Getting Sharepoint link from Windows Explorer

[Jason Forester]

I'm testing the latest preview fast ring versions of Windows, Office and OneDrive (currently build 17.3.6944.0627).

For Sharepoint folders that have been synced to Windows using OD, is there a way to get the online SP link to the file directly from withing Windows Explorer? This is a critical feature to be able to share and send links to files without the need to opening the document library in the browser each time.

Additionally, although the latest version of Office (Word/Excel/PPT) recognizes when locally synced files are opened and opens the online version for co-authoring instead, Outlook treats these as local files when attaching. Will OL support attaching local synced versions and instead inserting the cloud link?

[#2]

Improvements to the way synced files are handled in Windows Explorer are coming, as are share improvements. Read here: https://blogs.office.com/en-us/2017/05/16/sharepoint-virtual-summit-showcases-growth-innovations-and...

Outlook has the "attach as link from OneDrive" functionality, aka "modern attachments".

[#3]

Thanks for the link. I was sure I'd seen it somewhere - now does anyone know when we can expect it? Any chance it will work for Mac too?

As for OL using "attach as link", that works fine if OL already recognizes that the file is coming from OneDrive. But if the user adds the file from the local synced copy, then OL only recognizes it as a local file and doesn't offer the attach as link option. The exception seems to be:

• user first opens file in application (Word/Excel/PPT), so that Office now recognizes that the file is located in OD4B
• user selects the file from Recents in the Attach File menu in OL

If the user instead selects the locally stored file either from browsing or from drag and drop, the OL doesn't recognize it as a cloud file. It's even possible to have 2 listings of the same file in the Recents menu: the OD4B version and the local version, even though they are both the same file.

[#4]

I never said it's perfect 🙂 But at least you have the option to attach the file "as a link", instead of sending it over email.

Not sure how the OneDrive/file system improvements will relate to Mac, sorry.

[#5]

Bump. I would also like to do this routinely.

Synced folders in Windows Explorer are great. But when I'm working in Word or other Office products and I want to insert a hyperlink to another file in Sharepoint, I can't (or don't know how to) insert a link to that folder through Windows Explorer. I have to go through a browser to grab the web link in Sharepoint... not ideal. 

If there's been an update since this thread in 2017, I'd love know!