A Guide to SharePoint Header Options

When customizing your SharePoint site, one of the most impactful design elements is the site header. The header sets the tone for your site, provides quick access to key navigation, and ensures branding consistency. SharePoint offers several configurable options for headers, including layout choices and tick-box settings that affect visibility and functionality.

In this article, we’ll walk through each option available, what it does, and show how it looks in practice.

Header Layout Options

SharePoint provides multiple header layouts to choose from, allowing you to set the look and feel of your site:

• Standard
• A balanced header layout with logo, title, and navigation placed neatly at the top

• Compact
• Reduces vertical space, making it cleaner and more minimalistic. Great for sites with a lot of content.

• Minimal
• Focuses heavily on content, hiding most of the header elements except essentials.

• Extended
• Provides additional space for logos and branding elements.

Header Settings:

Horizontal Navigation Settings

By default, SharePoint headers display with Horizontal Navigation, giving your users an easy way to access top-level links.

However, this navigation can be turned off if you prefer a cleaner look or if you want to emphasize page content over navigation.

This flexibility allows you to adapt the header design depending on your site’s purpose. For example, communication sites might benefit from visible navigation, while landing or campaign-style pages may look better without it.

Navigation Settings:

Header Elements & Tick-Box Options

Beyond layouts, SharePoint lets you fine-tune what appears in the header using simple toggle (tick-box) options:

• Site Logo Visibility
• Control whether the site logo is displayed in the header.
• No Logo

• With Logo

• Site Title Display
• Choose whether the site’s name is shown next to the logo or hidden for a cleaner look.

 

Hub Settings and the Header

If your site is connected to a hub site, the header options expand to include hub-specific settings. These ensure consistency across connected sites and provide a unified navigation experience.

Hub Settings in the Header:

• Hub Site Navigation
• A horizontal navigation bar that appears below or integrated into the header for cross-site navigation.

• Global vs Local Navigation
• Choose whether to show hub navigation only, site navigation only, or both together.

Permissions Required to Customize Headers

Not everyone will see the same customization options. Permissions play an important role in what you can do with headers and hub settings:

• Site Owner (Full Control)
• Can customize the site header layout, toggle all tick-box options, and change logo, title, or background.
• Can also associate or disassociate a site from a hub.
• Hub Site Owner
• Has additional permissions to manage hub navigation, apply hub-wide branding, and control how associated sites inherit hub header settings.
• Site Member (Edit)
• Typically cannot adjust the header. Members can create/edit content but not alter site design.
• Site Visitor (Read)
• No customization permissions. Can only view the site as configured by owners.

PnP Search web part and available Tokens (Query Variables)

V4 Tokens: https://microsoft-search.github.io/pnp-modern-search/usage/search-results/tokens/ 

I wanted to use the PnP Search web part to get all the birthdays stored in AD (also known as the User Profile Service).

It's easy enough to get the birthday by mapping the SPS-Birthday from the LocalPeopleResults results source, however the issue is that Birthdays don't save year, so when you get the birthday out it will look like 11 July 2000, which when querying become an issue. Unless you use theses Tokens.

For this example and explanation we have Mapped RefinableDate01 with People: SPS-Birthday

• I started by trying to get the Month Birthdays, like this:
• RefinableDate01>=2000-07-01 AND RefinableDate01<=2000-07-31
• But this is not Dynamic, they will only give July's Birthdays.
• I then tried the Today Token
• RefinableDate00>={Today} AND RefinableDate00<={Today}+30
• However because the birthday year is 2000, it will never match

Query variable	Example / Result
{Today+/- <integer value for number of days>}	{Today} - 2014-04-26 {Today+10} - 2014-05-06  {Today-365} - 2013-04-26

• Now we know about better Tokens we can use
• RefinableDate00>=2000-{CurrentMonth}-01 AND RefinableDate00<=2000-{CurrentMonth}-31
• This gives us our desire result

Token	Definition
{CurrentYear}	Local date four digits, 2023
{CurrentMonth}	Local month, 1-12
{CurrentDate}	Local date, 1-31
{CurrentHour}	Local hour, 0-23
{CurrentMinute}	Local minute, 0-59
{CurrentSecond}	Local second, 0-59
{CurrentYearUTC}	UTC date four digits, 2023
{CurrentMonthUTC}	UTC month, 1-12
{CurrentDateUTC}	UTC date, 1-31
{CurrentHourUTC}	UTC, 0-23
{CurrentMinuteUTC}	UTC minute, 0-59
{CurrentSecondUTC}	UTC second, 0-59

AI Prompting: Example for Workflow Technical Spec's

 We are all using some sort of AI at this point, but here are some ways to get better results.

“Who should the AI be?”

Role

This sets the persona or expertise you're expecting. It frames the AI’s tone, depth, and assumptions.

“What does the AI need to know?”

Context

Give the background info that influences the task. This ensures the AI understands the situation.

 

“What do you want it to do?” 

 

Command

Be direct and specific about the task.

“How should the output look?” 

 

Format

Tell the AI what kind of structure or layout you want.

