Find All Shared Files in a SharePoint Site: Practical Checklist for SharePoint Owners

As a SharePoint site owner, you are responsible for knowing who can access what content. Shared files that are visible beyond your intended audience can create security risks and compliance gaps. SharePoint provides several built-in tools to audit sharing activity, but they are scattered across site settings, the admin center, and external reporting features. This article gives you a practical checklist to locate every file shared inside your SharePoint site, whether with internal users, guests, or anonymous links. You will learn exactly which tool to use for each scenario and how to interpret the results.

How SharePoint Sharing Works for Site Files

When a user shares a file from a SharePoint site, SharePoint creates a sharing link that grants access. The link can be scoped to specific people, everyone in the organization, or anyone with the link. The site owner can see these links through several reports and views. The key concept is that sharing is tracked at the file level, not just the site level. A file inside a document library can have its own unique sharing permissions that differ from the library defaults. SharePoint records each share action in the audit log and in the site’s sharing report. To find all shared files, you need to check multiple locations because no single view shows every shared file.

Checklist: Step-by-Step to Find All Shared Files

1. Check the Shared with Us view in the site
   Go to your SharePoint site. Click the gear icon in the top right corner. Select Site contents. In the left navigation panel, click Shared with us. This view lists files and folders that have been shared directly with the current user. It does not show files shared with other people. Use this to quickly see what has been shared with you personally. It is the fastest way for a site owner to verify their own shared items.
2. Review sharing links in each document library
   Open the document library that contains the files you want to audit. Click the checkbox next to a file or folder. On the toolbar, click the Share button. In the sharing dialog, click Shared with. A panel opens showing all users and groups who have access to that item, along with the type of link (specific people, organization, or anyone). Repeat this for any library you suspect has shared content. This method is manual but gives precise details per item.
3. Use the SharePoint admin center sharing report
   Go to the SharePoint admin center at admin.microsoft.com/SharePoint. In the left menu, select Active sites. Find your site in the list and click its URL. In the site details panel, click the Sharing tab. Here you see the external sharing status for the site. Below that, click View sharing report. This generates a CSV file that lists all files shared externally from this site. The report includes the file name, URL, who shared it, the link type, and the expiration date if set. This is the most comprehensive report for external sharing.
4. Run the SharePoint Usage report from Microsoft 365 admin center
   Go to the Microsoft 365 admin center at admin.microsoft.com. In the left menu, expand Reports and select Usage. Click SharePoint files. This report shows the number of files shared internally and externally over time. Click Export to download a CSV. The CSV includes columns for the site URL, file path, and whether the file is shared externally. This report covers all sites, so filter by your site URL. Use this to get a broad view of sharing trends across the site collection.
5. Search the Microsoft 365 audit log for sharing events
   Go to the Microsoft 365 compliance portal at compliance.microsoft.com. In the left menu, expand Audit and select Audit log search. Set the date range to cover the period you want to review. In the Activities field, search for and select Shared file, folder, or site. Also select Created sharing link. Click Search. The results show every sharing action with details like the user who shared, the target file, and the link type. Export the results to a CSV for offline analysis. This is the most detailed method but requires the audit log to be enabled.
6. Use the SharePoint Online Management Shell to list all shared files
   Open Windows PowerShell as an administrator. Run Connect-SPOService -Url https://yourtenant-admin.sharepoint.com and sign in with your admin credentials. Run the following command to get a list of all external sharing links for a site: Get-SPOSiteGroup -Site https://yourtenant.sharepoint.com/sites/yoursite | Where-Object {$_.Users -like "@"}. This returns groups that include external users. For a more precise list, use Get-SPOSite -Identity https://yourtenant.sharepoint.com/sites/yoursite | Select -ExpandProperty ExternalSharingLinks. This shows every external sharing link created on the site. PowerShell is the most powerful method for bulk exports and automation.

Common Issues When Trying to Find All Shared Files

Files shared with specific people do not appear in the sharing report

The SharePoint admin center sharing report only shows files shared with people outside your organization. Files shared internally with specific users are not included. To find internal-only shares, you must check each file’s sharing dialog or use the audit log. The Shared with us view only shows files shared with you, not with others. There is no single report for all internal shares. The workaround is to use the audit log and filter by the activity Shared file, folder, or site and then filter by internal users.

Anonymous links are not listed in some reports

Anonymous sharing links (Anyone with the link) are included in the SharePoint admin center sharing report and in the audit log. However, the Shared with us view does not show them because the link is not tied to a specific user. To find anonymous links, use the sharing report or PowerShell. In the compliance portal audit log, search for Created sharing link and look for entries where the link type is Anonymous. These links can be blocked by turning off anonymous sharing at the tenant level.

Shared files in subsites and hub sites are missed

The methods above apply to the root site and its document libraries. If your site has subsites or is part of a hub, each subsite has its own sharing settings and reports. You must repeat the steps for each subsite. The SharePoint admin center sharing report includes all subsites under a site collection, but the CSV output lists the site URL for each file. Filter by the subsite URL to isolate results. The PowerShell method can be scripted to loop through all subsites automatically.

You now have a complete checklist to find every shared file in your SharePoint site. Start with the SharePoint admin center sharing report for external shares, then use the audit log for internal shares. For ongoing monitoring, schedule the PowerShell script to run weekly and export the results to a secure location. The best practice is to review shared files at least once a month and remove any links that are no longer needed. Use the Sharing settings in the site to set expiration dates on all new sharing links so old links expire automatically.