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Helvety SPO Explorer
SoftwareOct 5, 2025Art by Alexandre Calame
A privacy-focused SharePoint site navigator. Browse, search, and favorite sites you can access. Favorites and settings stay on your device.
About
Helvety SPO Explorer is a SharePoint Framework (SPFx) application customizer that adds fast site navigation inside Microsoft 365. For the flows it supports, work runs in the browser; favorites and settings stay on the device (for example in localStorage).
Access — The solution is free to use and open source. IT deploys it from the tenant App Catalog; users need appropriate Microsoft 365 permissions to see their sites. No separate Helvety account is required.
Key features: • Site discovery — list SharePoint sites you can access • Search — filter by title, description, and URL with highlighted matches • Favorites and quick access — pin sites and open them from the header control • Settings — adjust URL display, descriptions, tab behavior, and related options • SharePoint themes — follows light and dark modes where the host page supports them • Accessibility — keyboard navigation and layouts aimed at common SharePoint pages • Performance — caching and efficient UI rendering (details depend on the build you run)
The control appears on supported modern pages that use the standard shell; it does not show on every SharePoint surface. See the GitHub README for page coverage, deployment steps, and update notes.
Installation
- Download the solution package
Use Download .sppkg on this page to save the latest Helvety SPO Explorer package (helvety-spo-explorer.sppkg) to your computer.
- Open your tenant App Catalog
Sign in as a SharePoint Administrator and go to your organization’s tenant App Catalog—the central catalog for the whole Microsoft 365 tenant, not a site collection–only catalog. If you do not have one yet, create it from the SharePoint admin center (Apps → App catalog) per Microsoft guidance.
- Upload the .sppkg
In the App Catalog site, open the Apps for SharePoint library (or equivalent), upload the .sppkg file, then choose Deploy when prompted so the solution is trusted for your tenant.
- Enable for all sites (recommended)
When you enable the app, select the option to enable it and add it to all sites (tenant-wide). That registers the application customizer so users do not need a per-site “Add an app” install. Updates: when deploying a newer version, you can leave “add to all sites” unchecked to avoid duplicate Tenant Wide Extensions entries—the existing registration keeps using the updated package.
- Allow time to propagate
After the first tenant-wide deployment, allow up to about 20 minutes for the Tenant Wide Extensions list to propagate before expecting the bar on every site.
- Verify deployment (optional)
In the App Catalog site, open Site contents → Tenant Wide Extensions and confirm there is an entry for Helvety SPO Explorer (one entry; remove duplicates if you ever see more than one).
- Use the extension
On a modern SharePoint site page that uses the standard shell and Top placeholder (for example a communication or team site home page), look for the “Sites you have access to” control in the top area. It does not appear on classic pages, on every list or library view, or on some specialized modern pages—see the project README on GitHub for details.
Access
All Helvety products are free to use with no paid tiers or subscriptions.
Features
- Site Discovery - auto-fetch all accessible sites
- Real-time search with highlighted matches
- Favorites management
- Quick access dropdown menu
- Customizable settings panel
- SharePoint theme awareness (light/dark)
- Performance optimized with caching
- Full keyboard navigation and accessibility
- Easy SharePoint App Catalog installation
Requirements
- SharePoint Online
- Microsoft 365 environment
- SharePoint Administrator role (for installation)