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Office 365 SharePoint Online

SharePoint Online is an Office 365 application that allows users to create intranet websites for sharing information and for project management and collaboration. SharePoint Online is included as part of CSU's Office 365 service.

Individuals and groups can share documents, information (e.g. wikis), blogs, and share workflows to track, collaborate, and manage projects.

Need help figuring out what SharePoint Online is or how it should be organized? Please e-mail windows@colostate.edu to set up a time to meet with you to give you a brief introduction to the concepts introduced by SharePoint Online.


Getting Started with SharePoint Online

  • SharePoint Online sites at CSU are managed similar to Exchange resources such as shared mailboxes and distribution lists in that Departmental Resource Coordinators are responsible for requesting and managing SharePoint Online sites for the unit or department.
  • The first step is for a Resource Coordinator to logon to the Resource Coordinator Tools and request a new SharePoint site and to specify an administrator for the site. Top-level sites requested using this process act as SharePoint Online Site Collections and can be used to directly host content or as a "container" for creating and hosting additional sub sites.
  • Once a SharePoint site is created, the administrator can use tools available in the Office 365 web portal to add content or to create SharePoint Online sub sites. If sub sites are created, the administrator can designate users to manage sub sites. Up to 2,000 sub sites can be created under a top-level site collection.
  • SharePoint Online sites fall into 2 categories: "Regular" sites (used to host and share documents, wikis, blogs, etc.) or Project Online sites (used specifically to host Project Online projects). Most SharePoint sites are considered "Regular", which is the default type. A "Project" site should only be requested if your area intends to utilize Project Online. If needed, multiple top-level sites of either type can be requested by a Resource Department.

SharePoint Online User Roles

Division of IT

  • Create top-level SharePoint Online sites and set a designated user as the Site Collection Administrator as requested via the Resource Coordinator Tools.
  • Provide a high level overview of how to manage and organize SharePoint Online
  • Change the designated "Site Collection Administrator" as needed (ex: if the user in the role leaves the university)
  • Adjust site collection settings (ex: set top-level site as Public or Private) not presented to Site Collection Administrators.

Site Collection Administrator

  • Manage the layout and content of the top-level SharePoint site
  • Create sub sites and designate Sub Site Administrators as needed
  • Provide SharePoint Online expertise and technical assistance to SharePoint developers and users in your area

Sub Site Administrator

  • Manage the layout, content, and development of a SharePoint Online sub site, if applicable

SharePoint Online Restrictions

  • Site Collection Storage Limit (includes the sum of the storage used by a top level site collection and all sub sites within it): 25TB
  • Max Sub Sites within a Site Collection: 2,000. We recommend creating sites and organizing them into hubs instead of creating subsites. If you do use subsites, we recommend limiting their number (especially on heavily trafficked sites).
  • File Upload Limit: 250 GB applies to each individual file uploaded to Microsoft Teams Files tab, SharePoint document libraries, OneDrive folders, and Yammer conversations.

Please refer to Microsoft's SharePoint Online Limits for the most up-to-date and definitive information.


Getting Started with SharePoint

The following page contains helpful links and general information on creating your first document library in SharePoint Online. Additionally, that page contains information about version control and moving content, as well as sharing and permissions.