SharePoint Online Mobile, Sharing Updates

SharePoint Online mobile user interface and external document-sharing improvements began to roll out to customers in Nov. 2013. SharePoint Online is a Microsoft-hosted service based on SharePoint Server 2013 and sold in Office 365 subscription suites or stand-alone. Organizations using SharePoint Online will want to prepare users and support personnel for the interface changes and review their policies for document sharing with external users (such as business partners) who are not part of the organization. Some will also want to take advantage of content publishing improvements that are also coming to SharePoint Online.

Mobile and External Sharing Updates

Two notable updates began rolling out to SharePoint Online customers in Nov. 2013.

Mobile user interface updates simplify touch use for personal document sharing sites (called SkyDrive Pro but sometimes labeled SkyDrive in the user interface) and team collaboration sites (labeled Sites). The new user interface, which is similar to the SharePoint Newsfeed mobile application, uses larger icons and other elements, scales between tablets and smartphones, and delivers other improvements such as faster navigation between personal and team sites. (See the illustration “New SharePoint Online Interface on iPhone“.)