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Getting Started with ShortPoint Theme Builder - Modern SharePoint Sites (Part 1)

Build visually appealing custom themes and apply company branding to your Modern sites and pages with ShortPoint Modern Theme Builder. It provides you more customization options to make your site look fresh, modern, and far from the out-of-the-box design Microsoft SharePoint sites have by default. 

We begin by showing you the steps on how to access this functionality with ShortPoint.


Note: This article focuses on SharePoint pages with the Modern experience. If you want to customize sites having classic pages (including on-premise environments), please access our support article on Getting Started with ShortPoint Theme Builder - Classic SharePoint Sites (Part 1).


TABLE OF CONTENTS


Before we begin

  • You need to have ShortPoint installed or upgraded to ShortPoint SPFx version 7.0.2.xx or later on Microsoft Office 365 (SharePoint Online) or SharePoint 2019 environment.
  • You also need to be a ShortPoint User with an active license.

What is ShortPoint Theme Builder?


Theme Builder is one of the many featured capabilities that comes with the ShortPoint product for Microsoft SharePoint intranet sites. It allows SharePoint designers to customize SharePoint themes for sites and site pages without having to do coding or creating master pages. ShortPoint users can create custom themes that meet the branding and site layout requirements of your organization to be used across a site collection or on all SharePoint intranet sites within your Microsoft Office 365 tenancy. 

When you are tired of the out-of-the-box options in SharePoint, you will be blown away by what ShortPoint Theme Builder can do for you.


Getting Started with ShortPoint Modern Theme Builder


Step 1: Go to Site Contents


Launch the intranet site you want to customize. Navigate to the cogwheel icon on the SharePoint suite bar and select Site contents.



Step 2: Open ShortPoint Dashboard


From the site contents list, select ShortPoint Dashboard.



Step 3: Select Theme Builder


The ShortPoint Dashboard contains several product functionalities that you can take advantage of to further develop your modern pages’ design and content.

 

Press Theme Builder to launch it.




Step 4: Activate ShortPoint Modern Theme Builder


On the Theme Builder page, you will see two options: Classic and Modern. ShortPoint will automatically select the respective option depending on your site’s home page experience. 

Ensure that the Modern option is selected and click Customize my site.



This will open your site home page with Modern Theme Builder enabled. You will find the Theme Builder window in front of your home page. Drag this window to any part of your page as you work on customizing it. You will also see the changes you apply in real-time.



Your site home page is in Classic Experience


When your home page has a classic experience, you will be presented with a warning providing you with directions on how to proceed. You will have two options in such cases:

  • Option 1: Switch to classic Theme Builder;
  • Option 2: Navigate to Modern Page from right side preview frame.

 

You can continue activating Modern Theme Builder and choose to navigate to the modern page you wish to customize.



When Modern Theme Builder launches on your classic home page, it will provide you an option to Switch to Classic:



You can ignore this prompt and proceed to the modern page you want to modify. Once you are on a modern page, you can view the Theme Builder menu and proceed with working on your intranet page.


In situations where you opened the Classic Theme Builder, but you wish to modify a modern site, you will be given the option to Switch to Modern. Press the button, and you can now start working on your modern page:



Step 5: Begin customizing your site


You can now start exploring the many design options you can take to create a better experience for your SharePoint intranet site.


ShortPoint Modern Theme Builder on Hub & Associated Site Collections


ShortPoint Modern Theme Builder on Hub sites will work exactly the same as any other Modern Site. 


However, if your site collection and its subsites are associated with a Hub site, the color palette feature will inherit the settings of the hub site, and you will not be able to customize the color palette from your associated site:




Next: Getting Started with ShortPoint Theme Builder - Modern SharePoint Sites (Part 2)

 

In the next part, we will discuss the different new features you get that will help you achieve the best design for your modern pages and create a better SharePoint experience for your end-users. You will learn how to:

  • Create and save a new color theme as a Company theme that you can use with the SharePoint Change the look panel;
  • Generate a color palette by taking a primary color to use for background colors, headings, body text, and other web parts;
  • Modify your site’s general page layout and remove or add a few elements that will improve your site’s user interface;
  • Import and export theme settings from our themes demos library or from your other sites;
  • Add custom CSS, JavaScript, and fonts you create with ease;
  • Provide a separate user experience for mobile devices and make changes in real-time, and many more.


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