Hi I am trying to share a folder on our sharepoint site with an external users. I provide the link and they are asked to confirm their email and enter the code. This is successful, the folder with contents briefly appears on the screen then it disappears and they get "Access Denied" xxxx does not have permissions to access this resource although they are being given access to the folder and its contents? Has anyone got any ideas? Thanks Alistair

I don't think this is the case. assuming you are sharing using modern library view or are you still using classic? My library has over 5000 and using specific people sharing option works fine for a folder in the library. I even tried to share a more root folder and used a view that showed all documents without folders and it worked.

HiI should have mentioned that I am trying to allow access through a sharing link. The site, library and folder have as standard the following permission "everyone except external users" read access

Is it possible that there is an asset on the page/site that has different permissions to the rest of the page? A site icon for instance that comes from a library/web with restricted permissions?

Hi Thanks for your reply. I'm trying to share a folder inside a folder. I only see the folder contents for a few seconds none of the rest of the site. I only want the external user to have access to the specified folder and that's way I used the sharing link. I can't see what else is blocking it. Alistair

So you can see the folder and surrounding page yourself but when using the sharing link (not logged in?) you have the access denied problem? It still sounds to me like there is something on the page that has different permissions. Are there custom scripts? Page headers or site icons from a different site?It may be worth trying to use Fiddler to see what specific asset(s) are getting access denied? This link looks good, you'd just need to follow the first section (Install and configure Fiddler) then log into Chrome using the sharing link and look for the red access denied alerts https://cann0nf0dder.wordpress.com/2016/09/12/getting-fiddler-to-work-with-sharepoint-online/

Access Denied - Sharing Folders | Microsoft Community Hub

17 Replies

ellan1537
Iron Contributor
Mar 07, 2019
I've recently shared and it was successfully. Try the below procedure and let me know your feedback.

1. Add the external user email domain into your SharePoint Online environment.
2. Share the folder with external user(s) work accounts. If you miss step 1, then you may see 'Your organization does not allow sharing with outside' kind of error.
3. SharePoint will send an automatic email to the external user (no-reply@sharepointonline.com). Ask user to accept this invitation and create a Microsoft account if user don't have one (the username should be same as the email address to which user received this invitation). Before clicking the link in the invitation, user need to logout of all other active accounts (including gmail) on browser.
4. After step 3, the user will have access to the documents in the folder.
5. If user still have issues after creating the MS account, then you can share the URL of the folder directly thru email. Ext. user then needs to sign-in using MS account credentials to access files.
- Alistair Trigg
  Brass Contributor
  Mar 07, 2019
  Hi
  
  Thanks for all the replies. I have also spoken to MS and they say its because the library's list has exceed 5000 items, its actually at 6500. I haven't tested this theory either? It doesn't work in incognito mode. I have tried exactly the same sharing on another library and sharing works fine. I'll work through the suggestions and I'll let you all know how I get on.
  
  Alistair
  - ChrisWebbTech
    MVP
    Mar 07, 2019
    Odd. Fairly sure I’ve shared from a library with more than 5000. Does that one folder have over 5000 or the whole library? Now you got me worried about a group of mine using sharing in a large library. I’ll test when I get in the office ;).
Alistair Trigg
Brass Contributor
Mar 06, 2019
Hi

I should have mentioned that I am trying to allow access through a sharing link. The site, library and folder have as standard the following permission "everyone except external users" read access
- Paul Chapman
  Iron Contributor
  Mar 06, 2019
  Is it possible that there is an asset on the page/site that has different permissions to the rest of the page? A site icon for instance that comes from a library/web with restricted permissions?
  - Alistair Trigg
    Brass Contributor
    Mar 06, 2019
    Hi
    
    Thanks for your reply. I'm trying to share a folder inside a folder. I only see the folder contents for a few seconds none of the rest of the site. I only want the external user to have access to the specified folder and that's way I used the sharing link. I can't see what else is blocking it.
    
    Alistair

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Access Denied - Sharing Folders

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