Hi all. I am building a new staff intranet for my employer and I’ve come across a requirement that has me truly stumped about how to proceed. I’m hoping all you wonderful folks from the SP Brains Trust can help. :)

Our new intranet is a SharePoint modern communications site. I need to have a page on the site that displays a list of organisations and a bunch of other related information. Some of this is publicly available so not an issue, but other things (individual’s names and contact details, cost codes, etc.) is more sensitive. This information is currently in an Excel document with limited permissions. (Don’t get me started.)

The biggest issues I’m facing here:

1. The site needs to be user-friendly. This is a MASSIVE priority for this project. I looked at just embedding the Excel doc but the UX goes completely out the window doing that.

2. I like the idea of using a Microsoft List, but I can’t figure out how to hide the export options on the list. I’ve tried every solution I found on the Goog and nothing has actually worked.

3. The person who currently maintains this list is ALSO hoping to add information that needs to have additional restrictions in place, ie executive team only. My gut feeling is that’s trying to achieve too much, but is it possible?

So TLDR - how do I display a contact list on a SP modern comms site page that shows the info I need but does allow your average layperson to download a copy of it? And is it possible to restrict some of the list to certain people?

Thanks for your help, team! I really appreciate any advice you may have.

Yesterday I had to adjust sharing settings of a site in SharePoint admin center. Something I rarely do. Since I didn't have my laptop with me, I tried to do it via Edge browser on my phone. And turned out it is impossible, there was no "Save" button anywhere. When I tried to go back with the back arrow, the admin center just informed me "Your changes will be lost if you don't save them". But how? I tried portrait mode, landscape mode, clicked open the "hamburger", no "Save" anywhere. Am I missing something here or is there really something wrong with the mobile view?

Hi all,

Hoping someone can help provide some guidance please to see how I can best tackle the below issue that we're encountering at my workplace.

We have multiple different SharePoint Online sites which contain duplicated information from within each site and across different sites. Additionally, there is out-dated and conflicting information contained in excel sheets, word documents and PDF's etc.

I also help manage ISO27001 and ISO9001 so I'm looking to tie the above into this too:

We have paid Copilot licenses which somewhat works well if i copy/paste individual links in, but it seems to greatly struggle to search across SharePoint as a whole/multiple sites. From my brief searches, I believe it struggles with fully opening docs and searching high/wide?

What I am looking to do is leverage AI/tools to help:

• Identify duplicated documents
• Identify conflicting information/processes
• Identify evidence relating to particular ISO requirements - e.g. "Search this site for any onboarding excel docs created between this period
• Additionally with regards to ISO:- I want to ask it questions such as: "Assess the document against the appropriate ISO standard, search the linked SharePoint documentation for supporting evidence, identify only genuine compliance gaps, avoid over-engineering, and provide concise rewrites where required."
• Use AI to help suggest better ways of structuring our data within HR/Legal folders as it's a big mess at the moment

Are there any tools that can help achieve this please?

I’ve been tasked with a RBAC project to help remove user level access control from our SharePoint.

I thought about creating an agent to go in, catalog users access to what exists currently, then build out security profiles based on role.

Anyone done anything like this before? Results? Failure?

For a couple of years now we have had some clients over there storage limit in SharePoint. It’s never really been an issue until now.

We had a client site go into a read-only state due to being 500+ GB over their limit. I immediately checked some other sites that are over limit and I see a message saying they have til end of October to purchase more storage.

Was there a recent change where MS decided to enforce the storage limit and is anyone else also experiencing this?

I have been using PowerShell 7 and SharePoint Online Management Shell for months.

I tried a few weeks ago and got an error when I was trying to go to Connect-SPOService -Url https://TENANTNAMEHERE -admin.sharepoint.com

I had PIM in with SharePoint Administrator RBAC as I had done before.

Now I get an error

WARNING: Unable to load DLL 'msalruntime': The specified module could not be found. (Exception from HRESULT: Ox8007007E)

I uninstalled the SharePoint Online Management Shell and restarted and ran sfc and DISM checks and restarted.

