Troubleshooting Sharing with External Users in SharePoint


Introduction

This article describes some common errors with sharing a file or folder with external (non-Virginia Tech or non-VT Exchange Online) users in SharePoint. 

Instructions

Error: "Your organization’s policies don’t allow you to share with these users". In addition, when you attempt to share a file or folder from your SharePoint Site in link settings the “Anyone with the link” option is grayed out.

Cause

Sharing options are not correctly set. They can be set in SharePoint at a variety of levels:

  • Office 365 Admin settings
  • Organizational level settings
  • Specific site settings

In addition, the site type you create will have an impact on sharing as different sites have different default sharing levels. A Team Site will allow you to share file or folders externally. But a Communication Site will not allow you to share externally by default. 

Resolutions

  • If you have a Team Site, ensure that your permissions are set for sharing externally by going to the Site Settings and clicking on Site permissions.
  • If you have a Communication Site, you can make a new Team Site and transfer the information to that site or submit a 4Help ticket at https://4help.vt.edu to get an Office 365 admin to enable external sharing for the site.

Error: "This organization has updated its guest access settings. To access this item, please contact the person who shared it with you and ask them to reshare it with you."

Cause

  • The access link is an older link that was generated before VT implemented a compliance standard that requires a guest have a "presence" within Microsoft's Entra and the guest does not have this "presence".

Resolution

Resolution will occur in the following steps

  1. The file will need to be reshared by a person authorized to share the file. 
  2. The recipient of the share will verify their email and may require entering a One Time Password. This will create the necessary "presence" in Entra.
  3. The recipient follows any remaining prompts on the screen.
  4. File access is now reestablished.

Additional Information

Additional information about sharing with external users can be found at Sharing a Document Library with External Users (vt.edu).