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kevinball's avatar
kevinball
Copper Contributor
Aug 30, 2025

Sharing Folders Issue

Hi

I have been trying to get my head around things, and had a bit of help but now I am stuck. 

I'm involved with a charity and we use the cloud to share essential information with volunteers. Our previous system, which closed down, allowed us to share files / folders without people having an account. However when I tried to share a folder with one of my test email addresses, it wants me to create a microsoft account, with authenticator. Now while I fully understand the implications of security, the share is literally one folder which they can't edit anyway. Is there any way around this? It's going to cause grief and I believe will put people off.

 

I just want to be able to share a folder that people can access via the link. 

 

Thank you for your help.

2 Replies

  • kevinball's avatar
    kevinball
    Copper Contributor

    Sorry I didn't get notification of your post. Thank you for replying.

     

    I have 365 business but is a non profit. I can't find where these options are. If it helps, the folders / files are in one drive. So not sure if you mean the settings are there or elsewhere. The share file settings sliders are set to the minimum security, but I can't see another option to switch off authenticator. To be clear the process I am seeing is:

     

    I sent one of my email addresses a share link, I click on the link, enter that email address, enter the then emailed verification code - then it wants me to use the authenticator app. I can do that, but the vast majority of our charity volunteers won't be able to do that for a variety of reasons. It's that which I'm trying to get round.

     

    The emailed code should be sufficient.

  • NikolinoDE's avatar
    NikolinoDE
    Gold Contributor

    You’ve run into a change in how Microsoft handles OneDrive / SharePoint sharing. By default, when you try to share with a specific email address, Microsoft assumes you want to enforce identity verification (so it asks the recipient to log in with a Microsoft account).

    But there is a way to allow access without an account — it just depends on how your OneDrive is set up:

    OneDrive Personal (free or with Microsoft 365 Home/Family)

    • You always have the option to share with “Anyone with the link”.
    • No Microsoft account is required for recipients.
    • You can restrict:

    View only vs. Edit.

    Expiration date for the link.

    Password protection (optional).

    • This works out of the box — you don’t need an admin.

    OneDrive for Business (part of Microsoft 365 Business, Education, or Nonprofit)

    • Sharing is controlled by your organization’s SharePoint / OneDrive admin policies.
    • Options you might see:

    Anyone with the link → works like OneDrive Personal, but only if the admin has enabled it.

    People in your organization → requires sign-in with your charity’s Microsoft account.

    Specific people → can require the recipient to sign in or (if enabled) use a one-time passcode sent to their email.

    • If “Anyone with the link” is missing, it means the admin has disabled anonymous sharing.

     

    If you’re using OneDrive Personal/Home → you should be able to generate a no-login link right now.

    If you’re using OneDrive Business/Charity tenant → whether you can share without requiring a Microsoft account depends on admin settings.

     

     

    My answers are voluntary and without guarantee!

     

    Hope this will help you.

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