Branding your O365 Tenant

OK, before the real designers and branding experts out there dig in…let me state that this is not ‘true’ branding. I use the term branding simply because I think it is more recognizable for the majority.  I also don’t feel that people looking for the following information will search on something else.

So What is it I am talking about?

Simple settings and steps you can take to apply your corporate colors and logo to your O365 tenant/sites.

First of all, this will be the first of at least 2 posts related to the same topic.  So hang in there.  I am going to start with Tenant Settings and in the next post cover how to “lock-down” your sites so people won’t change the corporate color scheme and logo that you set up for them.

Considering that O365 is all about empowering people, this may seem counter-productive.  However I think most companies out there want consistency in their sites and many don’t want kitten themed sites unless they are a company focused on cats.

So let’s get to it.

Navigate to: Office Admin Center>Settings>Organization profile

Edit the “Manage custom themes for your organization” section

Upload your logo!

Make the logo clickable – this may be very handy, but it isn’t required

Depending on your company policy for branding you may NOT want to select/upload a Background Image

**Key Item** Check the “Prevent users from overriding their theme” check box

Set the Accent Color, Navigation bar, Text and Icon Colors – your site may have different options based on the type of tenant you have and the license levels…but there will be 3 color choices for you to make.  This sets up the theme for you.

Click Save

Note that it may take a while for these changes to filter down to all of your sites.  Typically the admin center gets it immediately.

Now you have the basic settings in place that will apply to all of your O365 sites.  Super simple yes.

New Life, Old stale site

Unlikely anyone is reading this as stale as the site is…but here is a little history and future plans for anyone out there.

Believe it or not I had a lot of posts after 2014 but they went to a new site hosted elsewhere.  Family life/health took over and it was slim postings, especially after sometime in 2017.  That led to the hosting company to delete my site and all content.  That stuff is gone, long gone.  No crying over spilled milk as the old saying goes.

The good news is I plan to breath some new life in this site.

Current plans are to fast forward to my current activities, so you can expect to see posts on topics ranging from SharePoint, O365, Azure, PowerShell, and who knows what else I end up working on.  I may have to change the name of the site – or at least the tag line.  For now I will only commit to posting something more frequently than every 5 years!

If you have been here or checking back from time to time….I thank you with full heart.  Life has given me some big road blocks and many challenges still lie ahead, but it is time for me to at least attempt to peek my head out from under water and re-engage as best I can.  Here goes….

thanks,

tony