How to Fix Navigation Audience Targeting Does Not Work

You have set up audience targeting on SharePoint navigation links, but the links show the same items for all users regardless of their group membership. This issue usually occurs when the audience targeting feature is not enabled at the site level or when the SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure feature is not activated. This article explains the root cause of audience targeting not working and provides a step-by-step fix to enable it correctly.

Why Audience Targeting on Navigation Does Not Work

Audience targeting in SharePoint navigation relies on two site-level features that must be active. The first is the SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure, which adds the audience targeting option to the navigation settings. The second is the ability to assign a SharePoint group to each navigation link. If either feature is missing or not activated, the audience targeting settings you configure will have no effect.

A common cause is that the site was created from a template that does not include the Publishing Infrastructure feature by default. Team sites and communication sites often require manual activation. Another cause is that the navigation is set to structural navigation instead of managed navigation, and the audience targeting toggle is hidden or disabled.

How Audience Targeting Works in SharePoint Navigation

When you enable audience targeting, each link in the structural navigation can be associated with a specific SharePoint group. Only users who are members of that group see the link. Users who are not members do not see the link at all. This allows you to show different navigation items to different departments, project teams, or security groups without creating separate sites.

Steps to Enable and Fix Navigation Audience Targeting

Follow these steps in order. You must have at least design or full control permissions on the site.

1. Activate the SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure feature
   Go to Site Settings > Site collection features. Scroll down to SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure. Click the Activate button next to it. This feature adds the audience targeting options to your navigation settings. Wait for the activation to complete before proceeding.
2. Enable audience targeting in navigation settings
   Go to Site Settings > Navigation. Under Structural Navigation: Editing and Sorting, check the box labeled Enable Audience Targeting. Click OK to save. If this checkbox is grayed out, the Publishing Infrastructure feature was not activated correctly in the previous step.
3. Edit a navigation link and assign an audience
   Go to Site Settings > Navigation. Under Structural Navigation: Editing and Sorting, click the Edit button next to a heading or link. In the dialog that opens, scroll to the Audience Targeting section. Click the Browse button and select a SharePoint group from the site. Click OK to save the link.
4. Test the audience targeting for different users
   Sign in as a user who is a member of the selected group. The link should appear in the navigation. Sign in as a user who is not a member of that group. The link should be hidden. If both users see the link, repeat steps 1 through 3 and verify that the audience targeting checkbox is enabled.

If Audience Targeting Still Does Not Work

Audience targeting checkbox is grayed out

The Enable Audience Targeting checkbox is grayed out when the site is using managed navigation instead of structural navigation. To fix this, switch to structural navigation first. Go to Site Settings > Navigation. Under Navigation Type, select Structural Navigation. Then check the Enable Audience Targeting box. After that, you can switch back to managed navigation if needed, but audience targeting will remain available only for structural navigation.

Audience targeting works in preview but not for all users

This occurs when the SharePoint group you selected does not contain the expected members. Verify the group membership by going to Site Settings > Site permissions. Click the group name and review the list of members. Add or remove members as needed. Changes take effect immediately.

Navigation links disappear for all users after enabling audience targeting

If you enabled audience targeting but did not assign an audience to every link, links without an audience are hidden from everyone. Edit each link and either assign a group or leave the audience field empty. When the audience field is empty, the link is visible to all users. This is the default behavior after enabling the feature.

Structural Navigation vs Managed Navigation: Key Differences

Item	Structural Navigation	Managed Navigation
Audience targeting support	Supported with manual checkbox	Not supported directly
Editing method	Manual editing in Site Settings	Term store in SharePoint admin center
Best for	Small sites with few links	Large sites with consistent taxonomy
Publishing feature required	Yes	No

Use structural navigation when you need audience targeting. Use managed navigation when you need centralized link management across multiple sites but do not need audience filtering.

You can now enable and configure audience targeting on your SharePoint site navigation. Start by activating the Publishing Infrastructure feature, then enable the audience targeting checkbox in navigation settings. For consistent results, assign a SharePoint group to every link that should be filtered and leave the audience field empty for links that should appear to everyone.