MS-900 Describe Microsoft 365 apps and services Practice Question
A company uses Microsoft SharePoint Online for intranet and wants to display important company announcements on the home page. Which SharePoint feature should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse 'Pages' (option A) with 'News posts' because both use the same underlying page infrastructure, but News posts are a distinct feature with specific properties for announcements, not general-purpose pages.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
News posts
News posts are the correct feature because they are specifically designed to display timely, engaging announcements on a SharePoint intranet home page. They support rich formatting, images, and web parts that surface news content prominently, making them ideal for company-wide communications. Unlike other options, News posts are optimized for visibility and user engagement on the home page.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Pages
Why it's wrong here
Pages in SharePoint Online are web pages designed primarily for static content, such as text, images, and links, within a site. While a page can technically be used to share news, it lacks the specialized functionality of News posts, such as automatic roll-up across sites, audience targeting, and scheduled publishing. Pages are better suited for persistent reference content like 'About Us' or project overviews, not time-sensitive announcements.
- ✗
Document libraries
Why it's wrong here
Document libraries are repositories for storing files, with features like versioning, co-authoring, metadata, and checkout. They are optimized for document management and collaboration, not for broadcasting announcements with rich formatting and social engagement. Using a document library for news would force users to open each file individually, missing the interactive experience (e.g., likes, comments) and the consolidated roll-up that News posts provide. Therefore, they are not the appropriate choice for intranet announcements.
- ✗
Lists
Why it's wrong here
Lists are designed for structured data, organizing information into rows and columns with views, filters, and validation. While a list could track announcement titles and dates, it cannot deliver a visually engaging narrative with embedded images and videos, nor does it support the interactive features of comments and reactions that News posts offer. Lists are ideal for task tracking, issue logs, or inventory, but not for communicating a compelling announcement to the organization.
- ✓
News posts
Why this is correct
News posts are a dedicated content type in SharePoint Online built for organizational announcements. They leverage the page infrastructure but add specialized features: they automatically appear in the News web part on the site home page, can be rolled up from multiple sites, support rich media, scheduling, and audience targeting, and allow engagement through comments and reactions. This makes News posts the correct and intended tool for announcements on an intranet.
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Related to this question
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Microsoft 365 Backup and Veeam Options
Key term
SharePoint Online
SharePoint Online is a cloud-based collaboration platform from Microsoft that lets teams create, store, organize, and share content securely from anywhere.
Key term
User
A user is any person, system, or device that interacts with an IT service, resource, or identity system, typically authenticated through credentials and authorized to perform specific actions.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This MS-900 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the MS-900 exam.