Shared by me - No Sorting Options?

[Rob Bowman]

Really excited to see the much awaited Shared By Me in OneDrive for Business. We definitely see the benefits and will use this in our continued effort to educate users on why they should share a document rather then send out copies. One issue - it is not sortable? And the default sort order I have not quite figured out.

1. Will it be sortable?

2. If not can we sort by something that makes sense like "Latest Shared"?

[#2]

I totally agree.

It's a shame that the list of shared by me items appears to be sorted randomly!

Adding @StephenRice for comments...

[#3]

Absolutely agree - great to see the feature appear. Really miss ways of adding structure to the list, such as sorting. But how about showing it in, well, folders... you know, the same way it is displayed under Files. Right now it only says the folder that the shared item is placed in, but what if that is a subfolder of a subfolder? Then it becomes more difficult to get an overview of things...

Shared by me and Shared with me kind of "share" the same problem, namely that things are really just presented in long lists and there are no ways for the users to structure those things by themselves. We're having conversations with users who really miss this and are choosing to go with a competing product instead.

[#4]

+ 1000 to all this comments

[#5]

Hi all,

Glad to hear you're all enjoying the new Shared By Me view! We've definitely heard the feedback around filtering & sorting and it's something we're thinking about. Thanks!

Stephen Rice

OneDrive Program Manager II

[#6]

Glad to hear it! Just to be clear, I am pretty sure our users would still not be content if only sorting/filtering of the existing list was implemented. They are already miffed by the "Shared with me" list and not being able to structure it the way they want. Anyway, I will stop now, I think you get it 🙂 Thanks again.

[#7]

@AllanWith,

So long as you don't repeat yourself, feedback is always welcome 😉 We can't always get everything that gets asked of us but direct feedback via forums and UserVoice are all things that we factor into our designs and prioritization discussions. Thanks!

Stephen Rice

OneDrive Program Manager II

[#8]

@StephenRice 

Found this discussion....but I see that nothing's been changed...

We're encouraged to share files with our colleagues, but it's almost not worth it when I can't locate the file.  Why can't the "shared by me" list be sorted by date?

[#9]

@Stephen Rice : Please confirm if the "shared by me" list can be sorted by "date of sharing"? If yes, please share the steps.

Good question @njgyomtov 

[#10]

@StephenRice 

 Please confirm if the "shared by me" list can be sorted by "date of sharing"? If yes, please share the steps.

[#11]

Hi @sarfraz536,

There is no sorting/filtering in Shared By Me today but this is certainly a request we have heard and are looking at. I'll make sure to pass this along as well 🙂 Thanks!

Stephen Rice

OneDrive Program Manager II

[#12]

Thanks for the response.

[#13]

It's now August 2019 and I've gone seeking a solution to the sorting/filtering dilemma for Shared by me...still nothing...nearly 1.5 years later since @StephenRice first reply on 13.03.18 to @Rob Bowman initial query and subsequent comments.  On 19.05.19 another SP user @njgyomtov  and @sarfraz536 noted that nothing has changed and again on 22.07.19 asking for a response.

Totally appreciate that it takes time and resources to make changes to a program. And I also understand the concept of prioritisation...but this is a fundamental request...why can't the configuration be set up in the same way as Shared with me or any other list capabilities in SP?

Its a total pain in the posterior in terms of locating items I've shared but hey, it's a third world problem and it's not the end of the world, it would just make things a lot easier.

Look forward to hearing an ETA on a fix for this one.

Thanks for reading. 

[#14]

Hi @Annie02,

Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback on this experience. We are actively working on adding sort functionality to Shared By Me and hear your need to be able to sort this view. We don't have an exact ETA for it currently, but know that we are actively working to improve the view to support sorting.

How many files do your users share on average? Any other considerations as we are working to improve this experience? 

Cheers,

Catherine 

[#15]

Hi @Catherine Feldman Thanks for your speedy response and I appreciate your honesty in terms of not having a definite ETA for the fix.

It would be very difficult to know even approximate number of files shared due to GDPR but I would hazard a guess that it would be hundreds on a daily basis. Having sort/filter functionality for Shared by me, and even an A-Z Name sort capability would be really helpful, as I would use Shared by me to open documents too.

Again, I really appreciate you taking the time to come back to me and will eagerly await the fix implementation (in the near future hopefully!).

Kind regards

Ann

[#16]

Hi @Annie02 ,

No problem at all! Thanks for sharing your feedback - it helps us ensure we can prioritize implementing this functionality in an expedited fashion. We will share updates as soon as possible.

Cheers,

Catherine

[#17]

Hi@Catherine Feldman 

It looks like lots of people are very patiently waiting for some "Shared by Me" sorting options.  I'd like to add to the wish list.  It would be great if I could search by "to whom shared".  This isn't exactly a sorting option, but in a way it is.  It's more of a filter.  I'd like to see every file and folder that I've shared to a particular person.  I'm sure others would value this feature as well.

Thank you for considering this.

 - Kurt

[#18]

Hi Kurt (@kcsmith88 ) - Thanks for piling on with the feedback. We agree this makes sense to have as functionality in this view and have it on our radar. If you have other feedback to share about either Shared By Me or Shared With Me please do let us know and we will take it all into consideration. 

Cheers,

Catherine 

[#19]

Hi@Catherine Feldman 

It's been 6 months since my last post on this topic, and still no sorting options for "Shared by me" files in OneDrive.  Is this still on Microsoft's radar?  It would be very useful.  It seems like it wouldn't be too difficult to implement as this feature is already available on the "Share with me" section.

Thanks!

 - Kurt Smith

[#20]

Does anyone know where this discussion got to? It appears that in the midst of Covid-19 its been forgotten. Does Caroline Feldman have anything for us, as this have been a non evolving situation for some years?
As a small business, keeping track of shares is a fundamental need and there to be able to sort what has been shared into an order is a major component of that process. Sadly file name or location by themselves aren't hugely beneficial because each client would have their facsimile file structure and facsimile file name for the same core correspondence. To create a root preference to sort by would be an enhancement when and if we finally get the ability to sort.