New SharePoint Experience Preview in 2026: What Admins Should Know Before Enabling It

Microsoft is giving SharePoint a major user experience refresh in 2026.

The new SharePoint experience preview introduces a redesigned way for users to discover content, publish communication, and build solutions inside SharePoint. It also brings more visible AI-first experiences into the SharePoint interface, especially for organizations using Microsoft 365 Copilot.

For end users, this may look like a cleaner and more modern SharePoint.

For SharePoint admins, intranet owners, and Microsoft 365 platform teams, this should be treated as more than a visual update.

It affects how users find content, how they navigate the intranet, how communication teams publish content, how users create sites/lists/libraries/agents, and how existing branding or customizations may appear in the updated experience.

If your organization depends on SharePoint for intranet, document management, collaboration, governance, or Copilot readiness, this is something you should evaluate before enabling broadly.

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TL;DR

Microsoft’s new SharePoint experience preview became available in 2026 and introduces a redesigned SharePoint experience centered around Discover, Publish, and Build.

Before enabling it across your tenant, SharePoint admins should review:

• Home site and global navigation configuration
• Intranet information architecture
• Branding and theme impact
• SPFx customizations and placeholders
• Communication publishing processes
• Microsoft 365 Copilot licensing and readiness
• Permissions, oversharing, and governance
• User training and change management
• Pilot rollout strategy

My recommendation: do not treat this as a simple UI toggle. Treat it as a SharePoint modernization readiness exercise.

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Table of Contents

1. What is the new SharePoint experience preview?
2. What changed in SharePoint?
3. Discover: a new front door for SharePoint content
4. Publish: a better experience for pages, news, and campaigns
5. Build: a new starting point for sites, lists, libraries, and agents
6. Why admins should review global navigation first
7. Why this matters for Copilot readiness
8. What to check before enabling the preview
9. SPFx and customization considerations
10. Recommended rollout approach
11. Final thoughts
12. FAQ

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1. What is the new SharePoint experience preview?

The new SharePoint experience preview is Microsoft’s redesigned SharePoint interface focused on making SharePoint easier to use for discovery, publishing, and building.

Microsoft describes the new SharePoint experience as being centered on:

• Discovering relevant content
• Publishing communication
• Building sites, lists, libraries, and agents
• Supporting flexible workflows
• Bringing AI-first capabilities into SharePoint

As of Microsoft’s documentation, the preview was made available to customers starting March 3, 2026.

This is important because SharePoint has changed a lot over the years. For many organizations, SharePoint is no longer just a document library or team site platform. It is now commonly used as:

• An intranet platform
• A document management platform
• A knowledge base
• A governance hub
• A collaboration workspace
• A Microsoft Teams-connected content layer
• A content source for Microsoft 365 Copilot

Because of that, a SharePoint experience change can have a bigger business impact than expected.

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2. What changed in SharePoint?

The new SharePoint experience preview includes several important changes.

At a high level, Microsoft lists these changes:

• The SharePoint start page is replaced with a new Discover experience
• The SharePoint app bar is refreshed
• The app bar includes new Publish and Build destinations
• Global navigation can appear at the top with the logo and name if it is enabled and configured in the Home site
• Visual updates use neutral app theming across SharePoint UI surfaces
• Certain AI features require a Microsoft 365 Copilot license

That may sound simple, but each item has admin and governance implications.

For example:

• If your global navigation is messy, the new experience may expose that weakness more clearly
• If your intranet information architecture is outdated, users may still struggle to find content
• If your tenant has overshared sites or poor permissions, AI-powered experiences may surface content more efficiently than before
• If your environment has SPFx customizations, you should review how they appear with updated SharePoint UI surfaces and placeholders

This is why organizations should not enable the preview casually without review.

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3. Discover: a new front door for SharePoint content

Discover is designed to become a more useful entry point into SharePoint.

