Have you ever wondered how teams at large companies stay organized and efficient while working on complex projects? One of the secret weapons is Microsoft SharePoint—a dynamic platform that makes collaboration, file sharing, and content management super easy. Whether you’re in IT, HR, or marketing, creating a site in SharePoint can revolutionize how you work.
Let’s walk through how to create a SharePoint site using in build templates, and how to manage permissions—including unique permissions—so your team sees just what they need.
Getting Started with SharePoint Sites
Overview of SharePoint Sites
SharePoint Sites are centralized hubs where your team can collaborate, share files, and organize content. They serve different purposes, depending on the type you choose—like project collaboration or company-wide announcements.
Types of SharePoint Sites: Team Site vs Communication Site
Explore our full blog on SharePoint Online, covering its features, benefits, available plans, and more – Exploring SharePoint Online: A Comprehensive Guide
Communication Hub Site in SharePoint Online
A Hub Site in SharePoint Online is not a separate template, but rather a designated site (usually a Communication Site) that acts as a central point for related sites.
✅ Purpose of a Communication Hub Site:
- To unify branding and navigation across multiple related SharePoint sites
- To organize communication and news flow between sites
- To roll up content like news, events, and site activity
- To improve discoverability of related resources and content
Real-World Examples of Communication Hub Sites
Creating a SharePoint Site Using a Template
Benefits of Using Templates
Why reinvent the wheel? SharePoint templates save time by giving you pre-configured layouts, libraries, and components that match your use case—whether it’s project management, event planning, or HR onboarding.
Built-In Site Templates in SharePoint
Some popular templates include:
- Project Management
- Training and Development
- Crisis Management
- Event Planning
- HR Onboarding
These come with predefined pages, web parts, and lists to kickstart your workflow.
Microsoft will roll out 50+ new out-of-the-box (OOB) page templates for Modern SharePoint starting mid-June 2025. These templates will be available in a central Template Gallery, making it easier to discover, preview, and use both Microsoft and custom templates – Microsoft 365 Roadmap | Microsoft 365
Update: The new Template Gallery has been removed after being available for just one week. Currently, there is no update from Microsoft on when it will be available again.
You can check the official communication and track further updates on this blog post originally introduced by Helen Chen from Microsoft.
Step-by-Step: How to Create a SharePoint Site with a Template
Step 1: Navigate to SharePoint
Go to your Microsoft 365 portal and click on the SharePoint app.
Step 2: Click “Create Site”
On the homepage, you’ll see the option to create a Team Site or Communication Site. Choose based on your needs. (Explained Above in the Table)
Step 3: Choose a Template
You’ll be presented with a gallery of templates. Pick one that aligns with your goals—for example, the “Project Management” template for tracking tasks and deliverables or You can Standard team template and later you can Customize with your own design or temnplates.
Step 4: Configure Site Settings
Enter the site name, description, and privacy settings. This is where you define whether the site is public within your organization or restricted.
Step 5: Finalize Creation
Click Finish and voilà! Your new SharePoint site is ready to customize.
Customizing Your SharePoint Site
Adding Web Parts and Widgets
Web parts are building blocks for your site. You can add calendars, document libraries, news feeds, and more to tailor the experience. Click on the Edit in the left heading pane and you should see all the Web Parts.
Modifying the Layout and Branding
Use the built-in tools to add your company logo, choose a color scheme, and even create custom headers and footers. To changing this click on Setting (gear) icon at the top right corner and open the Change the look options.
Creating Pages and Document Libraries
Organize your content by creating multiple pages. For example, have one page for meeting notes and another for project milestones.
Understanding Permissions in SharePoint
What Are SharePoint Permissions?
Permissions determine who can see, edit, or manage content on your site. SharePoint uses role-based access control to keep things secure.
Permission Levels Explained
- Full Control: Total access, including managing permissions.
- Edit: Can add and change content.
- Read: Can only view content.
- Contribute: Can add, edit, and delete items but not manage site settings.
Please note: These are the default permissions. However, you can create new permission levels from the SharePoint site level and assign them to specific documents, files, or folders as needed. Checkout the blog on O365reports
Default vs Unique Permissions
Inherited Permissions: How They Work
By default, new sites, libraries, and folders inherit permissions from their parent. It’s a trickle-down model that’s easy to manage at scale.
Unique Permissions: What They Are and When to Use Them
Sometimes you want tighter control—maybe only certain people should see a financial report. That’s where unique permissions come in.
