Sharing SharePoint Content with Others

Background/Overview

Since the migration of people and content during the Future Ready Cloud Collaboration project will take several months to complete for UNK, UNL and UNO, this "co-existence" period will require some different practices around sharing content. It is possible that SharePoint sites will move before the people that need to access them have moved, and it is also possible that the people will migrate before the SharePoint site. Please consider both of these scenarios before sharing content or permissions.

Things to consider:

• SharePoint sites should be scheduled to move on the date when the majority of the people that need access to that site are scheduled to migrate. 
• SharePoint site owners have access to a report in each site that lists who content has been shared with. Consider reviewing this report before your site is migrated so you know who will need access afterward.
• The SharePoint site sharing report report does not show (non-sharing) links that have been created to content, but these will all need to be recreated since all of the content has been moved and those links are no longer valid.
• When creating sharing links and sharing content, be aware of the permissions you are giving since some of them will change as an outcome of this project. More information about permissions is below.
• Since the permission level "People in the University of Nebraska" will eventually mean everyone at UNK, UNL and UNO, you may need to re-think when this level is chosen. You may also need to rethink how your site is structured, such as adding additional libraries or subsites and using permissions at those levels instead.

Internal vs. External users

During the period of coexistence when not everyone has yet migrated, you will need to know if a person has migrated or not when re-sharing links with them. Users that have not been migrated to the same tenant as the site are considered External users to that site. Use the table below to determine if the person you wish to send a link to is Internal or External.

Migrated vs non-migrated users  - Use this lookup {TBD} to determine if the user you wish to share with has been migrated yet or not. Or, you can ask the person and they should be able to tell you their migration status.

Finding email addresses

• Faculty/advisors/staff - Enter their name in the University directory. 
• Students - Based on your campus's policies, you can use Canvas or your faculty/staff portal (MyBlue, MyRed, or mavlink) to view student email addresses.

Sharing Links to content with an External user

During the period of coexistence (and as a Best Practice afterward), use this process to share content via a sharing link:

1. Choose to Share an item from SharePoint:

• Right-click on the document title and choose Share.
• Click on the ellipses (three dots) to the right of an item and choose Share.
• From within the item, click Share in the upper right corner.

2. Enter the full email address of the person you wish to share with. Do NOT click on any of the results that may display.

3. Click the Settings gear at the bottom of the window to set your sharing permissions.

4. Choose the appropriate settings:

• This link works for:
  • People in the University of Nebraska - Grants access to anyone in the nebraska.edu tenant (all UNK, UNL and UNO faculty, staff and students) using this link once everyone has migrated. Use this sparingly.
  • Only people with existing access - Doesn't really grant access since everyone would already have permission to access it. Use this to share a link with others without granting any permissions.
  • People you choose - Grants access to those that you have specified on the previous step.
• More settings:
  • Viewing permissions (these may be different based on the item you are sharing):
    • Can view - Can view the item but can't make changes.
    • Can edit - Can view the item and make any changes.
    • Can review - Can view the item but only suggest changes
    • Can't download - Can view the item but can not download it.
• Set expiration date - If you only want the person's access to be temporary, enter a date for the link to expire.

Sharing Links to content with an Internal user

During the period of coexistence (and as a Best Practice afterward), use this process to share content via a sharing link:

1. Choose to Share an item from SharePoint:

• Right-click on the document title and choose Share.
• Click on the ellipses (three dots) to the right of an item and choose Share.
• From within the item, click Share in the upper right corner.

2. Enter the full email address of the person you wish to share with. Which result do they choose?

3. Click the Settings gear at the bottom of the window to set your sharing permissions.

4. Choose the appropriate settings:

• This link works for:
  • People in the University of Nebraska - Grants access to anyone in the nebraska.edu tenant (all UNK, UNL and UNO faculty, staff and students) using this link once everyone has migrated. Use this sparingly.
  • Only people with existing access - Doesn't really grant access since everyone would already have permission to access it. Use this to share a link with others without granting any permissions.
  • People you choose - Grants access to those that you have specified on the previous step.
• More settings:
  • Viewing permissions (these may be different based on the item you are sharing):
    • Can view - Can view the item but can't make changes.
    • Can edit - Can view the item and make any changes.
    • Can review - Can view the item but only suggest changes
    • Can't download - Can view the item but can not download it.
• Set expiration date - If you only want the person's access to be temporary, enter a date for the link to expire.