How to get and share a link to a file that is in a shared folder (without specifying who to share with again)?

Hi bing_247,

~~Thanks for posting back and providing the detailed information.~~

According to your reply, you must have used the "Anyone" link to share the folder with others before. To reconfirm it, you can go to OneDrive for Web, try the same steps as shown in the gif below, and check if you can find these 10 persons. If so, to share the file, you must also use the Anyone link as well (select the file you want to share, click Share, select the "Anyone" link, then click Copy and paste the link into the email). After that, they should be able to open the file.

~~We look forward to your response. Thanks for your cooperation.~~

Sincerely,

George | Microsoft Community Moderator

Hi George,

Thank you very much for your reply and video! I tried (with my second/personal account, because I don't want to bother the collaborators) and still it doesn't work. The same error message occurred when I tried your methods.

I use the 1st account (business account provided by my employer) to create the folder and files in the folder. I use the 1st account to shared it with many collaborators, including my 2nd account (personal account). When I created the link using the methods above, the same error message appear. I wonder if it is because my collaborators (and my personal account) is not in the organization of my 1st account? I think this is the difference from the example in your video, where Allan seems to be in the same organization as the original creator of the folder.

Best wishes,

bing_247

Hi bing_247,

Thanks for posting back.

There was a mistake with the first method in my previous reply, so I edited the reply, please check it again. Also, I have recorded two videos about sharing the file with a user who already has permission. Please check if my steps are the same as yours.

Video1

Video2

Also, to prevent the situation that the file has unique permission, you can create a "People in your tenant" link to replace the existing access link.

For the message you mentioned, normally, it likely appears when the shared users access the link with the wrong account. May I know whether the error message appeared on your side when sharing the file or appeared on these users' side when they accessed the link?

If the message was on your side, please provide more detailed steps about how the error message appeared. They will help us to better understand the situation.

If the message was on these users' side, it may be caused by the credentials on their side. Please ask them to copy the link from the email, open the private window of the browser, access the link, then check again.

We look forward to your response. Thanks for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

George | Microsoft Community Moderator

Thank you for your reply! I got the same error message with both method:

We're sorry, but xxx@**** (account shared to) can't be found in the xxx.sharepoint.com directory. Please try again later, while we try to automatically fix this for you.

What shall I do about it?

Hi bing_247,

Thanks for posting in the community. We are happy to help you.

Since you mentioned you have already shared the folder with these users, they also have permission to view the file. Here are two ways that may help you.

1. If you can open the file in the browser, you can copy and paste its path directly.

 Go to OneDrive for Web (go to www.office.com, click the OneDrive icon), open the file in the browser, then copy and paste the URL into the email.

2. You can share the file again and choose the "People with existing access can use the link" link, then select "Copy".

We look forward to your response. Thanks for your cooperation. 

Sincerely, 

George | Microsoft Community Moderator 

[Updated by George Jiang MSFT 04:53 PM 07/03/2023 UTC + 8]