This feature update will bring users a new navigation option for SharePoint team sites. Team site owners will be able to switch the team site navigation orientation from vertical to horizontal. Additionally, site navigation visibility can be turned off completely.

This new navigation switcher feature allows site owners to customize their team site by changing navigation’s orientation and visibility to achieve a different look and feel, layouts, and alignment styles.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 85568.

When will this happen?

• Targeted release (selected users and entire organization): Rollout will begin in mid-September and expect to be complete in mid-October.
• Standard: Rollout will begin in early November and expect to be complete in mid-January (previously late November).

How this will affect your organization

For SharePoint online team sites, users will see a new option when you navigate to Settings > Change the Look > Navigation. In the navigation panel, users can choose to show or hide the site navigation. If users decide to display the site navigation, then they’ll be able to choose either a vertical or horizontal orientation.

Note: The Mega menu style is only available for the horizontal orientation.

• The Vertical option displays site navigation on the left of the site content
• The Horizontal option displays site navigation on the top of the page just below the site header like on a SharePoint communication site

What you need to do to prepare

You do not need to do anything to prepare for this change. This new navigation feature is optional and existing team site navigation will not change. Notify site owners that this new option is available in addition to other ways to customize your SharePoint site.

Learn more

• Change the look of your SharePoint site
• New Site Header Options in SharePoint Online

Microsoft is currently rolling out a SharePoint app bar that features global navigation on all modern SharePoint sites. The SharePoint app bar brings a consistent navigation experience to every site on your intranet, featuring quick access to important sites across the organization with global navigation, personally relevant sites, news feed and the files.

The first tab in app bar is a Global navigation. Global navigation is the only app bar tab that can be customized. When global navigation is disabled or not configured, the default home icon redirects to the SharePoint start page.

Prerequisite for enabling global navigation

• To enable & customize global navigation, you must set up a home site in SharePoint Online
• Site owner (or higher) permissions on the home site

Enable the global navigation in SharePoint

After setting up a home site in your tenant, follow below steps to enable the SharePoint global navigation:

1. Go to your SharePoint home site.

2. Click on Settings icon & then select Global navigation

3. From the global navigation settings, switch the Enable global navigation toggle to On.

Customize the global navigation in SharePoint

From global navigation settings, you can add logo & title for global navigation, select navigation source and edit global navigation links.

Global navigation logo & title

Adding logo for global navigation is optional. If you do not add a logo, the app bar will continue to display the default home icon. If you want to add a logo for global navigation, you should consider below recommended specifications:

• The logo size should be 20×20 pixels
• PNG file type
• Transparent background recommended

Title is required for global navigation which will be displayed at the top of the global navigation pane.

Choose Navigation source

Depending on the home site’s configuration, you can choose the global navigation source using different options.

If your home site is a hub site, you can choose navigation source from below two options:

1. Home site navigation: Select this option to display the home site’s navigation.
2. Hub or global navigation: Select this option to display the home site’s hub navigation.

If your home site is not a hub site, you can still have below two options:

1. Home site navigation: Select this option to display the home site’s navigation.
2. Hub or global navigation: Select this option to create a special navigation for the global navigation panel. You can add global navigation links using Edit global navigation option.

See all the different ways you can set up global navigation, here.

Edit global navigation

You can create the new global navigation menu or make edits to the selected global navigation source if needed by selecting Edit global navigation.

1. Hover over the location in the menu where you want to add a link/label and click +.
2. On the Add a link dialog box, choose one of the following link options:
   • Link to add a link to any site/list/library, page (internal or external to your company).
   • Label to add a label that is not hyperlinked.
3. On the Add a link dialog box, in the Address box, enter the URL for the link you want to add if adding a link.
4. In the Display name box, enter the display text for the link or label. This is the text that will show up on the menu.
5. Click OK

Notes

• Make sure that all users have read (or higher) permissions on the home site to view the global navigation links.
• You can use audience targeting on the menu links in global navigation.
• Implementing global navigation may take up to 24 hours for the changes to take effect for users.