Control File Access: Blocking Downloads in SharePoint for external Users

Before jumping into the topic, let's understand what SharePoint is and how it plays a significant role for organizations in the global market. SharePoint Online, a Microsoft 365 product, is a collaborative tool that allows both internal and external users to work together efficiently on files and documents .

There are two types of sites you can create in SharePoint Online:

1. Team Site – primarily used for collaboration and project work.
2. Communication Site – mainly used for sharing updates or news from the admin.

Collaborating within a team or with external users on the same project is exactly what a Team site is designed for. Suppose someone is working on a project with a shared goal along with 5–6 members. In such a scenario, the admin or project manager can create a Team site for those members so they can work on the same documents, stay updated through the site’s feed, and share their views.

Now, let’s assume you need to share a document with someone external or someone who isn’t part of the project—and you want to restrict the download option. What are you going to do?

There are two ways to share the file to the external user restricting the download option.

Method 1:

Go to office.com---🡪 click on the 9 dots ---🡪Sharepoint---🡪Open the teams site---🡪 Documents--🡪select the folder---🡪 click on the three dots--🡪 click share option--🡪 enter the email address with which you want to share---🡪select “can’t download “option ---🡪then select “Send”.

Result: The user with whom you shared the file will receive a notification or updates in his/her Inbox and after clicking on the link, he/she will be redirected to the document library and won’t be able to find the download option.

Method 2:

Now you want to set the download restrictions and want to enable some permissions for that external user.As an admin you can decide how the external user will collaborate using the shared documents through operations like add, edit, delete, view only, etc. Now to achieve this, you can create a permission level based on the scope of work i.e. you can decide what permissions you want to set for that user. Follow the steps to proceed accordingly.

Go to the sharepoint Online---🡪select the teams site---🡪select the gear icon on the right hand side top ---🡪site permissions---🡪Advanced Permission settings-🡪”Permission Levels”---🡪Now select a permission level or else create a permission level based on your requirement to restrict download and ensure view only, then select the default “Read” permission level and uncheck the option “Open items”--🡪Scroll down and select Submit to save the permission level

Now to share the document to the external folder, follow the below steps to assign the user with the necessary permission level:

Go to the document library--🡪Select the folder--🡪click the three dots--🡪Select “Manage Access”--🡪Click on the three dots again on the top right hand side and select “Advanced Settings”--🡪Now click ”Stop inheriting permission level”--🡪 Then you will find the option “Grant Permissions--🡪select on Grant Permissions-🡪 Enter the email address and select ”SHOW OPTIONS”--🡪Select the permission level you want to set and then click on Share.

Result: The user with whom you have shared the file following the above procedure will get to collaborate with you using the files depending upon the permissions you have set. That user will receive an email notification containing the document link, upon clicking he/she will be directed to the sharepoint document library of that particular team site and the download option wont be visible if you have set it to Read only mode.