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This article describes how Global Administrators and SharePoint Administrators in Microsoft 365 can change their organization-level sharing settings for Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft OneDrive. (If you want to share a file or folder, read Share SharePoint files or folders or Share OneDrive files and folders.)
For end-to-end guidance around how to configure guest sharing in Microsoft 365, see:
- Set up secure collaboration with Microsoft 365
- Collaborate with guests on a document
- Collaborate with guests in a site
- Collaborate with guests in a team
To change the sharing settings for a site after you've set the organization-level sharing settings, see Change sharing settings for a site. To learn how to change the external sharing setting for a user's OneDrive, see Change the external sharing setting for a user's OneDrive.
Video demonstration
This video shows how the settings on the Sharing page in the SharePoint admin center affect the sharing options available to users.
Change the organization-level external sharing setting
Go to Sharing in the SharePoint admin center, and sign in with an account that has admin permissions for your organization.
Note
If you have Office 365 operated by 21Vianet (China), sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center, then browse to the SharePoint admin center and open the Sharing page.
Under External sharing, specify your sharing level for SharePoint and OneDrive. The default level for both is "Anyone."
Note
The SharePoint setting applies to all site types, including those connected to Microsoft 365 groups.
(Video) ✅ How to set SharePoint Permissions - TutorialThe OneDrive setting can be more restrictive than the SharePoint setting, but not more permissive.
The SharePoint external sharing setting on this page is the same as the one in the Microsoft 365 admin center, on the Org settings page > SharePoint.
This setting is for your organization overall. Each site has its own sharing setting that you can set independently, though it must be at the same or more restrictive setting as the organization. See Change the external sharing setting for a site for more information.
Which option to select
| Select this option: | If you want to: |
|---|---|
| Anyone | Allow users to share files and folders by using links that let anyone who has the link access the files or folders without authenticating. This setting also allows users to share sites with new and existing guests who authenticate. If you select this setting, you can restrict the Anyone links so that they must expire within a specific number of days, or so that they can give only View permission. File requests requires that OneDrive be set to Anyone and edit permissions for Anyone links be enabled. OneDrive settings other than Anyone disable file requests. See Best practices for sharing files and folders with unauthenticated users for more information. |
| New and existing guests | Require people who have received invitations to sign in with their work or school account (if their organization uses Microsoft 365) or a Microsoft account, or to provide a code to verify their identity. Users can share with guests already in your organization's directory, and they can send invitations to people who will be added to the directory if they sign in. For more info about verification codes, see Secure external sharing in SharePoint Invitations to view content can be redeemed only once. After an invitation has been accepted, it can't be shared or used by others to gain access. |
| Existing guests | Allow sharing only with guests who are already in your directory. These guests may exist in your directory because they previously accepted sharing invitations or because they were manually added, such as through Azure B2B collaboration. (To see the guests in your organization, go to the Guests page in the Microsoft 365 admin center). |
| Only people in your organization | Turn off external sharing. |
Note
If you turn off external sharing for your organization and later turn it back on, guests who previously had access regain it. If you know that external sharing was previously turned on and in use for specific sites and you don't want guests to regain access, first turn off external sharing for those specific sites.
If you restrict or turn off external sharing, guests typically lose access within one hour of the change.
More external sharing settings
Limit external sharing by domain
This is useful if you want to limit sharing with particular partners, or help prevent sharing with people at certain organizations. The organization-level setting on this page affects all SharePoint sites and each user's OneDrive. To use this setting, list the domains (maximum of 3000) in the box, using the format domain.com. To list multiple domains, press Enter after adding each domain.
You can also limit external sharing by domain by using the Set-SPOTenant Microsoft PowerShell cmdlet with -SharingDomainRestrictionMode and either -SharingAllowedDomainList or -SharingBlockedDomainList. For info about limiting external sharing by domain at the site level, see Restricted domains sharing.
Allow only users in specific security groups to share externally
For info about this setting, see Manage security groups.