Instead of users manually hunting through sites, links, and old bookmarks, Discover brings together relevant sites, news, files, recent activity, and collaboration signals.

This is useful because one of the biggest SharePoint challenges is not always content creation. It is content discovery.

Many organizations have years of SharePoint sites, Teams-connected sites, document libraries, department portals, project workspaces, and old intranet content. Users often ask:

• Where is the latest policy?
• Which site should I use?
• Is this document still current?
• Where did my team store that file?
• Why do I see so many sites?

Discover may help users find relevant content faster, but only if the underlying SharePoint environment is healthy.

If the environment has poor ownership, stale sites, weak metadata, duplicate content, or uncontrolled permissions, Discover can also expose the mess more clearly.

That is why the new SharePoint experience should be paired with governance cleanup.

Before enabling the preview broadly, review:

• Active vs inactive sites
• Home site configuration
• Hub site structure
• Key intranet landing pages
• Content ownership
• News publishing quality
• Permissions and sharing
• Duplicate or outdated sites
• Search and navigation behavior

Discover is not a replacement for governance. It works best when governance already exists.

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4. Publish: a better experience for pages, news, and campaigns

The new Publish area is important for communication teams, intranet owners, HR, internal communications, and department site owners.

Publish brings together pages, news posts, and Microsoft Viva Amplify campaigns into a more focused communication hub.

This matters because many organizations use SharePoint as their intranet but do not have a clear publishing model.

Common issues include:

• Too many people publishing news without standards
• Old pages remaining live for years
• Inconsistent page templates
• No review process for important communication
• Duplicate department announcements
• Poor use of audience targeting
• No lifecycle management for pages and news

The new Publish experience can make publishing easier, but easier publishing can also create more content sprawl if there are no rules.

Before enabling this experience, organizations should review:

• Who is allowed to publish news?
• Which sites are official communication sites?
• Do page templates exist?
• Is there an approval process for major announcements?
• Are communication roles clear?
• Are old news posts archived or maintained?
• Is audience targeting configured properly?

This is a good opportunity to modernize intranet publishing governance.

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5. Build: a new starting point for sites, lists, libraries, and agents

Build is another important part of the new SharePoint experience.

Microsoft describes Build as a starting point for creating real SharePoint solutions, including:

• Sites
• Lists
• Document libraries
• Agents
• AI-assisted actions

This is powerful, but it also needs governance.

In many Microsoft 365 tenants, site creation and list creation are already difficult to manage. If users are given more guided creation experiences, organizations need to make sure the rules are clear.

Questions to ask:

• Who can create SharePoint sites?
• Are naming conventions enforced?
• Are sensitivity labels configured?
• Are retention policies configured?
• Do new sites require owners?
• Are external sharing settings appropriate?
• Are agents allowed in all sites or only selected areas?
• How will AI-created or AI-assisted experiences be governed?

The new Build experience may help users create better solutions faster, but it should not become another way to create unmanaged SharePoint sprawl.

For organizations preparing for Copilot and agents, this is especially important.

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6. Why admins should review global navigation first

Global navigation is one of the most important items to review before enabling the new experience.

The SharePoint app bar can show global navigation using the logo and name from the configured Home site. Microsoft also notes that global navigation is the only app bar tab that can be customized.

This means your Home site and global navigation design matter even more.

If your global navigation is confusing, incomplete, or outdated, the new experience may make that more visible to users.

Before enabling the new SharePoint experience, review:

• Is a Home site configured?
• Is global navigation enabled?
• Is the navigation structure simple and business-friendly?
• Are links organized by how employees work, not just by department ownership?
• Are old or broken links removed?
• Is audience targeting being used properly?
• Do users have read access to the Home site?
• Are hub sites and Home site navigation aligned?

A SharePoint UI refresh will not fix poor intranet information architecture.

If users cannot find content today, start with navigation cleanup before rolling out the new experience.

