When you want to share any document or file with any external user, you may receive a message that “Your organization is preventing you from selecting this option“. This is not an error as such but an information which tell you that you can’t use a particular option in Sharepoint online to share this document.
Sharepoint administrator is generally responsible for the setup and configuration of Sharepoint Online. This issue related to a configuration in sharepoint online which related to External Sharing.
The external sharing option of SharePoint Online allows users in your organization to share content with people outside the organization (for example: partners, clients or any third-party organization).
Some of the Organizations with strict security controls usually disable External Sharing completely so that users can only share documents or files with in their own organization / Only with Internal users. Which is a good security practice.
However, there can be a scenario when a particular sharepoint site’s content needs to be shared with a third-party organization to better collaborate on a project. In that case, keeping External Sharing completely disabled will cause issues and user’s may try to find other unsecure ways to share the documents.
In this blog post, we will see how to allow external sharing with Anyone and fix a configuration which prevents users to share a document externally. Let’s explore more on this.
When do you see “Your organization is preventing you from selecting this option“
When you try to share a document in Sharepoint Online, you will notice that Anyone option in Sharing settings pop-up is greyed out and when you hover your mouse over the Information Icon (i), you will see the message “Your organization is preventing you from selecting this option“
- Login on Microsoft 365 admin center either as a Sharepoint administrator or Global administrator.
- Click on Sharepoint link under Admin centers to open Sharepoint Online as an administrator.
- Click on the Site and go to the Document library
- Go to the file which you want to share and click on three dots.
- Click on Share.
- Click on People in <org> with the link can edit > to open more Sharing settings.
- On Sharing settings options page you will find that Anyone link is greyed out and when you hover your mouse over (i), it provides you with information “Your organization is preventing you from selecting this option“
How to fix “Your organization is preventing you from selecting this option“
To Fix this issue you would need to check and reconfigure External Sharing in Sharepoint online. This needs to be configured in two places First at the Organizational Level and Second at Site Level.
Even though you set the most permissive levels and Enable “Anyone with the link” sharing option at organizational level but Site Level External sharing settings does not permit sharing the content with Anyone, you will still get the same issue. So make sure you configure it at both the levels. Let’s check the steps:
| An Organization’s security team may not allow External Sharing for all Sites. In that case, you can keep the Organization setting at most permissive levels and control External Sharing at Site Level. Site Level External Sharing setting overrides over Organizational Level Setting. |
At Organizational Level
- Login on Microsoft 365 admin center either as a Sharepoint administrator or Global administrator.
- Click on Sharepoint link under Admin centers to open Sharepoint Online as an administrator.
- Click on Policies > Sharing on the left hand side options pane.
- Move the Sliders for Sharepoint and OneDrive to the top to make it more permissive. This will allow users to share files and folders by using links that let anyone who has the link access the files or folders without authenticating.
- Under File and Folder links. Enable / Select “Anyone with the link” option and Save.
| Anyone with the link – This option is available only if your external sharing setting is set to “Anyone.” Forwarded links work internally or externally, but you can’t track who has access to shared items or who has accessed shared items. This is best for files and folders in SharePoint and OneDrive aren’t sensitive. |
At Site Level
To share your Sharepoint Site’s content with Anyone with a link, you will need to configure Site Level External sharing and Set it to Anyone. Please follow below steps to Enable External Sharing for Anyone at Sharepoint Site Level.
- Login on Microsoft 365 admin center either as a Sharepoint administrator or Global administrator.
- Click on Sharepoint link under Admin centers to open Sharepoint Online as an administrator.
- Go to Sites > Active sites.
- Select the Site for which you want to configure External Sharing.
- Click on Sharing link from the top menu.
- Under External Sharing options Select Anyone and then click on Save.
Verify if Anyone option in Sharing Settings is Enabled now
Now, let’s check if we can see the option “Anyone” option when trying to share a document from the same site which was previously showing Anyone option Greyed Out.
Click on “Anyone with the Link can edit” to see Sharing settings. You can see that Anyone option is enabled now and also selected by default.
Deactivate “Limited-access user permission lockdown mode”
Although you should be able send any documents to Anyone after configuration of Organizational level settings and Site level settings. However, If you still face any issues, you can also check if Limited-access user permission lockdown mode is Activated. If its Active then Deactivate it by following below steps:
- Login on Microsoft 365 admin center either as a Sharepoint administrator or Global administrator.
- Click on Sharepoint link under Admin centers to open Sharepoint Online as an administrator.
- Go to Sites > Active sites.
- Click on the Site to Open / Launch the site page.
- Click on Settings Icon from the top right hand side.
- Click on Site information > View all site settings.
Under Site Settings > Site Collection Administration > Click on Site collection features.
If “Limited-access user permission lockdown mode” is Activated, Deactivate this option.
Disable External Sharing in Sharepoint Online
If you want disable External sharing completely in your Sharepoint Online organization then I have also written a blog post which explains it in detail and provides step by step instructions on how to perform this change. Please follow the blog post: How to Disable External Sharing in SharePoint Online.
Conclusion
In this blog post, we have seen how to fix the error “Your organization is preventing you from selecting this option“ which also leads to enabling External sharing with Anyone. You need to configure External Sharing to most permissive level at Organization level and then configure External Sharing and set it to Anyone for each site which you want users to be able to share content Externally.
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- How To Disable External Sharing In SharePoint Online.
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- Connect To Sharepoint Online Using Azure KeyVault And Connect-PnPOnline.
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