Sharing and Permissions for Microsfot Office 365 (SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams)

This article contains information about sharing content and managing access on Microsoft Office 365.

Sharing Content and Managing Access

Microsoft Office 365 applications have two* primary ways for you to share content with others. 

1. Add add someone as a member (or an owner) to your group, site, or Team. You can also return to the same places later to check or remove members or owners. Please note that adding someone to your group in SharePoint or Outlook also makes them a member in Teams, and vice versa.
   • Add a member to your group in Outlook
   • Add a member to you group in SharePoint
     • On your site, go to "Site Members" in the upper-right hand corner.
     • Select "Add Members" there, and enter the name(s) of the users you want to add. 
     • User the arrows next to people's names to indicate if they should be site owners or members.
     • Click "Save" when you're done.
   • Add a member to your team in Teams. 
     • Learn about the different capabilities of owners, members, and guests in Teams.
2. Share files or folders individually the "share" option.
   • Sharing files in OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams: The menu, options, and steps are similar across all three locations.
   • Please note, that if you share a file with "Anyone" from your OneDrive, the link will expire after 30 days. This is because those links grant anonymous access and expiration prevents accidental sharing of potential sensitive content.
   • On most SharePoint sites, the "Anyone" share option is disabled. If you want to want to share content with anyone or anonymous access, and you do not want the share links to expire, you can request an SharePoint site for external sharing.
   • Check to see who has access to a file or folder.
   • Remove access to a file or folder.

* Additionally, SharePoint sites can have more complex and permissions configured. You can add users and groups to your "Site Visitors" to your site to provide read-only access. This is different than adding members to your site because member have add/edit access. Any more complex SharePoint permission configuration should be done in consultation with ITS. Please submit a ticket for more info.

* There are also OneStThomas SharePoint sites that contain files to be surfaced via our intranet, OneStThomas. If you see a SharePoint site labeled with OneStThomas in its name, then it's likely one of these sites, and everyone at the University has access to view the files there.

External Users and Guest Access

For either of the primary options outlined above, you can also share with external users (people not a part of St. Thomas) using their email address. People do not need St. Thomas email addresses or Microsoft accounts for you to share with them or add them as members.

When you add an external user to your SharePoint site or Team as a member, they are called "guests." See Microsoft documentation about guest access and experience in SharePoint and Teams.