 Example

 

I want a Technical Specification of this workflow for the client after the build is complete.

Role:

• This information is for the Technical users and Process Owners.

Context:

• I need a summary that clearly explains what the workflow does, how it runs, and which integrations and accounts it uses.

Command:

• Provide the following sections:
• Summary: A high-level overview of what the workflow does.
• Workflow Actions: 
• Starting with the Tigger. 
• Process list of all the workflow actions.
• Integrations: Show any integration, if any. 
• Accounts: All accounts and email addresses.

Format:

• Use clear section headings as follows:
• Summary
• Workflow Actions
• Integrations
• Accounts
• Use:
• Numbered lists for workflow steps.
• Bullet points for integrations and accounts.
• Use plain language and describe the purpose of each step.

Microsoft 365 Organizational Branding Guide

 What is the Organizational Banner in Office 365?

The organizational banner in Microsoft 365 is a key visual branding element displayed across services such as Outlook, SharePoint, Office.com, and others. It allows organizations to:

• Display their company logo
• Apply brand colors
• Link the logo to their main intranet or hub site

This helps create a consistent and professional user experience throughout the Microsoft 365 environment.

Steps to Change the Banner Color and Add Your Logo

1. Sign in to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center

• Go to https://admin.microsoft.com
• Sign in using your global administrator account credentials.

2. Navigate to Organizational Settings

• In the left-hand menu, select Settings.
• Then choose Org settings.
• Click on Organization profile.

 

3. Customize Your Themes

• In the Organization profile, scroll down and click on Custom themes.
• Select Edit custom theme or Add a theme, depending on what you see.

4. Set Your Banner Color

• Look for the Navigation bar color or Accent color setting.
• Enter the hex code for Dark Grey.
• Suggested dark grey: #333333

5. Upload Your Company Logo

• First thing is to upload your logo to a place on SharePoint you can reference. Then copy that URL.
• Recommended formats: PNG or JPG.
• Recommended size: 200x50 pixels (or similar horizontal aspect ratio).
• Tips
• Keep your logo file optimized for web (under 100 KB).
• Make sure your logo has a transparent background (PNG) for best visual results on colored banners.
• Under the Logo section:
• Under Default Logo paste the URL to the logo.
• Under On-click link paste the URL to your hub site or intranet:
• Example: https://yourcompany.sharepoint.com/sites/hub
• Users will be taken to this URL when they click on your logo in the banner.

 

6. Save Your Changes

• After uploading and selecting your preferences, click Save.
• The changes may take a few minutes to appear across all Microsoft 365 services.

 

Microsoft Reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/admin/setup/customize-your-organization-theme?view=o365-worldwide 

Guide: Training Agenda: SharePoint Online (without Teams)

 🗂 Training Agenda: SharePoint Online

⏱️ Duration: 2 hours

 

 

🔒 1. Permissions and Access Management (15 mins)

• SharePoint permission levels (Read, Contribute, Edit, Full Control)
• Groups vs individuals
• Inherited vs unique permissions
• Sharing a site, library, file
• Managing access: "Manage Access" panel, site permissions
• Site architecture overview: Hub Sites, subsites, flat structure best practice

 

 

🧭 2. Navigation and Site Settings for Site Owners (15 mins)

• Team sites vs Communication sites
• Navigating a site: Quick launch, top nav, gear icon, site contents
• Site settings panel overview
• Site information (logo, description, permissions)
• Site usage reports
• Hub site association

 

 

📝 3. Working with Lists (30 mins)

• Difference between Lists and Libraries
• Creating a new list (from scratch, template)
• Common column types (choice, person, date, lookup)
• Creating views (standard, gallery, calendar)
• List settings and advanced settings (attachments, form options)

 

 

📁 4. Working with Document Libraries (30 mins)

• Uploading files/folders
• Document Sets
• Creating views
• Using metadata (columns, filters, group by)
• Document versioning, check-in/check-out
• Pinning documents
• Sharing and permissions basics on files/folders

 

 

📄 5. Working with Modern Pages and Web Parts (30 mins)

• Creating a new page or news post
• Web parts overview (Text, Image, Document Library, List, Quick Links, Hero, Embed)
• Layouts and section formatting
• Publishing and versioning

• Change the homepage

SharePoint List Column Styling 102

Column Styling 101 only shows you a single option for colour formatting.

For this example, I want it to only be red if the date is past AND the item is not competed.

So like before you need to open the column formatting properties.

• Click the drop-down arrow next to the column you want to see.
• Select “Column settings”
• Click “Format this column”

• This opens the column formatting properties
• Untick “Format dates” and Select “Conditional formatting”

• Then click “Manage rules”

• Now we add our new Rules:
• Click “Show all values as”

• Then add the new rules:

• Click “Save”, and back
• Add all 3 conditional rules

• The view will now not show the colour if the task is completed

SharePoint List Column Styling 101

 If you want to see the format:

1. Click the drop-down arrow next to the column you want to see.
2. Select “Column settings”
3. Click “Format this column”

4. This opens the column formatting properties
5. The “Edit styles”

6. This shows you the format