How to Give OneDrive Access to Another User The Right Way

If you are an IT administrator or a simple user who is managing your files in OneDrive. It is important to learn how to give OneDrive access to another user. The process is simple and allows you to give permission to a person outside of your organization.

One of the main reasons for delegating OneDrive access is employee offboarding. When a team member leaves the company, IT admins have to access, preserve, or move the important OneDrive data. So that the team project runs smoothly without losing any critical data.

All you have to do is follow a simple set of instructions, and it’ll be done sooner than you realise. Here I will teach you the two official methods that worked for me: the first is the Admin Center approach, and the second is PowerShell.

Also, I have included a process for personal account holders. However, before we discuss any of the methods, let us see what permissions or roles you need to grant “user A” the ability to see the files of any other “user B”.

What Permissions Do You Need to Give OneDrive Access to Another User?

Inside an organization, only those users who are the Global Admin or at least the SharePoint admin have the authority to grant a person access to someone else’s OneDrive account.

So, step zero is to check if you have such a role or not. A simple test is to try to log in to the M365 admin center/SharePoint Admin with your credentials. If you can, then well and good. You can move on to the next step. Otherwise, contact the personnel who have the said permissions.

Personal account holders need not worry about such a role. Like their OneDrive usage report, their sharing settings are also under their own control. The only thing they must have is control of a file that they are delegating. This means you can’t create a second layer of sharing on a file that was shared with you by someone else.

Another important fact to consider is: with what permission level does file sharing happen in OneDrive?

There are two levels: View and Edit. As the name suggests, files shared with a view-only setting can’t be altered.  However, recipients can make copies of the original files and work on the copies. Edit type sharing allows the recipient to conduct all sorts of operations, including permanently deleting the files from the original account.

There is a third type of sharing called delegation. Here, the recipient becomes the new holder of all the files/folders that are inside an account. This type of sharing is available to admins to deal with scenarios where an employee leaves the organization.

Now that we know all about permissions, let’s see how they are used to grant access, and there is no better place to start than the admin center.

How to Give OneDrive Access to Another User with Microsoft 365 Admin Center?

1. Log in to the M365 Admin Center
2. On the left-hand pane, expand Users > select Active users.
3. From the user list, click on the user to give OneDrive access to another user.
   
4. A flyout pane appears; you need to go to the OneDrive tab and click “Create link to files.”
5. You will get a link.

This link provides the administrator direct access to the user’s OneDrive. To grant the same privilege to someone else in the organization, an admin needs to perform some more steps:

• Open the link, click on the Settings gear at the top right.
• Select ‘OneDrive settings’.
• Find ‘More settings’. Then, under ‘Users and Permissions’, click the ‘Site collection administrators’ link.
• Type the name or email in the text box, select from the suggestions, and click ‘OK’.

In this way, you can add one or more users, all of whom will have the same level of access to this user’s OneDrive data. However, this method of delegation is only available for Global admins. If you are just a SharePoint admin, you must follow a different route.

Use SharePoint Admin Center and Give Access to OneDrive for Another User

1. Launch the SharePoint Admin Center > More features > User profiles > Manage User Profiles.
   
2. After you’re in ‘Manage User Profiles’, find the user by typing their name or email in the ‘Find profiles’ box and clicking ‘Find’.
3. Hover over their name in the results and click the drop-down arrow that appears.
4. From the menu, select ‘Manage site collection …’.
5. On the ‘Site Collection Administrators’ page, type the name or email of the person you want to add, pick them from the suggestions, and click ‘OK’.
   

Next up, we have the code-based alternative.

How to Provide OneDrive Access to Other Users Via PowerShell Cmdlets?

If you have prior experience with PowerShell, this method has the potential to be a lot faster than the GUI.

Note: Like our previous method, these commands are for admins to grant others access to a user’s OneDrive. So, you must be at least a SharePoint Admin, if not a Global Admin, to use the commands that can grant one user full access to another user’s OneDrive.

The main idea is to elevate the recipient user’s current privilege level to a “Site Collection Administrator” of another’s OneDrive.

Note: this is just a sample script; you must modify and test it before deploying it to a live environment. After granting the permissions, you can check who the current Site Collection administrators are for a specific OneDrive using the following set of cmdlets:

The same disclaimer applies here as well: Test and modify before using.

