SharePoint Document Issues

Fix SharePoint Collapsible Sections Not Expanding from Links

Emma Brown Oct 1, 2026 868 views

Question details

Links pointing to collapsible sections on a SharePoint page fail to expand certain sections, despite all section settings being identical.

Fix SharePoint Collapsible Sections Not Expanding from Links

Product: Microsoft SharePoint
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: A user is clicking anchor links designed to navigate to and automatically expand specific collapsible sections on a SharePoint site.
Observed behavior: Some linked sections expand correctly as expected, while others remain fully collapsed when the link is clicked.

Before you start

Ensure you have Site Owner or Tenant Administrator permissions, as isolating and escalating this issue requires creating test environments and submitting official support tickets.

Solution 1Recommended

Create a New Test Site and Page

Use this method to isolate the issue and determine if the problem is specific to your current page or a broader, tenant-wide layout bug.

Before escalating to Microsoft, it is crucial to verify whether the page itself is corrupted or if the bug exists across the entire SharePoint environment.

Create a test site

Navigate to the SharePoint start page and click the 'Create site' button to establish a fresh, uncustomized environment.

Add a new page with sections

Create a new page on the test site, insert multiple collapsible sections, and configure anchor links pointing to them.

Test the anchor links

Publish the page and click the generated links to see if the new collapsible sections expand properly upon navigation.

Evaluate the results

If the links work correctly on the new site, your original page may need to be rebuilt. If they still fail to expand, this indicates a tenant-wide issue requiring escalation.

Testing Environment: Always use a completely separate test site rather than a new page on the existing site to rule out site-collection-level policies or corruptions.

Solution 2

Open a Microsoft Business Support Ticket

If testing confirms the issue happens on brand-new sites, escalate the bug to Microsoft Support for backend resolution.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why do some SharePoint collapsible sections expand from links while others do not?

This inconsistency is often caused by a known layout bug within SharePoint's backend rendering engine. Even if all section settings are identical, backend caching or rendering glitches can prevent the expansion trigger from firing on certain sections.

Can I fix the SharePoint link expansion issue without administrator rights?

You can attempt to recreate the specific collapsible section or the page itself, which sometimes clears page-level corruption. However, if the issue persists on new sites, it is a tenant-wide bug that only a tenant administrator can escalate to Microsoft for a backend fix.

How are links to collapsible sections supposed to work in SharePoint?

When you share a direct anchor link to a heading inside a collapsible section, clicking the link should automatically scroll the user's viewport to that section and toggle the section from a collapsed state to an expanded state.

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