The One Where SharePoint Turns 25
SharePoint just celebrated its 25th anniversary with Microsoft’s biggest announcement in years. The new SharePoint experience introduces a refreshed navigation bar that follows you everywhere, featuring discover, publish, and build capabilities that transform how teams work with content and AI.
Jarbas Horst and David Bowman break down the major changes including the rebranded SharePoint AI, new skills functionality, and how the E7 license makes AI more accessible. They explore what this means for organizations considering building their own intranet solutions versus using third-party products.
The conversation covers whether AI automation will eventually replace the need for specialized SharePoint vendors, the importance of ongoing maintenance and ownership, and why creating something once is very different from sustaining it long-term.
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SharePoint turns 25 and it’s had quite the birthday
Microsoft marked SharePoint’s 25th birthday with a significant set of announcements that will change how people experience content and collaboration across Microsoft 365. Here’s what was unveiled, and why it matters.
A navigation experience that actually makes sense
The biggest visible change is a new persistent left navigation bar that follows users throughout SharePoint. It’s organised into four sections: Home, Discover, Publish, and Build — each doing what it says on the tin. The goal is a more consistent experience that makes it easier to find content, create it, and share it, without jumping between disconnected locations.
AI-powered workspace creation
Users can now describe what they need in plain language and SharePoint will provision sites, lists, and libraries automatically. As Jarbas Horst put it, you can now create a web part without knowing how to code. That’s a meaningful shift for teams who’ve historically needed developer support for relatively basic customisations.
Smarter AI with Skills
Microsoft has renamed the knowledge agent to “SharePoint AI” and introduced Skills giving users a way to give the AI specific instructions for things like content validation, metadata management, and formatting consistency. It’s a more practical, configurable approach to AI assistance in the platform.
Good news for existing SharePoint solutions
The new experience is fully backward compatible. David tested it with Fresh and confirmed everything continued to work without any changes needed. For organisations with established SharePoint solutions, that’s reassuring you can explore new capabilities without worrying about breaking what’s already there.
A unified publishing experience
The new Publish section integrates with Viva Amplify, allowing content creators to manage and distribute materials across email, Yammer, and Teams from one place. For internal comms teams juggling multiple channels, that’s a welcome consolidation.
Broader access to AI features
Microsoft has introduced a new E7 licence that bundles AI capabilities with enterprise features at a lower cost than buying them separately, a sign that they’re serious about making AI functionality available across organisations, not just at the premium tier. These updates show Microsoft investing meaningfully in SharePoint’s future, making it more accessible and more powerful without leaving existing implementations behind. That said, the fundamentals haven’t changed: getting the most from SharePoint still requires good governance, a clear strategy, and ongoing user adoption work.
Catch the full episode of Fresh Perspectives to hear the detail.