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
    2020-10-18T02:59:42+00:00

    hehe, don't worry, just use google drive. Each platform have their restriction, we can't free space our computer space using google drive, but onedrive can. Conclusion : use 2 of them to support what we want.

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-09-17T04:26:21+00:00

    Hi Waqas, your answer is very helpful. Moreover, I curious can we apply same setting for sharing file in the sharepoint?

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-09-11T04:20:34+00:00

    Hi,

    The block download function is only available for files under Microsoft Office I think. It is unavailable for any audio/video format file.

    In my case, I was trying to share the video from my Microsoft Stream, which was generated from the video recording via Microsoft Teams meeting. However, I think at the moment, Microsoft Stream do not have the function to allow video owner to share the video with external emails out of organisation. And because of that, I had to download the video and upload it onto my OneDrive to be able to share link. However, videos uploaded onto OneDrive, though can be set to "specific people" meaning only accessible by certain email addresses which they will be given access code by Microsoft, they can still download the video after they successfully gained their access to view the video. This is something we want to avoid!

    Microsoft should solve this by considering the following:

    1. Allow sharing of video from Stream to external but also comes with limitation setting which include block download function; or,
    2. Any audio/video uploaded onto OneDrive when shared to specific people can have the block download function - only allow to view video.

    p/s: I am using company's account.

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-09-07T18:43:03+00:00

    I'm not getting the Block Download options in Microsoft Edge. What is wrong with it?

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