Guests must sign in using the same account to which sharing invitations are sent
By default, guests can receive an invitation at one account but sign in with a different account. After they redeem the invitation, it can't be used with any other account.
Allow guests to share items they don't own
By default, guests must have full control permission to share items externally.
Guest access to a site or OneDrive will expire automatically after this many days
If your administrator has set an expiration time for guest access, each guest that you invite to the site or with whom you share individual files and folders will be given access for a certain number of days. For more information visit, Manage guest expiration for a site
People who use a verification code must reauthenticate after this many days
If people who use a verification code have selected to "stay signed in" in the browser, they must prove they can still access the account they used to redeem the sharing invitation.
File and folder links
Choose the option you want to show by default when a user gets a link.
Note
This setting specifies the default for your organization, but site owners can choose a different default link type for a site.
Specific people - This option is most restrictive and impedes broad internal sharing. If you allow external sharing, this option lets users share with specific people outside the organization.
(Video) Monitor and manage SharePoint in Microsoft 365Only people in your organization - If links are forwarded, they'll work for anyone in the organization. This option is best if your organization shares broadly internally and rarely shares externally.
Anyone with the link - This option is available only if your external sharing setting is set to "Anyone." Forwarded links work internally or externally, but you can't track who has access to shared items or who has accessed shared items. This is best for friction-free sharing if most files and folders in SharePoint and OneDrive aren't sensitive.
Important
If you select "Anyone with the link," but the site or OneDrive is set to allow sharing only with guests who sign in or provide a verification code, the default link is "Only people in your organization." Users need to change the link type to "Specific people" to share files and folders in the site or OneDrive externally.
Advanced settings for "Anyone" links
Link expiration - You can require all "Anyone" links to expire, and specify the maximum number of days allowed. If you change the expiration time, existing links will keep their current expiration time if the new setting is longer, or be updated to the new setting if the new setting is shorter.
Link permissions - You can restrict "Anyone" links so that they can only provide view permission for files or folders.
If you are using file requests, the link permissions must be set for View and edit for files and View, edit, and upload for folders.
Other
Display to owners the names of people who viewed their files
This setting lets you control whether the owner of a shared file can see on the file card the people who only view (and don't edit) the file in OneDrive. The file card appears when users hover over a file name or thumbnail in OneDrive. The info includes the number of views on the file, the number of people who viewed it, and the list of people who viewed it. To learn more about the file card, see See files you shared in OneDrive.
Note
This setting is selected by default. If you clear it, file viewer info is still recorded and available to you to audit as an admin. OneDrive owners can also still see people who have viewed their shared Office files by opening the files from Office.com or from the Office desktop apps.
Let site owners choose to display the names of people who viewed files or pages in SharePoint
This setting lets you specify whether site owners can allow users who have access to a file, page, or news post to see on the file card who has viewed the item.
This setting is turned on by default at the organization level and off at the site level for existing sites. Viewer information is shown only when the setting is on at both the organization and site level. We recommend that site owners turn on this feature only on team sites that don't have sensitive information. Learn how site owners can turn on this feature.
Note
Historical data is included when this setting is enabled. Likewise, if the setting is turned off and back on at the organization level or site level, the views during the off period are included in the history.
On the classic Sharing page, you can limit external sharing by security group and shorten sharing links or change their default permission.
Need more help?
If you have technical questions about this topic, you may find it helpful to post them on the SharePoint discussion forum. It's a great resource for finding others who have worked with similar issues or who have encountered the same situation.
You can also find help on security and permissions in these YouTube videos from SharePoint community experts.
See also
Limit accidental exposure to files when sharing with guests
Create a secure guest sharing environment
Stop sharing files or folders or change permissions
External sharing & collaboration with OneDrive, SharePoint & Teams (Ignite 2020)
FAQs
How to configure SharePoint in Office 365? ›
- Select + Create site on the SharePoint start page.
