Shared folder will not update for colleagues

Question

Hello,

I have created a folder and shared it with some people from another organization.

I am adding more and more documents inside this shared folder but my colleagues cannot see the newly added documents.

They only see the 4 .mp4 which were already in the folder when I shared it.

I want to have the possibility to share content with others outside my organization without having to share each file with them continously.

Is there a way?

Thank you very much for your help.

Best regards,

Thies

Answer 1

Hi Thies,

We appreciate you spent time doing tests and share these detailed information with us.

From your description, we understand the situation is that when you upload new files to the subject folder in OneDrive, the external users can see the new files. However, when you move files from another folder to this subject folder, the external users cannot see the new files.

We deeply understand it will cost you much time for manually downloading new files from the standard recording folder and then uploading to the subject folder. Very sorry about it.

We'd like to share following suggestions, you may have a try. Hope they can help you.

1. In your OneDrive in browser, we suppose you move files from the standard recording folder to the subject folder by using the Move to feature from the ribbon. You may also try to use the Copy to feature and see if it works.
2. Since you mentioned it only works when you upload new files to the subject folder, you may also try to use OneDrive desktop application to upload new files.

A. Firstly download the new files to your local drive.

B. Use OneDrive desktop application to sync your OneDrive files to local drive: Sync files with OneDrive in Windows (microsoft.com)

C. Open the subject folder in File explorer, and open a second window in File Explorer and open the downloaded files. (To open a second window for File explorer, you can click File from upper left corner>Open new window )

D. Manually drag the downloaded files to the subject folder. Then let the external users check if they can see the new files.

We appreciate your patience and understanding so far.

If you have update or issue when uploading new files to the subject folder, feel free to let us know and we will continue trying best to help.

Hope you are keeping safe and well!

Sincerely,

Tina | Microsoft Community Moderator

Answer 2

Hello Tina,

thank you very much for the information and help.

I will check the points that you asked me and will come back as soon as I can give you answers.

Best,

Thies

Answer 3

Hello Thies,

We appreciate you spent time doing test and share these detailed information with us.

You mentioned when you checked permissions there is a notice stating:

Your organization's policies don't allow you to share with these users. Please contact your IT department for help.

We did a test from our side to firstly share a OneDrive folder with an external user.

Then we turned off external sharing, and went to check the permission of the external user, we can reproduce the same error message:

For further troubleshooting and help you narrow down the situation, we'd like to confirm that does the issue only happen when you share the specific folder in your OneDrive?

If you try to share another different folder with external users, by selecting the folder > click Share, can you see the link "Anyone with the link can edit" still available?

And if you choose Specific people and try to share with an external user, do you get any error message or notice?

If you get notice as shown below, we suggest you try to contact your IT department or your Microsoft 365 administrator, confirm with them if external sharing is turned off.

For reference: How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin

However, in OneDrive if you still can share another different folder with external users, please let us know, we will continue trying best to help you.

Thanks for your patience and understanding. We hope you are keeping safe and well!

Best Regards,

Tina

Answer 4

Dear George,

thank you so much for your reply.

I will add my answers here to the questions you asked:

1. May I know where the shared folder is stored, in SharePoint or OneDrive?

--> I have a folder on OneDrive inside the main folder which is called "Aufnahmen" (Recordings). I organize my recordings inside this folder into the projects I am working on. One of these projects folders I shared with 6 people from outside the organisation.

2. What if you share the URL of the folder and share the URL of one newly added document with them, let them access the URLs, are they able see the missing documents and view the newly added document?

--> When I just copied the links inside the email to send it to my colleague, the folder link was blue (shared with her) and the link to the video red (states that it is not shared with her)

My colleague just checked and she said that she has access to the folder but only sees the recordings that were there since the beginning (4) and now there are more than 20 recordings in the shared folder.

3. If they still can’t view the newly added documents, please check the permission for them. Select the file> More> Manage Access> Advanced> Check Permissions.

--> On checked permissions there is a notice stating:

Your organization's policies don't allow you to share with these users. Please contact your IT department for help.

How is this possible as I already shared the folder with my colleague?

Thank you again George for your help.

Really appreciate it.

Best,

Thies

Answer 5

Hi Thies,

Thanks for posting in the community.

According to your description, my understanding is you have one issue and one concern. For the shared folder not update issue, I would like to collect more information.

1. May I know where the shared folder is stored, in SharePoint or OneDrive?
2. What if you share the URL of the folder and share the URL of one newly added document with them, let them access the URLs, are they able see the missing documents and view the newly added document?
3. If they still can’t view the newly added documents, please check the permission for them. Select the file> More> Manage Access> Advanced> Check Permissions.

For your concern “I want to have the possibility to share content with others outside my organization without having to share each file with them continously”, normally, you can create a folder and share the folder with external users. After that, when you put new documents to the shared folder, the external users will also see the newly added documents.

When you have time, please feel free and come back to share the updates with us.

Regards,

George