SharePoint site navigation

SharePoint has four navigation types and they layer rather than replace each other. Global navigation appears across the whole tenant through the SharePoint app bar. Hub navigation is the shared bar a hub site displays on every associated site. Local navigation is the site’s own menu — horizontal on communication sites, left-hand on team sites. Footer navigation sits at the bottom and is available on communication sites only. A person on an associated communication site can see three of the four at once.

Part of the SharePoint reference · Limits verified against Microsoft documentation · Last reviewed 1 September 2026

The four types

Deciding which link belongs in which layer is most of the work. The rule that holds up: the broader the audience, the higher the layer.

• GlobalTenant-wide, delivered through the SharePoint app bar and enabled from a home site. For the handful of destinations everyone needs, and for surfacing hubs so people can find them.
• HubThe shared bar a hub site displays across every associated site. For the site family — the department, region or function the hub represents.
• LocalThe site's own menu. Horizontal top navigation on communication sites, left-hand on team sites. For this site's own content, and nothing else.
• FooterCommunication sites only. Up to eight items on a single level, with optional logo and display name. For legal, policy and contact links.

Mega menu or cascading

Both support three levels; they differ only in how they display. A cascading menu opens compact dropdowns one level at a time. A mega menu opens a wide multi-column panel showing several levels at once, with second-level links in bold.

The choice follows from depth. A mega menu is designed around all three levels and looks sparse with two; if you only need two, cascading is the better fit. Team sites and communication sites both support either style, and a hub adds a further mega menu of its own. Mega menus are not available in on-premises SharePoint.

Links versus labels

A link has a URL and is clickable. A label is a heading with no destination, used to group links beneath it. Labels are what stop a top-level tab from having to point at some arbitrary page just so it can be clicked — if a tab exists only to open a group, make it a label. In a mega menu, where a wide panel needs headings to be readable, labels are the difference between a structure and a wall of links.

Audience targeting, and what it is not

Targeting is enabled once in the navigation editing pane, then applied per link with up to ten Microsoft 365 or security groups each. Three behaviours matter, and the third is the one people get wrong.

• Enabling it affects every menu on the site. Including the footer — not just the menu you happened to be editing.
• Targeting a parent applies to the whole sub-tree. Hide a top-level label and everything under it goes with it.
• It only hides links. It is not security. The destination’s own permissions still govern access. Someone who guesses or is sent the URL can still open it if they have rights, and hiding a link from someone who does have rights does not remove those rights.

Limits and thresholds

Where native navigation runs out

For most intranets the built-in navigation is sufficient, and the structural advice above matters far more than the styling. Two constraints show up on larger portals.

The mega menu is a site-level setting rather than something you place and style on a page — you choose between two supplied styles and inherit the site theme, with no control over layout, typography, imagery or grouping treatment within the panel. And there is no dismissible, site-wide alert banner, so urgent messages end up as a Text web part at the top of one page.

Common questions about SharePoint navigation