How do you share an anonymous link to a folder or file from Sharepoint Online? We were told by Microsoft support this is not possible but how can that be?

I probably wasn't very clear and it's just what I have observed but a team site that is part of an Office 365 Group, has more restrictive sharing by default (in my dev tenant at least). This is explained in that Turn external sharing on or off for SharePoint Online link and the Office 365 Groups section: "By default, all SharePoint site collections that are part of an Office 365 Group have the sharing setting set to Allow sharing only with the external users that already exist in your organization’s directory. To change this setting, you can use the Set-SPOSite Windows PowerShell cmdlet." The PowerShell would be something like this, assuming there isn't an easier way to do this - Set-SPOSite -Identity https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/site1 -SharingCapability ExternalUserAndGuestSharing Document LibraryOffice 365 Based Team SiteAgain I am not sure if this is relevant but its what I have noticed.

Great news! The new Admin management tool (now in Preview mode) allows you to select the specific site (under Site Management by clicking on the site name) and then click the "Change" link next to the "Sharing Status" and change this setting. So, you don't need to use PowerShell.

Just to add, I tried that PowerShell and it did enable anonymous sharing for me in my Office 365 Groups based team site: In my previous post you can see 'anyone' was greyed out but now it's enabled:

Im not sure what this means. Can you clarify? What group are you referring to? How do we fix this so we can share anonoymous links?

Anonymous link | Microsoft Community Hub

Matt Hays
Brass Contributor
Apr 27, 2018
am I missing anything, why is it still grey
- Mike Savely
  Copper Contributor
  May 30, 2018
  Having the exact same issue here. Have checked all the boxes, granted all the permission, still grayed out. What the devil am I missing?
  - Mike Savely
    Copper Contributor
    Jun 01, 2018
    My consultant took a look and got it working. Here is his reply just in case it is useful to anybody
    
    "You didn't miss anything - I manually checked each related setting at the tenant level, site collection level and site level - everything was configured as it should have been.
    I ultimately reapplied the site level sharing policy settings through PowerShell and that appears to have corrected whatever was awry on the back end.
    Sometimes just pulling the batteries out and rebooting is all it takes! I wish it was a more profound solution..."
Cian Allner
Silver Contributor
Jul 18, 2017
You can certainly share a file or a folder anonymously via a link if it's permitted:

Share sites or documents with people outside your organization

This requires external sharing to be configured accordingly - Manage external sharing for your SharePoint Online environment:

"Sharing with anonymous users – documents and folders (but not sites) can be shared via an anonymous link where anyone with the link can view or edit the document, or upload to the folder."
- Harrison Hersch
  Brass Contributor
  Jul 18, 2017
  Yea, I've been there. So when I look at the anonymous link section, it directs you to go to Sharepoint, but the screenshot is OneDrive. This definitely can be done with a file stored in OneDrive. Anyway, going to a Sharepoint site, then files and then selecting "Copy Link" pops up the same screen as in OneDrive. The difference here is the option we want is greyed out. See screenshot below iwth the tooltip over anyone. You can also see below that where I followed the directions in that link you provided and the options are checked; however, we still cannot create a public link.
  - Cian Allner
    Silver Contributor
    Jul 18, 2017
    Have you permitted external sharing per these instructions at the tenant level - Turn external sharing on or off for SharePoint Online:

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