Overview of Sites and Site Collections in SharePoint 2013

Overview of sites and site collections inSharePoint 2013

Published: February 19, 2013

Summary: Learn about site collections, sites, and site templates in SharePoint 2013.

Applies to: SharePoint Foundation 2013 | SharePoint Server 2013

A site collection is made up of one top-level site and all sites below it. As shown in the following figure, it is the

top level of organization in a SharePoint 2013 web application. The number of site collections you can have in a

single web application depends on the capacity of your server infrastructure. For more information about

SharePoint 2013 boundaries, see Software boundaries and limits for SharePoint 2013. For more information about

SharePoint 2013 capacity planning, see Capacity management and sizing overview for SharePoint Server 2013.

Figure: Structure of a site collection in SharePoint 2013

From an architecture standpoint, all the content of a site collection must be stored in a single content database.

You cannot have a site collection's content spread out across multiple content databases. Content databases scale

with your infrastructure capacity so site collections can share a content database. A site collection can exist in only

one content database, but one content database can host the content for multiple site collections. Similarly, any

given SharePoint 2013 site can only exist in one site collection, but a site collection can host a multitude of sites. A

site cannot exist outside of a site collection.

In this article:

Overview of SharePoint site collections

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Overview of SharePoint sites

Overview of SharePoint site collectionsYou create a site collection to host sites that are going to have something in common. For example, the sites

might be in a common administrative boundary or share common branding. The site collection might be created

to house all the sites and content for a business unit. Or, a single site collection might have become too large to

manage, and it must be split into smaller ones. Lastly, some site collections are created exclusively to host specific

SharePoint 2013 functionality, such as Enterprise Search Center or to host My Sites. Site collections are a way of

organizing sites for a common purpose.

SharePoint 2013 supports two types of site collections: host-named site collections and path-based site

collections. In a path-based site collection, all the subsites in the site collection will share a root or parent URL

(DNS name). For example, Team A could have a site collection at http://contoso.com/sites/teamA, and Team B

would have a site collection at http://contoso/sites/teamB. All sites in either site collection would have the

http://contoso.com/sites/teamA or /teamB root. The only way to have a different URL root is to create a different

web application.

To better align with SharePoint Online best practices, you should use host-named site collections. Host-named

site collections allow you to assign custom names to each site collection that you create in a web application. For

example, you can have two site collections in the same web application addressed like this:

http://TeamA.contoso.com and http://TeamB.contoso.com. This is much more scalable and has been heavily

tested in SharePoint Online. For more information about planning host-named site collections, see Host-named

site collection architecture and deployment (SharePoint 2013).

Because site collections and sites exist in a parent-child relationship, there are aspects of control and functionality

that can be configured at the site collection level and used at the site level. This provides many benefits as follows:

For site designers, a site collection's galleries and libraries (such as the Master Page Gallery or the Site

Collection Images library) provide a means for creating a unified, branded user experience across all sites in

the site collection.

For site collection administrators, a site collection provides a unified mechanism and scope for

administration. For example, security, policies, and features can be managed for a whole site collection; Site

Collection Web Analytics Reports, audit log reports, and other data can help administrators track site

collection security and performance.

For farm administrators, site collections can be moved between content databases. By doing this, farm

administrators can manage the size of their content databases.

For site authors, shared site columns, content types, Web Parts, authoring resources, workflows, and other

site collection features provide a consistent authoring environment.

For site users, a site collection's unified navigation, branding, and search tools provide a unified website

experience.

Every site collection starts out as a single, top-level site. Because it is a site, its structure and functionality is based

on a site template. SharePoint 2013 provides many site templates for your use. You can also create and use your

own as needed. SharePoint 2013 includes the ability to present sites in the style of SharePoint 2010 Products or

the style of SharePoint 2013. The following table describes the 2013 experience version site templates that are

available in SharePoint 2013.

Table: 2013 experience version site templates in SharePoint 2013

Type Name Description Availability


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Collaboration Team Site A place to work together with a group of people. Site collection

and site, Server

and Foundation

Blog A site for a person or team to post ideas, observations, and

expertise that site visitors can comment on.

