How to Convert SharePoint Online Site to Microsoft Teams?

Requirement: Connect SharePoint Online Site to Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft Teams is a chat-based collaboration platform that brings together people, conversations, content, and tools to create a more open, digital environment. Every time you create a new team in Teams, you’re also creating a new Office 365 Group, Calendar, OneNote, Planner, SharePoint team site, etc., and ties into other Office 365 cloud applications. For every channel you create in Teams, a folder within a SharePoint document library is automatically created. Private channels create a new site collection for Microsoft Teams SharePoint integration. With Microsoft Teams and SharePoint Online working together, teams can stay connected and productive, even when working remotely.

How to Add Microsoft Teams to SharePoint Online Site?

You may have an existing SharePoint Online team site for a dedicated project or business function and use it to store documents and communication, and want to take advantage of Microsoft Teams. Here is how you can convert your existing SharePoint Online team sites into Microsoft Teams so that the files from the existing document library can be accessed in Microsoft Teams.

Prerequisites: Your existing SharePoint Online site must be group connected to be able to integrate with Microsoft Teams! If it is not already, Its a matter of few clicks through the settings menu link. Step-by-step instructions are here: How to Connect SharePoint Online site to Office 365 Group?

Option 1: Create a Microsoft Team from an existing SharePoint site

When you create a new modern SPO site with Office 365 Group, You’ll see the Microsoft Teams prompt on the site home page.

  1. Navigate to the home page of the existing SharePoint Online team site >> Click on Create a team from the “Add real-time chat” Microsoft Teams prompt in the bottom-left corner of the screen to add teams to the SharePoint site.
    create team from SharePoint Online site
  2. It spins the wheel with a “Creating Team” message for a while, and you’ll get a “Success! Click here to go to your Team” message Once your team is created. Clicking on it will take you to the Microsoft Teams app, and you can start collaborating with your new associated team. Also, it adds the “Teams” menu to SharePoint site navigation.
    microsoft teams and sharepoint online integration

Option 2: Create Microsoft Teams from an existing SharePoint Site using the Teams App

What if you have closed the “Create a team” popup already on your SharePoint Site? You can convert the SharePoint Online site to Teams with the Microsoft Teams application and extend the collaboration features. Here is how:

  1. Open the Microsoft Teams Client application from your desktop >> Click on the “Join or create a team” link from the bottom of the Teams client application.
    Convert SharePoint Online Site to Microsoft Teams
  2. Click on the “Create Team” button under Join or create a team page >> Choose “Create from…” An existing Office 365 group or team.
    link sharepoint online to teams
  3. Click on “Office 365 group”
    convert sharepoint online site to teams
  4. Select the Office 365 group of your existing SharePoint site and then click on the “Create” button.
    migrate sharepoint online to teams

And your Teams should be ready shortly! Then, you can add any SharePoint pages, list & library as a tab for easy access in Microsoft Teams So that managing content can be done on either of the Powerful platforms. Any SharePoint-specific settings can still be managed through the SharePoint Admin Center.

Option 3: Create Teams from SharePoint Online using PowerShell

SharePoint Admins can migrate the SharePoint Online site using PowerShell as well. Ensure you have the Teams PowerShell module installed before running this script: How to Install Microsoft Teams PowerShell Module?

Import-Module Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShell -DisableNameChecking

$AdminCenterURL = "https://crescent-admin.sharepoint.com"
$SiteURL = "https://crescent.sharepoint.com/sites/legal"

#Get Credentials to connect
$Cred = Get-Credential

#Connect to SharePoint Online
Connect-SPOService -Url $AdminCenterURL -Credential $Cred

#Connect to Microsoft Teams
Connect-MicrosoftTeams -Credential $Cred

#Get the Site collection
$Site = Get-SPOSite -Identity $SiteURL

#Create Teams from the SharePoint Site
New-Team -GroupId $Site.GroupId.Guid

PnP PowerShell to Teamify a SharePoint Online Site

Here is the PnP PowerShell way to create an MS Teams from a Group connected SharePoint Online site:

#Parameters
$AdminSiteURL = "https://crescent-admin.sharepoint.com"
$SiteURL = "https://crescent.sharepoint.com/sites/Legal"
$GroupName = "Legal Team Group"
$GroupAlias = "LegalTeam"

Try {
    #Connect to PnP Online
    Connect-PnPOnline -Url $AdminSiteURL -Interactive

    #Temify the Group connected site
    $Site = Get-PnPTenantSite -Identity $SiteURL
    New-PnPTeamsTeam -GroupId $Site.GroupId.Guid
}
Catch {
    write-host -f Red "Error:" $_.Exception.Message
}
Creating Teams from SharePoint Online Site doesn’t replace it with teams! Instead, it connects them together for better collaboration! These steps only “Team enable” an existing SharePoint site. You can continue using it as usual.

Conclusion

In conclusion, teamifying a SharePoint Online site is an effective way to improve collaboration and communication among teams. By creating a dedicated team site, users can access all relevant documents and information in one central location, and share and edit files seamlessly with their team members. Additionally, by using Microsoft Teams, users can also take advantage of features such as real-time chat, video conferencing, and task management. Overall, teamifying a SharePoint Online site is a great way to increase productivity, streamline workflows, and improve overall team collaboration.

Salaudeen Rajack

Salaudeen Rajack - Information Technology Expert with Two-decades of hands-on experience, specializing in SharePoint, PowerShell, Microsoft 365, and related products. He has held various positions including SharePoint Architect, Administrator, Developer and consultant, has helped many organizations to implement and optimize SharePoint solutions. Known for his deep technical expertise, He's passionate about sharing the knowledge and insights to help others, through the real-world articles!

8 thoughts on “How to Convert SharePoint Online Site to Microsoft Teams?

  • Thank you for this post. On the section “PnP PowerShell to Teamify a SharePoint Online Site” I was having trouble until I made the following edit:

    “New-PnPTeamsTeam -GroupId $Site.GroupId.Guid”

    changed to

    “New-PnPTeamsTeam -GroupId $Site.GroupId”

    I did this because the call is for the GrouId, and not the Guid.

    Thank you again for all of your work!

    Reply
  • hi Salaudeen – I am trying to convert/merge an existing Sharepoint site to an existing Teams page used for a community. With doing that, we can keep the existing design of the Sharepoint and add the benefits of Teams with it. Can you help me?

    Reply
    • You can use any Migration tools or PowerShell to copy the content from the existing SharePoint site to your Team’s SharePoint site! (But you can’t set an existing SharePoint site as your existing Team’s SharePoint site, ASAIK)

      Reply
  • I’m getting:
    New-Team : groupId coundn’t be found, groupId is invalid
    I did type -GroupId

    Reply
    • PowerShell is not case-sensitive, So that shouldn’t be a problem here. But make sure the SharePoint site is already group-connected!

      Reply
  • Thank you for this post!

    Reply
  • Hi Salaudeen, Great Post!

    Reply
  • Fantastic, this article has all information in fine detail.

    Reply

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