# What Is the SharePoint Highlighted Content Web Part and How Does It Work?

> The Highlighted content web part shows documents, pages or videos on a page by filter, so a video library or topic page updates itself as content is tagged.

- URL: https://www.danielanderson.io/articles/sharepoint-highlighted-content-web-part/
- Author: Daniel Anderson, Microsoft MVP (https://www.danielanderson.io/)
- Published: 2021-08-17
- Updated: 2026-10-26
- Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYImvIolv2A

## Key takeaways

- The Highlighted content web part displays documents, pages, news, videos and other content on a SharePoint page based on a source, a type and filters, so the page updates as matching content is added.
- With a source of A document library on this site or The page library on this site, it reads the library directly and can filter on any of its columns.
- With This site, This site collection, Select sites, All sites or All sites in the hub, it uses search, so new content only appears once it's indexed and custom columns need a managed property to filter on.
- Several instances of the web part on one page, each filtered on the same column, turn a library into a video library or a topic page without any code.
- The web part returns at most 200 items and only shows content the person viewing the page already has access to.

The Highlighted content web part shows content on a SharePoint page by rule: you tell it where to look, what kind of content to show and how to filter it, and it keeps the list up to date as content is added or tagged. Point it at a video library filtered on a Video type column, and every new video tagged Tip appears under Most recent tips without anyone editing the page.

It's one of my favourite web parts because the work moves from the page to the content. Authors tag a file once in the library, and every page with a matching Highlighted content web part picks it up. I recorded the video above in 2021, and the web part has gained new sources and filters since, so this article uses the current options and points out where the video differs.

## How does the Highlighted content web part find content?

It works in one of two ways, depending on the **Source** you choose. Most of the "why isn't my item showing" problems come down to which one you picked.

| | Library sources | Search sources |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Source options | **A document library on this site**, **The page library on this site** | **This site**, **This site collection**, **Select sites** (up to 30), **All sites in the hub**, **All sites** |
| How it finds content | Reads the library directly | Runs a search query |
| Filter on your own columns | Yes, by column name (or page properties for pages) | Only through a **Managed property** |
| New content appears | Straight away | Once search has indexed it, usually a few minutes |
| Custom query | CAML | KQL |

Both kinds return up to 200 items, and both are security trimmed, so two people looking at the same web part can see different results.

## What can you filter and sort on?

After the source, you choose a **Type**, such as Documents, Pages, News, Videos or Images, and a document type if you only want Word files or PDFs. Then, under **Filter and sort**, the filters are:

- **Title includes the words** and **Content includes the words**
- **Recently added** and **Recently changed**
- **Created by** and **Modified by**, as the current user or a selected person
- **Managed property**, for search sources
- A **column** or **page properties**, for library sources

Filters of the same type combine with OR and filters of different types combine with AND, so Title includes "episode" plus a Video type filter gives you episodes that are also tips. **Sort by** offers Most recent, Most viewed, Trending, or a managed property ascending or descending. For the layout, pick from Cards, List, Carousel, Compact and Filmstrip, and set how many items show.

## Building a video library with it

In the video, the library is called Video library, with a Choice column called Video type. I added the web part with **This site** as the source, changed **Type** to **Videos**, and it showed all eight videos on the site as cards. A second instance, filtered on the Video type managed property equal to Tip and titled Most recent tips, showed only the tips. Add one instance per value and you have a video library with a row for each type.

When I recorded this in 2021, I created Video type as a site column, because only site columns that contain values become managed properties automatically when they're crawled, and a search source can't filter on a column without one. Search sources still work that way. Today there's a quicker route for a single library: set the source to **A document library on this site**, pick the library, set the document type to **Video**, and filter by the column name directly. There's no managed property to wait for and no indexing delay.

Back in 2021, plenty of organisations kept their videos in Stream (Classic). Microsoft retired it in 2024, and video files now live in SharePoint and OneDrive libraries like any other file, where this web part can read them.

