SOLVED

OneDrive share link for folders to external without login

Iron Contributor

A user willingly came to see me to look at the possibility of switching from GoogleDrive to OneDrive for a team of 20. I was pumped, getting our users to move to OneDrive is difficult enough, so someone coming in looking for it was a surprise. Our discussion however started almost as quickly as it begun, when we tried to perform a simple folder sharing a link to external people without requiring them to login. Read that line again carefully. It's not possible!! What should be so trivial... I couldn't believe it, i got out my client, and tried to create a share link for external R&W permissions without login.. Needless to say, Google won again, and have been doing this simple feature for ages..

13 Replies
best response confirmed by AndrewX (Iron Contributor)
Solution
It's coming soon in the roadmap ...

http://fasttrack.microsoft.com/roadmap?filters=onedrive%20for%20business#I-51699

I was always quite pleased that this wasn't possible, sharing a file is a positive action to share a known quantity. Sharing a folder means that anything already, or anything put there in the future becomes available. I hope they find a way to make sure users know a folder is shared however they get files into the folder.
Hi Andrew,

This is a very common request from customers and, as Steven mentioned previously, this is a feature we are currently working on delivering. We will first be delivering the ability to get company shrareable links to folders (i.e. "available to users in Contoso only") with anonymous links (i.e. no sign-in required) to follow after. Thanks for the feedback!
I would like to see that happen

In one of my tenants I have an update from my OneDrive. And now I have the possibility to share a folder with an extarnal without login. (Sorry for the Dutch screenshot)

Knipsel.PNG

This is still not working. I share a link and try it on different machine and first thing that happens is to redirect me to sign in page. Why can't you make is as simple as Dropbox

Hi @Adam Kuszczak,

 

I'm sorry to hear you're having issues! Can you paste a screenshot of the sharing dialog for when you are trying to share the folder? Thanks!

 

Stephen Rice

OneDrive Program Manager II

so I think it depends on how large the file to share is. For small files it starts download the second you go to url. For large files, I guess it takes a while to initialize download so the redirect kicks in first.

Hi Adam,

 

That's definitely odd. Regardless of the file size, the link should take you to the viewer for the file (what type of file is it by the way?) Can you send a private message so we can debug further? Thanks!

 

Stephen Rice

OneDrive Program Manager II

Hi Stephen,

I have the same problem. When sharing a large folder (almost 7GB) the folder can only be downloaded if you sign in. If a small folder is shared (under 100mb) then the download is working even without login. In the above folders were only JPG images and small recordings with phone.

And as long as I'm here, I will mention another issue. Files on demand on MAC sometimes start downloading automatically. I just open a folder but never click on the files and suddenly all files start downloading. The fix I found was to restart the app/restart the MAC or when these don't work then unlink the MAC from the account and then re-link it. This is very annoying.... This happens on 2 Macbook Pros.

I really love the files on demand and will be moving completely to OneDrive very soon so please fix these. Any idea when will the files on demand on Mac be updated/fixed? I know it was only launched recently.

Thanks!
Andrei

Hi @Andrei Racz,

 

For the download issue, please create a support case (if you haven't already) as that will be the best way to track the issue.

 

For Files On Demand, files should hydrate automatically if another app is trying to access those files (and you should get a notification as well telling you which app is responsible). Have you seen anything like that? Thanks!

 

Stephen Rice

OneDrive Program Manager II

Hey Stephen,

No, absolutely no apps are trying to access those files. When I open a folder with multiple files and folders in it only the files start downloading. All of them. I also read that other people are having this issues on Macs.

Hi @Andrei Racz,

 

Thanks for the extra details. I'll let the right folks on the team know and pass on anything I hear back. Thanks for raising the issue!

 

Stephen Rice

OneDrive Program Manager II

Hi @Andrei Racz,

 

Can you reproduce the issue again and open the OneDrive Activity Center and paste the screenshot of it here? Thanks!

 

Stephen Rice

OneDrive Program Manager II

1 best response

Accepted Solutions
best response confirmed by AndrewX (Iron Contributor)
Solution
It's coming soon in the roadmap ...

http://fasttrack.microsoft.com/roadmap?filters=onedrive%20for%20business#I-51699

I was always quite pleased that this wasn't possible, sharing a file is a positive action to share a known quantity. Sharing a folder means that anything already, or anything put there in the future becomes available. I hope they find a way to make sure users know a folder is shared however they get files into the folder.

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