SharePoint Online Setup Guide for Australian Small Business

If you are running a small business in Australia and using Microsoft 365, there is a good chance you already have access to SharePoint Online and may not even realise it. SharePoint Online is included in most Microsoft 365 business plans, yet many SMBs either ignore it or barely scratch the surface of what it can do.

This guide walks you through setting up SharePoint Online from scratch, tailored for Australian small businesses that want a reliable document management and collaboration platform without the complexity of an enterprise deployment.

Why SharePoint Online Makes Sense for Australian SMBs

Before diving into setup, it is worth understanding why SharePoint Online deserves your attention.

You probably already pay for it. If your business uses Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Business Standard, or Business Premium, SharePoint Online is included. That means no additional licensing costs.

Data stays in Australian data centres. Microsoft operates data centres in Sydney and Melbourne. When you provision your Microsoft 365 tenant in Australia, your SharePoint data resides locally, which helps with data sovereignty requirements and reduces latency.

It integrates with everything you already use. SharePoint Online works seamlessly with Teams, Outlook, OneDrive, and the rest of the Microsoft 365 suite. This is a significant advantage over standalone document management tools.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have the following in place:

• A Microsoft 365 business subscription (Business Basic at minimum)
• Global Administrator or SharePoint Administrator access
• Your Microsoft 365 tenant provisioned in Australia
• A basic understanding of your business’s document structure

Step 1: Access the SharePoint Admin Centre

Navigate to admin.microsoft.com and sign in with your administrator account. From the left navigation, expand “Admin centres” and select “SharePoint.” This opens the SharePoint admin centre where you will manage all your sites and settings.

If this is your first time accessing SharePoint, Microsoft will have already created a root site collection. Do not delete or modify this site until you understand the implications.

Step 2: Plan Your Site Structure

This is where many small businesses go wrong. They create a single site and dump everything into it. Instead, think about your business structure.

Recommended site structure for a typical Australian SMB:

• Intranet Hub Site — Your central landing page for company news, policies, and links
• Operations Site — Standard operating procedures, templates, and process documentation
• Projects Site — Active project files and collaboration spaces
• HR and Admin Site — Employee handbooks, leave forms, and compliance documents
• Client Work Site (if applicable) — Client-facing documents and deliverables

For a business with fewer than 20 employees, you might start with just two or three sites and expand as needed.

Step 3: Create Your First Team Site

In the SharePoint admin centre:

1. Click “Sites” then “Active sites”
2. Click “Create”
3. Select “Team site”
4. Enter your site name (for example, “Operations”)
5. Set the privacy to “Private” for internal sites
6. Add site owners (typically department heads or managers)
7. Select your time zone as “(UTC+10:00) Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney” or the appropriate Australian time zone for your location
8. Click “Finish”

The site will be provisioned within a few minutes. A corresponding Microsoft 365 Group will be created automatically, which also gives you a shared mailbox and calendar.

Step 4: Set Up Document Libraries

The default “Documents” library is fine for general files, but creating purpose-specific libraries improves organisation significantly.

Create additional document libraries:

1. Navigate to your new site
2. Click “New” then “Document library”
3. Name it descriptively (for example, “Standard Operating Procedures,” “Templates,” or “Policies”)

Configure library settings:

• Versioning: Enable major versions and set a limit (30 versions is reasonable for most SMBs). This lets you recover previous versions of documents without relying on backups.
• Require check-out: Only enable this for documents that must not be edited simultaneously, such as formal policies. For general collaboration, leave it off.
• Content types: For now, stick with the default. You can add custom content types later as your needs grow.

Step 5: Create a Logical Folder and Metadata Structure

Folders are familiar but limited. Metadata (columns) provide much more flexibility for filtering and sorting documents.

Add custom columns to your libraries:

1. Open the document library
2. Click “Add column”
3. Choose the column type (Choice, Date, Person, etc.)

Useful columns for Australian businesses:

• Document Type (Choice): Invoice, Contract, Policy, Procedure, Template
• Financial Year (Choice): FY2021-22, FY2022-23
• Client Name (Text or Choice): If applicable
• Review Date (Date): For documents that need periodic review
• Status (Choice): Draft, Under Review, Approved, Archived

This approach lets you create views that filter documents without navigating through nested folders.

Step 6: Configure Permissions

Permissions management is critical and one of the most common areas where SMBs make mistakes.

