M365 Changelog: Improvements to SharePoint pages authoring

MC299404 – Updated March 04, 2022: Microsoft has updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Microsoft is making changes to the editing experience for SharePoint pages to make it easier for users to understand where they are by adding labels, reducing clutter by consolidating actions into a single web part toolbar, and putting authors into focus mode by default to remove visual distractions.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 82177.

When this will happen:

• Targeted Release (select users and entire org): will rollout in early December and to be complete by early January 2022.
• Standard: will rollout in mid-January 2022 and be complete by mid-March (previously late February).

How this will affect your organization:

Changes to Focus Mode:

• When entering edit mode, authors of SharePoint pages and news will enter focus mode which will remove the site header and navigation so authors can focus on the task of editing a page. Users can still exit focus mode manually if desired.

Changes to content and section labels:

• While editing, authors will notice new labels demarking sections and web parts so its clearer for them to understand what’s being used in the page.

Changes to web part toolbar:

• Authors will notice webpart toolbars moving from a vertical placement to horizontal, and actions consolidated into that single web part toolbar.

What you need to do to prepare:

You might want to notify your users about this new capability and update your training and documentation as appropriate.