Prevent Users From Sharing Files in a Site

In today’s blog post, we’ll discuss a SharePoint setting that will prevent users from sharing files even if they’re part of the Members group. Furthermore, the experience is also different if the Access Requests feature is turned on or not!

This setting is to be used wisely if you don’t want to create frustration amongst your users 😅
 

Permissions

Wether you manage a SharePoint site associated with a Microsoft Teams Team, or a standalone site (with M365 group or not), there will be a default Members group . Meaning the users in that SPO/M365 group will be able to share documents and the site itself.

In the below screenshot, John Smith was added to the Members group, and therefore would have no problem sharing a file, and assign whatever permissions is available, to the recipient(s).

What about people in the “Visitors” group (read only)? Well… Let’s talk about that in a minute 🙂
 

Site Sharing Settings

If you are a Site Owner, then navigate to the gear icon (top right), and click on Site Permissions. The first button at the top might say “Add members” if your site is connected to a Microsoft 365 group. If it’s not (like my demo site), then it will say “Share site”.

Regardless, the setting we’re interested in is under Site Sharing (right underneath). Here, click on Change how members can share.

The default is set to the first option, but to really limit the sharing to Site owners, select the 3rd option and click Save.

For now, just keep in mind the settings for Access Requests which are turned on with requests going to the Owners. They will be important later!

Impact on Members & Visitors groups

While people in the “Visitors” group were never able to share files like they wanted in the first place, the “Members” group now have the same experience!

If we go back to John Smith’s account and try to share a file…

Well… Things have changed! And as the message says, an email will be sent to the “file owner”, to Approve or Decline the request.

But WHO is the file owner exactly you may ask?? 🤔

Well, we can safely assume that when we share a file with someone, it’s because that person doesn’t have access to it, right? So by accepting the request, we’ll “invite” that someone into the site (to a certain degree). In that case, the request will go to the option we’ve chosen in the Access Requests section (screenshot 2).

And currently, it’s going to the Site Owners.

HOWEVER, if a person shares a file with another person who already has access to the file, then NO access request will be sent to the owners. There’s no need for that.

Access Requests Turned Off

So what would happen if the Access Requests were turned off? Well, users would have even less sharing possibilities.

Here, John Smith would like to share a file with somebody else, but he’s straight away greeted with another experience!

Conclusion

While this setting might be useful in specific cases because it allows for extra control in bulk, it might also be getting very tiring (and frustratring!) for owners if they have to approve/decline every sharing request. Not to mention the spamming galore!

As always, it’s not because you can that you should 😉 Instead, you should be wondering if the documents are at the right place, or if the right people have access to the site…
 

Thanks for reading! 🙂