Hide SharePoint Server social features

APPLIES TO: 2013 2016 2019 Subscription Edition SharePoint in Microsoft 365

The Viva Engage Embed widget for SharePoint lets you embed Viva Engage feeds into on-premises SharePoint Server sites to make them more social and engaging. Before you can do that, you have to do the following steps:

• Remove the Newsfeed Web Parts from My Sites and Team Sites.

• Hide the user interface controls that provide social features.

• Install the Viva Engage Embed widget for SharePoint.

• Add the Viva Engage feeds to your sites.

This article takes you through the steps required to do the first two steps: removing the Newsfeed Web Parts and hiding the user interface controls.

For information about how to add a Viva Engage feed on your sites, see Add the Viva Engage Embed widget to a SharePoint page.

Which SharePoint Server enterprise social features are removed?

When you follow the steps in this article, the following enterprise social features are removed:

• Viewing or posting to conversations in newsfeeds on My Sites and team sites.

• Viewing activities in the Newsfeed.

• Viewing activities on profile pages.

• Viewing the I'm Following Web Part on My Sites.

• Mentioning users from their profile page.

  Note

  This is shown on users' profile page when they fill in the Ask Me About field on their profile.

• Following people.

• Following tags.

• Viewing Trending #tags on users' Newsfeed page.

Which SharePoint Server enterprise social features stay the same?

When you follow the steps in this article, the following enterprise social features do not change:

• Following documents. Users can follow documents to bookmark the ones they are interested in. Users can follow documents from the hover panel in OneDrive, the hover panel in the library list view, the ribbon in a document library, and so on. Users can see their followed documents by choosing OneDrive, then choosing Followed Documents.

• Following sites. Users can follow sites to bookmark the ones they are interested in. Users can follow sites by choosing Sites on the top navigation bar.

• Updating information on the Edit Details page, as shown in the following screenshot.

  

• Posting on a note board.

• Liking or rating documents in a document library, and a video from the asset library.

• Using community sites.

• Changing activity settings on the Newsfeed Settings page. The following screenshot shows the Newsfeed Settings page.

  

  Important

  When the changes in this article are deployed, users can continue to use and fill in fields in the Newsfeed Settings page. But the information is no longer shown on My Site. However, information in the Basic Information and Contact Information pages are still shown on My Site.

SharePoint Server 2016

Remove Newsfeed Web Parts in team sites and My Sites.

Remove Newsfeed Web Parts from Team Sites in SharePoint Server 2016

Each site admin must apply the following steps to their site.

1. From any site in SharePoint Server 2016 that has a Newsfeed web part, select Edit.

2. Move the pointer over the Site Feed Web Part, and select the box that appears on the right side of the Web Part.

3. On the ribbon, chose the Web Part tab, and then select Delete.

4. Select OK.

5. On the ribbon, select the Page tab, and then select Stop Editing, and to save your changes, select Save.

6. Check that the Team Site does not show the removed Web Parts.

Remove Newsfeed Web Parts from My Sites in SharePoint Server 2016

If you have configured My Site for SharePoint Server 2016, you need to remove the Newseed web part from each My Site. A My Site host admin has to apply the following steps to each server in the server farm.

1. Move the pointer over the Newsfeed Web Part, and select the box that appears on the right side of the Web Part.

2. On the ribbon, select the Web Part tab, and then select Delete.

3. Select OK.

4. Repeat steps 2-4 for the Followed Counts and Trending Hashtags Web Parts.

SharePoint Server 2013

Remove Newsfeed Web Parts in team sites and My Sites, and hide user interface controls that provide social features.

Remove Newsfeed Web Parts from Team Sites in SharePoint Server 2013

As the site collection admin, you have to follow these steps on each team site that you want to remove the site feed from.

1. Browse to the team site from which you want to remove the site feed, select Settings, and then select Edit Page.

2. Hover over the Site Feed Web Part, and select the box that appears to the right of the Web Part.

3. On the ribbon, select the Web Part tab, and then select Delete.

4. Select OK.

5. On the ribbon, select Save.

6. Check that the team site no longer shows the Site Feed Web Part.

   

Remove Newsfeed Web Parts from My Sites in SharePoint Server 2013

A My Site host admin has to apply the following steps to each web server in the server farm.

1. From any site in SharePoint Server 2013, to browse to a user's My Site, select Newsfeed.

2. On the Newsfeed page, select Settings, and then select Edit Page.

3. Move the pointer over the Newsfeed Web Part, and select the box that appears on the right side of the Web Part.

4. On the ribbon, select the Web Part tab, and then select Delete.

5. Select OK.

6. Repeat steps 3-5 for the Followed Counts and Trending Hashtags Web Parts.

   Note

   It's a good idea to remove all social Web Parts, hidden or not hidden, to improve performance.

7. On the ribbon, to save your changes, select Stop Editing.

8. Check that the My Site does not show the removed Web Parts.

   

9. To open the user's profile page, select About me.

10. Select Settings, and then select Edit Page.

11. Move the pointer over the Activity Feed Web Part, and select the box that appears on the right side of the Web Part.

12. On the ribbon, select the Web Part tab, and then select Delete.

13. Select OK.

14. On the ribbon, to save your changes, select Stop Editing.

15. Check that the user's profile page no longer shows the Activity Feed Web Part.

    

Hide user interface controls that provide social features in SharePoint Server 2013

To hide the user interface controls that provide the SharePoint Server 2013 social features, you'll create a custom cascading style sheet (CSS) file and add it to a Master Page. This removes SharePoint Server 2013 social features and replaces them with equivalent Viva Engage features. First, you create a custom CSS file and upload it to the Style Library for your My Site. Then, based on the type of Master Page your site uses, you reference the CSS file in your Master Page by using one of the following methods described in this article:

• Register the CSS file for a custom Master Page

• Register the CSS file for an out-of-box Master Page

After you complete these steps, the following changes are applied to the SharePoint Server 2013 social features:

• Removal of the follow this person link on another user's About Me page.

