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Saving a copy of a document shared via link in OWA

Anonymous
2024-01-10T11:21:23+00:00

Hi,

I was looking for a more reasonable way to save a copy of a document that was shared to me in an email via link.

My collegue is also using OWA. She shared a document via link as per below:

I wanted to save a copy of this document to my OneDrive. No options are offered on the Outlook OWA interface unless I just couldn't find it.

Clicking on the link opens the document in Reader view, which makes sense and I don't want to edit her copy anyway. When looking around this interface the only options to me that are related to saving are:

  1. Word icon - this just takes me to my M365 where the file is listed and clicking on it just takes me back to this same reader view.
  2. Open in Desktop app - this is completely worthless since I'm using OWA, and tbf I don't even understand why this option even shows up when I'm logged in to my account so the system should be well aware that I'm using OWA, but hey this is Microsoft..
  3. Save As icon - this will just bring up the Save As dialog box where I can download a copy of the document

or the (...) menu:

which also only offers a Download option

Obviously downloading is an option where I would then have to upload the document which is just super counter-intuitive, creating pointless tasks that should be done with a click of a button and leaving pointless clutter on my computer which I then have to manually clean up.

So is there a way to avoid doing the above or is this the best course of action currently?

Thanks

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For business | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-01-15T11:29:01+00:00

    Yeah, no, I'm not gonna do as it's slightly ridiculous that we have to beg and cast votes for basic functionality to be added into an appliction we're paying for when it is already availble in free software but thanks

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-01-15T11:02:32+00:00

    Hi Krisztian,

    Thanks for posting back.

    I understand the inconvenience and poor user experience you experienced. Based on the situation, I recommend you post a suggestion in Microsoft Feedback Portal where members also post and vote for their suggestions here. The higher the number of votes, the more likely the development team will add or improve the feature to the product. It's the platform for us to hear your voice and improve our products.

    Appreciate your understanding and patience.

    Sincerely,

    George | Microsoft Community Moderator

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-01-12T10:55:07+00:00

    The lack of a "Save a copy" option is just another huge oversight from Microsoft.. yaaay

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-01-10T19:40:21+00:00

    Hi Krisztian,

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

    Microsoft does provide a "Save as" button or a "Save to OneDrive" button for users to save the file in an email to their OneDrive directly (as shown in the screenshot below). However, the short answer to your query is "no", and in this special situation, to save it to your OneDrive, you will have to download a copy locally, and then upload it to OneDrive.

    The root cause is due to the way your colleague inserted the document in the email (your colleague used the shared link to insert the document in the email, and she set the shared link to "Can View" (View Only permission), which causes you to have to download a copy locally, and then upload it to OneDrive.

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    Please note that the sender has two ways to insert a document into the email. One is to attach the file to the email and another is to insert the shared link of the file to the email. Also, when the sender inserts the shared link of the file, he can set different permissions to the link. If your colleague attached the OneDrive, then you can click "Save to OneDrive" to save the file to OneDrive directly. If your colleague attached the shared link of the file, but set the link to "Can Edit", then you can click File> Save as to save as the file to your OneDrive directly.

    Image

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

    Sincerely,

    George | Microsoft Community Moderator

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  5. Anonymous
    2024-01-10T13:53:57+00:00

    Dear Krisztian,

    Good day!

    Thank you for posting to Microsoft Community. We are glad to assist. We are looking into your situation and we will update the thread shortly.

    Appreciate your patience and understanding and thank for your time and cooperation.

    Sincerely,

    George | Microsoft Community Moderator

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