Best practices for sharing content

• If you want to share all content on your site: Add user(s) as owners, members, or visitors of your site. This grants users access to all the content stored on your SharePoint site.
• Long-term collaboration on specific files/folders: Grant Direct Access at the folder level. This grants access to all content within a folder, including subfolders and their content.
• Short-term collaboration on specific files/folders: Share a link to a specific file or folder. This grants access to all content within a folder, including subfolders and their content. NOTE: This is the most commonly used sharing method and should be used when you want to share individual documents with users outside of your normal team. Users granted access with a link will only be able to access the file using that link.

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Sharing your site

Site owners may invite people to be owners, members, or visitors of their sites.

See the detailed level of access per role below:

Role	Level of access
Owner	Complete control of site; can add and remove content, edit all files, share content with others, manage user roles
Member	Can add, remove, and edit content
Visitor	Read-only access

In a SharePoint site, permissions are inherited from the top down. Sharing your site will thus grant the user access to the content of the entire site. If you are unsure if you wish to share an entire site with a user, it is better to share only the relevant folders and files with them.

Team site

If you have a Team site you have two ways to add users to your site.

1. First, go to the site and select the gear icon (top right) > Site permissions > Invite people (see image below).

   

2. Next choose either option 1 or option 2 (see detail below):
   
   1. Option 1 – Add Members to Group: Choosing this will allow you to add users to the associated MS365 Group. This option will grant users access to both the SharePoint site as well as any other resources associated with the MS365 group (ex. MS Teams, group calendar, MS Forms…etc.)
      
      • With this option you can only add users as either Owners or Members (Not guests), meaning that they will either have "full control" or "edit" access.
      • You can add external users to this group from Outlook following these instructions:
        Add and remove group members in Outlook
   2. Option 2 – Share site only: Choosing this will grant the user access only to your site and not any of the additional resources that may be associated with the site’s group.
      
      • With this option, you can choose to grant the user Owner, Member or Visitor rights.
      • This is the easiest option to manage if you are using your SharePoint site just for simple content management purposes.

Communication site

A Communication site is a SharePoint site which is not connected to a Team. Communication sites are generally used to broadcast information to a wide audience rather than to collaborate. To add users to a Communication site:

1. Select the gear icon (top right)
2. Click Site permissions
3. Click Share site
   
   
   
   
4. Add the users or groups to give access to.
5. Choose the level of access (edit, read or full control)
   
   
   
   
6. Click ADD

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Sharing individual folders or documents

There are two ways that individual folders or documents can be shared. Both methods will perform the same functions and can be used interchangeably.

Grant access

Granting someone direct access to an item does not involve links or sharing settings. When someone has direct access, you can modify their level of access in Manage access by changing the permission or removing their access entirely. 

How to grant direct access to a folder or document:

1. 1. 1. 1. Select Share.
         2. In the bottom left corner, select one of the profile images or initials icons, or the lock if you haven’t shared the item yet to open Manage access.
         3. In the top right corner, select the Grant access icon.
            
         4. Add a name, group, or email.
            
            
            
         5. To update the level of access for this person, to the right of the Name, group, or email field, select the access icon (for example: the edit or view icon).
         6. Select the level of access you want to give this person for this item. 
         7. Optionally, to notify the people you are sharing with, select the Notify people checkbox. When selected, the people you are sharing with will get an automated email from you to let them know they have access. 
         8. Select Grant access. 

   Sharing with a link

   The simplest way to share files and folders in SharePoint is by generating a link. Some things to note when sharing with links:

   1. 1. • Links can be generated for files or folders. If you apply access at the top level folder, then the same access applies to everything inside the folder. 
           
           • Links can be individualized for specific or general audiences to access
         • These links can be sent via email, or copied and added onto websites, newsletters, and other communications
           
           • All links generated for a given file or location can be managed by selecting the “Manage Access” option for that item.

   To generate a sharing link:

   1. 1. 1. Hover over the item you wish to share.
         2. Click the 3 dots.
         3. Click Copy Link.

   From here you can change the type of link that is generated.

   1. 1. 1. Choose the type of link that you would like.
         2. Click on Apply.

   

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   Description of the type of link (Link settings)

   1. 1. • Anyone with the link:
           
           • This type of link gives access to the file or folder to anyone who has the link. People using an Anyone link do not have to log in, and their usage of the document cannot be tracked.
           • This is disabled by default on new sites and can be enabled by request.
         • People in McGill University with the link:
           
           • "People in your organization" links work for only people with valid @mcgill.ca or @mail.mcgill.ca accounts. Links can be forwarded to anyone in your organization at McGill.
           • In addition, the links do not work for guests (external users) in the directory, only members.

   

   1. 1. • People with existing access:
           
           • It will work for any user that already has direct access to the file or folder in question.
           • Not granting new permissions, can be thought of as sending a shortcut.
         • Specific people:
           
           • Specific people links can be used to grant access to users through a link.
           • You can check which users have been granted access through these links by selecting the “Manage Access” option.

   

   

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   ADDITIONAL REFERENCES:

   • Index of documentation for SharePoint Online
   • About: Microsoft SharePoint Online