"Shared with Us" link in Modern SharePoint Menu (behavior)?

Silver Contributor

Can anyone explain the behavior of the "Shared With Us" link in the left menu of the modern sharepoint sites?  Specifically dealing with a Group-connected site at the moment.

 

But the link keeps appearing sometimes, disappearing sometimes, it causes "subbullets" under the Documents to become subbullets under the "Shared With Us".

46 Replies

@Stephen Rice 

How about a link to the actual voting page please......Plus this has been talked about at length now for a while. I do not know anyone who wants this feature. If you can provide a link to the actual page where you can vote on this particular topic please. Otherwise having to search the whole site is difficult. 

 

Thank you

Rob

Hi @Rob-Baker,

 

Here is the main voting page: https://sharepoint.uservoice.com/forums/329214-sites-and-collaboration

 

I did a quick search but didn't see this request pop up so feel free to create a new item for it. Thanks!

 

Stephen Rice

@Stephen Rice That is a disappointing answer. 

At a minimum:

  • Explain to all of us the benefit of this feature and how we can use it to our advantage. Nothing is worse than having a navigation menu that we can't control.
  • Include a link to the post where we could vote.
  • Provide any other "work-arounds"

Best running joke on these forums. I know I can always get some LOL's every couple weeks with people still asking about the old "Shared with us" link. Yep -- still there. And no, they aren't going to fix it for us. @Stephen Rice 

Thank you @Rob-Baker . Voted.
I don't know why I don't find it from the uservoice search menu when typing "Shared with us"

Just responding to your original post of three years as I came across the same issue. Until Microsoft provides a solution to remove Shared with Us link, you might or might not be aware of removing "Quick Launch".  I've worked around the issue by removing Quick Launch altogether via Settings/Site settings/Navigational Elements and unchecking "Quick Launch" check box. The kicker here is, you lose the ability to navigate to various sections from left navigation. It's a price to pay if you don't understand the behavior of Shared with Us and it's  getting on your nerves.

I created temporary navigational links on my Home page using Quick Links, Button and Call to action Web Parts. Unfortunately web parts can't be applied  on document libraries so you are stuck with using the browser back button or site logo to navigate back. Just another option if it is an option. @Brent Ellis 

@CEStar321 

 

I agree - has any solution ever been offered?   Anyone?

Sure would be nice if Microsoft would respond about this issue

@Brent Ellis Seriously Microsoft? 3 years and no fix to a simple problem like this. 

@misopris - totally agree.

The fact that this useless link is even there is grating (annoying).

 

There needs to be some serious consideration given to the design decisions approving this "no sense" and useless link.

 

I am trying to design useful and productive business applications that are not based on community sharing, and this does not help.

@Brent Ellis I need help in removing the "Shared with us" link from a SharePoint site. It doesn't show up on the home page, but shows up randomly when you go into a document library. It messes up the side menu as it shows up in position three in the menu. This is very annoying and confuses a lot of are users. 

THIS CHANGE HAS BEEN REQUESTED SINCE IT FIRST CAME OUT 7 YEARS AGO. FOR CRYING OUT ALOUD MICROSOFT JUST ADD AN ON/OFF BUTTON FOR THE SHAREPOINT ADMINISTRATOR SO THEY CAN TURN OFF THIS USLESS FEATURE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Agreed. I've been going around in circles trying to remove it from the left-hand-side navigation panel (or are they still calling it the 'Quick Launch'. It is now March 2021 and this has been rumbling on since EARLY 2017!
Anyone have a user voice to vote on? I'm not sure they are HEARING US. @Pernille-Eskebo, @SharePoint .... somehow I don't think these things work. :face_with_rolling_eyes::rolling_on_the_floor_laughing::pouting_face:
You can build an application customizer that hides it based on css. Takes 5 minutes. Shoot, I'll do it for you. Then use that same style sheet for all overrides.
This is embarrasing, really. The agility of Microsoft is equivalent to a dead dinosaur. One tick in the Quick menu settings could solve all of this.
I get all of your frustrations over this, but the assertion that it's a (universally) "USELESS" feature is not objectively true. It may be useless for you or your users, but there are absolutely valid use cases for it. As an example, I work at a large university and occasionally help out with the team that handles mass-mailings to the university community. The folks requesting those mailings often share files with the team (the contents of the message, attachments to include, recipient lists, etc.). Since it's a "Team" the group mailbox (where that share notification and corresponding link are sent) is not readily available/convenient to get to. Therefore, having a single URL to that "Shared with us" view makes it really easy* for the members of that team to access those files.

*My personal frustration with this "feature" is not its mere existence, but rather the inconsistency of it. That is, sometimes it works as expected and shows the files/folders that have been shared with the team, but sometimes it shows nothing at all. Or, shows some files, but not newly/recently shared files. In other words, I'm more annoyed by the fact that it doesn't work all the time.

That being said, I totally understand that in many organizations, you might not want it to appear. I think the most balanced way to achieve that is to have a setting (in the SharePoint site settings for each group-connected site or in the Group settings page) where an owner can toggle it off (e.g.: a checkbox labeled "Show Shared with us link in Quick launch")

@Chad_V_Kealey 

 

Yes Chad, that's clearly a balanced approach and would satisfy my issues. I imagine it would satisfy most people who post on this problem. A site level setting for hiding or showing this link would be great.

Thanks for your input. I hope someone out there at Microsoft will eventually listen.

Microsoft To Do list:

  • Make "Shared with Us" available only if required (toggle for Quick Launch)
  • If it is available, please let it be moved to a desired position in the navigation.
  • Fix the functionality as per @Chad_V_Kealey's post

Thanks :) 

The uservoice links listed before no longer works, BUT you can vote for a fix at Microsofts new user feedback site.

https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/search/?q=%22shared+with+us%22

The reason I shared a search instead of a specific post, is that there are multiple posts regarding the same issue. Make sure to upvote so we hopefully can have a fix before SharePoint reach end-of-life ;)

Thanks for the link!
I've been irritated by this "shared with us" link in the quicklinks. I just want the opportunity to delete it from the list!
(upvoted all the ideas asking for this :D )