Prevent download of shared file from OneDrive

Anonymous
2020-03-24T00:05:05+00:00
  1. In the home (personal) edition of OneDrive it is not possible to prevent download when I share a read-only file from the OneDrive. There is no option to block download at all. So when sharing any type of file with other people, they can download as much as they like!
  2. In the business edition of OneDrive it is possible to block download of Word, Excel, PowerPoint files - but NOT on any other file. This means that if I share a film, anybody can download the film to their computer. When I share music, anybody can download the music to their computer. And so on...

I find this really strange. It should be up to me to be able to stop any sort of download when sharing a file! I just want people to read, see or listen - nothing else!!

I know that through Google disk this is possible, but within the Microsoft Office 365 system this is really badly solved. How come? Why can Microsoft not make it possible for the owner to prevent download of any sort of file? (If Google can do it, Microsoft can do it - or is it hard to do this).

It really affects the need for protection of files being downloaded without control of the owner of the files! I just do not understand the logic behind this.

Microsoft, can you please add this possibility on both the personal and business edition of OneDrive! This has to do with protection of copyright on files! And within both subscriptions we are paying money to have our own personal OneDrive - so it should be up to the owner of the OneDrive to prevent any sort of download when sharing files.

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2020-03-24T06:27:43+00:00

Hi Kjwathne,

Yes, you can prevent users from completely downloading the Office file only, then you must toggle the Block download option for view only links in Link Settings.

 

***Important:***There’s no option to block files from downloading if you are sharing an entire folder. This option is available only if share a single file.

As your concern to prevent users from downloading other files like video (mp4) and music file we totally understand the trouble at your end and we're sorry to say that we have limited resource, To address your concern about the situation, we’d suggest you kindly vote this UserVoice:. This is the best platform to let us hear from you and make our products and services better for you and others.

Your understanding and time will be highly appreciated.

Best Regards,

Waqas Muhammad

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-08-06T12:13:15+00:00

    Yes, we want this feature NOW - expiring links are pretty useless if the user can download the file anyway - doh!

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-11-23T04:41:21+00:00

    Why can't you block download for the entire folder? This is massively inconvenient.

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-02-23T12:01:00+00:00

    Hi, when I uncheck the allow editing box a block download box does not appear., has something altered since the original question was answered?

     

    You have not answered the question, your suggested action to the original question about blocking downloads by unchecking the allow edit box, does not work.

    To repeat my question. when unchecking the edit box the block downloads box does not appear, so please tell me why the block download box does not appear.

    Thank you.

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-01-21T23:07:39+00:00

    So I was under the impression this had been fixed; I remember seeing an update that Microsoft had enabled the ability to block downloads of videos around October of last year. I was definitely able to disable the download of numerous video files shared with our stakeholders and clients, generally recorded Teams meetings. Now, suddenly, the option is gone again. Not sure what happened there or if it's just me.

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