My Microsoft 365 sharing links keep sending people to Request Access

I send the file before the morning meeting because I want everyone to review the same document. I use the Share button, copy the link, paste it into Outlook or Teams, and move on because it looks like the normal Microsoft 365 way to share.

Ten minutes later someone replies, "I need access." Then another person does the same. One colleague can open it from SharePoint, but not from the Outlook link. Another is signed into a different Microsoft account. I check the link settings, but the wording does not make it obvious whether I created a link for specific people, people in the organisation, existing access, or just the recipients of the message.

I manage to get one person in by sending a new link, so the day is not a total loss. But now I do not trust the original link, I do not know who has access, and I have to stop the work to become the permission helpdesk.

By the end of the day, the file has been resent, someone has asked whether I saw their access request, and the discussion has moved on without everyone reading the document. I want a simple pre-send check that tells me who can open the link, which account they need, and whether I should use a different sharing option before I hit send.