Knowledge · SharePoint intranet
The 8 web parts every intranet needs
A SharePoint intranet lives or dies by its building blocks. Microsoft ships a solid starter set — but the features employees actually ask for are often missing. These eight intranet web parts decide whether your intranet gets used daily or gathers dust.
- building blocks for a complete intranet
- 8
- building blocks for a complete intranet
- stock web parts ship with Microsoft
- ~40
- stock web parts ship with Microsoft
- lines of code to extend it
- 0
- lines of code to extend it
- minutes to install each web part
- <10
- minutes to install each web part
- 01
The org chart: who actually does what here?
What SharePoint shipsSharePoint shows a person's manager on their profile — a clickable org chart of the whole organization doesn't exist out of the box.
What's missing — and how to close the gapIt's the single most requested intranet feature. An org chart web part reads the structure live from Microsoft Entra ID: zoomable, searchable, and always as current as the directory — no hand-maintained PowerPoint slides.
- 02
The people search: find any colleague in seconds
What SharePoint shipsSharePoint search does find people — buried between documents, with no filters for department, location or skills.
What's missing — and how to close the gapA directory web part turns this into a real who's who: instant search from the first keystroke, filter chips, Teams presence, and one-click chat and call actions.
- 03
The news hub: company news in one place
What SharePoint shipsThe built-in News web part displays posts from its own site just fine. Try aggregating news across departments, and you quickly hit its layout and filtering limits.
What's missing — and how to close the gapA news hub web part aggregates posts from every site of your intranet into a magazine layout — with audience targeting, categories and reading time.
- 04
The policy hub: acknowledgements without folder archaeology
What SharePoint shipsDocument libraries hold every policy — but nobody can prove who has read the current version, and reminders are manual.
What's missing — and how to close the gapA policy hub publishes the current version, collects a per-person acknowledgement with timestamp and shows compliance at a glance — audit-ready without spreadsheets.
- 05
The interactive map: floor plans and sites people actually use
What SharePoint shipsFloor plans live as static PDFs or images — no hotspots, no search, and every room change means a new export.
What's missing — and how to close the gapAn interactive image map turns any floor plan, campus or process graphic into clickable hotspots with details, filters and zoom — editable in the browser.
- 06
Birthdays & anniversaries: the human side of the intranet
What SharePoint shipsNothing. For birthdays and work anniversaries, SharePoint simply has no building block.
What's missing — and how to close the gapYet these are exactly the moments that make an intranet feel alive. A celebrations web part congratulates automatically — privacy-friendly, with opt-out and no birth years shown.
- 07
The KPI dashboard: numbers where everyone already looks
What SharePoint shipsFor metrics, Microsoft points to Power BI — powerful, but licensed per person and often oversized for a simple traffic-light dashboard.
What's missing — and how to close the gapA KPI web part shows values from lists or Excel right on the intranet home page: with targets, trends and status lights — no extra licenses for the workforce.
- 08
The kudos wall: recognition where everyone already looks
What SharePoint shipsSharePoint has likes and comments — but no place where colleagues thank each other in front of the team, and nothing that connects praise to your company values.
What's missing — and how to close the gapA kudos web part turns recognition into a wall on the home page: give kudos in seconds with one company value, applaud, and see who was recognized most this month — stored in your own lists, no extra tool.
Your intranet, checked in 30 seconds
| Building block | Stock SharePoint | With an SPFx web part |
|---|---|---|
| Org chart | profile chain only | live from Entra ID |
| People search | buried in search | who's who with filters |
| News | one site | every site, bundled |
| Policies | untracked PDFs | tracked acknowledgements |
| Maps & plans | static PDFs | clickable hotspots |
| Birthdays & anniversaries | — | automatic & privacy-fair |
| Metrics | Power BI only | no extra licenses |
| Recognition | likes only | values, applause, highlights |
Common questions about intranet web parts
Which web parts does SharePoint ship out of the box?
Around 40 stock web parts: text, image, news, quick links, events, people and more. They cover an intranet's basic structure well — the gaps show up around org charts, cross-site people search, aggregation across sites, and metrics.
Can I extend my SharePoint intranet without developers?
Yes. Ready-made SPFx web parts are uploaded to the app catalog as a .sppkg file — a file upload, not a coding project. Our deployment guide walks you through it in under 10 minutes.
What do intranet web parts cost?
Ours range from €290 to €1,290 — one-time per Microsoft 365 tenant, with unlimited users and 12 months of updates. For comparison: building one yourself quickly costs ten times that, plus ongoing maintenance.
Do the web parts also work in Microsoft Teams?
Many do — SPFx is also the technical foundation for Teams tabs and personal apps. Each product page states the web part's Teams support.