Top 5 Historical Features & Milestones of SharePoint

The following are the top 5 historical features and milestones of SharePoint:

1. Project Tahoe: SharePoint traces back to a project named Tahoe, which was the foundation for the first version of SharePoint, it focused on top-down portals, search, and document management.
2. Integration with Office: SharePoint had been integrated with Microsoft Office, providing document management and collaboration.
3. Document Version History: Feature which allows tracking and managing changes to documents over time, ensuring data integrity and collaboration efficiency.
4. FAST Acquisition: The acquisition of FAST enhanced SharePoint’s search capabilities,this made for finding and managing content across an organization a reality.
5. Evolution into a Service: SharePoint has evolved from a content management system into a service which powers many Microsoft 365 applications such as Loop, OneDrive, Teams, and Viva,these aspects are a central role in the Microsoft ecosystem.

Top 3 Historical Milestones for SharePoint

The following are three historical milestones for SharePoint:

1. 1999: SharePoint began as Tahoe, which was connected to WebDAV.
2. 2001: Official launch of SharePoint Portal Server 2001, marking the beginning of SharePoint as a web-based collaborative platform.
3. Acquisitions and Product/Service Spinoffs: SharePoint growth has included various versions, acquisitions, and spinoffs, including the integration of Site Server & Site Server Commerce Edition between 1997-1999, and later the incorporation of technologies from the FAST acquisition, which enhanced Microsoft’s search capabilities.

Top 3 SharePoint Online Usage Reports

The following are three SharePoint Online reports to track search usage and identify popular queries:

• Modern Site Reports:
• Navigate to Site settings > Site collection administration > Microsoft Search > Configure search settings > Insights.
• Aspects shown are graphs and tables generated from searches executed on modern sites. Reports show the past 31 days (daily or monthly for the previous year).
• Key reports include:
• Query Volume: Shows the number of search queries performed, helping one to identify trends.
• Top Queries: Shows the most popular search queries (searched at least three times with clicks on results).
• Abandoned Queries: Shows popular queries with low click-through rates.
• No Results Queries: Highlights queries that returned zero results.
• Impression Distribution: Shows impressions over time in regard to result types.
• Microsoft Search Usage Report:
• Report provides the top 10 most popular search queries along with the top three clicked results for each query. This helps in understanding user search behavior and result performance.
• Tenant-Level Usage Analytics:
• Reports (example: top queries, abandoned queries, no result queries, and query volume) aggregate data over Bing, SharePoint home, and Office.com which are Microsoft Search entry points.

Top 3 SharePoint Online Features for Collaboration and Streamlining Workflow

The following are three SharePoint Online features for collaboration and streamline workflow:

• Create a SharePoint Team Site in Seconds:
• With Office 365, one can create group-connected SharePoint team sites in seconds. These sites come with a shared inbox, calendar, OneNote notebook, and a default place for files (the team site document library).
• The modern team site has pages, lists, libraries, and team news, allowing a group to collaborate, and communicate more efficiently.
• Customize Your Site’s Look and Branding:
• Quickly and easily customize the appearance of a SharePoint site to reflect the professional style and brand.
• Choose from default SharePoint themes, customize them as needed, or utilize company-approved branding.
• Adjust site headers (layout, logo, background) and footers (logo, text, links) to create a site to fit one’s needs.
• External Sharing for Collaboration:
• If an organization collaborates with vendors, clients, or customers, SharePoint Online allows one to share content securely with external parties.
• One can control permissions, set expiration dates, and collaborate seamlessly across organizational boundaries.

3 Key Points of SharePoint Online Regarding Large Data

The following are three key SharePoint Online points regarding large data in lists and libraries:

• List and Library Size:
• SharePoint can hold up to 30 million items in a single list or library.
• While the default threshold for displaying items in a view is by default 5000, it’s possible to work with larger lists by planning ahead and applying filtering and sorting techniques.
• Using the modern experience, improves the functionality and  time aspects compared to the classic experience.
• Myths Debunked:
• Treating a list as a database is fine for power users, and lists with more than 5000 items can indeed work.
• As a site owner, one can be proactive in managing lists and libraries to avoid hitting the threshold.
• Cautionary Tale:
• Plan carefully, so that end-users and power-users do not encounter issues when the threshold is exceeded.
• The threshold affects the view presentation, not the actual data stored in the list or library.

Top 3 Features and Best Practices Related to SharePoint Online

The following are the top three features and best practices related to SharePoint Online:

1. Cloud-Based Flexibility: SharePoint Online operates in the cloud, providing flexibility and accessibility. It allows one to collaborate, store files, and manage content from anywhere.
2. Content Management: SharePoint Online offers robust content management capabilities. One can organize documents, create libraries, and set permissions to control access.
3. Collaboration and AI: Leverage SharePoint for team based collaboration, document co-authoring, and integrating AI features within Microsoft 365.

Top 3 SharePoint Online Usage Reports

The following are three SharePoint Online reports to track search usage and identify popular queries:

• Modern Site Reports:
• Navigate to Site settings > Site collection administration > Microsoft Search > Configure search settings > Insights.
• Aspects shown are graphs and tables generated from searches executed on modern sites. Reports show the past 31 days (daily or monthly for the previous year).
• Key reports include:
• Query Volume: Shows the number of search queries performed, helping one to identify trends.
• Top Queries: Shows the most popular search queries (searched at least three times with clicks on results).
• Abandoned Queries: Shows popular queries with low click-through rates.
• No Results Queries: Highlights queries that returned zero results.
• Impression Distribution: Shows impressions over time in regard to result types.
• Microsoft Search Usage Report:
• Report provides the top 10 most popular search queries along with the top three clicked results for each query. This helps in understanding user search behavior and result performance.
• Tenant-Level Usage Analytics:
• Reports (example: top queries, abandoned queries, no result queries, and query volume) aggregate data over Bing, SharePoint home, and Office.com which are Microsoft Search entry points.