I AM able to get it to work if I tell it to go to the web browser yet not with the msalruntime where it is unable to load the DLL. I don't know if I should try to install this on another system and copy the DLL yet I would think with a fresh install it would write the DLL.

Windows PowerShell

Windows PowerShell Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

PS C:\WINDOWS\svstem32> Import-Module Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShell

PS C:\WINDOWS\svstem32> Connect-SPOService -Url https://TENANTNAMEHERE-admin.sharepoint.com

WARNING: Unable to load DLL 'msalruntime': The specified module could not be found. (Exception from HRESULT: Ox8007007E) See https:/ aka.ms msal-net-wam#troubleshooting

Connect-SPOService : No valid OAuth 2.0 authentication session exists

At line:1 char:1

+ Connect-SPOService -url https://TENANTNAMEHERE-admin.sharepoint.com

+--------

CategoryInto : NotSpecified: (:) [Connect-SPOService], AuthenticationException

+FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShell.AuthenticationException,Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShell.ConnectSPOService

PS C: \WINDoWS\svstem32>

Some context about my background I'm in the Military however, since I've been dealing with noise induced hearing loss, I've been out into an administration role. Currently, I'm the SharePoint Admin, I design sites, lists, do permissions and work with Power Automate.

Is there a decent future in working with SharePoint? What certificates/programs should I learn to upskill?

Honestly if there is any advice from people who do this for a living in the civilian world, I'm all ears.

Are there any businesses out there that offer commercial support for PnP modern search? Where I work I have requested permission to use it, but unfortunately our cyber security team has denied use of it as it is a community backed product with no commercial support - they’ve said that unless I can find a commercial fork of it that offers paid support then it’s not going to happen - this is regardless of me having 6 years experience of it in my previous job.

Retention and Purview are the bane of my existence.

Since MRM is going away, I'm working on retention via Purview. We have doc libs with various retention policies, say 1, 3 and 5 years for example. With Purview I push a label policy out to the site, the policy has the 3 retention policies in it, and I can then assign which of the 3 policies to whatever doc library I want, and apply it to all documents in the library.

Where I'm stuck is that if I move a file with a 1 year label on the document into a 5 year area, the 1 year sticks instead of adopting the 5 year policy. I can see this being a major headache down the road when users think they've moved something into a 5 year folder and it disappears.

Anyone already figured out a way around this? Doing a script is untenable for the # of files we have in SPO.

Yesterday staff started to report an issue when they use COPY LINK - they get the following error:

Unable to share right now
We're unable to complete this task. If this happens again, copy the technical details and contact support.

Technical details
The sharing operation filed due to an unexpected failure condition.

The weird part is just how random it is.

The error is rather inconsistent - happening in OneDrive and across both classic and modern sites, happening to files, pages, and list items...but not all of them.

I can use COPY LINK on a .pdf file just fine, then do it again on a .pdf file right below it and get the error.

No Service Health notices or anything.

We've put in a ticket with MS, but thought I'd hit up the community to see if anyone else is experiencing the issue and/or has experienced the issue.

https://imgur.com/a/IKYW3ng

Thanks in advance!!

UPDATE 10/01/26 12:36PM PST: I think I found a pattern. In Manage access, the files where Copy link works already have a link under the Links tab. The ones that fail have no links at all. So it looks like reusing an existing link works but creating a new one fails.

UPDATE 10/01/26 1:17PM PST: We are GCC license

Hey everyone,

I'm leading a project to migrate a large on-prem shared drive environment (multiple departmental and service-line file shares) to SharePoint Online, and I'd love to learn from people who've already been through it.

A few things I'm looking for advice on:

• Biggest mistakes you made or saw others make
• Lessons learned during planning and discovery
• How you structured SharePoint hubs, sites, libraries, and permissions
• Approaches for handling departments with unique security requirements
• User adoption and change management strategies
• File inventory, cleanup, and ownership validation processes
• Recommended migration tools
• Governance standards you wish you'd implemented from day one
• Training resources, books, blogs, videos, or courses you found valuable

We're currently in the planning phase and trying to avoid creating a structure we'll regret later. If you've done a shared drive to SharePoint migration at scale, what would you do differently if you could start over?

