Microsoft 365 is a gigantic collaborative universe that is more essential than ever with the transition, all sectors of activity combined, to virtual and hybrid work with SharePoint consulting. You can join chats and make calls in Microsoft Teams, make announcements and create chats in Yammer, exchange emails in Outlook, and create your team’s hub site in SharePoint. Along with conversations, discussions, and message exchanges, one of Microsoft 365’s core collaborative practices is data sharing. In this article, we’ll go over the different sharing features and their enhancements and how they make the sharing experience easier.
Microsoft 365 allows you to share content in two ways: internally and externally . Users can share files, documents, media, and other types of data.
Although the sharing settings are already amazing, Microsoft is constantly improving this feature based on feedback and suggestions from its users. The objective of these improvements is to meet the specific needs of users by allowing them to collaborate more efficiently and easily within organizations.
What are the points to improve?
Based on user feedback, research, and data study, Microsoft decided to focus on the following key areas where sharing features need to be updated or improved:
ability to more easily change link permissions to read, comment, and edit;
transparent external sharing;
quick overview of shared access provided.
Microsoft’s roadmap includes incremental updates to meet needs in each release, providing more comprehensive and efficient collaboration through sharing. Here is an overview of the updates that have been released recently or will be released by the end of the year.
Quick Permissions
You should be able to easily provide access to a file inside or outside your network. Previously, you had to click different buttons to set permissions. With this new update, sharing is easier. When you click on the Share icon, you no longer need to go to the link settings to select the desired permission level. Indeed, a new feature has been placed right next to the recipient’s name. In the drop-down menu, you have the choice between “Can edit” to give full access and “Can view” for read-only access. This function is now available as of writing.
Link settings
Link parameters have a new entry point and are easier to locate. They are also included in a drop-down menu and can be used to customize link types and sharing permissions.
Copy links
On the link settings page, you have access to an automatically generated shareable link. It got more complicated when you had to change the permissions of a link. Instead of requiring users to create a new link (a cumbersome and not the most user-friendly process), Microsoft has revamped the workflow.
The “Copy link” button now comes with another option to set permissions. If you need to modify the permissions of a link, you can do it directly from the created link without needing to generate a new one. This new function will be available from November 2021.
See who content has been shared with
This feature has been rolled out to the general public. The new “Shared with” section allows you to quickly see the list of users who have had access to your files thanks to using icons. Now you can quickly find out who accessed your file without having to change pages. When you click on the “Shared with” section, you are redirected to another page called “Manage access”.
Manage the Access page
As we have just seen, when you select the list of people with access rights, the Manage access page is displayed. There you will find other options and configurations to define regarding permissions such as:
People: list of all users who have access;
Groups: list of all groups that have access;
Links: Overview of how permissions have been shared with other apps like Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive.
Share menu dropdown
Finally, let’s talk about the new Share menu. Currently, the Share button is a clickable button that directs you to the sharing page. Now, a drop-down will give you quick access to sharing options like Email Link, Copy Link, Share in Teams, and Manage Access page. This update will be deployed in November 2021.