SharePoint gets a visual refresh that changes little for admins
Reviewed by Helen Jones
Microsoft rolled out a visual update to SharePoint in general availability. The changes include raised content areas with subtle shadows, light gray backgrounds, updated typography, and larger corner radii across sites, pages, and libraries. The refresh also introduces neutral theming for app surfaces and new navigation destinations called Discover, Publish, and Build. Customer branding stays separate from the app interface. No existing site structure, permissions, workflows, or custom solutions were altered. Microsoft provided no performance metrics with the release.
Before the update, SharePoint surfaces already varied widely in appearance because of different site templates, legacy branding, and custom CSS applied over years. Admins could keep these inconsistencies hidden behind familiar navigation. The new neutral app UI and elevated canvas will make those differences stand out more clearly to users. This raises the chance that people will notice stale design, inconsistent navigation, and permission-heavy sites they already struggle to use.
Analysis
Treat this refresh as a forcing function to surface the sites that still carry old branding or broken navigation before users start logging tickets about the mismatch. Run a quick inventory of communication sites and team sites using legacy themes or custom headers in the next two weeks.
Source note
Pulse published by Collab365 Spaces, reviewed by Helen Jones on . Cite as "SharePoint gets a visual refresh that changes little for admins", Collab365 Spaces. 1 source referenced.