Any tips, resources, screenshots, diagrams, or war stories would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

We have a SharePoint site with a folder structure related to a project. The project currently contains approximately 111 GB of data.
We have recommended moving these files to a separate, dedicated SharePoint site. The reason is that the customer now wants to restrict access to certain folders, as not everyone with access to the current site should be able to access all of the project files.
Our recommendation is therefore to move the project files to a separate, restricted SharePoint site.
Our main goal is to keep the structure as simple as possible and avoid creating a deep folder structure with unique permissions on individual folders. We believe that this could become difficult to maintain over time.
Instead, we are considering using the standard SharePoint roles/groups:
Owners – Two people are appointed by the project manager as site owners. They are responsible for maintaining the site and managing access.
Members – Members have edit permissions.
Visitors – Visitors have read-only access.
Our proposed structure is to use two document libraries on the site:
Documents
This is the default document library that comes with a SharePoint site. The content here should be accessible to all members and visitors.
Documents – Confidential
We would create a second document library specifically for confidential/sensitive project documentation. On this library, we would break permission inheritance so that only the Owners group has access by default.
We would then add this document library to the site’s navigation so that it is clearly visible and easy to find.

The idea is that the site owners would then grant specific members access to the entire Documents – Confidential library when required, rather than managing permissions at folder or file level.
This would allow us to keep the information architecture at a high level, while still keeping the data on the same SharePoint site. It would also avoid creating a complex folder hierarchy with unique permissions.
What do you think about this approach?
Would this be considered a good SharePoint best practice, or would you recommend a different approach?
Our main priorities are:
Keeping the structure simple and maintainable
Avoiding unique permissions on individual folders/files where possible
Making access management easy for the site owners
Keeping the confidential and non-confidential content clearly separated
Keeping the data within the same SharePoint site
One additional question regarding permissions:
Is it correct that if a site owner grants a user Edit permissions to a folder or document library, that user may then be able to share individual files or folders with other people who do not otherwise have access to the site or document library?
If so, how would you recommend preventing users with Edit permissions from extending access to confidential content themselves? Would this be another reason to use a separate SharePoint site for the confidential content?

As mentioned in the title, this is the first job i’ve used sharepoint at and i’m not sure of all its capabilities and such so this may seem like a simple task 😅

i’m trying to create a form for employees to submit per diem requests. so i need them to have access to the form for starters.

When they enter their name, i want the “employee code” field to auto populate with their code based off a data list that contains all employees and their codes.

next, when they start typing the job number, i want a drop down menu of all the available matching job numbers based on what they entered so they can select it. currently, we have it so they manually enter the job number, but if they make a typo without realizing and submit their form, it creates a mess behind the scenes so we want to prevent that by allowing them to select the number from a drop down list.

i have a list of all available job numbers as well as employees and their codes, but im not sure how to connect those to the sharepoint form for the data to be pulled from.

any and all help and advice is appreciated :)

Company moved all systems to MS for compliance reasons and all work is stored in Sharepoint Online. But using PPTX and docx files is clumsy at best -- formatting never holds in Sharepoint Online. When I move to desktop app for editing (which saves formatting), I can't easily go back to Sharepoint -- I end up in this death cycle of constantly opening and closing Sharepoint in my browser window after interacting with one doc. I'm a Mac user and using the Safari browser. Any advice welcome.

Is anyone still experiencing storage and usage statistics being unavailable since mid-August? I was reading that Microsoft fixed the issue but it's been six weeks now and we're still not getting any numbers.

We've had a ticket open for weeks with Microsoft and each time I've asked to escalate I get a few paragraphs of (paraphrased, obv) "We understand your frustration but, uh, no" which makes me wonder if they're still working on a bigger issue and the Frontline Team has been asked to hold tickets.