- In the wizard: Select whether you'd like to create a Team site or a Communication site. Enter the name (and a description, if you want) for the site. You can select Edit. ...
- In the next pane, enter the owners and members.
- Select Finish.
...
- In the site, click the gear icon, and then click Site permissions.
- Under Sharing settings, click Change sharing settings.
- Turn off Allow access requests, and then click Save.
Select the check boxes for the users and SharePoint groups on which you want to edit permission levels on this securable object. On the Actions menu, click Edit User Permissions. In the Choose Permissions section, select the permission levels you want, clear those you do not want, and then click OK.
Is SharePoint in Microsoft 365 the same as SharePoint Online? ›SharePoint 2019 is an on-premises software, whereas SharePoint Online is a cloud service available in Microsoft 365 subscriptions. The two platforms differ in key areas, including system requirements, security and payment models.
How does SharePoint work with Office 365? ›If you're using Microsoft 365, you can create a site from the SharePoint start page, and it automatically creates a Microsoft 365 group. If you create an Microsoft 365 group in Outlook or People, and you automatically get a team site in SharePoint in Microsoft 365.
How do I change sharing settings in SharePoint? ›- Go to Active sites in the new SharePoint admin center, and sign in with an account that has admin permissions for your organization. ...
- In the left column, select a site.
- Select Sharing.
- Select an external sharing option (see the table in the next section).
- Go to the SharePoint admin center under the Microsoft 365 admin center.
- Choose Policies and select Sharing.
- Set the external sharing setting to Anyone or New and existing guests, according to your preferences or governance policies.
- Click Save.
Go to the SharePoint Admin center > Active sites. Select the specific site collection(s) you want to share. Select Sharing to enable the external sharing and Save the changes.
How do you control sharing? ›Stop sharing a file
Select a file or folder. Tap Manage access. Find the person you want to stop sharing with. Remove.
Go to Site settings > Site permissions > Permission Levels > Read > Copy Permissions > Create new. Please ensure you don't select Edit items rights.
How do I restrict sharing files? ›
- Open the file in Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets, or Google Slides.
- Click Share or Share. .
- At the top, click Settings. .
- Uncheck Editors can change permissions and share.
- 1 Open the SharePoint site.
- 2 Click on Site Actions (gear icon) and then select Site Settings.
- 3 Under the Users and Permissions category, click Site Permissions.
- 4 Select the check box next to the group whose permission you wish to modify.
- 5 Go to the Permissions tab and click Edit User Permissions.
Open your SharePoint site settings → Click “Site Permissions”. Click “Check Permissions” → Enter the username of the user whose permissions you want to check -> Click “Check Now”.
Where is manage permissions in Settings? ›- On your phone, open the Settings app.
- Tap Apps.
- Tap the app you want to change. If you can't find it, tap See all apps. ...
- Tap Permissions. If you allowed or denied any permissions for the app, you'll find them here.
- To change a permission setting, tap it, then choose Allow or Don't allow.
OneDrive provides a consistent, intuitive files experience across all your devices, including web, mobile, and the desktop of your Windows PC or Mac. Behind the scenes, SharePoint in Microsoft 365 provides the content services for all files in Microsoft 365, including files you work with in Teams, Yammer, and Outlook.
How do I manage users in SharePoint? ›- Enter the user's name and select Find.
- Right-click the user, select Manage site collection owners.
- Add and remove admins for the OneDrive account.
- Select OK once you are done.
In short… Microsoft 365 is the consolidation of several applications, including SharePoint, while SharePoint is an individual platform that allows you to manage and share your files with members of your company, and create an internal intranet.
Is SharePoint included with Microsoft 365? ›Office 365 E3
Includes all SharePoint Online (Plan 2) benefits and more.
Microsoft 365 Business Basic offers Teams, Exchange, OneDrive, and SharePoint but it only offers web- and mobile-based versions of the most widely used productivity apps such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
How do I change file sharing settings? ›Select the Start button, then select Settings > Network & internet , and on the right side, select Sharing options. Under Private, select Turn on Network discovery and Turn on file and printer sharing. Under All Networks, select Turn off password protected sharing.
