How Do I Share A Single Folder In SharePoint?

A SharePoint site can contain a lot of sensitive information, so it’s important to make sure people only have access to what they need. If you’re wanting to share a single folder in SharePoint without giving users access to anything else, there are a few ways you can do it. This blog post is a bit of a tutorial where I’ll walk you through the process of sharing a single folder in SharePoint.

Here’s how you can share a single folder in SharePoint:

  1. Go to Office.com and sign in using your Microsoft 365 credentials
  2. Open SharePoint using the app launcher
  3. Navigate to the SharePoint site where the file is stored
  4. Click Documents and locate the folder you want to share
  5. Hover over the folder and click the Share button
  6. Type in name/group/email and select permission
  7. Click Send

As you can see, the process for sharing a single folder in SharePoint is relatively simple. As part of this tutorial, I’ll walk through the steps above and include screenshots so you can easily follow along.

However, it is worth mentioning one caveat I’ve found with the process above. The users you’re sharing the folder with can only access the folder using that specific link they get in the email. Specifically, they cannot access it in any other way (e.g., through the Office.com portal). If you want the users to access the site via alternate means — i.e., through the portal using the SharePoint app — but only have access to one particular folder, the process is different. You’ll need to break folder inheritance, create a new group, add the users to the group, and give that group permission to access the folder in question. This process is entirely different and involves adding users to your site but only granting them access to a certain folder. I explain this process in my blog post How To Add Users But Restrict Access To Certain Folders SharePoint Online. Jump over to that blog post if you want to add users to your site — rather than sharing a specific folder — but restrict their access to certain folders and documents.

Now, here’s a step-by-step process for sharing a single folder in SharePoint Online.

Step-by-step (with screenshots): How to share a single folder in SharePoint

If you want to share a single folder with a user — but don’t want them able to access anything else within the SharePoint site — you can follow the steps here.

  1. Go to Office.com and sign in using your Microsoft 365 credentials
  2. Open SharePoint using the app launcher
  3. Navigate to the SharePoint site where the file is stored
  4. Click Documents and locate the folder you want to share
  5. Hover over the folder and click the Share button
  6. Type in name/group/email and select permission
  7. Click Send

Please note that you’ll need to be a site owner, member, or equivalent to follow these steps. Furthermore, your organization might restrict sharing — I’ll include instructions on how to overcome the issue if that happens to be the case.

This walkthrough will go through the entire process with screenshots so you can easily follow along.

1. Go to Office.com and sign in using your Microsoft 365 credentials

First things first, you’ll need to log in using your Microsoft 365 credentials. This is likely your business email address — i.e., [email protected] — and the password you use to sign into your devices.

2. Open SharePoint using the app launcher

3. Navigate to the SharePoint site where the folder is stored

4. Click Documents and locate the folder you want to share

5. Hover over the folder and click the Share button

6. Type in name/group/email and select permission

Here, there are two things you need to do.

  1. Decide who can use the link and how
  2. Confirm who you want to grant access to

It’s really important that you choose who you want to give access to and how they can use the folder and its contents. As you can see on the screenshot above, I’ve set it to people within my organization and I’ve said they can edit the contents of the folder. However, there are a few link types to choose from as you can see in the screenshot below.

Remember to choose what you want to let people do with the folder and its contents. Deselect ‘Allow editing’ if you want the items within the folder to be view only.

There are a few options to choose from when you’re deciding who the link will work for.

  • Anyone with the link
  • People in [organization name] with the link
  • People with existing access (this is people who already have access to the site)
  • Specific people

Under ‘Other settings’, there is also the option to allow/disallow editing of the items within the folder. Obviously only you can decide whether or not you want to let the people you’re sharing the folder with edit its contents.

If you want to select ‘Anyone with the link’ and the option’s grayed out — as it is in the screenshot above — that’s because of your organization’s settings at either organization or site level. If you want this folder to be accessible to anyone with the link — e.g., so the person you initially share it with can send it on to other people and they can access it too — click here to read my blog post SharePoint: Anyone With The Link Option Greyed Out: How To Fix to find out how to alter your organization’s settings.

Once you’ve chosen the link settings, you can type in the names/email addresses of the users you want to share the folder with. If you want to share the folder with an entire team, you can type in the group name and share the folder with all the users within the group all at the same time.

Note that your organization’s settings will affect who you can share the link with. For example, some organizations will prevent external sharing.

7. Click Send

Once you’ve chosen the link settings and typed in the names/emails/groups you want to share the folder with, click Send.

When you click Send, you’ll get a pop up similar to the one screenshotted below.

For the purposes of this blog post, I’ve shared a folder with one of my colleagues who doesn’t otherwise have access to the site.

Anyone you’ve shared the document with will get an email similar to the one below.

Remember that choosing the link settings is very important. While I’ve shared this folder with just one colleague, they can send the link to anyone within the organization and they can access the folder too. Select Specific People if you want only the people you share the folder with to access it.

They can then click on the link and the folder will open in a browser. The SharePoint application opens and the items within the folder are visible to the users who use the link.

If the user clicks Documents, the only file they see is the one you’ve shared with them. They don’t see any of the other folders or files you have stored in your SharePoint site.

Furthermore, they cannot access any other area of the SharePoint site. For example, say they try to access the homepage of the site. The screenshot below shows the message the user gets. This is regardless of whether the user is within your organization or external, so you keep every other element of your SharePoint site secure.

Thanks for reading! I hope you’ve found this blog post useful. If you have any questions about this tutorial, please feel free to leave a comment below and we’ll answer as soon as possible.

Jack Mitchell

Jack Mitchell has been the Operations manager at telecoms and MSP Optionbox for more than 4 years. He has played a crucial role in the company, from marketing to helpdesk, and ensures that the IT requirements of over 300 clients are continuously met. With his innate passion for technology and troubleshooting and a particular interest in Apple products, Jack now delivers the most comprehensive tech guides to make your life easier. You can connect with Jack on LinkedIn.

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