General principles:

• Use SharePoint groups rather than assigning permissions to individual users
• Break permission inheritance sparingly and only when necessary
• Use the principle of least privilege — give people only the access they need

Default permission levels:

• Full Control: Site owners and IT administrators
• Edit: Staff who need to create and modify documents
• Read: Staff who only need to view documents

For sensitive content (HR documents, financial records):

1. Create a separate document library or site
2. Break permission inheritance
3. Add only the specific people or groups who need access

Step 7: Set Up Navigation

Good navigation makes or breaks user adoption. Configure the site navigation to help people find what they need quickly.

1. Click the gear icon and select “Change the look”
2. Select “Navigation”
3. Add links to your most important document libraries and pages
4. Keep the navigation to under ten items to avoid overwhelming users

If you have created a hub site, register your team sites as associated sites so they share common navigation.

Step 8: Configure External Sharing Settings

Australian businesses need to be particularly careful with external sharing due to the Australian Privacy Act and industry-specific regulations.

In the SharePoint admin centre:

1. Go to “Policies” then “Sharing”
2. For most Australian SMBs, set the default to “New and existing guests” rather than “Anyone.” This requires external users to authenticate before accessing shared content.
3. Enable expiration for guest access links (30 days is a reasonable default)
4. Require guests to sign in using the same account the invitation was sent to

Per-site sharing settings can be more restrictive than the tenant default but not more permissive. For sensitive sites, disable external sharing entirely.

Step 9: Integrate with Microsoft Teams

If your business uses Microsoft Teams (and most Australian SMBs using Microsoft 365 do), your SharePoint sites and Teams channels are already connected.

Every Teams channel has a corresponding SharePoint folder. When someone uploads a file to a Teams channel, it is stored in SharePoint. This is actually a significant advantage because it means your files are backed up, versioned, and searchable through SharePoint while remaining accessible through Teams.

Tips for Teams integration:

• Add SharePoint document library tabs directly in Teams channels for easy access
• Use the “Files” tab in Teams to navigate SharePoint content without leaving Teams
• Encourage staff to share links to SharePoint documents rather than attaching copies to emails

Step 10: Set Up Alerts and Flows

Keep your team informed about document changes without requiring them to constantly check SharePoint.

Basic alerts:

1. Navigate to a document library
2. Click the three dots menu and select “Alert me”
3. Configure frequency (immediate, daily, or weekly digest)

Power Automate flows (optional but valuable):

• Notify a manager when a document is uploaded to a specific library
• Move documents to an archive library after a set period
• Request approval when a document status changes to “Under Review”

These automations are included in your Microsoft 365 licence and do not require additional tools.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Overcomplicating the structure from day one. Start simple. You can always add more sites, libraries, and columns later. A structure that is too complex will discourage adoption.

Ignoring mobile access. Many Australian workers access documents from mobile devices, especially in industries like construction, real estate, and field services. Test your SharePoint setup on mobile devices and use the SharePoint mobile app.

Not training your team. SharePoint is only useful if people actually use it. Run a short training session (even 30 minutes is enough) to show staff how to find, upload, and share documents.

Using SharePoint as a backup solution. SharePoint Online has its own retention and recycle bin features, but it is not a replacement for a proper backup strategy. Consider a third-party backup solution for your Microsoft 365 data.

Forgetting about the recycle bin. SharePoint has a two-stage recycle bin. Deleted files go to the site recycle bin first, then to the site collection recycle bin. Items are retained for 93 days total. This is your safety net for accidental deletions.

Ongoing Management

Once your SharePoint environment is set up, schedule regular maintenance:

• Monthly: Review sharing reports and external access
• Quarterly: Audit permissions and remove access for departed staff
• Annually: Review your site structure and archive inactive content
• As needed: Update document templates and metadata columns

Storage Considerations

Your Microsoft 365 tenant gets 1 TB of SharePoint storage plus 10 GB per licensed user. For a business with 15 employees, that gives you roughly 1.15 TB. This is generous for most SMBs, but keep an eye on storage if you handle large files like videos, CAD drawings, or high-resolution images.

You can check your storage usage in the SharePoint admin centre under “Active sites.”

Next Steps

With SharePoint Online properly configured, your Australian small business has a solid foundation for document management and collaboration. From here, consider exploring:

• SharePoint lists for tracking tasks, inventory, or projects
• Custom page layouts for your intranet
• Integration with Power Apps for simple business applications
• Microsoft Search to help staff find content across your entire Microsoft 365 environment

The key is to start with a clean, well-organised structure and build from there. SharePoint Online is a powerful platform, and getting the basics right from the start will save your business significant time and frustration down the track.