How to Filter SharePoint Online News Posts in Communication Sites (Step-by-Step Guide)

Introduction

SharePoint Online's News feature has become an essential tool for internal communications, helping organizations share updates, announcements, and stories across their workforce. However, as your news content grows, a common challenge emerges: how do you keep everything organized and ensure employees see only the most relevant information?

Imagine your communication site displaying a mix of company-wide announcements, departmental updates, project reports, and blog posts all in one feed. While comprehensive, this approach can overwhelm users and make it difficult to find specific types of content. Department heads want to see only their team's updates, project managers need quick access to status reports, and employees looking for blog content don't want to scroll through unrelated announcements.

The solution is to filter your News web part by category. By organizing your news posts into distinct types such as:

• Blogs
• Departmental updates
• Project news
• Company announcements
• Status reports

You can create targeted news sections that display exactly what your audience needs to see.

In this guide, we'll show you how to filter SharePoint News using the Page Category field—a fully Microsoft-supported method that leverages page properties. This approach requires no custom development, works across multiple sites, and gives you complete control over how news content is organized and displayed throughout your SharePoint environment.

Why Use SharePoint Online to Filter News?

You benefit from filtering:

• Show only relevant News posts.
• Organize content by categories.
• Create sections for your blog.
• Maintain a clean communication site.
• Improve information discoverability.

You may filter News on any page by using information like Page Category.

Requirements

Before you begin, ensure you have:

• A SharePoint communication site
• Site owner or administrator permissions
• Permission to modify the Site Pages library
• At least a few news posts already created (for testing the filter)

Step 1: Establish a Page Category Column in the Site Pages Library

1. Navigate to your Communication Site.
2. Select Site contents.
3. Access Site Pages, hover over it to see visible ellipses, then click on it to see “Setting.”

4. Click Create column and select Choice as the type.
5. Label the column as "Page Category".
6. Add choice values such as:
   • Blog
   • Project Report
   • Status Report
   • General News
   • General Page
   • Announcement
   • News
7. If you want to set a default value, select one; otherwise, leave it blank.
8. Click the "OK" button to create the column.

Important: this column should be established within the Site Pages library – not within any other list or library.

Step 2: Categorize Your News Posts using Page Category

Every News post needs to have a category assigned for filtering purposes.

1. Open any News Post.
2. Select Page details (located at the top-right).
3. Scroll down to page category.
4. Pick a value (for instance, blog).
5. Save your changes (the page will auto-save) or republish if already published.

Step 3: Add the SharePoint News Web Part to Your Page

Navigate to the page where you wish to show filtered News.

1. Select Edit.
2. Click on the plus sign.
3. Search for News.
4. Integrate the News web part.
5. Choose your preferred format (tiles, list, carousel, etc.).

Note: If you have already been on your communication site, then skip the few steps.

Step 4: Apply Filters to the News Web Part Based on Page Category

1. Modify your page.
2. Highlight the News web part.
3. Select the Edit web part option (pencil symbol).

4. Scroll down to Filter.
5. Pick Page properties.

6. In the Property name section, choose: Page category.

7. In the value input field, type or select: Blog.

8. Implement changes.
9. Publish the page.

Now, the News web part will exclusively show entries labeled as “blogs.”

Step 5: Create a Blog Section Utilizing News Filtering (optional)

You can establish a specific blog page by using this filtered News web part.

Example Configuration:

• Page category = Blog

The news web part was adjusted to display solely blog entries.

Unique banner, design, and navigation links.

This provides a comprehensive blog experience within SharePoint Online.

Step 6: Scale Across Multiple Sites (Reusing the Page Category Column)

Once you've successfully set up filtered news on one communication site, you'll likely want to implement the same categorization system across other sites in your organization. The good news: you don't need to recreate the Page Category column from scratch each time.

SharePoint allows you to convert your custom column into a reusable Site Column that can be added to any communication site. This ensures consistency in how news is categorized across your entire SharePoint environment and saves significant setup time.

Benefits of Using Site Columns

• Maintain consistent categorization across all sites
• Save time by avoiding repetitive column creation
• Ensure all sites use the same category values
• Make updates to categories in one place

How to Create and Reuse the Page Category Site Column

Part A: Convert to Site Column (on your original site)

1. Navigate to Site Settings on your source communication site.
2. Under Web Designer Galleries, select Site columns.
3. Click Create.
4. Enter the column name: Page Category.
5. Select type: Choice.
6. Add your choice values (Blog, Announcement, Project News, etc.).
7. Choose an appropriate group or create a new one (e.g., "Custom News Columns").
8. Click OK to save.

Part B: Add Site Column to Other Sites

1. Navigate to the target communication site where you want to use filtering.
2. Go to Site contents.
3. Open Site Pages library settings.
4. Click Add from existing site columns.
5. Locate and select Page Category from the appropriate group.
6. Click Add, then OK.

The Page Category column is now available on the new site with all the same options you configured originally. You can immediately begin categorizing news posts and setting up filtered News web parts following Steps 2-4 from this guide.

Pro Tip: If you need to add new category values later, update the Site Column definition, and the changes will be reflected across all sites using that column.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Can I filter SharePoint Online News by category?

Yes, you can filter SharePoint Online News by creating a Page Category column in the Site Pages library and applying it as a filter in the News web part.

What is the Page Category column in SharePoint?

The Page Category column is a custom metadata field added to the Site Pages library that helps categorize news posts such as blogs, announcements, and project updates.

Is filtering SharePoint News using Page Properties supported by Microsoft?

Yes, using Page Properties like Page Category for filtering the News web part is fully supported by Microsoft in SharePoint Online.

Can I reuse the Page Category column across multiple SharePoint sites?

Yes, by creating a Site Column, you can reuse the Page Category column across different communication sites for consistent filtering.

Can I create a blog section in SharePoint using the News web part?

Yes, by filtering the News web part with Page Category set to “Blog,” you can create a dedicated blog section within SharePoint Online.

Does filtering affect existing news posts?

No, existing news posts will appear once you assign them a Page Category value.

Conclusion

Filtering SharePoint Online News using the Page Category column is a powerful yet simple way to organize content and deliver targeted updates to users. By leveraging page properties and the News web part’s built-in filtering capabilities, organizations can create structured blog sections, department-specific news areas, and cleaner communication sites.

This approach is fully supported by Microsoft, scalable across multiple sites, and improves content discoverability without requiring custom development.

With proper categorization in place, SharePoint News becomes a more effective communication tool for your organization.

If you have any questions you can reach out our SharePoint Consulting team here.