Choose the Right OneDrive, SharePoint, or Teams Link

Who This Is For

This is for Microsoft 365 workers who share documents through OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams, Outlook, Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, but do not manage tenant settings.

You are probably here because a link looked fine when you copied it, then someone replied with "I need access" right before a review, meeting, approval, or handoff.

The Short Answer

Use the narrowest link that fits the real audience.

The risky move is copying a link before checking the settings. The link may use the default option, and that default may not match the person you are sending it to.

What Matters Before You Copy

1. File location

The same file may be reached through Teams, Outlook, OneDrive, SharePoint, or an Office app, but the file still has a home.

• A file in a Teams channel is normally stored in the team's SharePoint folder.
• A file shared in a Teams chat is normally stored in OneDrive for Business and shared with the people in that conversation.
• A file in OneDrive may be private until you share it.
• A file in SharePoint may already be available to site or library members.

If you do not know the file home, you cannot safely guess who already has access.

2. Recipient identity

Ask which account the recipient will use. This matters for external contacts, guests, contractors, clients, and anyone with more than one Microsoft account.

A Specific people link can fail if you named one email address and the recipient opens the link using another account.

3. What they need to do

Do they need to view, comment, review, edit, or download? Do not give edit access just because it is the quickest option. Folder edit access can allow broader changes inside the folder, not just comments on one file.

4. What policy allows

If a sharing option is missing or greyed out, treat that as a policy boundary. Do not keep sending different links and hoping one sticks.

Practical Options

People with existing access

Use this when the person already has access and you are just sending them a pointer.

Good examples:

• A teammate already in the Teams channel.
• A colleague already in the SharePoint site.
• A reviewer who was already invited to the file.

Avoid it when:

• You are adding a new person.
• You are sharing outside the organization.
• You are not sure whether the recipient is in the site, team, or library.

Plain-English line to send:

People you choose / Specific people

Use this when named people need access and the link should not work for everyone else.

Good examples:

• A named external reviewer, where external sharing is allowed.
• A small approval group.
• A document that should not spread through forwarding.

Before copying the link, add the exact people or email addresses that should open it.

Plain-English line to send:

People in your organization

Use this when the material is internal and it is acceptable for employees with the link to open it.

Good examples:

• Internal reference documents.
• Team updates that may be forwarded inside the company.
• Files where the audience is broad but still internal.

Avoid it for guests and external contacts. Microsoft treats guests and outside people differently from organization members for this link type.

Plain-English line to send:

Anyone

Use this only when it is available, permitted, and genuinely safe for the file.

Good examples:

• Public or near-public documents.
• Low-risk files where forwarding is acceptable.
• Temporary sharing where expiry or password settings are available and appropriate.

Avoid it for sensitive documents, customer files, approvals, internal planning, or anything where you need named accountability.

Plain-English line to send:

Recommended Move

For everyday Microsoft 365 work, use this order:

1. Start with People with existing access only if you can name the place that already gives them access.
2. If you cannot prove existing access, use People you choose / Specific people.
3. Use People in your organization for broad internal sharing.
4. Use Anyone only for low-risk files where forwarding is allowed and acceptable.

The default should be boring: named people for specific work, existing access for known site/team members, organization links for broad internal material, and Anyone links rarely.

One-Page Link Choice Checklist

Before you send the link:

If you cannot answer the account or policy question, send a Specific people link to named recipients and include a short note about which account to use. If that option is blocked, escalate instead of guessing.

Evidence Notes

Use Microsoft documentation to trust the tool behavior. Do not use it as proof that your tenant allows every option.

• Microsoft Learn supports the core mechanism: Microsoft 365 sharing links carry permissions, and the main link families behave differently.
• Microsoft Support supports the worker-level decision: users can invite people, copy links, check link settings, use Manage access, and choose options such as existing access, organization links, named people, and Anyone where available.
• Teams support guidance supports the location rule: channel files and chat files do not behave identically because they are stored through different Microsoft 365 surfaces.
• Microsoft Q&A sources support the pain pattern: people do hit Access Denied or Request Access after link sharing. They do not prove how often this happens across all tenants.
• This briefing cannot confirm your organization's external sharing policy, default link type, sensitivity label behavior, guest configuration, or whether a specific recipient is signed into the intended account.

Publish-Readiness Notes

This draft is private-draft-ready. Before public/member publication, a human should verify current UI labels in a live Microsoft 365 tenant, especially whether the tenant shows People you choose, Specific people, People in your organization, Anyone, and People with existing access exactly as written.