Forum Discussion
SharePoint file links are not working
Recently we have noticed that when you copy the link and share with others (even ourselves), the link fails to open. If we use the path link under details, that works 100% of the time. The only difference we see is there are more gibberish in the link path. Initially, we thought the PDF files were having issues but it can be any file type. Our thought is the issue is with the SharePoint site.
3 Replies
Since the file opens normally from the document library but the "Copy Link" URL fails, I would first look at the "sharing-link type and access context" rather than looking at the file itself.
Because you are seeing the failure even when sharing the link with yourself, a basic file-permission issue seems completely unlikely. I would focus first on how SharePoint is generating and resolving the sharing link.
A few checks can help narrow this down:
1. Open "Manage access" for the file and review the existing sharing links.
2. Check which link type is being generated: "People with existing access, Specific people, People in your organization, or Anyone with the link". A “People with existing access” link does not grant new permissions.
3. Test a newly generated link in an InPrivate/Incognito session using the intended user account.
4. Compare the behavior with a newly created test file in the same library. If the new file works, the issue may be specific to the existing item's sharing state.
5. If the same behavior occurs across multiple files and libraries, compare the site's sharing configuration and check whether any recent changes could have affected link creation or access.
I would not treat the additional characters in a "Copy Link" URL as an indication that the link is corrupted. A sharing link and the direct file path can behave differently because they represent different ways of accessing shared content.
If the direct URL continues to work while newly generated sharing links fail, the "exact error message" and the "link type being generated" would be the next useful details. Those should help distinguish a permission-resolution issue from a broader SharePoint sharing-link issue.
As a temporary workaround, the direct file URL can be used for users who already have permission, but it should not be treated as a replacement for the sharing link because the URL itself does not grant additional access. Let me know, we'll work through this!I’d first check whether the problem affects all files or just links from one library/site. Also try opening the file directly in SharePoint and compare the URL with the broken link. If direct access works, recreating the link may fix it; otherwise, checking permissions and recent SharePoint changes would be a good next step.
Could you please check if any sharing policies have recently been implemented or changed in your tenant? Also, can you test whether the same issue occurs on other SharePoint sites or document libraries?
Ideally, the Copy or Sharing Link option should work. The main difference is that it generates a sharing URL with additional query parameters (such as d= and e=), whereas the link from the Details pane is a direct file path. Since the direct path works consistently, the issue may be related to sharing link generation or sharing permissions rather than the files themselves.