Site collection

and site, Server

and Foundation

Develop Site A site for developers to build, test, and publish apps for

Office.

Site collection

only, Server

and Foundation

Project Site A site for managing and collaborating on a project. This

site template brings all status, communication, and

artifacts relevant to the project into one place.

Site collection

and site, Server

only

Community

Site

A place where community members discuss topics of

common interest. Members can browse and discover

relevant content by exploring categories, sorting

discussions, by popularity or by viewing only posts that

have a best reply. Members gain reputation points by

participating in the community, such as starting

discussions and replying to them, liking posts, and

specifying best replies.

Site collection

and site, Server

only

Enterprise Document

Center

A site to centrally manage documents in your enterprise. Site collection

and site, Server

only

eDiscovery

Center

A site to manage the preservation, search, and export of

content for legal matters and investigations.

Site collection

only, Server

only

Records

Center

This template creates a site designed for records

management. Records managers can configure the routing

table to direct incoming files to specific locations. The site

also lets you manage whether records can be deleted or

modified after they are added to the repository.

Site collection

and site, Server

only

Business

Intelligence

Center

A site for presenting Business Intelligence content. Site collection

and site, Server

only

Enterprise

Search

Center

A site focused on delivering an enterprise-wide search

experience.

Note:

Search Centers should be separate site collections

because they search for information across a company

portal or division. If you create a Search Center as a

subsite, you might have to create some workarounds

for a full customization. For more information, see

Customizing the Search Center in the MSDN Library.

Site collection

and site, Server

only


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My Site Host A site used for hosting personal sites (My Sites) and the

public People Profile page.

Site collection

only, Server

only

Community

Portal

A site for discovering communities. Site collection

only, Server

only

Basic Search

Center

A site focused on delivering a basic search experience. It

includes a welcome page with a search box that connects

users to a search results page and an advanced search

page. This Search Center will not appear in navigation.

Note:

Search Centers should be separate site collections

because they search for information across a company

portal or division. If you create a Search Center as a

subsite, you might have to create some workarounds

for a full customization. For more information, see

Customizing the Search Center in the MSDN Library.

Site collection

and site, Server

and Foundation

Visio Process

Repository

A site for viewing, sharing, and storing Visio process

diagrams. It includes a versioned document library and

templates for Basic Flowcharts, Cross-functional

Flowcharts, and BPMN diagrams.

Note:

The Visio Process Repository site template will be

removed in the next version of SharePoint Server.

Site collection

and site, Server

only

Publishing Publishing

Portal

A starter hierarchy for an Internet-facing site or a large

intranet portal. This site can be customized easily with

distinctive branding. Typically, this site has many more

readers than contributors and it is used to publish web

pages with approval workflows.

Site collection

only, Server

only

Enterprise

Wiki

A site for publishing knowledge that you capture and want

to share across the enterprise.

Site collection

and site, Server

only

Product

Catalog

A site for managing product catalog data that can be

published to an Internet-facing site through search.

Site collection

only, Server

only

Publishing

site

A blank site for expanding your website and quickly

publishing web pages. Contributors can work on draft

versions of pages and publish them to make them visible

to readers. The site includes document and image libraries

for storing web publishing assets.

Site only,

Server only

Publishing

Site with

A site for publishing web pages on a schedule by using

approval workflows. It includes document and image

Site only,

Server only


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workflow libraries for storing web publishing assets. By default, only

sites with this template can be created under this site.

Custom <Select

template

later…>

Create an empty site and pick a template for the site at a

later time.

Site collection

only, Server

and Foundation

The following table describes the 2010 experience version site templates that are available in SharePoint 2013.

Table: 2010 experience version site templates in SharePoint 2013

Type Name Description Availability

Collaboration Team Site Same functionality as the 2013 Team site. Site collection and

site, Server and

Foundation

Blank Site A blank site for you to customize based on your

requirements.

