how to share SharePoint files without an email being sent to the recipient

Question

Following what I presume is a recent release of SharePoint, I can't seem to share a file in SharePoint without having the option to not send them an email. What's happened to this feature?

Answer 1

You can still share access without sending email. This update has moved things around and took a bit to figure out. When you are on the share screen, there is an icon of a person at the top right next to the ellipses. When you hover over it, it says, "grant access" and you need to click on that. Then you get the screen you are used to seeing.

Answer 2

Hi @James Jordan

This change was introduced to enhance security and improve user experience.

Previously, users could choose to share files or folders with specific permissions without sending email notifications to recipients. However, this feature has been removed and now whenever a file or folder is shared, an email notification is automatically sent to the recipient.

In SharePoint Online, the current setting is to automatically send email notifications to recipients when sharing files, and there is no option to directly share files without sending emails. This is the default behavior designed by Microsoft to ensure traceability and user awareness of shared files.

However, you can still indirectly share files in SharePoint Online without sending emails by:

Share using link: When sharing a file, select the "Link" option instead of the "Email" option. This will generate a link that you can copy and send to your audience via other means of communication such as instant messaging, intranet, social media, etc. Recipients can use the link to access the shared file without receiving an email notification.

Access permission settings: You can share files by setting appropriate access permissions on files or folders without sending email notifications. In SharePoint Online, you can set appropriate access permissions for specific users or user groups, and grant them read or edit permissions on files. This way, they can access the shared file by navigating to the site or document library where the file resides without receiving an email notification.

Although you cannot directly share files in SharePoint Online without sending emails, you can still share files with others without sending email notifications by using the above methods. Choose the appropriate sharing method based on your needs and communication strategy.

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Best Regards

Cheng Feng