SharePoint App in Teams (Viva Connections): 2026 Guide
The SharePoint app in Teams is the employee-experience application formerly named Microsoft Viva Connections. It brings an organization's SharePoint home site, dashboard, resources, and news into Microsoft Teams so employees can reach intranet content and task-oriented cards without leaving the Teams environment where they already collaborate.
What SharePoint App in Teams (Viva Connections) Means in SharePoint
The app uses SharePoint as its content and navigation foundation while presenting a tailored experience in Teams desktop, web, and mobile. Organizations can connect a SharePoint home site, configure dashboard cards for common tasks, expose resources and global navigation, and surface organizational news. Audience targeting can personalize selected cards and links, subject to each user's actual permissions.
Microsoft's 2026 rename does not mean Viva Connections content moved away from SharePoint. It clarifies the platform relationship: SharePoint powers the app and the app is a Teams access point. Existing guidance, settings, PowerShell names, or third-party materials may still use Viva Connections, so both names remain useful search terms during the transition.
Why It Matters to the Business
For organizations with high Teams adoption, the app can reduce context switching and make the intranet more visible. It is particularly useful for frontline and hybrid employees who need quick access to benefits, schedules, policies, forms, support, or communications. The dashboard should prioritize high-frequency actions instead of becoming another crowded link directory.
The app does not fix a weak intranet. Stale pages, confusing navigation, broken ownership, broad permissions, and poor search remain underlying SharePoint problems. Leaders should treat the Teams experience as a distribution channel for a governed employee experience and measure task completion, card usage, search success, and content freshness.
What SharePoint Administrators Need to Know
Admins should confirm home-site configuration, navigation, app permissions, Teams app setup policies, audience targeting, mobile behavior, and branding. Test with real personas because executives, frontline staff, contractors, and regional employees may receive different cards or resources. Verify both the presentation and the permission result for each audience.
Rollout should include app deployment, pinning strategy, owner training, support documentation, analytics, and a process for retiring cards. Custom Adaptive Card Extensions require an SPFx development and deployment lifecycle. Administrators should also track Microsoft's rename because labels in portals, documentation, and update communications may change at different times.
What to Consider
Start with high-value tasks
Choose a small set of actions employees perform frequently and make each card lead to a clear, maintained destination.
Test every audience
Validate targeting, permissions, device behavior, and fallback experiences for each employee group rather than assuming a single preview represents everyone.
Govern the dashboard
Assign card owners, usage measures, review dates, accessibility requirements, and removal criteria so the app remains useful as demand grows.
Practical Takeaway
Use the SharePoint app in Teams to extend a well-governed intranet into the flow of work, with a small, measurable dashboard and clear ownership.
How This Shows Up in the Field
Frontline employee dashboard
A mobile-first dashboard provides shift resources, safety procedures, payroll links, and service requests targeted to frontline locations.
Hybrid-work entry point
Corporate employees open the pinned SharePoint app in Teams to reach news, global navigation, benefits, IT help, and department resources.
SharePoint app in Teams versus related experiences
| SharePoint app in Teams | The renamed Viva Connections employee app, using SharePoint home-site content, dashboard cards, resources, news, and navigation inside Teams. |
|---|---|
| SharePoint home site | The organization-designated SharePoint site that acts as a trusted intranet entry point and can power organization-wide experiences. |
| Teams team or channel | A collaboration workspace for a defined membership, meetings, chat, apps, and files rather than the organization-wide intranet entry point. |
Related SharePoint Glossary Terms
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Viva Connections now called the SharePoint app in Teams?
Yes. Microsoft announced that Viva Connections would be renamed the SharePoint app in Teams, with rollout completing by the end of June 2026. The experience remains powered by SharePoint and older product names may still appear in documentation or administration.
Does the SharePoint app in Teams require a home site?
Microsoft's current setup centers the experience on SharePoint and supports a home site for the full intranet connection. Confirm the current prerequisites and rollout path for the tenant before design, because capabilities and setup experiences can change.
Can dashboard audience targeting secure content?
No. Targeting changes what is promoted to an audience; it is not a security boundary. The destination content still needs correct SharePoint, Teams, app, or service permissions.
Official Microsoft References
- Set up the SharePoint app in Teams
- SharePoint home-site improvements and Teams app update
- SharePoint app bar and global navigation
Editorial review date: July 13, 2026. Product status and licensing can change; confirm current Microsoft documentation before implementation.
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