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John Gruber's avatar
John Gruber
Brass Contributor
Oct 14, 2022
Solved

Limit Sharing of specific folders in SharePoint Online?

Is it possible to limit the external sharing of a SharePoint folder with external / guest users?

 

For example, let's say we have a SharePoint site called Marketing. Marketing documents can be shared externally. But we don't want a specific folder (Confidential) that's stored in the Marketing SharePoint site shared externally.

 

Is that possible? If so, how?

 

Or can we do the opposite? Can we set the SharePoint site so no one can share anything from the SharePoint site except a specific folder? For example, Let's say we have the Marketing SharePoint site. Nothing in the Marketing site can be shared externally except files in the Public folder. Is that possible?

 

If so, how?

 

Thanks,

John

2 Replies

  • Joao Livio's avatar
    Joao Livio
    Iron Contributor

    Hi John Gruber 

     

    Let´s say you have a project with external people and your governance allow it

     

    You can create any folder and share to different levels, because a folder is an item. You must find a plan and see who will see what.

     

    Once again, if your Governance allows, give a shot with the limited access levels

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/share-a-list-or-list-item-c270ccaf-89a2-4f7e-874a-5da98824d449

     

    Be careful to not fall in common mistakes, you have the best practices here

    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/external-sharing-overview 

     

    BTW see this thread 
    Re: External users can't open documents in desktop application - Page 2 - Microsoft Community Hub

     

    Best Regards

  • SvenSieverding's avatar
    SvenSieverding
    Bronze Contributor
    I am not so sure if you can configure sharing settings on a folder.

    I personally would not do that and just create another SharePoint site, call it "Confidential" and limit the sharing setting for that site.

    That way it would also be much, much easier for your users to determine, why they cannot share a file from that location.

    Many other SharePoint policies like i.e "Sensitivity Labels" are also only really applicable to sites. (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/compliance/sensitivity-labels-teams-groups-sites?view=o365-worldwide)

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