Creating Unique Permissions for a Site
- Go to Site Settings > Site Permissions > Advanced Permissions.
- Select the Member and Visitor groups and Click on Remove User Permissions. So any of the user will not have inherit permission.
- Now, customize the access as needed by adding or removing users/groups.
Creating Unique Permissions for a Library or Folder
- Click on the Documents library.
- To Manage Entire Document Library Permissions.
- Library Settings > More Library Settings and Click on Permissions for this Docs Lib.
- Stop inheriting, then tweak the permissions for specific users.
- Manage the Folder Permissions.
- Select the folder any from the Documents Library.
- Choose Manage Access.
- Click on 3 dots at the top and open the advanced settings.
- Click on the Stop inheriting, similar to above and add there user who you want to give unique permission to the folder. If you’re assigning unique permissions to a large group of people, it’s recommended to create a security group and assign it the necessary permissions. You can then add users to that group as needed.
Managing Access Requests
When someone tries to access a restricted area, they can send a request. You can approve or deny these with a single click from your email.
Final Thoughts
Using templates in SharePoint streamlines site creation, while mastering permissions ensures your content stays secure and accessible to the right people. Whether you’re launching a site for your team or configuring access for sensitive files, leveraging templates and customized permissions gives you a powerful, efficient, and secure start.
Creating a SharePoint site with a template is like moving into a fully-furnished home—you’re ready to go from day one. Pair that with thoughtfully assigned permissions, and you have a flexible, secure workspace that drives collaboration and productivity. Build smarter with SharePoint.
FAQs
1. What is the difference between a Team Site and a Communication Site?
Team Sites are for internal collaboration with small groups; Communication Sites are for sharing information broadly across the organization.
2. Can I change a template after creating a site?
Yes, you can change it from the SharePoint settings section: Apply and customize SharePoint site templates – Microsoft Support
3. How do I know if a site has unique permissions?
Go to Site Permissions and look for the “This site has unique permissions” notice. You’ll also see options to reset or manage them.
4. What happens if I reset permissions to inherit?
The current unique permissions are wiped out, and the site or item inherits permissions from the parent site or library.
5. Can I create custom permission levels?
Related Links:
- SharePoint Basic Overview Guide
- SharePoint Data Retention Policies
- Block Access for SharePoint/OneDrive on the Unmanaged Devices
- Manage SharePoint Sites with PowerShell modules
really helpful breakdown! quick question—if I use a communication site template, can I still manage granular permissions for specific document libraries or folders like I can in a team site?
Glad you found the post helpful—great question! Yes, even if you’re using a communication site, you can still apply granular permissions to individual document libraries, folders, or even specific files.
The main difference is that communication sites are usually designed for broadcasting information rather than collaboration, so they don’t come with a Microsoft 365 group attached by default. But from a permissions standpoint, you still have full control—just go to the library or folder, click on “Manage Access,” and customize as needed
This was super useful! Just curious—if I start with one site template and later want to switch to another (like from a team site to a communication site), is that possible without losing data?
Thanks for the feedback—really glad it helped! That’s a common question. Unfortunately, you can’t directly switch a site’s template (for example, from a team site to a communication site) once it’s been created.
However, you won’t lose any data. What most admins do in this case is create a new site with the desired template and then migrate the content from the old one to new one, if you have small amount of data, you can directly copy or move or you can take help any 3rd party migration tool. It takes a bit of planning, especially if there are custom permissions or workflows involved, but it’s doable.
I’m curious—what’s the best practice for managing permissions when cloning a site template across multiple departments? Specifically, is there an easy way to apply consistent group-based permissions?
Excellent question! For cloning templates with consistent permissions, we recommend using Azure AD–based groups and provisioning site templates via PowerShell or Power Automate. That way, each new site inherits both structure and standardized access roles. We’re working on a script walkthrough—stay tuned!
Appreciate all the visuals and screenshots. The screenshots during the ‘stop inheriting permissions’ steps really saved my bacon—couldn’t have done it without them!
We’re so glad the visuals helped! Screenshots are lifesavers during tricky configurations. If there’s a specific scenario you want us to document next (e.g. permissions for multiple site owners), just let us know—we’d love to cover it!
Super useful! I’ve always been confused about how templates affect permissions — this cleared things up nicely.
Thanks for reading! SharePoint permissions can get tricky, so we’re happy the post helped. Let us know if you have any follow-up questions!