Tuesday's Tip #81: Sharing Files Externally in Teams and OneDrive

Sharing Files in Teams and OneDrive

One of the most frequent ways I get engaged as a Collaboration Consultant is to help people better understand file sharing and how it works both internally and externally within Teams and OneDrive.

Sharing files internally in Teams is pretty easy. You click the paperclip icon in a chat, in a channel or in a meeting.

Sharing files externally can be a little more confusing.  If you have external access to people in Teams - you can sometimes use the above methods of chat, channels and meetings. However, sometimes your correspondence with external users isn't in Teams. Sometimes you want to share files with users externally but it doesn't make sense to use Teams.

Sharing files using OneDrive is SUPER easy and straight forward.

This is one of the tips I'd encourage you to watch the video. It's easier to understand and I'm able to explain it in more detail than typing it all out.

Sharing a file (files) with external users via OneDrive

1. From within Teams or the OneDrive app, select the file (s) you want to share.
   
   
2. Click the 3 dots next to the file name and select Share.
   
   
   
3. Decide who you want to share it with, what permissions you want, and how you want to share it. (Watch the video for more explanation).
   
   
   
4. The most flexible way to share a file is using the Copy Link method. It allows you to copy the link and send it to anyway. Of course be sure to share only the right files with appropriate permissions following your company's sharing policy.