Site collection and

site, Server and

Foundation

Document

Workspace

A site for colleagues to work together on a

document. It provides a document library for

storing the primary document and supporting

files.

Site collection and

site, Server and

Foundation

Blog Same functionality as the 2013 Blog site. Site collection and

site, Server and

Foundation

Group Work Site This template provides a groupware solution that

enables teams to create, organize, and share

information. It includes a Group Calendar,

Circulation, Phone-Call Memo, a document library,

and other basic lists.

Site collection and

site, Server and

Foundation

Visio Process

Repository

Same functionality as the 2013 Visio Process

Repository.

Site collection and

site, Server only

Meetings Basic Meeting

Workspace

A site to plan, organize, and capture the results of

a meeting. It provides lists for managing the

agenda, meeting attendees, and documents.

Site collection and

site, Server and

Foundation

Blank Meeting

Workspace

A blank meeting site for you to customize based

on your requirements.

Site collection and

site, Server and

Foundation

Decision Meeting

Workspace

A site for meetings that track status or make

decisions. It provides lists for creating tasks,

storing documents, and recording decisions.

Site collection and

site, Server and

Foundation

Social Meeting

Workspace

A site to plan social occasions. It provides lists for

tracking attendees, providing directions, and

storing pictures of the event.

Site collection and

site, Server and

Foundation


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Multipage

Meeting

Workspace

A site to plan, organize, and capture the results of

a meeting. It provides lists for managing the

agenda and meeting attendees in addition to two

blank pages for you to customize based on your

requirements.

Site collection and

site, Server and

Foundation

Enterprise Document Center A site to centrally manage documents in your

enterprise.

Site collection and

site, Server only

Records Center This template creates a site designed for records

management. Records managers can configure the

routing table to direct incoming files to specific

locations.

Site collection and

site, Server only

Business

Intelligence

Center

Same functionality as the 2013 Business

Intelligence site.

Site collection

only, Server only

Enterprise Search

Center

A site for delivering the search experience. It

includes a search box with scopes for general

searches and for people searches. You can add

and customize tabs to focus on other search

scopes or result types.

Site collection and

site, Server only

My Site Host Same functionality as the 2013 My Site Host site. Site collection

only, Server only

Basic Search

Center

A site for delivering the search experience. The site

includes pages for search results and advanced

searches.

Site collection and

site, Server and

Foundation

FAST Search

Center

A site for delivering the FAST search experience. Site collection and

site, Server only

Publishing Publishing Portal Same functionality as the 2013 Publishing Portal

site.

Site collection

only, Server only

Enterprise Wiki Same functionality as the 2013 Enterprise Wiki site. Site collection

only, Server only

Publishing Site

with Workflow

Same functionality as the 2013 Publishing Site with

Workflow site.

2010 site only,

Server only

Custom <Select template

later…>

Same functionality as the 2013 <Select template

later…> option.

Site collection

only, Server and

Foundation

Web

Databases

Assets Web

Database

Create an assets database to keep track of assets,

including asset details and owners.

2010 site only

Charitable

Contributions

Web Database

Create a database to track information about

fundraising campaigns including donations made

by contributors, campaign-related events, and

2010 site only


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pending tasks.

Contacts Web

Database

Create a contacts database to manage information

about people that your team works with, such as

customer and partner.

2010 site only

Issues Web

Database

Create an issues database to manage a set of

issues or problems. You can assign, prioritize, and

follow the progress of issues from start to finish.

2010 site only

Projects Web

Database

Create a project tracking database to track

multiple projects and assign tasks to different

people.

2010 site only

Note:

The Web Databases site templates that are available through the 2010 experience sites in SharePoint 2013 are

no longer available in the 2013 experience sites in SharePoint 2013. In SharePoint 2013, you create an Access

database by creating a new app, instead of creating a site. For more information, see Overview of apps for

SharePoint 2013.

