Install Bloom Hub and Bloom Elements
Bloom Intranet comes as one app in the SharePoint Store, with two web parts: Bloom Hub, the full-page digital workplace on a Communication Site, and Bloom Elements, the same widgets on any SharePoint page. This guide takes you from the SharePoint Store to your first board or widget.
You add the app once for your tenant. Then you choose what fits your organisation: Bloom Hub, Bloom Elements or both. Steps 3 and 4 work independently, so follow the one you need, or both in any order.
1. Before you start
A few things make the installation go smoothly:
- The right role. Adding the app and approving its permissions takes a SharePoint Administrator or Global Administrator. To install a web part on a site, you need to be an owner of that site.
- A Communication Site for Bloom Hub. Bloom Hub works best on a modern Communication Site. Need a new one? See Create a communication site in SharePoint. Bloom Elements works on any modern SharePoint page.
- A laptop or desktop. The installation runs in the browser on a computer, not on a phone.
No license yet? A free trial is set up for you during the installation, so you can try everything first.
2. Add Bloom Intranet from the SharePoint Store
Open any SharePoint site in your tenant. Select the Settings gear at the top right and choose Add an app.
This opens My apps. Select SharePoint Store at the top, type Bloom Intranet in the search box and press Enter. Select Bloom Intranet: Your Digital Happy Place by ichicraft b.v.
On the app page, select Add to Apps site.
SharePoint shows Confirm data access, with the API access Bloom Intranet asks for: User.ReadWrite and Directory.Read.All on Microsoft Graph. Under App availability, pick the option that fits your plans:
- Enable this app and add it to all sites makes the Bloom Hub and Bloom Elements web parts available on every site straight away. A good fit when you want to use Bloom Elements across several sites.
- Only enable this app lets site owners add the app to their own site from My apps, so you decide site by site.
Select Add.
Next, approve the API access. Open the SharePoint admin center, go to Advanced > API access, select the pending requests for Bloom Intranet and choose Approve.
Chose Only enable this app? Then go to the site where you want to use Bloom, open Settings > Add an app, find Bloom Intranet under Apps you can add and select Add.
3. Install Bloom Hub
Bloom Hub gives your organisation a complete digital workplace on one page. Go to the Communication Site where Bloom Hub will live and open the page you want it on, usually the home page. Select Edit at the top right. Hover over the top of the page, select the + to add a section and choose Full-width section. Bloom Hub uses the whole width of the page, so a full-width section gives it the most room.
The new section suggests a few web parts. Select Bloom Hub. You can also find it in the Toolbox on the right: type Bloom in the search box.
The web part greets you with You’re almost there! Select Install. The page needs to be in edit mode for this.
The installation takes three steps. First Register: fill in the contact details of the person who receives license updates and support messages for this installation, and accept the terms. Installed Bloom before, for example on another site? Choose Enter product key and use your existing product key. Select Next.
Then Select setup:
- Complete: all features plus demo content. A great start for a first installation: explore first, then trim.
- Essentials: only the essential widgets and features.
- Clean Slate: an empty canvas for those who know Bloom Hub well.
Whichever you choose, you can adjust everything later in the Admin center. Select Next.
In the last step, select Install. Bloom Hub sets up its lists and libraries in this site collection, which takes a minute or two. Keep the window open until you see Installation successful!
Select Close, then Publish changes at the top right to make the page available to your colleagues. Your Bloom Hub is live: colleagues who open the page are welcomed on their own board.
Ready to make it yours? Open the Admin center from the … menu in the board header to set up your theme, your widgets and a board template for each role.
4. Install Bloom Elements
Bloom Elements puts Bloom widgets on any SharePoint page, one widget per web part. Use it on its own or next to Bloom Hub. Open the page, select Edit and add a section where you want the widget. In the Toolbox on the right, type Bloom in the search box and select Bloom Elements.
The first time, the web part asks how to get started. Install sets up Bloom Elements in this site collection. Link installation connects it to an installation on another site, for example the site where Bloom Hub runs, so both use the same widgets and settings.
Select Install. The installation follows the same steps as Bloom Hub: Register (or enter your product key), Select setup and Install. For Bloom Elements you choose between Example, with widgets that come with example content, and Blank, with widgets ready for your own content.
When the installation is done, select Close. The web part now asks you to Select a widget. Select Browse widgets.
The widget library opens. Use the filters on the left to narrow it down and choose Select next to the widget you want. In this example we pick Apps, a launcher for the applications your colleagues use most.
The widget appears on the page right away. Drag the bottom edge of the web part to give it the height it needs, then select Publish changes. Bloom Elements sits naturally between the standard web parts, like the Apps widget here between News and Events on an HR site. Want more widgets on this page? Add a Bloom Elements web part for each one.
Already using Bloom Hub? Bloom Elements uses the same widget library, so the widgets you set up for your boards are ready for your SharePoint pages too. Switch it on in the Admin center under General settings > Bloom Elements. You decide which widgets can go on a page: switch on Allow as web part for a widget in the Widget library.
5. Check the API permissions
Some widgets need extra Microsoft Graph permissions to show their content, such as Birthdays, Copilot, News and Events. Bloom keeps track of this for you. Open the Admin center from the … menu in the board header and select API permissions. You see per widget what it needs and what is already granted.
Is something missing? Then the status turns red and every missing permission gets a warning sign. In this example the Birthdays widget misses Mail.Send, Chat.Create and ChatMessage.Send, which it uses to send a congratulation. Select Start.
Bloom creates a permission request for everything that is missing and opens the SharePoint admin center in a new tab. Does your browser block that? Select the here link in the status block to open it yourself.
The approval page is Advanced > API access in the SharePoint admin center. The new requests are listed under Pending requests. Approving them takes a SharePoint Administrator or Global Administrator.
Select a request and choose Approve at the top of the list. A panel shows what you are approving. Select Approve once more. Repeat this for each request.
Back in the Admin center, select Refresh. With everything approved, the status turns green.
Newly approved permissions can take a few minutes to become active across your tenant. If a widget doesn’t show its content right away, give it a moment and try again.
Enjoy your new digital workplace! 🙌
Questions?
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