Membership lists all SharePoint sites and Teams connected sites a user has access to.
It uses search to generate a security trimmed list of sites with relevant details such as subsites present, Teams connected, related hub site, external access, owners and views.
Membership allows users to navigate to their sites in a simple, fast and convenient way.
Administrators no longer have to maintain applications to list available sites.
Product Features
See all features below
Overview
Before describing the features of the Membership tool it is important to understand the capabilities and limitations of standard SharePoint.
SharePoint (on-prem) and SharePoint Online do not offer a feature that provides a list the user has access to. This feature that has already been requested multiple times via the Microsoft feedback portal (e.g., link).
Users can find a list with sites and subsites by executing the following search query:
(contentclass:STS_Site OR contentclass:STS_Web)
This is not ideal since the users need to enter a complex query and the search result list is shown as a flat list without an hierarchy for subsites. Some sites may not even be listed because search treats them as duplicate search results.
Some organizations resort to adding a search web part to the start page that uses search to list the sites that are accessible for the current users. In most organizations this is sufficient but sometimes this is inadequate. For instance when the search index is not up to date or not available, environments with a large number of sites/subsites, when complex permissions have been configured or the search results contain so-called Alternate Access Mappings.
Some organisations resort to building scripts (e.g. PowerShell) to generate a list with all sites. This has the drawback that the list may contain sites the user has no access to (and is not supposed to be made aware off).
Membership in-depth
The Membership tool uses search to retrieve a list with accessible sites (and subsites) and offers the following features:
- easy to use
- fast (typical response time is < 2 s)
- no need to enter a complex search query
- shows subsites indented below the parent site
- search through sites
- support for hubsites
- filter by Type (SharePoint, Teams connected site) or by external sharing
- show private channels
- exclude domains, sites or managed paths (e.g., portals or personal)
- save list with sites as CSV file (optional)
- suitable for very large organizations (500+ sites)
The tool also offers benefits to the SharePoint Administrators:
- easy to deploy
- make available in SharePoint and Teams
- zero maintenance solution for administrators
- provides insight into sites with incorrect permission settings
In short, Membership allows users to list all accessible sites and administrators have a zero maintenance solution.
SharePoint on-premise only
Another feature of Membership is to use REST API requests. This can be used instead of search or to complement the search results (so-called hybrid mode) to ensure the sites list contains all accessible sites.
Performance
The performance of the Membership tool is optimized by using parallel processes and by using batch requests.
Configuration
The configuration of the tool is managed via a properties file.
Additional information
For further information check out the following sources:
In short: Membership provides users with a simple and fast way to access their sites