How to Restore Top Navigation After Migrating to SharePoint Online
Question details
The user wants to know how to move the navigation bar back to the top of the page after migrating a classic SharePoint site to modern SharePoint Online.
- Product
- SharePoint Online
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Post-migration site configuration from SharePoint 2013 to SharePoint Online.
- Observed behavior
- The top navigation bar from the classic SharePoint 2013 environment has moved to the left side pane in the modern SharePoint Online team site layout.
Ensure you have site owner or administrator permissions in your SharePoint Online environment to access navigation settings or create new site layouts.
Use a Communication Site Layout for Native Top Navigation
Modern SharePoint team sites default to a left-hand navigation pane. To achieve a native top navigation layout without complex coding, using a communication site is the recommended approach.
Microsoft designed modern team sites primarily for collaboration, enforcing a left-hand navigation structure to optimize screen space. Communication sites, however, are designed for broadcasting information and natively support a top navigation bar.
From the SharePoint start page, click on the 'Create site' button located at the top left.
Choose 'Communication site' instead of 'Team site' from the setup options to ensure the navigation defaults to the top.
Move your migrated lists, libraries, and pages from the team site into the newly created communication site.
Click 'Edit' on the top navigation bar of your new communication site to manually add your custom links, dropdown menus, and hierarchy.
Adjust Global and Managed Navigation Settings
If you are using classic site pages or specific publishing features post-migration, you can manually adjust the global and managed navigation settings to restore top navigation.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Can I force a modern SharePoint team site to use top navigation?
By default, modern team sites do not support native top navigation; they use a left-hand navigation pane. To utilize a top navigation bar natively in the modern experience, you must use a communication site instead.
Why did my navigation change after migrating from SharePoint 2013?
SharePoint 2013 classic sites frequently utilized a top global navigation bar. When migrating to modern SharePoint Online, the system typically provisions modern team sites, which feature a distinctly different layout designed around a left-aligned navigation pane.
What is the difference between global and managed navigation in SharePoint?
Global navigation generally refers to the primary structural navigation that appears across the entire site collection (often top navigation in classic sites). Managed navigation allows administrators to build and maintain site navigation dynamically using term sets from the SharePoint Term Store.
