Top 5 Things Every SharePoint Admin Should Do First

In this video, Allison Gonzalez, a Microsoft certified trainer, shares the first five steps every SharePoint admin should take to secure, organize, and optimize their SharePoint environment. These tips are essential for ensuring a well-maintained and scalable system from day one. Here are the five crucial steps every new SharePoint admin should follow:

1. Configure External Sharing Settings

External sharing is one of the biggest risks to any SharePoint tenant. It’s important to manage how external users access your SharePoint content. To get started:

• Access the SharePoint admin center via admin.cloud.microsoft.com.
• Go to Policies and select Sharing.
• Set the external sharing to the most restrictive setting, such as Guest only or Internal only to start.
• You can adjust this setting later as needed, but it’s safer to begin with stricter control to avoid accidental exposure of sensitive data.

2. Set Site Creation Defaults

Control who can create new SharePoint sites and how those sites are set up. To configure this setting:

• Go to the Settings icon in the SharePoint admin center.
• Select Site Creation to manage the creation of new sites.
• Decide whether users should be able to create SharePoint sites or libraries.
• Ensure that the correct time zone is set for accurate metadata and retention labeling.

3. Manage Storage Limits

SharePoint admins need to keep an eye on storage usage to prevent sites from becoming overloaded. Here’s how to manage it:

• In the SharePoint admin center, go to Settings and then Site Storage Limits.
• Set storage limits either automatically or manually, based on your organization’s needs.
• For manual control, monitor and adjust storage for each site, especially if your organization stores a lot of large media files.

4. Audit Site Permissions

Ensuring the right people have the right level of access is critical. Allison emphasizes the importance of auditing site permissions:

• Navigate to the Active Sites section in the admin center.
• Check the membership of each site, ensuring that only the appropriate users have access.
• Review group memberships, especially for SharePoint sites linked to Microsoft 365 groups.
• Ensure that there are backup site owners to maintain control in case the primary owner is unavailable.

5. Use Diagnostics to Improve Site Performance

Even the best-structured SharePoint site can become sluggish over time. To prevent this:

• Install the free Page Diagnostics for SharePoint Chrome extension.
• Use this tool to identify performance issues, such as slow load times, missing CDNs, or oversized media files.
• Analyze each page individually to ensure optimal performance across the entire site.

These five steps will ensure that your SharePoint environment is secure, organized, and scalable. Whether you are new to SharePoint or looking to improve your administration skills, following these tips will help you get started on the right track. For more SharePoint insights, check out Pragmatic Works’ SharePoint training and other helpful resources.