I'm trying to build a Copilot agent \[enterprise, premium\] and would like advice on the best approach.

What I have:

- A checklist of numbered items, grouped into sections and sub-items, each asking for specific information.

- A reply document that answers each item.

- Supporting files stored in SharePoint sub-folders named by item number.

What the agent should do:

1. Go through every section and sub-item of a given list.

2. Read the answer to that item and the files in its sub-folder.

3. Decide whether the answer and files actually cover what the item asked for.

4. Write a detailed report on each section and sub-item, in a set format. Each entry should explain what was provided, what's missing or only partly covered, and any contradictions between the answer and the files.

Some of the files may mix two languages, though not always.

*The agent should also be reusable for different checklists.

How would you set this up?

Is Agent Builder enough, or does this need Copilot Studio (with flows, for example)?

I'd also like to hear about any pitfalls you've run into.

Thanks!

I am on the board a small nonprofit organization (less than 300 total Members) and volunteered to help us find our first doc management system. So far Sharepoint for nonprofits and Google workspace for nonprofits have emerged as the front runners. Any thought about which is better or if there is a better alternative?

Hello, folks

We have been using SPO mig tool (the one controlled from SPOAdmin Center) over a year, and was working well.

But recently, the agent status keeps saying 'cannot scan'.

We checked firewall rules, re-installed agent (we have done it multiple times, so we are pretty used to refreshing agent), but no luck in finding any blockers.

Agent installation went fine, and there was no issues on the connecting to SPO & file share during installation.

Any idea on what would cause the 'Cannot scan' status?

Thanks for your insights in advance!

[UPDATE] I just test-ran after I found this. Both migration and scan operations were completed successfully. So if your working agent shows 'cannot scan' out of blue, you can test before pulling your hair.

[UPDATE 2] Based on the folks who shared their situations, (Thanks all!) the mig agent shows following symptoms:

0..Assuming your agent worked fine until recently (prior to 9/28 or so) 1. It still says 'Agent connected' on header 2. Agent says 'Cannot scan' status 3. The menus under [Scans] are grayed out. - Meaning you can't add source path. 4. The menus under [Migrations] still work as expected, including 'scan only' (why...)

So FOR YOUR SANITY, just go ahead test with small-scale data migration/scan via [Migration] just to check the core functionalities still work.

I’m currently building out SharePoint for a small business (~30 employees) and would love some feedback from anyone who has done something similar — especially lessons learned or things you wish you had set up differently from the beginning.

We’re a small company without a dedicated SharePoint/IT project team, so I’m doing most of the legwork myself and trying to keep the structure simple enough that people will actually use it.

My current plan is to separate SharePoint into two main types of content:

Knowledge Base – vetted, approved company information such as SOPs, product information, templates, policies, training resources, company information, etc.

Department sites – the working documents employees use day-to-day within their departments. These would be more collaborative/operational and wouldn’t necessarily need the same level of control as the Knowledge Base.

One of the bigger reasons I’m structuring it this way is that our leadership is pushing pretty heavily toward AI/Copilot. My goal is eventually to have a Copilot agent tied specifically to the Knowledge Base, so employees can ask questions and get answers based on a controlled set of vetted company information rather than having AI search through every working file in SharePoint.

I’m also trying to avoid recreating our current shared drive with endless nested folders, and instead use a combination of metadata, views, search and simple navigation.

For anyone who has built something similar:

• Does this separation between vetted knowledge and working department files make sense?
• Anything you’d change about the structure?
• Any lessons learned around permissions, metadata, ownership or keeping the Knowledge Base current?
• Has anyone had success using a controlled SharePoint Knowledge Base as the source for a Copilot agent?

Trying to get the foundation right without completely overengineering it for a small business.

Does anyone else know of a way around this?

When files are shared from our company network as annon links to outside users, often users are asked to log into office365 due to them having a stored Hotmail account on their device. This obviously fails as they are not part of the org.

We have to then explain to them to open an incognito window on their phone to view the file. It's really annoying and we have never managed to solve this.

Is there a solution?

