Your OneDrive is your place to store and manage files you use regularly. Occasionally, you may wish to share files and folders with others, however. Learn how to share with different levels of access (i.e. view vs edit) in this lesson.
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Notes
Sharing files
When you share a file, you have four link types to choose from. The image below color codes the options you get with each. Anyone with the link gets the most configurable settings. People in your company and Specific people get everything except expiration date and password. People with existing access doesn’t modify permissions at all so it has no unique settings.
You’ll only see Open in review mode only as an option if the file is a Word doc and you’re allowing editing.
You can only Block download (includes print) if disallowing (unchecking) editing.
After you click Apply, you don’t have to enter a name or message. In most cases, it’s fine to click Copy link and share that with whomever you’re granting access. And sometimes you may use that copied link on a SharePoint page, org-wide email, etc. rather than sharing with just a few people.
Specific people is the only link type that requires a signed in user to be someone you’ve specified. It is the most secure option (other than People with existing access which doesn’t change permissions at all).
Co-authoring with people you’ve shared edit rights with
Co-authoring allows anyone with edit permissions to a file to be in the file simultaneously making edits. This works for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. If you’re wanting to use the desktop apps for co-authoring, be sure you’re using the most current (Office 365) version of Office and not a year-specific version like Office 2016.
Sharing folders
You can share folders in the same way you share files, but the benefit to sharing folders is that each file inside the folder inherits the shared folder’s permissions (so it saves you time sharing each individual file). You might use this for processes where you drop files in a particular folder regularly that someone else can access (or even help contribute to).
You can add additional access to a particular file inside a shared folder by sharing the file itself (but it’ll still be shared with those granted rights at the folder level).
Managing access
Manage access by clicking Share > More options (…) > Manage access -or- by selecting the file > open the details pane (i) > Manage access.
You can click Stop sharing to remove all links and direct access other than yourself (in OneDrive) or all owners (in SharePoint).
You can remove links shared previously individually by using the ellipsis (three dots) next to a link shown in the Manage access panel.
You can also make changes to the settings of a shared link if the the link was Anyone with the link or Specific people type.
Shared with you and Shared by you
Click Shared from the left navigation to easily find files shared with you and shared by you. You can also share files again or manage access from this page.
