Microsoft is rolling out the new SharePoint experience between mid-June and mid-July 2026. The rollout is mandatory with no permanent opt-out. Admins can request up to six months of delay, but after that the new navigation structure is final. What changes, and which steps do you take now?
SharePoint Online has received its biggest interface overhaul in years in 2026. The rollout began in mid-June and runs through mid-July 2026, after which all Microsoft 365 tenants worldwide will have the new experience. The key detail: there is no permanent opt-out. Administrators can delay the switchover by up to six months via a setting in the SharePoint admin center, but after that the new navigation structure is final for all users.
The update centres around a completely redesigned navigation bar with four main hubs: Discover, Publish, Build, and OneDrive. Organisations that have configured a home site with global navigation also see a Home section featuring the organisation logo. Each hub has a distinct purpose and replaces navigation patterns that users have in some cases relied on for years. That calls for technical preparation and targeted communication to staff.
Microsoft has expanded SharePoint over the past several years with intranet, agent, and publishing functionality, but the old interface no longer reflected that. The start page with followed sites and saved items did not match what SharePoint now offers. The new experience positions SharePoint as a single centralised platform for internal communication, content creation, and collaboration, and as the starting point for AI agents for organisations with a Copilot licence.
The decision to make the rollout mandatory is deliberate. Microsoft wants to end the fragmentation that built up as some tenants stayed on the old interface for years. The six-month delay window is intended for making adjustments, not for indefinitely avoiding the change. Tenants that take no action receive the new interface automatically when their rollout slot arrives.
The Discover hub replaces the old SharePoint start page entirely. Where the start page previously showed a static overview of followed sites, Discover provides a personalised view based on recent activity and relevance. The hub surfaces sites and documents you have worked on recently, file activity from your direct colleagues, and news from the intranet environment. The system learns from usage patterns and adjusts the display accordingly.
The familiar Followed Sites and Saved for Later sections disappear and are replaced by a central Favourites mechanism integrated into the navigation bar. For users accustomed to a fixed start page layout or who have pinned specific sites, there is a short adjustment period. Communicate early which alternative they have for maintaining their own overview.
The Publish hub brings all of SharePoint's publishing functions together in one place. Pages, news articles, and campaigns that communication teams previously managed across scattered site settings and admin interfaces are now accessible from a single central hub. Amplify, the feature for targeted campaign communications to specific audience groups, is fully integrated into the Publish hub.
For organisations with an active intranet, regular newsletters, or internal campaigns, this is a meaningful improvement. The workflow for creating and publishing content is streamlined, and administrators no longer need to switch between multiple management interfaces. For organisations that currently use SharePoint only as document storage, the Publish hub has less immediate impact.
The Build hub is designed for everyone who provisions or administers SharePoint environments. From a single central interface, IT administrators and power users can create sites, configure lists and libraries, and set up SharePoint agents. What was previously spread across the SharePoint admin center, site settings, and separate management interfaces is now consolidated in the Build hub.
SharePoint agents, integrated with Microsoft 365 Copilot, are the most prominent new element of the Build hub. For users with a Copilot licence, AI agents can be created via Build that answer questions about the content in a library or site. This is the same functionality that was previously only available via the Copilot button in SharePoint, but now as a full management workflow with governance controls.
First: check whether your tenant has already received the rollout. You can see this in the Microsoft 365 admin center under Message Center, reference MC1240699. If the rollout is already active, you have up to six months to set a delay before the definitive switchover. If it has not yet arrived, you have the coming weeks to prepare.
Second: assess your home site and global navigation. The new navigation bar displays your organisation logo and name at the top, but only if your home site is correctly configured with global navigation. Without a home site, the bar shows generic Microsoft icons. This is a good moment to get that configuration in order if it has not yet been done.
Third: test existing customisations and branding. Modifications to the SharePoint start page or the existing navigation bar can conflict with the new structure. Test this in a preview environment before the rollout reaches your entire organisation. Microsoft has made a preview toggle available in the SharePoint admin center for this purpose.
Fourth: communicate proactively to users. The change is visually noticeable and will generate questions. A brief explanation, what is disappearing, what replaces it, and how staff find their favourites again, prevents confusion and unnecessary support requests. A FAQ post on your intranet or via Microsoft Teams is sufficient in most cases.
For tenants that take no action, the new experience rolls out automatically when the tenant slot arrives. Users see the new interface directly without any prior notification from Microsoft. After the rollout, there is a temporary back button for individual users, but that disappears after the preview period. After that, the new experience is permanent. The only things administrators can still configure at that stage are the home site, global navigation, and the AI agent setup via the Build hub.
The new SharePoint experience is more than a visual refresh. The Discover, Publish, and Build hubs give SharePoint a structure that fits how organisations use the platform today: not as a document archive, but as an intranet platform, publishing channel, and foundation for AI-driven information flows. The rollout is under way now. Want help preparing your SharePoint environment, configuring your home site with global navigation, or communicating the change to your staff? Get in touch with Zarioh.