Give “In Case of Emergency” OneDrive Access to Loved Ones (Digital Legacy)

Microsoft now lets you set up a Digital Legacy access feature that ensures your data survives and becomes accessible to your loved ones after you pass away or become incapable of accessing it in any other manner. This feature is available even for those who use a personal tier OneDrive connected to their Outlook/Hotmail account. Follow these steps to set this up:

1. Log in to onedrive.com (Settings > Digital legacy).
2. Add a trusted contact (next of kin or partner).
3. Share the unique code with them securely.

If something happens to you, the trusted member can use the code to request access. After a 72-hour waiting period, Microsoft grants them read-only access to download your files. In this way, you can give OneDrive access to another user in your family for free.

Can Users Grant Permissions to Each Other Without Admins?

Yes, personal account holders or individuals can directly share files and folders at any time. But before setting up, you must take certain precautions.

• You must only share files with those persons who actually needed.
• Always confirm with your manager or file owner before granting access.
• Giving Edit permission allows others to modify or delete your original files. So, if possible, share the files by default as View-only or set the expiration dates on shared links.

There are some people who ignore these points and then regret it later. So, keep these points in mind while you’re giving direct access. Here is how you can do it too:

1. Select your file(s), click on the Share icon in the top toolbar (it looks like a curved arrow going out of a box)
2. After that, type in the name/email address of the person you are sharing these files with. Toggle the pencil icon to change the permission level (there are just two options: edit or view only)
3. Add a message to the recipient (this is optional, but we recommend that you attach a message so that the recipient knows this was a genuine request and not a mistake)
4. Double-check all details and hit send.

This is how you share with known/internal users.

How Does the Recipient See the OneDrive Data Granted/Given/Shared to Them?

For the recipient, the most likely location they will find newly shared items is the Shared tab.

This contains both types of files: the ones you share and the ones that are shared with you. Ask the recipient to filter out the “Shared with you” part. However, this is not the case for the admins who obtain OneDrive access via the link creation method.

The recipient also gets a message in their email(most likely inbox, but it can also get flagged as spam and may end up in the junk folder, so check there if you can’t find the items) regarding a new shared request; they can use the link present there to get to the shared item.

Troubleshooting Inter-Account OneDrive Delegation Errors

If you are on a personal account and after selecting the files, the share icon seems to disappear, check if you are also including the Personal Vault.

Personal Vault is a highly secure secondary storage mechanism within personal OneDrive files. However, this means that the data you keep there is not shareable. If by mistake you hit select all, the Vault also gets selected, disabling the share icon. No such issue occurs in work/school accounts, as the Personal Vault itself is absent. If you are on an Apple computer and can’t share, try restarting OneDrive on Mac and see if it fixes your issue.

If you are a recipient and all of a sudden see that the shared files are missing from your account, the original user may have revoked the sharing grant. Message/mail them to confirm if this is true and request a reauthorization if you still require access to that person’s OneDrive data.

At the time when the employee leaves, assigning the rights or sharing links of the OneDrive account is helpful. But if you want your departed employee’s data to a safe and accessible place. Why don’t you migrate them. Many companies move thier employees important files to a secure account immediately after they left. For this SysTools OneDrive to OneDrive Migration will be very helpful.

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Conclusion

Now, IT administrators have a complete understanding of how to give OneDrive access to another user. They can grant permissions to view someone else’s OneDrive data, even if the recipient is outside their organization.

We have provided step-by-step instructions to perform the task either with the Microsoft 365 admin center or with the help of PowerShell cmdlets. Use any way that seems more in line with your strategy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What will happen to my shared OneDrive link if the original owner revokes it?

When the owner revokes access. the link to your shared OneDrive becomes invalid immediately. The cached local copies or previously downloaded files will remain, but you will no longer view, edit, or synchronize your revoked link.

Q. What happens when your account is in legal holds and organizational retention policies?

If your account is in retention policies and legal holds, it bypasses the standard safety. If the departed employee is under legal holds, the administrators cannot remove the data, and the cleanup options will be blocked until the hold is cleared by compliance officers.

Q. Can an administrator grant OneDrive access to an external user who does not have the organization account?

Yes, absolutely. You can share your specific file or folder with an external person by generating a guest link, but you can’t grant full account delegation.