Have you ever found yourself in a situation where the members of your team spend more time looking for files instead of actually working on files? Paperwork can be complicated, and it can be tough to get everyone coordinated when working together on documents. In today’s world where we work and communicate faster than ever before, it is not just good to be organized, connected, and efficient, it is a must.
This is where SharePoint Online (part of Microsoft 365) comes in! SharePoint Online is a cloud-based platform that provides organizations with the ability to confidently store, manage and share their content and allows organizations to collaborate easily together. Whether you are creating an internal site (intranet), collaborating on files, or creating automated workflows for your repeatable processes, SharePoint Online features allows you the opportunities to work smarter, not harder.
And these new features in SharePoint Online will enhance even further in 2025! With the addition of AI-Driven tools such as Copilot, further integrations across Microsoft Apps, mobile access, and strong customization capabilities, SharePoint Online was built with the future of the digital workplace in mind.
In this blog, we’ll summarize The Top 10 SharePoint Online features you’ll want to see. These are not just words, they’re useful features that can help improve productivity, make collaboration flow easier, and save you time each day. Let’s get started with how SharePoint can make document management smarter with the help of SharePoint Online collaboration features!
Top 10 SharePoint Online Features
1. Smart Document Management & Real-Time Co-Authoring
No more emailing the document back and forth or asking who’s made the last change. With SharePoint Online, your documents live in one, easy to manage central, secure location in the cloud. Using Document Libraries allows your team to upload files into a shared space, organize the files and tag them. More importantly, your team can work in a document in real-time.
Yes, that means you and multiple people can have the same Word report or PowerPoint presentation open at the same time and see changes as they happen and be literally on the same page. Thanks to SharePoint Online features and benefits! One of the great features is version history. If you accidentally overwrote or deleted something that’s not an issue anymore. SharePoint maintains a complete history of all versions so you can restore any previous copy of the document with the click of a button!
Use Case:
Your marketing team is working on a client proposal and instead of different versions of the document, they edit one multi-user or shared Word document. One person types the text, another edits the content, and a third formats the document all at once. The outcome is less confusion, faster turnaround, and a polished document at the end. It’s easy to work together with SharePoint, and so stress-free. Wouldn’t it be great then to avail one of the top SharePoint Online features?
2. Advanced Search and Metadata Tagging
When you have thousands of documents, finding the right document should not feel like looking for a needle in a haystack. Luckily, SharePoint has a fantastic system for advanced search and tagging documents with metadata. You can use full-text search to find content by keyword across Word, PDF, Excel, and PowerPoint files. But the coolest thing about SharePoint is the metadata tagging system.
It is one of the SharePoint Online key features. You can create columns, for example, “Project Name”, “Department”, “Status”, and these columns will allow the document to be filtered and dynamically grouped. You can even apply JSON column formatting to data visually, to organize data, to set overdue items to a color, or even do color coding project status, or show icons to indicate priority tasks!
Use Case:
A project manager seeks for final reports submitted during Q1 from the Finance department. They know they need to search in Document Folders. Rather than opening every folder manually, they filter documents using metadata tags. In seconds they find the exact file, no sweat, no wait. If you’re managing your content with tagging, SharePoint search is doing the work for you.
3. Power Automate Integration & Workflow Automation
Why are you spending time performing the same task over and over when SharePoint can automate those tasks for you? Using Microsoft Power Automate, you can set up your own workflows to do things like send email, copy files, create a new list, trigger Microsoft Teams, integrate with Microsoft Outlook, or Microsoft Planner. Being one of the best features of SharePoint Online, Power Automate can set up workflows without writing any code, using a simple drag-and-drop experience. You can automate the document approval processes; with just a few clicks you can send a file for review, check its status as it moves through the approval queue and get notified when it is approved.
Use Case:
The scenario of uploading of a new contract at “Client Agreements” document library involves the entry of new contract upload into SharePoint through which an approval workflow is initiated. An approver receives an email notification with a button by which he can approve or reject. Upon approval, SharePoint subsequently sends a notification within Teams to the legal team where the document is entered into “Approved Contracts”. All this happens quickly leaving absolutely no margin for human error! It’s really cool and effective!
