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SharePoint’s external sharing settings control how users can share content outside your organization. These settings are found in the SharePoint admin center and can be configured for the entire organization or per individual site.
At the organization level, administrators can define the baseline sharing settings which apply to all SharePoint sites. To access these settings:
The available external sharing options are:
To maximize control, SharePoint allows you to tailor external sharing settings for individual sites:
Setting | Description |
---|---|
Private | Sharing is allowed only among site members. |
New and existing guests | Site owners can invite new guests and share with existing ones. |
Existing guests only | Only current guest members can be shared with. |
Anyone | Anyone with the link can access shared content. |
Sharing links can be configured to provide different levels of access:
To ensure security when sharing externally, consider the following measures:
To keep track of external sharing and ensure compliance:
By managing external file sharing settings effectively, administrators can facilitate secure collaboration on SharePoint sites while maintaining control over organizational data. It is important to regularly review and adjust these settings as collaboration needs evolve and to stay current with best practices for security and compliance.
For the MS-700 Managing Microsoft Teams exam, understanding SharePoint integration and managing external sharing settings is crucial since Teams relies on SharePoint for file storage and collaboration. Knowledge of setting the correct permissions and security measures while sharing files across Microsoft Teams and SharePoint is directly pertinent to the exam objectives.
SharePoint administration allows granular control over external sharing, including the ability to enable or disable sharing for individual site collections.
Answer: A) All site collections
By default, SharePoint is configured to allow external sharing for all site collections, though this can be adjusted by an administrator.
Answer: C) New and existing external users must be authenticated
By default, SharePoint sites require authentication for external users to access shared content, either by creating a Microsoft account or by using an existing one.
Files shared within Microsoft Teams channels are stored in SharePoint, so external sharing is subject to the SharePoint site’s sharing settings.
Answer: B) Enable anonymous sharing
For users to share with external parties without requiring a guest account, an admin must enable anonymous sharing, which allows access via a link without signing in.
External users who are invited to access SharePoint content do not become members of your Azure AD, but they are added as guest users with limited privileges.
Answer: B) New guests must have a Microsoft account
This option requires new external guests to use a Microsoft account or an account from another organization (work/school) to sign in for authentication before accessing shared content.
Global administrators and SharePoint administrators have the necessary permissions to change external sharing settings for SharePoint sites linked to Microsoft Teams.
Answer: D) All authenticated external users
SharePoint external sharing settings do not have a specific option labeled “All authenticated external users,” instead, options like “New and existing external users” and “Specific external users only” are available.
For external sharing to work, it must be enabled at both the site-level settings and the specific content must be shared by a user with the necessary permissions to do so.
Answer: A) Only users with a previous guest invitation can access shared content
This setting restricts access to the site’s content to external users who have already been invited to any site within your organization.
Since Microsoft Teams uses SharePoint for file storage, enabling external sharing for SharePoint sites will allow access to content within Teams for external users, provided that the appropriate access permissions are granted.
External sharing in SharePoint refers to the ability to share content and collaborate with people outside of your organization.
You can turn external sharing on or off for a SharePoint site by going to the site settings and selecting the “Site permissions” option. From there, you can select the “Access requests and invitations” option to manage external sharing settings.
The options for external sharing settings in SharePoint include
Existing guests Only guests who have already been invited can access the site.
Anyone Anyone with a sharing link can access the site, including anonymous users.
You can restrict external sharing for specific SharePoint sites by going to the site settings and selecting the “Site permissions” option. From there, you can select the “Access requests and invitations” option and specify which users or groups are allowed to share the site externally.
You can track external sharing activity in SharePoint by going to the site settings and selecting the “Site usage” option. From there, you can view reports that show who has accessed the site and what they have done.
Anonymous sharing allows anyone with a sharing link to access the site, even if they don’t have a Microsoft account. Guest sharing requires the user to have a Microsoft account and be added as a guest to your organization before they can access the site.
Yes, you can set expiration dates for external sharing links in SharePoint to limit how long they are active.
You can enforce conditional access policies for external sharing in SharePoint by setting up policies in Azure Active Directory and configuring SharePoint to use those policies.
You can manage external sharing for OneDrive files and folders by going to the OneDrive settings and selecting the “Sharing” option. From there, you can specify who is allowed to share your files and folders externally.
View-only sharing allows the recipient to view the content but not make any changes, while editing sharing allows the recipient to view and edit the content.
You can configure external sharing settings for specific SharePoint lists or libraries by going to the list or library settings and selecting the “Permissions for this list” or “Permissions for this library” option. From there, you can specify who is allowed to access the list or library externally.
Yes, you can restrict external sharing to specific domains in SharePoint by configuring domain-based sharing restrictions in the SharePoint admin center.
You can audit external sharing activity in SharePoint by using the audit log search feature in the Security & Compliance Center.
You can set up approval workflows for external sharing requests in SharePoint by configuring the access requests and invitations settings in the site permissions.
You can configure external sharing settings
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