SharePoint Online FAQs
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Simply describe SharePoint Online?
SharePoint Online brings together the familiar SharePoint collaboration platform now delivered as an online service making the power of the cloud work for your business.
Benefit #1: Centralized location
SharePoint Online provides a single, integrated location where employees can efficiently collaborate with team members, share knowledge and find organizational resources and information.
Benefit #2: Deploy online, on-premises, or both
Microsoft SharePoint Server can be deployed in the cloud or on-premises, so you can select the right option for your company. Whether you deploy SharePoint Server on-premises, host an entire platform online,
or combine these options in a hybrid environment, your people can access the tools they need to get work done. With SharePoint, make your decision based on business needs—not technology constraints.
Benefit #3: Quickly respond to new opportunities
SharePoint Online can support everyone in your company: from colleagues located around the world, to temporary employees, to people from a new acquisition. With no server purchases or deployments, you can quickly provision a small satellite office, interim staff, or a newly acquired business—helping people to work better together, right from the start.
Benefit #4: Provide a familiar user experience
SharePoint Online provides a simple, familiar, and consistent user experience. Connections to Microsoft Office mean that your people can work with confidence using well-known applications and interfaces. Plus, they can work offline and use Microsoft SharePoint Workspace to access SharePoint Online document repositories.
Benefit #5: Portals
Audience targeting lets information owners decide how SharePoint groups get information.
Site Manager feature allows changes to a SharePoint site's navigation, security access, and general look and feel using an easy drag-and-drop tool.
Interact with SharePoint sites using Microsoft Office programs and Office SharePoint Designer.
Benefit #6: Collaboration and Social Computing
Users create and control collaborative workspaces using standard meeting and team site templates.
Coordinate teamwork with shared calendars, alerts and notifications.
Capture best practices and expertise using blogs, wikis, Really Simple Syndication (RSS) and surveys.
Benefit #7: Content Management
Document review workflow helps users collaborate on documents and manage project tasks by applying specific business processes to SharePoint site documents and items.
WYSIWYG editor—and Office Information Panel and Action Bar—streamline site content authoring.
Pre-built page layouts let content contributors focus on their jobs rather than publishing.
Retention and auditing policies can define document retention and expiration periods, provide access control and security, and enable tracking.
Benefit #8: Search
Users can locate content that is stored in lists, document libraries, and other locations in a SharePoint collection with security-trimmed search results displayed.
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