In the modern workplace, moving between tools and platforms should be fairly seamless. When using OneDrive and SharePoint, end users expect to be able to not only work from anywhere, but to also have access to their content whenever and wherever needed. The expectation is that sharing content should be native to every collaboration and productivity tool and service, period. Even with this important role within the Office 365 platform, some customers want to limit – or disable – this capability. A walk-through of the functional and governance implications of disabling sharing within Office 365. Slides from THR2053 at Microsoft Ignite 2019 (#MSIgnite) in Orlando walking Presented by Microsoft RD + MVP Christian Buckley (@buckleyplanet).

1. @buckleyplanet

2. In the modern workplace, moving between
tools and platforms should be fairly seamless.

3. End users expect to be able to not only work from anywhere, but to
also have access to their content whenever and wherever needed.

4. The expectation is that sharing
content should be native to
every collaboration and
productivity tool and service,
period.
Even with this important role
within the Office 365 platform,
some customers want to limit –
or disable – this capability.

5. Understanding the downstream effects

8. The change to sharing is
implemented at an Office 365
Tenant level, and as such, it is an
all-or-nothing change.
Because OneDrive acts as an
Office client backstage for open,
save, share, even with the sharing
capability turned off, you will still
see all the OneDrive share points
and may even be prompted to
use OneDrive.
These prompts cannot be
disabled, nor can the options in
the menu be modified.

9. From a security and compliance
standpoint, you will not be able
to run cross-workload policies
for scenarios like Data Loss
Prevention (DLP), auditing,
retention, or eDiscovery, as these
are applied suite-wide.

10. When OneDrive sharing is
disabled, what stops working:

11. SharePoint Home is
disabled, because
settings are stored in
the OneDrive cache.

12. Followed Sites are
disabled due to
settings stored in
OneDrive cache.

13. Shared With Me list is
also disabled due to
settings stored in
OneDrive cache.

14. Modern Attachments
are entirely disabled.

15. Team Site and
Microsoft Teams
sync to OneDrive
are disabled.

16. OneNote sync is also
disabled, because the
cache is stored in
OneDrive.

17. Additionally, any external users
who were previously invited to view
or edit content will be blocked.
They’ll receive an error message,
and if, at some point in the future,
sharing is re-enabled, they will
need a new sharing link.

18. Additional experiences
that will be degraded:

19. When modern
attachments become
unavailable, users will see
options for OneDrive for
Business attachments, and
may be prompted to use
ODB for file attachments.

20. Microsoft Graph and
Delve will be seriously
crippled, as they rely on
what is being shared and
viewed to provide their
rich experiences.

21. Most Recently Used list will
still work, but it loses much
of its usefulness without
insights from Microsoft
Graph and Delve.

22. Rather than disable all sharing within OneDrive, there are a
number of other options that allow an organization to maintain
governance and control over their intellectual property.

23. Rather than disable sharing for
everyone apart from a few specific
users, diminishing the features of
Office 365 and thereby impacting end
user adoption of the platform,
establish policies for the handling of
sensitive content and material, and
leverage the many security and
governance features available within
the platform.
Examples include:

26. OneDrive sharing is a powerful and
essential capability within Office 365.
When organizations elect to turn off
this important feature, they seriously
diminish the cross-workload value of
the platform and can inhibit adoption
and engagement.
While Microsoft recognizes the
unique security, governance, and
compliance requirements of
customers and provides the ability to
turn OneDrive sharing off, because of
the benefit — the overall
recommendation is to mitigate these
risks through other methods.

27. However….if you’re still
convinced that turning off
sharing within OneDrive
and SharePoint is the right
thing to do…

28. Stop sharing OneDrive or SharePoint files or folders, or change permissions
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/stop-sharing-onedrive-or-sharepoint-files-
or-folders-or-change-permissions-0a36470f-d7fe-40a0-bd74-0ac6c1e13323

29. Customize how sharing works in OneDrive and SharePoint

30. Follow me @buckleyplanet