How to Change the Name of a SharePoint Site

Effective teamwork and communication are crucial to the success of enterprises. Microsoft’s SharePoint, a web-based collaboration and document management platform, has provided a modern solution for businesses that need centralized workspaces and improved processes to boost productivity.

If you are the administrator of a SharePoint site in your organization, you may find you need to change the name of your site. As you create new SharePoint sites, anticipate edits will be necessary as your organization evolves. In this article, we discuss the benefits of SharePoint, how to make edits to your site, and tips for maintenance.

Benefits of SharePoint to Your Organization

SharePoint offers a diverse array of features to support team management. It enables teams to exchange information, manage projects, and engage in real-time collaboration. SharePoint offers document libraries, blogs, calendars, and task lists. With these features, it also allows users and administrators to customize each feature.

SharePoint’s integration with Microsoft products ensures streamlined functionality of existing Microsoft software. It’s easy to create new SharePoint sites and begin collaboration with your team because you can access SharePoint from Outlook. Investing in a Microsoft SharePoint training certification enables your team to collaborate, manage content, and drive organizational productivity effectively.

Steps to Changing the Name of Your SharePoint Site

If you need to change the name of an existing SharePoint site, you can do so without causing significant disruption. Here are the steps necessary to rename a SharePoint site and some advice to make the process simple and successful.

Select a Site

First, choose the site that needs a new name. Determine which SharePoint site needs renaming, and select a new name that is unique to avoid confusion within the company. Some organizations may either ignore or misidentify identical site names. Check that the website you want to rename will not cause these problems.

Acquire Permissions

Verify and secure all necessary access permissions. Correct permissions are necessary to modify a SharePoint site. You must either be the site owner or administrator to enable site renaming.

Rename the Site

Once you have done the prerequisite requirements, follow these steps to ensure a successful name change:

1. Log in to your SharePoint site.
2. Navigate to the site you want to rename.
3. Click on the gear icon in the page’s top right corner, then click on ‘Site settings.’
4. On the Site Settings page, click ‘Title, description, and logo’ under the ‘Look and Feel’ section.
5. In the ‘Title and Description’ page, change the site’s title to the new name you want to use.
6. Click on the ‘Save’ button to save the changes.

Communicate the Change

Once the site is renamed, you must communicate all the changes made. Inform all the users who will be impacted by the name change and give them clear instructions on accessing the site using the new name. Every concerned employee must be alerted to avoid any potential disruption.

Update External Links

Update your external links as soon as possible. Remember that changing the site name also affects the URL. If the site shares external links with others, they will no longer function following the name change. Updating the links guarantees continued accessibility and clarity for all members involved on the site. 

Trace and edit all possible references to a SharePoint site after renaming it to reflect the new name. The site’s search results, navigation links, and other locations where the site name is displayed all need to be updated.

Test the Site

To ensure everything is operating as it should before making any changes to a SharePoint site, test the changes in a staging environment. This determines if everything is functioning after the change. Check that all the site’s links are operational, all users who require access can access it, and all features and functions operate as intended. 

You should go back and make adjustments to the site as you run into problems while testing. Create a change log. If necessary, maintain a record of the previous and new domain names and other pertinent information.

Wrapping Up

Changing a SharePoint site’s name is a detailed process. However, it will guarantee that your company’s document management and collaboration procedures remain effective and efficient. 

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