How to Customize and Change the Look of Your SharePoint Site

You can customize your SharePoint site to match your company’s brand and engage users. Whether you’re creating a communication site or a team site, SharePoint offers powerful design and branding tools to help you stand out.

If you’re wondering how to customize your SharePoint site for free, looking for SharePoint customization examples, or want to know how to edit your SharePoint site or customize the SharePoint home page, this professional and practical guide has you covered.

How to Customize Your SharePoint Site: Modify Layout, Theme, Logo, Navigation, and More

1. Go to “Change the Look”

Log in to your SharePoint account using Office 365 login credentials. Then, go to the team site or communication site of your choice.

  • Go to your SharePoint site.
  • Click Settings in the top right corner.
  • Select “Change the Look” from the drop-down menu.

This drops down some configuration options like theme, header, and navigation to customize your SharePoint site.

customize your SharePoint site

Note: If you don’t see Change the look, you may not have permission to manage this option, or you are under classic experience. For more information about permissions, contact your administrator.

2. Apply a Custom Theme (Colors & Fonts)

Themes allow you to customize your site’s color palette and font settings to match your brand.

  • In the Change the look panel, select Theme.
  • Choose from pre-made themes or click on Customize to define your own primary, background and accent colors.
  • Click Save.

Custom Theme

3. Customize the Site Header

The site header appears on top of your SharePoint pages and helps establish your company’s identity and navigation.

  • In the Change the look panel, select Header.
  • Choose from Minimal, Compact, Standard or Extended based on how prominent you want the header to be.
  • Under Background select a theme color that matches your brand.
  • Turn Site title on or off.
  • Upload a site logo thumbnail and a main site logo to enhance brand identity; these will be displayed across your SharePoint site.
  • Click Save.

Header

Microsoft recommends that for optimal rendering, use an icon sized between 64 x 64 pixels and 192 x 64 pixels (width x height) to ensure proper display across all devices and layouts.

4. Personalize Site Navigation

Good navigation makes it easy for users to find content.

  • In the Change the look panel, select Navigation.
  • Switch Site navigation “on” to show the menu.
  • Select your preferred orientation

Horizontal for communication sites with lots of top navigation.
Vertical for team sites with space saving side navigation.

navigation

Personalize groupings and links in the side panel or header to structure menus, sub links and access to main pages and libraries.

5. Rearrange Page Layout and Sections

You can change the layout of your home page and other pages with modern web parts.

  • Click on Edit on any page.
  • Insert or delete sections (2 columns, 1 column etc.).
  • Add web parts like Hero, Image, Text, Quick Links, News, Events, Document Library or insert a web part.
  • Drag and drop to rearrange content.
  • Tap Republish to save and share.

6. Use the Hero Web Part for Visual Impact

The Hero web part highlights important content through images, buttons and links.

  • Insert the Hero web part on your home page.
  • Customize each tile with text, background images and URLs.
  • Select tiles or layers layout for a significant impact.

toolbox

7. Brand the Site Footer (Optional)

For communication sites you may want to include a footer for legal links, company info or further navigation.

  • Go to Change the Look > Footer.
  • Turn footer visibility on and customize background color and logo.
  • Select save.

Site Footer

Please note that the site footer is only supported on communication site pages and is not available on list, library, or other types of pages within your site.

Start Customizing Your SharePoint Site Today

You can customize your SharePoint site, which makes your company’s brand more prominent and easier to use, as well as increasing user satisfaction. From colors and logos to navigation and interactive web parts, SharePoint allows you to design a site that is aesthetically pleasing and works well.

FAQs

1. Can I change the colors and fonts to meet my company branding?

Yes. SharePoint does have custom themes with your company fonts and colors. You have the option to use built-in themes or have fully branded themes through SharePoint Theme Designer and PowerShell.

2. How do I include or change the SharePoint site logo as per my company?

Navigate to Settings > Change the look > Header. You can upload a site logo and thumbnail to show your brand across SharePoint and Microsoft 365 navigation.

3. Can there be varying pages within the same SharePoint site with varying layouts?

Yes. Every page can have a different layout and web parts, but overall site-wide themes like colors and logos work uniformly on every page.

4. Can I preview changes prior to publishing?

Yes. While editing, it is possible to preview changes live and even save drafts. Only published pages are available to users.

5. Can I reset to the default appearance?

Yes. You can switch back to native themes and layouts at any time from the Change the look panel.

6. Can I use the same design on several sites?

Yes. Utilize Site Designs and Site Scripts to implement consistent branding on multiple SharePoint sites.

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