## Topic pages and filtering to one kind of content

The same pattern works for anything you tag. In a later video I built a topic page for Christmas on a communication site.

Video: A Christmas topic page: one Topic site column on the Site Pages and Documents libraries, two Highlighted content web parts and an Events web part. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCgA0VlEKtk

One site column does the work. Topic is a Choice column (Christmas, Easter, Policy, Procedure) added to both the Site Pages library and the Documents library. The topic page has a Highlighted content web part on **The page library on this site** filtered by page properties (Topic equals Christmas), a second on the Documents library filtered on the same column, and an Events web part showing only the Christmas category. In my demo it showed the three pages and one document I'd tagged, and none of the untagged documents I uploaded afterwards. Linked from a tile on the home page, it gives people one place for everything about the Christmas party.

Video: Answering a viewer's question: show only info sheets from a library with a Document type column. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF_XvcgB3lI

The viewer's question in the third video was how to show only info sheets from a library. The answer is a Choice column (I called it Document type, with Updates, Info sheets and Training info), a Highlighted content web part on that library with **Document type equals Info sheets**, and a second instance for Updates. Because I created Document type as a site column, the next library on the site reused the same choices with **Add from existing site columns**, so tagging stays consistent. [Adding metadata columns to a library](https://www.danielanderson.io/articles/sharepoint-library-metadata-columns/) covers the column side in more detail.

One naming tip from that question: the viewer had called their column Content type. SharePoint already has a built-in Content Type column with a different job, so I'd pick a name like Document type and avoid the confusion in every filter dropdown.

## Tag the content before you build the page

I reach for Highlighted content whenever the rule for what belongs in a section is clearer than the list of items: every video tagged Onboarding, every policy page owned by HR, every document changed in the last seven days. The page doesn't need editing again. Authors tag files in the library, and the web part picks them up.

An untagged file never appears, and nobody gets told. Before I build a topic page I check that the column exists on every library involved and that someone owns filling it in. A default value on the column helps, and the same columns are what Copilot leans on when it filters your content, which I cover in [turning SharePoint into a Copilot knowledge base with metadata](https://www.danielanderson.io/articles/sharepoint-copilot-knowledge-base-metadata/).

I'd use something else in three cases. For a hand-picked set of links in a fixed order, I'd use Quick links, as in [building a tools and apps dashboard](https://www.danielanderson.io/articles/sharepoint-tools-apps-dashboard/). For news, the News web part has its own layouts and filters, covered in [segmenting news with the News web part](https://www.danielanderson.io/articles/sharepoint-news-web-part/). And for searches across many sites with custom refiners, the search sources hit their limits quickly, which is where [a custom SharePoint search page](https://www.danielanderson.io/articles/sharepoint-custom-search-page/) and the managed property mapping behind it come in.

## Frequently asked questions

**Why doesn't my custom column show in the Highlighted content filter?**
It depends on the source. With A document library on this site or The page library on this site, the column should appear under the column or page properties filter. With a search source like This site or All sites, you need a managed property: site columns that hold values get one automatically when they're crawled, while a column added to one library usually needs mapping in the search schema first.

**Why isn't new content showing in the Highlighted content web part?**
If the source is a search source, the item has to be indexed first, which usually takes a few minutes after upload or editing. Also check the person can open the item, because results are security trimmed, and that the item has the tag your filter looks for.

**Can I audience target items in the Highlighted content web part?**
Yes, once audience targeting is turned on, and each file can be targeted to up to 50 audiences. How I set up audiences on a home page is in [building a personalised SharePoint intranet home page](https://www.danielanderson.io/articles/sharepoint-intranet-home-page/).

**Can the Highlighted content web part show content from other sites?**
Yes. Choose Select sites (up to 30), All sites in the hub, which only appears when your site is connected to a hub, or All sites. All three use search, so a custom query on them is written in KQL rather than CAML.