Forum Discussion
Sharing a video: download button removed
Hi all,
I've got a SharePoint Online site that I use to share video files with external users... 'anyone with the link' level access, no authentication required. Up until today, that's worked great. Send a link, and the recipient can view and download the file.
Today, that's all broken. The links now open in a Clipchamp viewer with no download button in sight, even though 'Can't download' had not been selected... see below for a sample set-up...
Screenshot of how my links are set upHow links appear when viewing not signed in.Here's a sample link so you can all see:
https://swanseauniversity.sharepoint.com/:v:/s/GraduationVideos-UsrGrp/EfPKKqODHrRKvjGqsrRx9XsBqudTHWRIim6pKzL751jmQw?e=6LXdGy
My recipients need to be able to download these files without logging in. Does anyone know how to get that button back!?!
To preempt some suggestions:
Can I just share a folder instead, and put them in there?
The videos in question are being sent out individually to parents of students automatically via Power Automate upon request. Creating folders for these thousands of files would be a big headache!
Could I append '&download=1' to the link?
That only seems to work when manually adding it to the link in the address bar. If I append this to the URL using PA, it adds an erroneous question mark at the end of the URL, rendering it useless. Also, this functionality is spotty across different devices and browsers, so I'd rather avoid it.
Really appreciate any help or advice, thanks!
7 Replies
Agreeing with everyone that the solutions provided to us by Microsoft are not viable since it requires us changing the links to everything we've shared on project boards. We're being forced to move into DropBox based on a poor design decision that was not communicated.
For the emergency situations we have our folks putting the video into a folder in SharePoint, then share the folder with 'anyone with the link' perms. This gives the ability to download the video from the folder and open the video in the brower to view.Neither option works in my setting. I have students from all over the state sending me videos for an education competition and we can't download these videos anymore. We can't go back to each of them individually and the ones that can't be downloaded will not be able to participate. Did microsoft market research this decision? I highly doubt that the majority of people asked would have said to remove the download functionality.
Sharing from a folder could technically allow for traditional file viewing and downloading, but as you already pointed out, this approach isn’t scalable on a per-user basis. Managing thousands of folders to support individualized access would quickly become a logistical nightmare and introduce unnecessary complexity into the automation process.
For your case :
- Zip the file
- Store the .zip in SharePoint
- Share the zipped file using a regular anonymous link
- Send that link to parents
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Don't forget to mark as solution if my answer suits youMicrosoft changed how video links behave in SharePoint. Now when you send someone a link to a video, it often opens in that new Clipchamp-style viewer. That viewer hides the download button, even if you didn’t check any option to block downloading. It’s happening more and more. You’re not alone.
This isn’t something you can turn off. There’s no setting for it. SharePoint just assumes that if the file is a video, people should stream it. And when it does that, it strips out the download control.
The trick you mentioned with appending download=1 sometimes works, but only in some browsers, and yeah, Power Automate often breaks the URL formatting anyway. So it’s not reliable.
Folders won’t help either if you’re generating links one-by-one for each parent. And creating folders per student sounds like a nightmare.
The best workaround right now is to avoid SharePoint’s viewer completely. You can either force a direct download using a different kind of link, or just rename the file so it doesn’t look like a video file. If you rename it from .mp4 to something like .mp4_, then SharePoint won’t stream it, and users get a plain download prompt. They can rename it back afterward.
Or zip the file. That works too. Zipped files don’t open in any viewer. They just download.
Hii Swanseadwale,
Microsoft claims it's fixed but many tenants still affected and adding '?download=1' to your link may help you temporarily but not suitable for automate setup.
open microsoft 365 support ticket and ask microsoft to check your tenant and confirm the download videos issue for the video link
Hope it's help you
Thanks
Shiva Yadav
My support ticket to Microsoft was answered as follows:
After a thorough review and internal testing, we’ve identified that this behavior is by design and is directly related to a recent platform-wide update from Microsoft.
Stream and Clipchamp Integration
Microsoft has recently completed the migration of Stream (Classic) to Stream (on SharePoint) and unified its video services under the Clipchamp brand. As part of this transition:
All videos stored in SharePoint and OneDrive now open in the new Clipchamp-style viewer.
This viewer no longer includes a download button for users accessing videos via “Anyone with the link” sharing.
Even if the “Block download” option is not enabled, the download button is intentionally hidden in this new experience.
This change is not a bug, but a design decision by Microsoft to streamline video playback and security across Microsoft 365.
Reference:
You can read more about this transition and its implications in Microsoft’s official documentation:
Sharing a video: download button removed | Microsoft Community Hub
Stream (on SharePoint) FAQ – Microsoft Learn
Migration Overview – Stream (Classic) to Stream (on SharePoint)
Why is Download Button Not Available – Microsoft Q&A
To ensure your clients can still download the videos, here are two simple and effective workarounds:
Option 1: Share a Zipped Version of the Video
Locate the video file in your SharePoint or OneDrive library.
Right-click the video and select Download to save it locally.
Compress the video into a .zip file using your operating system’s built-in compression tool.
Upload the .zip file back to SharePoint or OneDrive.
Right-click the .zip file and choose Share.
Set the link to “Anyone with the link can view”.
Share this new link with your clients. They will now see a Download button.
Option 2: Share from OneDrive with Direct File Link
Upload the video to OneDrive.
Right-click the video and select Share.
Click Settings (gear icon) and ensure:
“Anyone with the link” is selected.
“Block download” is unchecked.
Copy and share the link.
Clients will be able to download the video directly from the OneDrive interface.
Microsoft’s new viewer prioritizes streaming over downloading to enhance security and reduce accidental data leakage. While this improves playback consistency, it does limit download options for anonymous users.
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There must be a way to replace the native video player in SharePoint. Are we really just stuck with a 'oh well figure it out' situation? We have 100s of links in project boards that clients access and have to share with their internal teams. The solutions provided really aren't feasible for that.
Option 2 doesn't work. Provides a slightly different layout and an option to share the link but still no download facility. Seems like an example of Microsoft telling us how we should run our businesses rather than provide solutions. Streaming is not the be all and end all for everyone. May need to move to We Transfer or similar.