Important:

Some SharePoint 2010 Products site templates, such as the Document Workspace Site templates, were

deprecated and are not available as an option in SharePoint 2013. Existing sites that were created by using

these deprecated site templates and then upgraded will continue to operate in SharePoint 2013. The

deprecated site templates will be removed completely from the next version of SharePoint. For more

information, and to see a complete list of deprecated site templates, see Changes from SharePoint 2010 to

SharePoint 2013.

Examples of solutions that benefit from being implemented as site collections are as follows:

Team collaboration site A site collection to support authoring and collaboration tasks. Often, this kind

of site includes collaborative content that is not published but only used internally. For example, a team

collaboration site collection might contain a site for each team in your organization to use to plan projects,

coordinate tasks, record meeting notes, and store team documents.

Published Internet site A site collection for publishing content to anonymous Internet readers. A small

number of authors create and publish content for many readers. For example, you might use a published

Internet site to provide information about company products or services to customers. You can implement

publishing sites in a single site collection, where authoring and publishing tasks are performed on the

same site. You can also implement publishing sites as two or more site collections that separate the stages

of authoring and publishing. Content is created on one or more authoring site collections, and is displayed

on one or more publishing site collections by using the Cross-Site Collection Publishing feature in

SharePoint Server 2013. For information about how to decide which publishing method to use, see Plan for

Internet, intranet, and extranet publishing sites in SharePoint Server 2013. For information about cross-site

publishing, see Plan for cross-site publishing in SharePoint Server 2013. Publishing sites are not available in

SharePoint Foundation 2013. Cross-site publishing is only available in SharePoint Server 2013.

Overview of SharePoint sitesYou create sites in your site collection to partition your content so that you can have finer control of the


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appearance and the permission to the content. You can also have different features available on the various sites

in your site collection. You can use a site template with its default configuration, or you can change the site's

default settings through site administration, and then save the site as a new template.

Note:

You cannot save a SharePoint publishing site collection or site as a template. If you activate the SharePoint

Server Publishing Infrastructure feature on a nonpublishing site collection, the Save site as template link is

removed from the Site Actions section on the Site Settings page.

You can configure the following items for a site:

Templates Sites in a site collection can each use different templates.

Language If language packs were installed on the web server, you can select a specific language to use

together with the site template when you create a new site. The user interface that appears on the site is

displayed in the language that was selected when the site was created. Content and other items created by

users are displayed in the language in which they are created. For more information, see Plan for

multilingual sites in SharePoint 2013 and Install or uninstall language packs for SharePoint 2013.

Security You can define unique user groups and permissions for each site. For more information, see

SharePoint 2010 Governance Planning (white paper). For information about how to share securely, see

Sharing - simplified on the Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog.

Navigation You can fine-tune your site's navigation experience by configuring unique navigation links in

each part of your site's hierarchy. Site navigation often reflects the relationships among the sites in a site

collection. Therefore, planning navigation and planning sites structures are closely related activities. For

more information, see Overview of site navigation in SharePoint 2013.

In SharePoint Server 2013 publishing sites, you can use managed navigation to create a site navigation that

is derived from a tightly managed taxonomy. For more information, see Overview of managed navigation

in SharePoint Server 2013.

Web pages Each site can have a unique welcome page and other pages.

Site layouts Each site can have a unique layout or master pages.

Themes You can change colors and fonts on a site. For more information, see Plan for themes in

SharePoint 2013.

Regional settings Each site can have custom regional settings, such as locale, time zone, sort order, time

format, and calendar type.

Search Each site can have custom search settings. For example, you can specify that a particular site never

appears in search results.

Content types Each site can have unique content types and site columns.

Workflows You can make each site have unique workflows.

Apps You can install apps for SharePoint to deliver specific information or functionality to a SharePoint

site. An app for SharePoint is a small, easy-to-use, stand-alone application that solves a specific end-user

or business need. For more information, see Overview of apps for SharePoint 2013.

See also


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Did you find this helpful?

Plan sites and site collections in SharePoint 2013

Overview of site navigation in SharePoint 2013

Resource Center: Enterprise Content Management in SharePoint Server 2010

© 2014 Microsoft. All rights reserved.

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Overview of Sites and Site Collections in SharePoint 2013