About external sharing in sharepoint

Question

8. 

When configuring tenant-level sharing settings for SharePoint and OneDrive, which of the following is true if you want to allow external sharing?

A.The organization-level setting must be less restrictive than the site-level setting.

Incorrect

B.The organization-level setting must be the same or more restrictive than the site-level setting.

C.External sharing is automatically enabled for all sites when configured at the organization level.

How External sharing is allowed if the organisational-level setting is having more restrictions than site, let's say organisational-level setting is blocking external sharing and site is allowing(here organisational-level setting is more restrictive right?)then it doesn't allow external sharing.

Please someone explain

Answer 1

Hi Sandeep, 

Good day to you! Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Community. 

Regarding to your question, firstly, in Microsoft 365, external sharing is governed by a hierarchy order: 

1. Organization-level external sharing: Maximum level of sharing allowed
2. Site-level external sharing: This has to be equal or less permissive than organization-level external sharing.

Thus, among 3 options, option B is the correct one. Let me explain how other options are incorrect: 

• Option A: “The organization-level setting must be less restrictive than the site-level setting.” This is incorrect. It suggests the tenant should be more open than the site, which flips the real rule. In reality, it’s not that the tenant must be less restrictive; rather, the tenant can be more permissive, but it doesn’t have to be. What it must not do is be less restrictive (more open) than the site, because the site simply can’t overshoot the tenant. Option A’s phrasing is essentially backwards – it would mean a site could potentially be tighter and a tenant looser (which is fine) or implies tenant has to always be looser than sites (which is not a requirement – the tenant could equally be exactly the same as the site setting). The key is no site can bypass the tenant’s allowed level. So “must be less restrictive” is a misleading statement. The flow of permissiveness goes from tenant to site, not the other way around. If a site is set to a certain level, the tenant doesn’t have to be less restrictive; it can be the same level and that’s sufficient.
• Option C: “External sharing is automatically enabled for all sites when configured at the organization level.” This is incorrect (or at best, partially true with important nuance). Setting the tenant-level to allow external sharing (say you choose “Anyone” or “New and existing guests”) enables the capability for all sites, but it does not automatically turn every site into an externally shared free-for-all.

For more information, please refer to this article: Manage sharing settings for SharePoint and OneDrive in Microsoft 365 - SharePoint in Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Learn 

I hope my explanation above can help you understand more about SharePoint external sharing. If you have any further questions and concerns regarding to Microsoft 365, please don’t hesitate to ask, I'm here to help.  

Best regards, 

Jay-Tr– MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Answer 2

Hi Sandeep,

It has been a while and I am writing to see how things are going with this issue. Have you had a chance to check the replies provided? Any update would be appreciated.

Best regards, 

Jay-Tr– MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist