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How to Centre Page Content in a Modern SharePoint Online Team Site

When working with modern SharePoint Online pages, you may notice differences in how content is positioned between communication sites and team sites.

In my experience, modern pages in communication sites generally presented their content centrally, with white space on both sides. However, pages in a Microsoft 365 group-connected team site appeared left-aligned, leaving considerable unused space on the right.

Fortunately, SharePoint provides a setting that can help address this layout preference.

The problem: Left-aligned page content

When creating or editing modern pages in a SharePoint Online team site, the content may appear positioned towards the left side of the available page area.

Depending on the page design and screen resolution, this can make the layout look unbalanced.

The objective is to centre the page content without introducing custom CSS, JavaScript or an SPFx extension.


How to change the content alignment

In the SharePoint Online interface available when I originally documented this solution in September 2023, the following steps were used:

1. Open the SharePoint Online team site.

2. Select the Settings (gear) icon.

3. Open Change the look.

4. Select Navigation.

5. Locate the option relating to site layout or content alignment, as shown in the original screenshots.

6. Apply the relevant setting and save your changes.


Once the change has been applied, return to the page and check how the content is displayed.


Things to consider

Site experience: The setting was observed in the SharePoint Online experience available at the time of the original article. Microsoft regularly updates the SharePoint interface, so the location or availability of this option may differ.

Permissions: Changing site appearance settings generally requires appropriate site management permissions.

Responsive layout: Content positioning can look different on desktop, tablet and mobile screens. Check the result at more than one screen width.

Site-wide impact: Before changing an appearance setting, consider whether it affects other pages or navigation elements in the site.

Why use the built-in setting?

Where supported, a native SharePoint configuration option is preferable to adding custom styling solely to adjust page alignment.

It avoids introducing additional code that may require maintenance when Microsoft updates the SharePoint user interface.

Conclusion

If modern page content appears unnecessarily left-aligned in a SharePoint Online team site, review the available site appearance settings before considering custom development.

This was a straightforward configuration-based solution in the environment where I originally encountered the issue.

Originally published in September 2023. The screenshots document the interface available at that time. The exact setting and its availability should be verified against your current SharePoint Online experience.



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