4. SharePoint Copilot & AI-Powered Enhancements
In 2025, everything changes in SharePoint with AI. What changes if you think of SharePoint 2019 vs. SharePoint Online feature comparison? Here is SharePoint Copilot, the newest voice coming from Microsoft 365 AI. Whether it’s about summarizing lengthy documents or generating new data, tagging metadata automatically, and even populating suggested file names like your virtual assistant trained on your document, it can really do it all.
AI-in-the-modern-Sharing-page also provides a Q & A agent, based on AI. People can simply have a natural conversation with the agent about what they want, and he/she will return an answer instantly with anything under the roof of content from a site or source it has access to from the client. Great for internal knowledge bases, HR sites, or help center pages.
Use Case:
An executive wants to quickly summarize a 30-page technical report. Instead of going through it themselves, they simply hit Summarize with Copilot, and within seconds, SharePoint gives them a short, accurate summary, highlights key data points and even suggests action items. AI is indeed helping the essence of working smarter.
5. Communication & Hub Sites with Branding Tools
Your SharePoint site is not meant to be just an ordinary file dump. It serves as your digital headquarters. With Communication Sites and Hub Sites, it is possible to create wonderful branded experience spaces where you can inform teams, departments, or even the whole company. For instance, Microsoft rolled out the Brand Center in 2025, which provided consistency in logo-glyph, color, and font application across all sites.
Now, the use of Editorial Cards is available as well. This is attractive and easy to use block with announcements, articles, or policies in a magazine format. Another innovation presented by Hub Sites is the capability to link various team sites to provide a shared user experience through unified navigation and search that enables the user to find content across departments relating to their needs. Indeed, this feature is the most desirable for collaboration in SharePoint.
Use Case:
The human resources department develops the onboarding portal. The portal welcomes a video, policy documents, introductions to the team, and a feedback form styled as per the Brand Center. The announcements get visual appeal from Editorial Cards, and the look-and-feel gives a polished and professional experience overall. A beautifully designed SharePoint site will help create a positive company culture and aid with internal communications.
6. Seamless Microsoft 365 Integration (Teams, Outlook, Yammer)
SharePoint integrates very well across Microsoft 365 apps. SharePoint pages or document libraries can be directly embedded into Teams in a simple tab. You can send out calendars with deadlines from Outlook, draw in the Yammer feeds for social engagement, and create Forms with Microsoft Forms straight there on the SharePoint site. Information flows throughout the ecosystem seamlessly so that users will not have to jump among applications.
Use Case:
The sales team uses Teams primarily for chat and calls. They can add their SharePoint proposal library as a tab in their team channel. Now they can open and work on documents and never leave Teams. Deadlines are appearing on their shared calendar from Outlook, and client feedback was captured through Forms.
7. Mobile-Friendly & Responsive Design
SharePoint fits your life, wherever that may take you. In our mobile-first world, the SharePoint mobile app (for both iOS and Android) provides access to sites, documents, news, and lists, anytime and anywhere. In a meeting, on the road, or at home, you are always connected. Because modern SharePoint sites are fully responsive, they look and work great on any device, whether it be phone, tablet, or a fixed desktop. Isn’t it amazing to have SharePoint key features benefits that game up the processes?
Use Case:
A field engineer has finished a site inspection. They take a photo with their cellphone, write up their notes, and post to SharePoint with no additional administrative effort. The office team is automatically updated, and can start initiating their work with the information. Being mobile makes SharePoint a tool for everyone and not only for the employees in the office.
8. Enterprise-Level Security & Compliance Features
Security is one of the most important perspectives that businesses have to be aware of, and SharePoint delivers! With granular permissions, sharing anything from an individual file, to a folder down to a site level is no problem. SharePoint also has Information Rights Management (IRM) capabilities to manage sensitive documents with policies that restrict printing, forwarding, or copying.
Have compliance or regulatory requirements ready to be optimized by collaboration SharePoint? SharePoint has features to establish retention policies, audit logs, and encrypt data while in motion and at rest. Helping ensure compliance, admins can see who did what, and be able to track or prove compliance if ever called upon.