• Mentioning a user from the profile page ( About Me) after the user has filled in the Ask Me About field on the user's profile page.

• Following tags from the #tags I'm Following page.

• Removal of the follow multiple people link from the People I'm Following page (mypeople.aspx).

Create the HideNewsfeed.css file

1. On your computer, open Notepad.

2. Select File > Save As.

3. In the File name box, enter HideNewsfeed.css.

4. Copy and paste the following code into HideNewsfeed.css:

   /* Hide the following SP Social features */
   /* Hide the microfeed div in MySite and team sites */
   #ms-microfeeddiv,
   /* Hide the Followed counts div in MySite */
   .ms-profile-followedCountDiv,
   /* Hide the trending tags div in MySite */
   .ms-mysite-contentBox .ms-mpSearchBox+.ms-webpart-zone,
   /* Hide the follow button on others' About Me page */
   /* Hide the ask me about option on the About Me page */
   #ms-profile-followLinkDiv, .ms-askMeAbout-valuesMoreThanFive, .ms-askMeAbout-valuesFooter,
   .ms-askMeAbout-bulletImage, .ms-askMeAbout-valuesFiveOrLess,
   /* Hide the follow tag option from the landing page */
   .ms-followedTags-followTag,
   /* Hide the follow people option from the landing page */
   .ms-people-followMultiplePeople{
   display:none!important;
   }
   

5. Save and close the file.

6. Browse to your My Site Host, then select Settings > Site Contents.

7. Select Style Library.

8. On the ribbon, select the Files tab, and then select Upload Document.

9. Select Browse, locate the HideNewsfeed.css file, and then select Open.

10. Select OK.

If your My Site uses a custom Master Page, follow the steps in Register the CSS file for a custom Master Page. If your My Site uses an out-of-box Master Page, follow the steps in Register the CSS file for an out-of-box Master Page.

Register the CSS file for a custom Master Page

1. Using a text editor, open the custom Master Page.

2. Copy and paste the following code into the Master Page immediately before the </head> tag:

   <SharePoint:CssRegistration ID="HideNewsfeedCssRegistration" Name="<% $SPUrl:~SiteCollection/Style Library/HideNewsfeed.css %>" runat="server" After="corev15.css" />
   

3. Save and close the Master Page.

4. Refresh your site to see the changes.

Register the CSS file for an out-of-box Master Page

1. Start Visual Studio 2013 with Office Developers Tools for Visual Studio.

2. Select File > New > Project.

3. In the Installed pane, expand Visual C# > Office/SharePoint, then select SharePoint Solutions.

4. Select SharePoint 2013 - Empty Project.

5. In the Name box, enter HideNewsfeed.

6. Select OK.

7. In the SharePoint Customization Wizard, select the My Site Host site collection to use for debugging.

8. Select Deploy as a farm solution, then select Finish.

9. Select Project > Add New Item.

10. In the Add New Item - HideNewsfeed dialog box, select User Control.

11. In the Name box, enter HideNewsfeed.ascx, then select Add.

12. Copy and paste the following line at the end of HideNewsfeed.ascx

    <SharePoint:CssRegistration ID="HideNewsfeedCssRegistration" Name="<% $SPUrl:~SiteCollection/Style Library/HideNewsfeed.css %>" runat="server" After="corev15.css" />
    

13. Save the HideNewsfeed.ascx file.

14. Select Project > Add New Item.

15. In the Add New Item - HideNewsfeed dialog, select Empty Element.

16. In the Name box, enter HideNewsfeed, then select Add.

17. In the Elements.xml file, press Ctrl+A, then press Delete.

18. Copy and paste the following XML in the Elements.xml file:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
    <Control Id="AdditionalPageHead" ControlSrc="~/_CONTROLTEMPLATES/15/HideNewsfeed/HideNewsfeed.ascx" />
    </Elements>
    

19. Save the Elements.xml file.

20. Select Build > Deploy Solution.

    The control has to be deployed on each web server in the farm. For information about how to deploy and install a solution to the farm, see Add-SPSolution and Install-SPSolution.

    The result is a SharePoint solution package that can be deployed and activated on the My Site Host site.

21. To activate the feature, browse to your My Site Host site, select Settings > Site Settings.

22. On the Site Settings page, in the Site Actions section, select Manage site features.

23. Locate the HideNewsfeed Feature1, and select Activate.

    Note

    Instead of uploading the HideNewsfeed.css to the Style Library, you can create the CSS file in the SharePoint Solution package so that it is deployed together with the solution.

24. Browse to the Newsfeed page to check that the controls are no longer shown on the page.

Additional steps

To finish the integration of Viva Engage into your on-premises SharePoint Server environment, you have to install the Viva Engage Embed widget for SharePoint. For more information, see Add the Viva Engage Embed widget to a SharePoint page.

Acknowledgements

The SharePoint Server 2013 Content Publishing team thanks Vidya Srinivasan and Ben Rinaca from the Microsoft SharePoint Server Product team for their contribution to this article.

See also

Concepts

Integrate Viva Engage with on-premises SharePoint Server environments