New Collaborate uses the power of SharePoint Communicate Sites to offer a range of benefits, including the ability to customise the appearance of your site. For example, you can make changes to your SharePoint site to add your logo and corporate colours. More advanced users can take advantage of Templates and apps to offer additional features, for example, a News feed, or the ability to book appointments online (when used in conjunction with online calendar integrations).
As this site will be an extension of your practice and be visible to your customers, it's important to ensure the site is consistent with your brand guidelines and offers a smooth experience for your clients.
For more information on managing your page and Communication sites refer to the following Microsoft 365 Support articles:
- Change the look of your SharePoint site
- Create a communication site in SharePoint
- Use the SharePoint Topic, Showcase, and Blank communication site templates
- Add an App to a Site
- Using web parts on SharePoint pages (to add Widgets to the Home Page)
Update your Organisation's theme
Microsoft allows you to manage themes and apply them to different members and groups within your organisation. You can modify the logo, and select the colour scheme to be used. This theme will apply across Microsoft 365, not just your New Collaborate SharePoint site, but will ensure consistent branding across the organisation.
To manage your themes:
- Open the Microsoft Admin Center.
- Click ... Show all on the sidebar on the left.
- Click the Settings arrow to expand the menu and click Org settings.
- Click the Organisation Profile tab and click Custom Themes.
- The drawer will open. You can modify the default theme, or create your own custom theme if required.
For detailed instructions on managing your theme, refer to Customize the Microsoft 365 theme for your organization.
Accessing the Customisation Settings
Within SharePoint, you can easily customise some of the fundamental elements of the page - the Theme, Header, Footer, and Navigation.
- Click the Settings cog icon in the top-right corner of the window.
- Click Change The Look. The drawer will open.
- Update the settings as required - see below for more details.
- Click Save to save changes.
- Click the left arrow (Back arrow) to return to the main Change The Look menu.
Theme
The Theme allows you to control the colour scheme used on the site. Microsoft offers some default colour themes to select from or alternatively, you can click Customise to select the main and accent colours.
Header
The Header section can be used to change the layout and appearance of the header, including selecting a background colour (or an image, depending on the layout selected) and your site logo.
Navigation
The Navigation of your site is crucial to the experience of your clients. Ensure you have a clear menu, that allows your clients to access their Client folder and documents easily.
The navigation option allows you to define how menus should behave when clicking on a menu item. For example, a Mega Menu will display multiple columns on a single menu (great for when using a menu structure that's 3+ levels) or Cascading (better for simple menus).
Click the toggle Off for "Site navigation visibility" if you want to hide the menu entirely (not recommended).
To add items to the menu you'll need to click the Edit link at the end of the menu within the site itself.
We recommend you remove Pages and Site Contents from the menu. When editing the navigation, click the three dots (...) and select "Remove".
Footer
The Footer is found at the bottom of the page. You can control the height, background colour, logo and Display Name (useful for adding additional text e.g. Business Name).
You can disable the Footer entirely by clicking the Enable toggle to be set to "Off".