Use Case:
A legal practice keeps client contracts in SharePoint. Each document is only visible to the team members working on the contract. IRM (Information Rights Management) is in place to keep team members from sharing documents without authorization, and to maintain long term retention policies keeping files for a minimum of seven (7) years without additional oversight needed. You can sleep soundly at night knowing that your data is secure and compliant.
9. Customization with PowerApps, SPFx, and Themes
Need something custom? SharePoint enables you to build it. Using PowerApps, you can create customized forms or lightweight apps with little to zero code. For developers, you can build intricate web parts and integrations via SPFx (SharePoint Framework) and the latest and greatest tools like React or Angular. You can also use the Brand Center to apply consistent themes across your sites, making your digital workplace functional and aesthetically pleasing. To implement intelligently, you need to trust a trustworthy partner and avail best in town SharePoint Online services!
Use Case:
The finance department wants an expense form. Using PowerApps, the department builds a custom solution comprised of fields for receipts, amount, and manager approval. The submissions are stored in SharePoint, and alerts are automatically sent via Power Automate. Customization gives you flexibility at your fingertips.
10. Usage Analytics & Content Insights
You can’t change what you can’t measure. SharePoint Online collaboration features provides built-in usage analytics to see how content is performing. You can track page views, most-used documents, active users, and much more. The Amplify feature will allow you to surface key news or updates in Teams, email, and your intranet while tracking engagement with the same updates.
Use Case:
The communications team is launching a wellness campaign. They Amplify and push the post to SharePoint, Teams and Outlook. After the first week, the analytics show that video content received the most engagement. For the next update, the focus is mainly videos. Data-driven insights give you the power to communicate smarter.
Wrapping Up
SharePoint Online has come to a point where it is far exceeding its purpose for simply file sharing. It is now a smart, secure, and collaborative platform that encompasses everything from team communication to business automation, and from content management to document management.
The evolution from SharePoint Online and all it includes, from co-authoring documents to brand new forms, customized forms, and building branded intranet portal. Start with a simple task like a shared library or basic approval workflow, even a modern team site, and you would see the difference overnight. With the right sharepoint online features and benefits turn on, SharePoint is not just a tool, it is your digital workplace hub!
Thinking of adopting SharePoint Online and need help with SharePoint Online? Awesome Technologies Inc, a reliable SharePoint development company can help with the entire setup, customization and support. Hire SharePoint developer who can develop a better and more collaborative digital workplace for you. Contact us today to get started!
FAQs
1. What’s the difference between SharePoint Online and SharePoint On-Premises?
SharePoint Online is in the cloud and is a service of Microsoft 365, while SharePoint On-Premises is hosted on your organization’s servers. There are distinct advantages of SharePoint Online, especially in regard to access, scale, and a more seamless experience with other Microsoft cloud services.
2. Is SharePoint Online a secure place to store sensitive documents?
Yes, SharePoint Online includes enterprise-grade security solutions, such as encryption, access control, compliance tools, and integration with Microsoft Purview for data governance.
3. Can I collaborate with other users outside my organization in SharePoint Online?
Yes, SharePoint Online can allow for secure external sharing and collaboration with guest users, if enabled by your admin. You control the content that is shared, and how long it is shared.
4. Can SharePoint Online be used in conjunction with Microsoft Teams and OneDrive?
Yes, SharePoint Online is the file-sharing back end of Teams and has a deep integration with OneDrive so your files can be easily accessed and worked on simultaneously.
5. How customizable can SharePoint be in order to create intranet sites?
SharePoint Online provides modern site templates, custom web parts, and branding, plus options to integrate readily available use cases with Power Apps and Power Automate; therefore, it can be very customizable for intranets and digital workplace solutions.
6. How much does SharePoint Online cost?
There are two primary subscription plans available for SharePoint Online in addition to bundles like Microsoft 365 Business Standard (US $12.50/user/month):
- Plan 1: US $5/user/month (annual commitment) – core SharePoint features, OneDrive, Microsoft Lists, 1TB storage plus 10GB/user
- Plan 2: US $10/user/month (annual commitment) – adds advanced search, DLP, In-Place Hold and unlimited storage for organizations with 5+ users.