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7. Why this matters for Copilot readiness

The new SharePoint experience includes AI-first capabilities, and Microsoft states that a Microsoft 365 Copilot license is required for users to access specific AI features.

That makes this update very relevant to Copilot readiness.

Copilot and AI-powered SharePoint experiences depend heavily on content quality, permissions, and information architecture.

If your SharePoint environment has:

• Overshared sites
• Too many site owners
• Inactive workspaces
• Old policies
• Duplicate documents
• Unclear sensitivity labels
• Poor external sharing controls
• No lifecycle management

then the problem is not just a SharePoint problem. It becomes an AI readiness problem.

Before enabling AI-powered SharePoint experiences broadly, organizations should review:

• Permissions and sharing
• Site ownership
• Guest access
• Sensitive content locations
• Retention and lifecycle policies
• Stale sites
• Content duplication
• Metadata and search relevance
• Governance policies

The new SharePoint experience should be part of the same conversation as Microsoft 365 Copilot readiness. If your organization is already planning Copilot, do not treat this as a separate SharePoint update.

To strengthen this area, use this guide to prepare SharePoint Online for Microsoft 365 Copilot and agents.

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8. What to check before enabling the preview

Here is the practical checklist I would use before enabling the new SharePoint experience preview.

1. Confirm tenant readiness

Check whether your tenant is eligible for the preview and whether your SharePoint Admin Center shows the new setting.

2. Review the Home site

Your Home site is important because it connects to global navigation and the overall intranet experience.

Review:

• Home site URL
• Branding
• Navigation
• Permissions
• Audience targeting
• Hub association
• Page quality
• News publishing model

3. Review global navigation

Before enabling the new experience, make sure global navigation is clean, current, and easy to understand.

Avoid navigation that is too deep or too department-centric.

4. Check SharePoint permissions

This is especially important if Copilot is part of your Microsoft 365 roadmap.

Review:

• Sites with broad access
• Sites with broad sharing
• Sites with many owners
• External sharing settings
• Guest users
• Sensitive libraries
• Anonymous links if allowed
• Broken inheritance

5. Review SPFx customizations

If your environment has SPFx Application Customizers, Field Customizers, Command Sets, or web parts, validate them in the new experience.

Focus on:

• Header/footer placeholders
• App bar layout impact
• Page spacing
• Theme compatibility
• Command set behavior in lists/libraries
• Analytics extensions
• Custom branding extensions
• Custom navigation components

6. Review branding and themes

Microsoft mentions neutral app theming and visual updates across SharePoint UI surfaces. That means your custom branding may feel different in the updated interface.

7. Review communication publishing

The new Publish experience can change how authors interact with pages, news, and campaigns.

Review who publishes news, which sites are official communication channels, whether templates and approvals are in place, and whether page owners are responsible for freshness.

8. Review site creation and Build governance

Build can make it easier for users to create SharePoint solutions. Make sure this aligns with your governance model.

Review:

• Site creation settings
• Naming conventions
• Sensitivity labels
• Default sharing settings
• Lifecycle policies
• Owner requirements
• Agent creation policies
• List and library standards

9. Prepare user communication

Do not surprise users with a major UI change.

Prepare screenshots, a short what-changed guide, FAQ content, site owner training notes, and a support path for feedback.

10. Pilot first

Start with a controlled pilot group before enabling the experience broadly.

Good pilot users include SharePoint admins, intranet owners, HR and IT communications, department site owners, power users, SPFx developers, and Copilot pilot users.

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9. SPFx and customization considerations

If your organization uses SharePoint customizations, do not skip technical validation.

The new SharePoint experience includes visual and app bar changes that may affect the way customizations appear, especially on pages where SPFx extensions use placeholders or interact with the page shell.

This does not mean every SPFx solution will break.

But it does mean you should test.

