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Use cases & best practices (Alerts)

Guide to common use cases and best-practice tips for using the Alerts web part

What can I use the Alerts web part for?

The Alerts web part helps communicators get important messages in front of employees, wherever they are on your intranet.

You can show an alert on a single page, across an entire site, or on the dashboard in the SharePoint app in Teams (formerly Viva Connections). You can also schedule it, target it to specific audiences, and add a call to action.

You might use it to:

  • Let everyone know about a building closure, with the alert shown above the navigation on every page of your site
  • Remind a specific team or location about a deadline, using audience targeting so only the right people see it
  • Promote a time-limited announcement, scheduled to appear and disappear on set dates
  • Point people to the full story, with a link in the alert that takes them to more detailed content
  • Reach frontline workers who don't spend their day on the intranet, using the Alerts card on the dashboard
  • Let HR, Facilities, or other teams publish their own alerts without giving them edit rights to the whole intranet

Any time you want to get a key message seen, Alerts helps you do it without disrupting the rest of the page.

What are best practices for using Alerts?

To get the most value:

  • Create the data source on the site where you'll display alerts. If you need to share alerts across multiple sites, you can use a single data source, but keep in mind that only one data source can be created per site.
  • Use scheduling for anything time-sensitive. Set the start and end date and time when you create the alert, so it disappears on its own and doesn't go stale.
  • Delegate alert creation. Give HR, Facilities, or other teams edit permissions on the Alerts Directory so they can create alerts without access to the rest of your site.
  • Use overrides for site-specific alerts. If different sites need different alerts, see How to set up multiple alerts in your tenant.

 

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