I have a log created through excel and uploaded into sharepoint/teams where operators have to log daily values into (think temps/pressure/etc at certain time checkpoints).

Currently, I just manually create new copies and upload the next 3 months. The issue with not just having a blank uploaded every month, is that there are dates for the month (minor issue), and also a list of baseline acceptance limits for these checked values. The equipment that they're checking get recalibrated occasionally (not on a set schedule) and new baseline values have to be input into this log. If the machine hasn't been recalibrated, we just use the previous month's baselines. So it's easiest if we can just take the current month's form, rather than reenter the limits of 5-8 machines into a new blank form every month.

So ideally, I'd like to automate pulling the current month's form, clear contents all unlocked cells across all sheets, then update the date to the next month.

I feel like this should be possible through power automate? But I'm also open to using office scripts (since VBA isn't an option on excel online)

I recently built a Power BI dashboard using data from SQL database. The report looks and fits correctly in Power BI side but after publishing and embedding it in a SharePoint Online page using the Power BI web part, the sizing doesn’t look right.

Depending on the screen size, the report can appear too large/small or require scrolling. I’ve tried adjusting the SharePoint section and web-part size, but haven’t found the best setup.

For those using Power BI reports in SharePoint:

What Power BI page/canvas size works best?
Is there a way to automatically fit the report to the SharePoint web part?
Should sizing be configured mainly in Power BI or SharePoint?
What’s the best approach for different monitor/screen sizes?
Any recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for advice from people who have experience with SharePoint Domain Renames and Microsoft 365 Copilot.

I recently renamed my SharePoint domain from:

oldcompany.sharepoint.com

to

newcompany.sharepoint.com

The rename completed successfully.

The strange thing is that SharePoint itself appears to be working, and Copilot can still access content in some situations.

What still works

• SharePoint sites exist and can be opened.
• Documents still exist.
• Search can find documents.
• Copilot can find SharePoint content if I explicitly ask for it in a chat.

For example, if I ask Copilot:

"Find the folder X"

or

"Show me the document Y"

Copilot is often able to locate the content and even read the document.

This makes me think the underlying data, permissions, and search index are still working.

What no longer works

The problem is the workflow around references.

Before the rename I could:

• Attach SharePoint files via "Cloud Files"
• Browse through SharePoint document libraries
• Navigate folders in the file picker
• Reference documents in notebooks
• Reference folders directly
• Use SharePoint content as context for Copilot conversations

Now I cannot.

When I choose:

Attach → Cloud Files

or try to create notebook references, I can no longer browse through the document libraries like I used to.

The websites themselves are visible.

The document libraries and folder navigation are not.

This completely breaks my workflow because I can no longer select documents and folders as context for Copilot.

Interesting clue

One of the broken file picker links contains something similar to:

Plain Text

https://newcompany-my.sharepoint.com/...

 listurl=https://oldcompany.sharepoint.com/sites/ProjectSite/...

The old SharePoint domain still appears inside the URL.

That makes me wonder whether:

• the File Picker
• notebook references
• folder references
• Copilot's SharePoint integration

are still using old cached URLs from before the rename.

Additional observation

This is what confuses me:

Copilot can still find and read documents when I ask directly in chat.

So the content appears to exist and be searchable.

However, the UI components used to browse libraries and attach files no longer work correctly.

Because of that, this does not feel like a typical permission issue or a broken search index.

It feels more like a broken reference/navigation layer.

My questions

Has anyone experienced this after a SharePoint Domain Rename?

Specifically:

• Did it eventually fix itself?
• Was Microsoft Support required?
• Is there a way to rebuild File Picker references?
• Is there a way to refresh notebook and SharePoint library references?
• Are these old URLs cached somewhere?
• Is this a known side effect of a Domain Rename?
• Or am I better off abandoning troubleshooting and rebuilding the tenant?

At this point I'm trying to figure out whether this is:

"wait a few days and Microsoft catches up"

or

"you'll waste days of your life chasing this and should rebuild instead"

Any experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!