the rename of Viva Connections to SharePoint app.

Note

SharePoint home site technology fully powers the Connections experience in Teams, now branded as the SharePoint app in Teams. Targeted Release rollout of all these updates is planned for early May 2026 with GA by end of June 2026. You can track progress on the related Microsoft 365 public roadmap: ID 557983.

A SharePoint home site provides a customized landing experience that reflects the organization’s brand, voice, and priorities. A SharePoint home site also serves as the gateway to other portals in your organization’s intranet. It's simply a special communication site in your organization. You can either create a new home site or set an existing communication site as your home site. An admin can do this action in the SharePoint admin center.

Viva Connections is a customizable employee engagement experience app in Teams. It is how your SharePoint intranet can be deployed within Teams desktop and mobile. With the rename of Viva Connections to SharePoint app in Teams, this functionality becomes a prominent feature of a SharePoint home site.

With this update,

  1. Create or set a Home site in SharePoint admin center
  2. Configure your home site with web parts and deploy it to your organization, just like any portal launch
  3. In the home site, via options in the Settings gear, set up the SharePoint app for Teams

SharePoint home site updates - May-June 2026

What’s not changing

  1. Existing home sites, site content, branding, and overall look and feel are unchanged.
  2. Existing Viva Connections configurations, including customized app names and logos, continue to work as configured.
  3. Existing Viva Connections deployments remain available as a branded employee experience within SharePoint.
  4. Organizations that require multiple home sites still need the appropriate licensing.

What’s new

  1. SharePoint administrators can now create and designate home sites directly from the SharePoint admin center.
  2. A new Resources web part is available for curated links and employee resources.
  3. A new Announcements web part is available with no other license requirement.
  4. New filmstrip layout options are available for the News web part.
  5. A simplified experience for configuring SharePoint app in Teams is now available directly from the home site experience.

What existing experience is changing

  1. The Teams desktop and mobile branding change from the default Viva Connections to SharePoint for noncustomized experiences.

  2. The default app experience aligns with SharePoint branding and removes Viva-specific default content.

  3. The global navigation experience within the SharePoint app in Teams desktop displays either SharePoint or your organization’s customized app name.

  4. The Dashboard web part "See all" experience now supports end-user personalization and customization.

Create and designate home sites directly from the SharePoint admin center

You can now create and/or establish a communication site as a SharePoint home site directly within your organization's SharePoint admin center. Previously, you need to go to the Viva Connections management console within Microsoft 365 admin center. Use the below step-by-step instructions to help set up your SharePoint home site. Note: You must be assigned the role of SharePoint admin to accomplish these steps.

Once established, you can then configure and manage your site content like any other SharePoint site - choosing your preferred theme, layouts, pages, navigation, etc.

To create a SharePoint home site,

  1. Go to your SharePoint admin center; that is https://tenantname-admin.sharepoint.com/

  2. Click on Settings in the left-hand navigation.

  3. Click on SharePoint app named Home sites. This opens a right-hand configuration panel called "Home sites".

  4. Click + Add or the Add a home site button
    Screenshot that shows Home sites settings within the SharePoint admin center.

  5. Select the type of home site you want to add; go to step 6 to create a new site or step 7 to use an existing communication site.

  6. Create a new site to use as your home site

    1. Select the Create a new site radio button and click Next

    2. On the Preview and use 'Home site' template, click the Use template button.

    3. Give your site a unique name in the text box under Site name

    4. Next, validate your site name and URL and add a Site owner and click Next

    5. Set your language and time zone and click Create site

    6. The site gets created as a home site, with Site name and URL.
      Screenshot that shows the site name dialog when creating a new SharePoint home site from within the SharePoint admin center.

  7. Build off an existing communication site

    1. Select the Use an existing communication site radio button and click Next

    2. Copy and paste the site URL of the existing communication site you want to set as your home site.

    3. Validate that this site can be set as your home site. Green text lets you if the site meets the criteria. Click Save

    4. The chosen site gets assigned as a home site, with Site name and URL.
      Screenshot that shows the edit pane when entering in the URL of an existing SharePoint communication site to convert it to a home site.

Note

To add multiple home sites, you must still go to Viva Connections in the Microsoft 365 admin center.

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