Review these areas:

• Application Customizers using top or bottom placeholders
• Custom headers or footers
• Analytics tracking extensions
• Custom command sets in lists and libraries
• Custom web parts using theme tokens
• Extensions that assume specific page layout behavior
• Legacy script injection approaches
• Custom CSS or branding workarounds

This is also a good time to review older SPFx projects and confirm whether they should be upgraded to a newer toolchain. For related planning, review these SPFx 1.22 upgrade considerations.

If you run advanced tracking on intranet pages, also validate GA4 tracking and modern SharePoint CSP changes as part of testing.

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10. Recommended rollout approach

Here is the rollout approach I would recommend for most organizations.

Phase 1: Admin review

Before enabling the preview, review Microsoft documentation and confirm the admin setting exists in your tenant.

Phase 2: Governance assessment

Review Home site, global navigation, permissions, site ownership, branding, and Copilot readiness.

Phase 3: Technical validation

Test SPFx customizations, page templates, analytics tracking, app bar impact, and major intranet pages.

Phase 4: Pilot group

Enable the preview for a controlled audience or run a structured evaluation with admins, intranet owners, and power users.

Phase 5: Communication and training

Prepare a short guide explaining what changed, what Discover/Publish/Build do, how users give feedback, and who to contact for support.

Phase 6: Broader rollout decision

Only enable broadly after the team understands navigation impact, branding impact, user impact, governance gaps, technical issues, and training needs.

If this is part of a larger transformation, combine it with broader SharePoint migration planning and discovery using the SharePoint Migration Scoping Toolkit.

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11. Final thoughts

The new SharePoint experience preview is not just a cosmetic update.

It is a sign of where SharePoint is going: more personalized, more AI-assisted, more integrated with communication workflows, and more focused on helping users discover and build inside Microsoft 365.

That is a good direction.

But it also means SharePoint admins need to prepare.

If your tenant has poor navigation, stale sites, overshared content, outdated branding, or old customizations, the new experience may expose those issues more clearly.

My recommendation is simple: do not wait until users complain.

Use this preview as an opportunity to review your SharePoint environment, clean up governance gaps, validate SPFx customizations, and prepare your intranet for the next phase of Microsoft 365.

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Need help reviewing your SharePoint environment?

If your organization is planning to enable the new SharePoint experience, modernize your intranet, prepare for Copilot, or review existing SPFx customizations, I can help.

I work with organizations on SharePoint migration, governance, SPFx development, Microsoft 365 modernization, and Copilot readiness.

You can also review my SharePoint and Microsoft 365 consulting services, including:

• SharePoint governance consulting
• SharePoint intranet consulting
• SPFx development consulting

Ready to talk through your rollout plan? book a consultation.

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FAQ

Is the new SharePoint experience generally available?

As of this article, Microsoft describes the new SharePoint experience as a preview. Organizations should evaluate it carefully before enabling it broadly.

Who can enable the new SharePoint experience?

Microsoft’s guidance says a SharePoint Administrator or Global Administrator must enable the new SharePoint experience in the SharePoint Admin Center.

Does the new SharePoint experience require Microsoft 365 Copilot?

The overall preview can be enabled by an admin, but Microsoft states that a Microsoft 365 Copilot license is needed for users to access specific AI features in the new SharePoint experience.

What are Discover, Publish, and Build in SharePoint?

Discover helps users find relevant sites, files, news, and activity. Publish focuses on pages, news posts, and communication publishing. Build helps users create sites, lists, libraries, and agents.

Should I enable the preview right away?

Review your Home site, global navigation, permissions, branding, SPFx customizations, and communication model first. Start with a pilot group instead of turning it on broadly without testing.

Can the new SharePoint experience affect customizations?

It can affect how some customizations appear or behave, especially branding, layout-sensitive SPFx extensions, placeholders, and app bar-related experiences. Test custom solutions before broad rollout.

Is this related to Copilot readiness?

Yes. Because the new experience includes AI-first capabilities and SharePoint content is a major source for Microsoft 365 Copilot, organizations should treat this as part of Copilot readiness and governance planning.