External sharing on SharePoint site

How to set up external sharing on SharePoint site step by step

Global Microsoft 365 or SharePoint administrators can change the external sharing settings of SharePoint sites. The action applies to classic, communication and new team sites and must be performed by a global administrator. That is, not by the owner of the site in question. The steps to be performed to configure external sharing on SharePoint site are as follows:

1. You must first log in with an account that has administrator permissions on the Active Sites page of the new SharePoint Admin Center.
2. Here you select the site and the 'Sharing' option.
3. At this point you can choose between various options for external sharing:
   1. Anyone (no login required to share files and documents).
   2. New and existing guests (via login or verification code).
   3. Only existing guests (already registered in the organization's directory).
   4. Only people within the organization (external sharing is not enabled).
4. In the 'Limit sharing by domain' check box you can add the domains that you want to block or allow from sharing.
5. The 'Same as organization level settings' checkbox is used to change the default sharing link type.
6. Finally, the changes must be saved.

Recommendations when sharing files and folders with unauthenticated users

Links for 'Anyone' are very useful for many situations. They are also a very easy way to share content, since any user can open the link and in turn share it with others. However, for this very reason, it is not a bad idea to take certain precautions to protect your company's content in the long run.

• Set expiration date of these links

Sometimes files are stored on sites for very long periods of time. To control access to these files, it is possible to set a link expiration date for unauthenticated users. After this date, they will no longer be able to access the link, but another link may be generated.

• Link permissions

By setting the permissions of the links for unauthenticated users we ensure that such users cannot modify the content of these files. It is important to remember that the general permissions of these links can allow viewing, editing and uploading new files to the site.

• Protection against malicious files

If unauthenticated users are allowed to upload files to the site it is desirable to ensure that they are not malicious. This protection is achieved with Microsoft 365's 'safe attachments' feature and its advanced threat protection tools. This will automatically scan files and quarantine unsafe files.

• Add file copyright information

A watermark, header or footer can be automatically added to the privacy labels in the Microsoft 365 Compliance Management Center. This way you can ensure that files contain copyright or other proprietary markings.