When a contractor leaves your organization, their OneDrive for Business files are often still needed by colleagues or external partners. But after the contractor account is disabled or deleted, anyone who clicks a sharing link to those files sees an access denied error. This article explains why that error occurs and how to configure the … Read more
When you offboard a contractor and remove their Microsoft 365 account, external sharing links that were shared with that contractor may start sending new recipients to a request-access page instead of opening the file. This happens because the sharing link was issued to a specific user who no longer exists in your tenant. As an … Read more
When you share a file or folder in OneDrive for Business using the Specific People option, the recipient may see an Access Denied error even though you entered their email address correctly. This problem occurs because the sharing link is tied to a specific user or group permission that has not fully propagated, or because … Read more
You try to share a file from OneDrive for Business but the Anyone link option is grayed out or missing entirely. This means you cannot share the file with external users who do not have a Microsoft 365 account. The missing Anyone link is almost always caused by a tenant-wide sharing policy set by your … Read more
An external user accepts your sharing invitation but cannot see the shared folder in their own OneDrive or SharePoint. The folder simply does not appear anywhere in their file list or navigation pane. This problem typically occurs because the sharing link was sent with the wrong permissions, the external user has not yet signed in … Read more
You set a sharing expiration date on a OneDrive for Business file or folder, but existing shared links from before that date continue to work. This happens because OneDrive applies expiration settings only to links created after the policy change, not retroactively. In this article, you will learn why old links bypass the expiration date … Read more
When you share a OneDrive folder with an external guest user, they can open the folder and see the file names but receive an error when trying to download any file. This typically happens because the sharing link permissions or the tenant-level external sharing settings block downloads for guests. The root cause is often a … Read more
When you click a shared OneDrive link for a Word, Excel, or PowerPoint file, the file opens in the browser-based Office Web App instead of the installed desktop version of Office. This happens because Microsoft 365 defaults to opening Office files from the web in the browser for speed and security. The behavior is controlled … Read more
When you use the Copy Link button in OneDrive for Business, the generated link often defaults to sharing only within your company. This behavior can cause problems when you need to share files with external clients, partners, or vendors. The default link type is controlled by a tenant-level setting in the Microsoft 365 admin center, … Read more
You have an employee who cannot share OneDrive files or folders with external recipients, while everyone else in the organization can. The share button shows a message like “External sharing is blocked” or the option to share with anyone outside the company is grayed out. This problem usually happens because of a user-level sharing policy … Read more