On UserVoice, “Share from Explorer” has been one of our most requested features from customers. Today, we are excited to announce that we’re bringing this capability to both File Explorer on Windows and Finder on the Mac. We’re also introducing an improved sharing UI that provides easier collaboration and better security.
For browser users, we’re bringing this same sharing UI to OneDrive for Business and SharePoint Online websites. Here, users get the additional option of composing the email using Outlook on the web.
Share command
The Share command now sends shareable links by default rather than granting permissions to specific people like the old Invite people tab. This better matches user expectations that links sent in email can be forwarded to others by default. In other words, Share does the same thing as Copy link except it enables users to send the link immediately to recipients via email.
Both the Share and Copy link commands now default to the same permissions and use the same link settings.
Link types
Users can change settings on sharing links to one of three possible permission levels:
- Anyone with this link: A shareable link that can be sent to others. It behaves like email. You can forward it to others or add people to the thread and it will work. This option does not require recipients to sign-in and hence is the most convenient for recipients. Use this for sharing content that can be freely shared with others, including people outside your organization. If you want people with the link to lose access after a certain date, you can optionally set an expiration date on the link.
- Only people in [organization]: Users who open the link must sign-in or be signed-in to a non-guest account in your organization. It behaves like email with restrictions on it. You can forward it to others or add people to the thread, as long as the people added are inside your organization. If any external user gets a hold of the link, they will not be able to use it. Use this for sharing internal-only content.
- Specific people: Grant permission only to the people you list. The link will only work for those people (and others who already have access to the item). If recipients want to send this link to anyone else, they need to ensure those recipients have been granted permission to the resource, otherwise the link won’t work. This option produces behavior similar to the "Invite people" tab in the old sharing UI.
Company admins who wish to change the default link permission can do so in the OneDrive Admin Center and the SharePoint Admin Center.
Users who want to explicitly grant permissions to an item without sending a link can do so by selecting “Manage access” and then selecting “Add people”. For example, if a user wishes to make sure that a folder can be accessed by an entire division, they may want to grant access here rather than send a sharing email to the entire division.
The new sharing UI starts rolling out this week on the following endpoints:
- OneDrive for Business on the web
- SharePoint Online document libraries on the web
- Windows File Explorer context menu for sync'ed files ("Share" command)
- macOS Finder context menu for sync'ed files ("Share" command)
We feel these new features will offer a more simplified experience for sharing files and folders in OneDrive and SharePoint while giving you greater control over who has access to your content.
Feel free to comment below and make sure to check out UserVoice if you have addtional suggestions on improving OneDrive.
Want a deeper dive on sharing? Check out this our newest Microsoft Mechanics video, "OneDrive for Business updates: simplified sharing and files on demand ".