How do I change my default share settings? ›
- From Setup, in the Quick Find box, enter Sharing Settings , then select Sharing Settings.
- Click Edit in the Organization-Wide Defaults area.
- Select the default internal and external access you want to use for user records. ...
- Click Save.
- Click Start > Control Panel.
- Open Network and Sharing Center. ...
- Click Change advanced sharing settings.
- Expand All Networks.
- Under Public folder sharing, select the Turn on sharing so anyone with network access can read and write files in public folders option.
- Windows 10 and Windows 8.1.
- Open your Office 365 admin center.
- On the left navigation menu, choose SharePoint.
- On the left navigation menu, choose Sharing.
- In Sharing outside your organization, ensure that Allow users to invite and share with authenticated external users is On.
Select Share site. In the Share site pane, enter the names of people or groups to add them to the site, or enter "Everyone except external users" to share the site with everyone in your organization. Change the permission level (Read, Edit, or Full control) as needed.
Why can't I share a file on SharePoint? ›Check the access request settings
This issue might occur if the access request settings of the SharePoint site don't allow members to share files and folders. To change the settings, follow the steps at Change access requests settings.
Under External sharing, specify your sharing level for SharePoint and OneDrive. The default level for both is "Anyone."
How do I check sharing permissions in SharePoint? ›When you select an item in the Shared with list, the Manage Access panel opens: The Links Giving Access section shows the links that have permissions to the file or folder. Click the ellipsis (...) to see the users that the link has been shared with.
How do I turn off external sharing in SharePoint? ›Site collection administrators are not allowed to change external sharing configurations. From the SharePoint admin center, click site collections. Check the box next to those site collections whose sharing settings you want to turn on or off.
What is the use of sharing settings? ›Use the Sharing Settings page to manage your organization-wide sharing defaults, sharing rules, and other sharing settings. Manual sharing gives other users access to certain types of records, including accounts, contacts, and leads.
What is sharing control? ›A security or privacy control that is implemented for an information system in part as a common control and in part as a system-specific control.
How do I restrict people from deleting files and folders in SharePoint? ›
Step 1: Create a permission level in SharePoint Online
Let's say, You want your users to be able to add files to the library but not delete files from the library. To achieve this, we can simply copy the “Contribute” permission level and take off “Delete Items” permission from it!
In some instances you'd like users of your SharePoint site to only view rather than edit documents. You can do this by restricting permissions on the document library.
What are the different permission levels in SharePoint? ›Each SharePoint group is assigned a default permission level. For example, the default SharePoint groups are Owners, Visitors, and Members, with Full Control, Read, and Contribute as their default permission levels respectively. Anyone with Full Control permission can create custom groups.
What are the 3 permissions available when sharing a file? ›- Full Control: Enables users to “read,” “change,” as well as edit permissions and take ownership of files.
- Change: Change means that user can read/execute/write/delete folders/files within share.
- Select the file or folder you want to stop sharing.
- Select Information. ...
- On the Details pane, under the Has Access header, you'll see the People icon, the Links icon, and/or the Email icon. ...
- To remove a sharing link, click the X next to the link to remove it.
- Open Outlook and find the Folder List, typically the default view.
- From the menu that appears, select Properties, and then click the Permissions tab. ...
- Click Add..., and then select the people to whom you wish to grant permissions. ...
- You can now select which permissions to grant.
- Full Control – Has full control.
- Design – Can view, add, update, delete, approve, and customize.
- Edit – Can add, edit and delete lists; can view, add, update and delete list items and documents.
- Contribute – Can view, add, update, and delete list items and documents.
- In the admin center, go to Role assignments. ...
- Select the admin role that you want to assign the user to.
- Select Assigned admins > Add.
- Type the user's display name or username, and then select the user from the list of suggestions.
- Add multiple users until you're done.
- Navigate to Sites. ...
