SharePoint Tips & Tricks

If your team is still emailing attachments back and forth, saving files to a local drive, or tracking projects in a shared Excel sheet — SharePoint can fix all of that. It's not just a file storage tool. It's a full collaboration platform baked into Microsoft 365, and most small business teams are barely scratching the surface of what it can do. That gap is real: 85% of organizations that fully adopt SharePoint report measurably improved collaboration and communication — but you have to set it up right first.

Tip 01

01

Set Up Your Document Libraries the Right Way — From Day One

Structure now saves hours later.

The number one reason SharePoint gets abandoned is that it turns into a digital junk drawer. Without a clear structure, people can’t find anything — and they stop using it. The fix is surprisingly simple: set up your document libraries intentionally before anyone starts uploading.

Think of SharePoint like a filing cabinet, not a desktop. Each department or project should have its own document library, not just a folder inside a shared drive. Libraries come with metadata, version tracking, and permissions built in — folders don't.

Here’s a clean starting structure for most 10–50 person businesses:

One Team Site per department – Create a dedicated SharePoint Team Site for each major function — Operations, HR, Sales, etc. Think of each site as that team’s home base.
Document libraries, not folders – Libraries are SharePoint’s superpower — they come with version tracking, permissions, and metadata built in. A plain folder doesn’t.
A consistent file naming convention – Decide on a format and stick to it — something like “2025-06_ProposalTemplate_v2.docx” makes files searchable and sortable without any extra effort.
A separate Communication Site for company-wide news – Keep announcements, policies, and all-hands updates on their own Communication Site — separate from the day-to-day team collaboration spaces.
Libraries pinned inside Teams channels – Pin your most-used document libraries as tabs in the relevant Teams channels. Your team finds the files where the conversation is already happening.

It takes an afternoon to set up correctly. It saves your team hundreds of hours over the next year.

Tip 02

02

Enable Version History — And Actually Use It

Stop the "Final_FINAL_v3" naming madness.

One of the most underused features in SharePoint is version history. Every time someone edits a document, SharePoint can automatically save a snapshot of the previous version — so you can roll back if something goes wrong, or see exactly what changed and when.

90%

Of SharePoint admins say the platform significantly enhanced their data security posture. Version history is a big part of why — it creates a built-in audit trail and recovery path for every document your team touches.

Source: Industry Survey Data

To turn it on, go to your document library settings and verify that Create major versions is selected. You can also set a limit (e.g., keep the last 50 versions) so storage doesn’t balloon over time.

See who changed a document and when — no more mystery edits
Restore a previous version with one click — no backup needed
Co-author in real time without version conflicts or duplicates
Compare versions side-by-side before accepting changes

Pro tip: Version history also protects you from ransomware. If a file gets encrypted or corrupted, SharePoint's version history lets you restore a clean copy — which is something a local file server or basic cloud sync tool can't always guarantee.

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Tip 03

03

Manage Permissions Like It Matters — Because It Does

The wrong people with the wrong access is a security problem, not just an IT problem.

SharePoint makes it easy to share things. Sometimes too easy. Most small businesses either over-share (everyone has access to everything) or under-share (people can’t find what they need). Neither is good. A clean permissions model solves both problems.

The golden rule: Grant users the minimum access they need to do their job — nothing more. This principle, called least privilege, dramatically reduces your exposure if an account gets compromised.

Use SharePoint Groups to manage permissions by role, not by individual — it scales much better
When sharing externally, set an expiration date on the link and require sign-in
Use Private Channels in Teams for sensitive discussions – only members can see the connected files
Audit your permissions quarterly — people change roles, leave companies, and finish projects
Enable Multi-Factor Authentication on all accounts that access SharePoint (it’s included in Business Premium)

If you’ve never done a permissions audit, there’s a good chance former employees or old vendors still have access to your files. That’s not hypothetical — it’s one of the most common findings in our IT assessments.

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Tip 04

04

Connect SharePoint Directly to Microsoft Teams

Your team already lives in Teams — bring the files to them.

Here’s something most people don’t realize: every time you create a Team in Microsoft Teams, a SharePoint Team Site is automatically created behind it. The “Files” tab in every Teams channel is a SharePoint document library. They’re the same thing — and that connection is incredibly powerful if you use it intentionally.

"The best SharePoint setup is one your team never has to think about — because it's already inside the tools they use every day."

Add your SharePoint intranet or company hub as a tab inside a Teams channel – — no more switching apps
Files uploaded in Teams channels are automatically stored and version-controlled in SharePoint
Use Shared Channels to collaborate with clients or vendors without granting them full site access
Pin critical SharePoint document libraries as tabs in your most-used Teams channels
Use the SharePoint News web part to push company updates into Teams as notifications

The time-saving math: Forrester research found that SMB employees save an average of 1.5 hours per week just from better file access and collaboration. A big part of that comes from removing the friction of switching between apps to find a document. When SharePoint lives inside Teams, that friction disappears.

Tip 05

05

Automate the Repetitive Stuff with Power Automate

You're probably doing manually what SharePoint can do automatically.

SharePoint integrates natively with Power Automate (formerly Microsoft Flow), which is also included in your Microsoft 365 Business Premium license. This lets you build workflows that run automatically — no code required — and the time savings add up fast for small teams.

Time Saved Per Week With Common SharePoint Automations

Estimated average time savings for a 15-person team

Document approval routing

~4 hrs

File update notifications

~3 hrs

New employee onboarding docs

~2.5 hrs

Report generation & delivery

~2 hrs

External sharing / expiry alerts

~1.5 hrs

Estimates based on Forrester SMB productivity research and SBT client data

You don’t need a developer to set these up. Power Automate has pre-built templates for the most common workflows — most can be configured in under 30 minutes. That includes routing contracts or proposals to the right reviewer automatically so you’re not chasing people down via email, notifying specific people the moment a document is added or updated, triggering a checklist and document set when a new hire’s folder is created, and generating and emailing SharePoint list data on a schedule without any manual intervention.

Tip 06

06

The Excel tracker that lives in 4 people's inboxes should be a SharePoint List.

You're probably doing manually what SharePoint can do automatically.

SharePoint Lists are one of the most underused tools in the platform. They work like a spreadsheet — rows, columns, data — but they’re collaborative, tracked, and connected to the rest of your Microsoft 365 environment. Think of them as a lightweight database your whole team can use without anyone needing to “send the latest version.”

Common use cases for SharePoint Lists in small businesses:vendor contact directories, IT asset tracking, project status boards, HR onboarding checklists, client request logs, or any recurring process that currently lives in a shared Excel file.

Multiple people can edit simultaneously — no more merge conflicts
Filter, sort, and group views without changing the underlying data
Export to Excel anytime for reporting — it stays in sync
Connect to Power Automate to trigger workflows based on list changes
Build custom forms using Power Apps for data entry — no code required

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Getting the Most Out of Microsoft 365 Starts Here

If your team has Microsoft 365 Business Premium and isn't fully leveraging SharePoint, you're leaving real productivity — and real money — on the table. SBT Partners helps small businesses get their Microsoft 365 environment configured, organized, and actually working for their team.

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