Jan 02 2019 12:46 PM
My company is experiencing an intermittent problem where sometimes a OneDrive for Business file shared with the setting "Anyone with this link can edit" prompts the user the file is being shared with to request access. If the user tries to open the file a second time, they can then access the file without requesting access. We're wondering why that access request prompt sometimes happens and how to prevent it. It doesn't happen consistently, so we're having trouble reproducing and troubleshooting it. Has anyone seen this before and know how to fix it?
Sep 27 2022 05:26 PM
@Bill_Hawkins Thank you! I will download FF again and ask my team to do it as well. It's annoying but as long as me and my team's work relies on MS Excel it's going to be difficult moving away from onedrive.
Oct 10 2022 05:40 AM
Oct 10 2022 06:18 AM
I can appreciate your obvious superior knowledge on the inner workings of Microsoft's complex relationships. I also understand that there complex relationships are very likely required for security and functional operation.
However your missive doesn't help the less that expert user understand how they can resolve the situation, as there are no specific, detailed, and clearly defined steps listed to resolve the issue.
With all due respect, I realize your statement might resolve it for an experienced software engineer, familiar with the inner workings of the global Microsoft system, but for the vast number of users who do not have that skill set, what you have written does not offer a concrete, workable solution.
As an aside, it appears you assume most individuals reading these are well versed on the system as you are. To be blunt, we aren't. Also to be blunt, documentation for solutions needs to be in layman's language as much as possible, and needs to be tested against an untrained individual. I see this VERY OFTEN in these types of forums, in which a solution is offered, and the author is so familiar with the systems that they inadvertently leave out key steps, which to them are second nature, but to the inexperienced user are NOT a typical option they would invoke. For instance, many times when a change is completed, the window needs to be "Saved". Many end users may not be familiar with the particular window, and may not complete the last step, negating al the previous work. I have found a series of step by step screen shots, with arrows or highlights of the critical operations to be accomplished in each step are helpful.
Again, with all due respect, I have little doubt that your paragraph does address the root cause and the solution. But without the kind of documentation I mention above, it does little to help the inexperienced user solve the problems, AND CREATES FURTHER FRUSTRATION ON THEIR END. Creating one more small negative public relations impression for Microsoft.
Oct 10 2022 07:03 AM
Oct 19 2022 03:27 AM
Oct 20 2022 07:16 AM - edited Oct 20 2022 07:17 AM
Just started experiencing this problem and found this thread. I've been testing links in a browser with with all cookies, history, data etc cleared (Firefox) and I always get prompted to login. Happens on "anyone with the link can edit" links for folders and documents in Sharepoint and OneDrive. Seems to be intermittent, not everyone has the problem all the time.
We just ditched a third-party sharing platform (Sharefile) in favor of Sharepoint so really hoping this gets fixed soon. Opening a case with Microsoft and if any insights will post back here.
Oct 20 2022 10:58 AM - edited Oct 20 2022 10:58 AM
I share your concerns. If you check this thread, on October 20th a post was made and the solution I offered is not working for them.
I have concerns that MS is working to move totally over to subscription. If you may remember the initial press releases for Win10 implied it would be moving to a subscription service, with some pundits in the IT industry saying they saw MS moving to total cloud computing environment. This post is from June of 2022, but outlines what they see as the future. https://depotcatalog.com/will-windows-11-be-subscription-based/
I hesitantly ordered my tablet with Win10. I am seriously considering scrapping MS totally. The changes to force Open Authentication (Which I see as a misnomer, as it's linked to AD) are causing me a host of problems with my Android. I'm FORCED to use the MS android app, which is glitchy with my android contacts, which controls what my android reports as incoming texts and phone calls.
Needless to say, I'm not happy with the change to basically kill Outlook 2013 and older. While I've spent decades learning to make efficient use of Outlook, I see the writing on the wall, such that eventually MS wants a constant income stream, as opposed to offering a one time license fee for their products. I'll be looking for an alternative, one that hopefully runs on Win7. The problem I see is once MS and Google complete their move to subscription and cloud computing, the cost will climb to levels that make use of the systems nearly unfeasible. Similar to the situation with cable.
Bill
Nov 18 2022 08:51 PM - edited Nov 18 2022 09:07 PM
Same thing happens for me using consumer OneDrive and Office 365. I send a "Anyone with link" link to friends and sometimes they get prompted for user/pw. Using Incognito browser fixes. So I think it has to do with some previous login credentials to OneDrive or other Microsoft service existing in the user's browser.
Nov 18 2022 09:04 PM - edited Nov 18 2022 09:12 PM
@Bill_Hawkins wrote Sept 19, 2022:
What I also discovered is that IF the end user invokes the link using a browser which has NOT had the opportunity to save cookies or the critical date into cache, the problem does not happen. I personally have discovered if I clear cookies and cache data from my default browser, the problem does not appear.
For the reasons you give, using an Incognito/Private window to open the link also works around the problem.
Nov 21 2022 03:54 AM
@tom_tulinsky We send newsletters to 2,000 people, most of whom wouldn't have a clue what an incognito window is, so that wouldn't work for us.
Jan 11 2023 11:27 AM
Hi all,
Like the others, I have been seeing this issue as well as a few people not being able to access OneDrive documents either. I had my director open a ticket with Microsoft, and received the response below. My users are currently OOO, so was hoping to pass this along and see if it worked for anyone else.
Carry out the steps below for the users with the OneDrive issue:
Carry out the steps below for the users with SharePoint issue.
Let me know if anyone is able to try and what the outcome is.
Jan 20 2023 07:32 AM
I have consistently experienced this problem for many years, against both personal OneDrive and ODFB (Sharepoint) backends. The "bad" recipient is always someone with a Microsoft identity (e.g. Hotmail or a work/school account). Sometimes it's me -- literally unable to access a "share with anyone" link that I created just moments ago, unless I fish out my phone and re-enter my 2FA.
Fully anonymous users don't seem to be affected.
Needless to say this is a terrible UX. I run a tiny nonprofit (<5 users), so virtually everyone who receives a OneDrive link is a so-called "guest" in MS terminology. Most of these collaborators, vendors, volunteers, etc have no connection to MS and thus do fine. But those that do -- because it's required for their work, school, or Xbox -- get the worst experience of all, rather than benefiting from familiarity with the MS ecosystem. It's particularly baffling for power users with decent tech skills and their own account @ my nonprofit, because they will (quite reasonably) try to type the password for my org -- the tenant from which the file is shared -- rather than the work/school account that their screen is actually prompting them for.
To put it bluntly for @Stephen Rice and his fellow PMs: requiring extraneous auth turns your potentially strongest users into the loudest voices for abandoning MS tools. As everyone reminds me (tech & nontech alike), GDocs simply does not have this issue.
Jan 20 2023 07:43 AM
@nickf23 these steps don't work in my personal OneDrive.
In my nonprofit org, I am able to follow the Sharepoint steps. However there are two problems:
Jan 20 2023 07:50 AM
Jan 20 2023 10:02 AM
We send newsletters to 2,000 people, most of whom wouldn't have a clue what an incognito window is, so that wouldn't work for us.
I agree requiring a private window is not an acceptable solution, even for me sharing with 5 friends. I've started using Google Drive to share. Unbelievable MS has not fixed this problem for years.
Jan 20 2023 10:40 AM
Jan 21 2023 02:27 AM
Mar 14 2023 05:41 PM
May 09 2023 07:08 PM
May 15 2023 08:58 PM