Can OneDrive files be shared with external users?

“Not all of the users we work with have OneDrive accounts. But we need to share a Onedrive file with several external users for collaboration. We want to know if OneDrive files can be shared with external users. If there is an effective way, what is it and how exactly does it work? We will appreciate it if you offer some help.”

It often occurs like the one mentioned in the user case above, and some OneDrive users may need to share OneDrive with external users for better collaboration. Therefore, a simple yet efficient way to share documents with OneDrive is very essential.

How to share OneDrive with external users

To create OneDrive share with external users task, we list 3 different solutions here and you can select one according to your situation.

Method 1. Share OneDrive via a link

Basically, you can use a link for sharing OneDrive with external users. Once you want to share OneDrive with another user who does not have a OneDrive account, this method can be quite easy.

Here are the steps for it and you can refer to them:

1. First, navigate to the OneDrive page to log into your account.

2. On the My files page, select the OneDrive files you need to share with external users, then click Share on the top menu.

3. In the Link settings window, choose the Anyone with the link option. After setting for the sharing task, press Apply to create a link for file sharing.

4. After that, you can copy this link to any external user to share your OneDrive files.

Method 2. Enable external sharing in OneDrive for Business

For users of OneDrive for Business, you can choose to enable external sharing to set OneDrive external sharing. It is also easy to perform with the step-by-step guideline:

1. Go to the Microsoft Office website and sign into it.

2. Click on Admin > Show all > SharePoint > Policies > Sharing.

3. In the OneDrive section, move the button to Anyone or New and existing guests part, then choose Save.

4. On the My files section, choose the files that need to be shared and click the Share button.

5. You can type the email address of the recipients or copy the link to them.

• If the recipient has a Microsoft account, the file-sharing requires him to sign in with his Microsoft account and accept the permissions to view the shared files.

• If the recipient does not have a Microsoft account, the external user needs to enter the verification code from the email to access the shared files.

Method 3. Try a free cloud sync service

There is another solution to share files even share OneDrive folder with external users - try a free cloud sync service like CBackup. It can help you share OneDrive with external users from Google Drive, Dropbox, FTP/SFTP, etc. In addition, you can create scheduled sync with external users via CBackup easily.

Let’s see how to share OneDrive with external users in CBackup:

1. Go to the CBackup website. Sign up for a CBackup account and log into it.

2. In the My Storage tab, click on the + icon to add OneDrive and other cloud drive accounts to CBackup.

3. Select Sync Tasks, press New Task to create a new sync task for OneDrive external sharing.

4. Click on the Add Source button to choose OneDrive files or folders from the original cloud drive, and press the Add Destination button to choose the target cloud drive account.

5. At last, select the Start Sync button to share OneDrive with external users.

Tip: Backup files to OneDrive easily

If you are seeking professional backup software, CBackup can also meet your needs. As a reliable cloud backup service, CBackup provides a great PC to cloud backup feature. You can backup files to OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive using this feature. CBackup has no limitation on backup speed and the type of files so you can set up backups for free.

Just follow these steps to backup files to OneDrive with ease:

1. Download and install the CBackup desktop app, then launch the client and log into it.

2. Likewise, in the Storage section, then add the OneDrive account that you want to use as the backup destination.

3. Select Backup > Backup PC to Public Cloud to create a backup task.

4. You can edit the Task Name. Then choose files from the PC, and select the OneDrive account you added. Finally, click the Start Backup button to backup files to OneDrive.

★Tips: What’s more, CBackup also provides some other useful features for free and you can try them.

Combine cloud storage: You can get more free cloud storage space with this feature. It helps you merge unlimited cloud storage accounts to from a combined cloud for a larger cloud storage space.

Free cloud storage: CBackup gives each account 10GB of free cloud storage in CBackup Cloud. You can use it as an alternative to cloud storage.

Restore files: If you use CBackup to backup files or folders, you can restore files of any version quickly and easily.

Conclusion

That’s all about how to share OneDrive with external users. All the mentioned methods are for free and you can pick one for yourself. If you also need a backup service, CBackup can be a great choice to be your backup and sync solution.