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How can I share files from Office 365 online (One Drive for Business)?

Matthew Carver

Are you a teacher and want to share a file with your students?  Or, a student and you have been asked to share a file with your teacher when you are done?  Share a file between you and another colleague at the school?  Sharing via email is no longer the best way to do so, directly sharing the file with others is. 

Here is a good article from Microsoft on how to do it:

Share files or folders in Office 365

The Office 365 files and folders you store in OneDrive for Business are private until you decide to share them. When you share files and folders, you can decide whether to let people edit or just view them.

Note: You may also be able share files with external users (people not on your network) by inviting them as “Guests,” or by creating and posting guest links. Search the MCA Helpdesk for "anonymous" sharing for help or, for full details, see Share sites or documents with people outside your organization.

Share a file by using Get a link

You can share a link to a file that others can also share by using Get a link. Get a link is available only for individual files, but it’s the easiest way to share files with everyone in your organization or to share with people externally.

  1. Go to OneDrive for Business online.

    • Be sure to notice this is for online file sharing.  You can also share from your desktop.  Want to know how?  Head here.

  2. Right-click the file you want to share, and then select Get a link. If you don't see Get a link, click Share, and then click Get a link.

    Screenshot of Sharing a document by using Get a link

  3. Choose the type of link you want to create.

    Screenshot of choosing a link

    Links for internal sharing:

    • Edit link – account required After they sign in, people in MCA can edit, copy, or download the file.

    • View link – account required After they sign in, people in MCA can view, copy, or download the file.

    Guest links:

    • Edit link – no sign-in required People outside MCA can edit, copy, and download the file.

    • View link – no sign-in required People outside MCA can view, copy, and download the file.

    If guest access is disabled, you'll see only account required options.

  4. If you choose a no sign-in required link and you want to set the link to expire, click Set expiration, and then choose how long before the link expires, such as 30 days. Account required links don’t expire and there’s no option to set an expiration for those links.

    Screenshot of Setting an Expiration for a guest link

  5. Click Copy to copy the link to the clipboard.

  6. Paste the link into an email and send it or post it on a website for the people you want to share with.

Notes: 

  • Links created by using Get a link are not discoverable by search, so only people who receive a link from someone else can use it.

  • Account required links are designed for sharing within MCA. Therefore, recipients need to sign in with their user name and password from your organization. When a user opens the sharing link, she is granted permissions for that item and added to the access control list.

  • No sign-in required links are guest links that are ideal for external sharing.

  • You can remove no sign-in required links at any time in the Share dialog box mentioned in the steps above. The REMOVE link is right next to the Copy button.

 

Share a file or folder by inviting people

To share folders or to share files when Get a link isn’t available, you can invite people.

  1. Go to OneDrive for Business or the site library that has the file or folder you want to share.

  2. Right-click the file you want to share, and then select Share.

    Screenshot of sharing a document by right-clicking and then choosing Share

  3. In the Share dialog box on the Invite people tab, type names or email addresses of people you want to share the file or folder with.

    Screenshot of sharing a file in OneDrive for Business

  4. Select a permission setting, such as Can edit.

    Select a permission setting for people invited to share a document

  5. If you want, type a message to be included with an email that’s sent to all invitees. The email includes a link to the shared file.

  6. If you don't want to send an email, uncheck Send an email invitation (you may need to click Show Options first).

  7. Click Share.

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