- Use global or column search to find the workspace you want to explore.
- Select the checkbox next to the name of that team, group, or site.
- Select the Permissions Matrix on the right-side menu to explore access to this team, group, or site in detail.
Permission Types
Files and directories can have three types of permissions: read, write, and execute: Someone with read permission may read the contents of a file, or list the contents of a directory.
What are the default permissions in SharePoint? ›
| Permission level | Permissions included by default |
|---|---|
| Contribute | Read permissions, plus: Add Items Edit Items Delete Items Delete Versions Browse Directories Edit Personal User Information Manage Personal Views Add/Remove Personal Web Parts Update Personal Web Parts |
Select Start > Settings > Privacy & security. Select an App permission (for example, Location) then choose which apps can access it.
Where is permissions menu in Outlook? ›- In the Folder Pane, right-click the public folder to set permissions, and then click Properties. ...
- On the Permissions tab, under Permissions, choose a permissions level from the list.
You can check the permissions that you've granted to installed apps at any time. Head to Settings > Privacy > Permission manager to view a breakdown of the major permissions like Camera, Phone, SMS, and more.
Is SharePoint included in Office 365 Basic? ›Microsoft 365 Business Basic offers Teams, Exchange, OneDrive, and SharePoint but it only offers web- and mobile-based versions of the most widely used productivity apps such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
How do I enable SharePoint in Outlook? ›- Go to your SharePoint site.
- Click on the desired task / find the task list in the View All Site Content pane.
- Click on the List tab.
- Click Connect & Export then Open in Outlook.
- Click OK.
My Sites (SharePoint Online) is included with Office 365. It allows students, faculty, and staff to create collaborative websites that can be used to share files, assign tasks, start blogs, and build workflows.
What's the difference between SharePoint and OneDrive? ›OneDrive provides a consistent, intuitive files experience across all your devices, including web, mobile, and the desktop of your Windows PC or Mac. Behind the scenes, SharePoint in Microsoft 365 provides the content services for all files in Microsoft 365, including files you work with in Teams, Yammer, and Outlook.
Why can't I see SharePoint in Office 365? ›SharePoint is not included with Office. It is a separate utility. Generally it is an organization/enterprise/developer tool.
What version of SharePoint comes with Office 365? ›Office 365 E3
Includes all SharePoint Online (Plan 2) benefits and more.
How do I access SharePoint from Outlook 365? ›
- Go to office.com, and sign in to your work or school account.
- In the upper left corner of the window, select the app launcher > All apps > SharePoint. Tip: If you don't see the SharePoint app under All apps, use the Search box near the top of the window to search for SharePoint.
In Outlook, you can synchronize calendars, contact lists, task lists, discussion boards, and document libraries to SharePoint folders. Based on the URL provided upon synchronization, Outlook will create a new folder of the same base type as the SharePoint folder.
How do I access SharePoint files from Outlook? ›Go to the Home Page tab and enter the URL for the SharePoint site that you want to associate with the folder. Select the Show Home Page By Default For This Folder checkbox and click OK. Outlook should now display the SharePoint site whenever you select the folder (Figure E).
Is SharePoint OneDrive or team? ›Files shared on Microsoft Teams are available right where you are having conversations and meeting, and your team can own them together. Documents shared in Microsoft Teams are stored in SharePoint, so you get the best of both worlds.
How do I share files in SharePoint? ›- Open the document you want to share.
- Click File > Share > Share with People (or, in Word 2013, Invite People).
- Enter the names or email addresses of the people you're sharing with.
- If you want to, click Can Edit or Can View.
No. This change is aligned with our commitment to deliver a superior productivity experience in Microsoft 365 and won't affect the pricing of Microsoft 365. The third-party solutions are offered at discounted pricing rates for Microsoft 365 customers, where available.
Does SharePoint sync automatically? ›After you set up syncing, the files sync automatically.) If your browser requests permission to use "Microsoft OneDrive," confirm that this is okay.