In this SharePoint tutorial, we will discuss what is a team site in SharePoint? What is a publishing site in SharePoint? How to create a team site and publishing site in SharePoint 2016/2019. Then we will see, team site vs publishing site in SharePoint.
Team site in SharePoint is a place where we and our team can work on projects and share project-related information between the team member from anywhere on any device.
A team site includes a group of related web pages, a default document library for files, lists for data management. We can create a separate Team Web site for every project in our team is working on.
By using a publishing site template we can create a publishing site. Publishing site means we can post the documents/information publicly, in other words, it is not limited within a team. This site is used to create communication portals and public websites.
Now, we will see how to create a team site in SharePoint 2016/2019 from SharePoint central administration.
Step-1: First we have to go to SharePoint 2016 central admins. Then click on create site collection which is in the application management section.
Step-2: In create site collection page first we have to choose under which web application we have to create the sites.
Step-3: In site collection page we have to give the title and description.
Step-4: Now we have to give the URL
And from collaboration group, choose Team Site template.
Step-5: After URL we have to put user name in “primary site collection Administrator” like below then click on ok.
Step-6: Now we have to wait for some time, then click on “View all site collections” to check the site collection created.
Step-7: Here we can find out how many site collection are created.
Step-8: Now when you will open the Team site in any browser we can find the page like below.
By default in a SharePoint team site, you can see the below items in the left navigation or quick launch.
- Home
- Documents
- Site Contents
- Recycle Bin
Team site provides a document library which you can use to upload, store and share documents with your team members.
From the SharePoint team site, Site Contents page you can see the default libraries which got created like:
- Document
- Form Templates
- Site Assets
- Site Pages
- Style Library
By clicking on the Recycle Bin, you can navigate to the team site’s recycle bin.
The above steps can be followed to create a communication site also in SharePoint 2016/2019.
Just we need to change the Template Selection.
Click on the Publishing tab and then you can select the Publishing Portal SharePoint site template.
The default page or the home page layout of publishing site, is little different from the SharePoint team site.
Let us check out, what are the difference between the team site and publishing site in SharePoint.
Lots of people ask this question, what are the difference between a team site and a publishing site in SharePoint. Ideally more important to know when to use which template while creating the site rather know exactly what are the differences. We should know what will be available if we are using a team site and what extra things we will get if we will use a publishing site.
Few professionals also search like: the difference between team site and publishing site in SharePoint, SharePoint 2013 publishing site vs team site, the difference between publishing site vs team site.
Both are two site templates, if we will choose the publishing site, we usually got some additional things.
If we are creating a site using the team site template, we got some classic lists and libraries like Documents, Site Pages, Site Assets, Style library, etc. In a publishing site, you can have a few more lists and libraries like Pages.
We can activate the publishing feature in any of the sites like team site. Publishing sites are sets two below features:
- SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure (Site collection level)
- SharePoint Server Publishing (Site level)
We can activate both the features and we will get all the features of publishing sites.
In the case of the publishing site, we will get additional links in the gear icon as well as on Site Settings page. Like in Gear icon we can see the “Design Manager” link which we can use to create master pages and page layouts. Similarly, we can see additional links on the Site Settings page like:
- Design Manager
- Master page
- Page layouts and site template
- Welcome Page
- Device Channels
- Import Design package
- Master pages and page layouts
- Composed looks etc.
Compare to the team site, in the publishing site, there are more page layouts available, like Splash, Summary links, Table of contents, Redirect, Image on let, Image on right, etc.
From the UI you can change the master page from the Site settings page in publishing sites. But in a team site, you can not do, you have to activate the publishing feature.
The approval workflow is enabled by default only in the Publishing Site with Workflow site template. It can be used for content approval on a Web Site or an Intranet solution where the content must be reviewed before publication. Everything you have to publish as a major version in the case of publishing site, then only it will be available for other users.
If you want to have a public-facing site or an extranet that is exposed to the internet, we usually create a publishing site. But if you want to create a team site, then we should use a team site template. But if in a team site you need some more features, you can activate the publishing feature.
In the case of a publishing site, we will have the default check-in, check out, content approval features. For pages Check out, draft, publish features will come like you can save a page in draft mode if the modification is not completed. Once the page modification completed you can publish and after that, the changes will be reflected, other users.
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In this tutorial, we learned what is a team site in SharePoint? How to create a team site in SharePoint 2016/2019? Also, we saw what is a publishing site and how to create a publishing site in SharePoint 2016/2019. Then we saw, what are the differences between the team site and publishing site in SharePoint.
Hello Everyone!! I am Bhawana a SharePoint MVP and having about 10+ years of SharePoint experience as well as in .Net technologies. I have worked in all the versions of SharePoint from wss to Office 365. I have good exposure in Customization and Migration using Nintex, Metalogix tools. Now exploring more in SharePoint 2016 🙂 Hope here I can contribute and share my knowledge to the fullest. As I believe “There is no wealth like knowledge and no poverty like ignorance”