Cheers
Cheers is a recognition wall for your intranet. People give a colleague a badge, say why, and optionally add a photo; everyone else can like and comment. Everything is stored in SharePoint lists on your own site, and this week's birthdays and work anniversaries can be surfaced above the wall with a one-click cheer already filled in.
Permissions
None. Cheers needs no Microsoft Graph permissions and there is nothing to approve in API access. It runs as the signed-in user over SharePoint's own API, and profile photos come from your tenant's own photo service. Nothing leaves your tenant, and nothing records who reads what.
Set up
- Install the package (see the Install guide) - no API permissions step for Cheers.
- Edit a page → add the Cheers web part.
- Open the property pane and use Set up lists. Cheers creates the three lists it needs on that site and grants members permission to post, like and comment. Run it once per site.
- Choose a layout and card style, then publish the page.
The three lists
| List | Holds |
|---|---|
| CheersWall | One item per cheer - recipient, badge, message and photo URL |
| CheersReactions | One row per person per cheer, so a like cannot be overwritten by anyone else |
| CheersComments | Replies, each owned by whoever posted it |
All three use SharePoint's item-level security: people can edit or remove what they posted and nothing else. That is why likes and comments are separate lists rather than fields on the cheer - a counter on someone else's item could not be written without also letting them edit the cheer itself.
Layouts and card styles
| Layout | Best for |
|---|---|
| Featured | A homepage - the newest cheer leads full width, the rest follow as cards |
| Cards | An even grid where every cheer carries equal weight |
| Masonry | Walls with mixed message lengths and photos |
| Compact rows | A narrow column or sidebar - photos are hidden to keep rows scannable |
Seven card styles sit on top of the layout: Tinted band (the standard), Solid band, Accent rail, Photo first, Portrait, Profile (relaxed, with the avatar overlapping the card) and Corporate (sharp corners, ruled header). Card colour can follow the badge, your site theme, or a colour you pick.
Title banner
The banner behind the wall's title is styled in the property pane under Settings, directly below Title and Title heading level. This is the bar across the top of the web part, not the coloured band on each card. A recognition wall is usually one of the most looked-at things on a homepage, so it is worth carrying your own colours rather than the SharePoint default. Choose a Title banner style, then a Banner shape (Rounded or Square) for the styles that have a fill, and a Banner colour - Use the site theme colour always puts it back to the theme.
| Banner style | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Solid colour | The standard filled banner - the theme colour, or the one you pick |
| Soft tint | The same colour at low strength, for a lighter page |
| Gradient fade | The colour fading out across the banner |
| Two colours | A gradient from the banner colour to a Second colour |
| No fill (ghost) | No background - the title in your colour above a fine rule |
| Underline | No background - a short coloured rule under the title |
| Accent bar | A white card with a thick coloured edge down the left side |
| Overline label | A small uppercase caption above the title, typed into Overline text |
| Background image | A picture behind the title, with a readability overlay so the text stays legible |
The extra settings appear only when the style needs them - Second colour, Banner background image and Overline text - and shape is hidden for the styles that have no fill to shape.
Title text contrast is computed against the real banner colour using WCAG ratios, so a banner set to a brand colour keeps a legible title. Where the title sits over a gradient, an image or no fill at all, a Title text colour choice appears too, so you can force Light or Dark instead of leaving it Automatic.
Existing walls do not move. The defaults - solid, rounded, no colour of its own - draw exactly the banner Cheers drew before these settings existed, so a published page changes only when an author chooses something else.
Badges
Seven ship by default - Team player, Above and beyond, Customer hero, Fresh thinking, Mentor, Safety star and Milestone. Edit the Badge set in the property pane to rename them, change colours and icons, remove any you do not want, or add your own. The badge colour carries through the whole card and drives the badge filter above the wall.
Celebrations
Turn on Show celebrations this week and point Cheers at your celebrations list - the same opt-in list the Directory uses, on this site or another site by URL. People with a birthday or work anniversary in the window appear above the wall, each with a Give cheers button that opens the dialog with their name and a Milestone badge already filled in. Set how many days ahead to look and how many people to show before "More". If the list is missing, the strip simply does not render.
Recipes
- A homepage strip - use Compact rows with search and quick filters switched off, and two or three cheers per page. It reads as a live culture ticker rather than a full wall, and links through to the page holding the real one.
- One wall for the whole organisation - add Cheers to a single communication site and link to it from everywhere else. The lists live with the web part, so one site means one wall; adding the part to a second site starts a second one.
- Values-based recognition - replace the default badge set with your company values, one badge each. The badge filter then becomes a report: click a value and see every time someone lived it.