OneDrive and SharePoint sharing: link types, inheritance, external sharing and audits
For SharePoint site owners, Microsoft 365 administrators and second-line service desk staff who already know how to share a file and what Owners, Members and Visitors are (see Digital literacy foundations: files, folders, cloud storage and sharing, and SharePoint permissions and sharing links in depth), and now need to control and check sharing properly. You'll choose a link type and permission knowing whether it can be forwarded and audited, explain what sharing does to permission inheritance, work out the effective external sharing setting from the organisation, site and OneDrive levels, audit sharing with the site sharing report and the Microsoft Purview audit log, and remove oversharing without breaking legitimate work. Based on Microsoft Learn and Microsoft Support articles; menus and defaults change, so check the current article before you act. Only people your organisation authorises may run audit searches and sharing reports, because they contain names and email addresses. Ends with a supervisor-graded sharing review.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Length
- About 95 minutes
- Contents
- 5 lessons · final exam
- Status
- Published · updated 10 Oct 2026
- Microsoft 365
Skills you'll practise
- Choose a sharing link type and permission for a request, knowing whether the link can be forwarded and whether its use can be audited
- Explain how sharing a file or folder changes permission inheritance and what happens when site membership or sharing changes later
- Determine the effective external sharing setting for a site or OneDrive from the organisation, site and OneDrive settings
- Audit sharing with the site sharing report and the Microsoft Purview audit log
- Remove or tighten oversharing safely without breaking legitimate access
Course outline
- 1.Choose a sharing link type and permission: who can use it, can it be forwarded, can it be auditedLesson · 17 min
- 2.Explain how sharing a file or folder changes permission inheritanceLesson · 15 min
- 3.Determine the effective external sharing setting for a site or OneDriveLesson · 16 min
- 4.Audit sharing with the site sharing report and the Microsoft Purview audit logLesson · 16 min
- 5.Remove or tighten oversharing safely without breaking legitimate accessLesson · 14 min
- 6.OneDrive and SharePoint sharing: link types, inheritance, external sharing and audits: knowledge checkKnowledge check · 14 questions
- 7.OneDrive and SharePoint sharing: link types, inheritance, external sharing and audits: practical exerciseKnowledge check · 1 question
- 8.Final exam10 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out
Sources it draws on
The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.
- Microsoft Learn: How shareable links work in OneDrive and SharePoint
- Microsoft Learn: Change the default sharing link type for a site
- Microsoft Learn: Manage sharing settings for SharePoint and OneDrive (organisation level)
- Microsoft Learn: Change the sharing settings for a site
- Microsoft Learn: Overview of external sharing in SharePoint and OneDrive
- Microsoft Learn: What is permissions inheritance?
- Microsoft Learn: Limit sharing in Microsoft 365
- Microsoft Learn: Report on file and folder sharing in a SharePoint site
- Microsoft Learn: Use sharing auditing in the audit log (Purview)
- Microsoft Support: Manage sharing and permissions in OneDrive and SharePoint
- Microsoft Support: Share files and folders in Microsoft OneDrive
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