More convenient way to download all files from a shared link

Question

More convenient way to download all files from a shared link

ferdinand 20

I was recently given access to a OneDrive family plan for 1 TB. I want to start using it to sync my work files, and I usually use cloud services to share work to printers and other people for work.

However, every time I seem to open a link in incognito mode(to simulate not having a MS account), I can't find the download button once I select more than one file, it only says Copy To as if to prompt them to make a MS account.

Is this indicative of something wrong with my MS account or is there a setting? If this is the default behaviour, I'm afraid I won't be able to use OneDrive to share work files.

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Xavier-D 13,480 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hello ferdinand

I can see that you are having issue with OneDrive

Based on what you described, this sounds less like an issue with your Microsoft account and more like how OneDrive personal sharing behaves for unauthenticated visitors in some shared-link scenarios.

Since you are testing in an incognito window, OneDrive is treating the session like a recipient who is not signed in, so the available actions may be more limited than what you see as the owner.

One important point is that Microsoft 365 Family / personal OneDrive is mainly designed for personal cloud storage and sharing, not necessarily as a bulk file-delivery system for repeated work/print workflows. For occasional sharing it can work well, but if your recipients often need to download many files at once without signing in, it may not be the smoothest option.

A practical workaround would be to prepare the shared content as a single downloadable package before sharing:

Put the files for each job/client/printer into one local folder.
Compress that folder into a .zip file on your computer.
Upload the .zip file to OneDrive.
Share that single .zip file instead of asking recipients to select multiple items from the web page

This avoids relying on OneDrive’s multi-select download behavior for anonymous users and gives the recipient one clear download target.

Feel free reply back to this post and update me on this issue, I'll be happy to help.

ferdinand 20 Reputation points

2026-06-12T07:51:40.2366667+00:00

Welp. I guess I'm gonna have to leave OneDrive and stick to alternatives that are more useful. Thanks for the response.
ferdinand 20 Reputation points

2026-06-12T14:26:08.7366667+00:00

I'm very disappointed in Microsoft for making such a consumer-unfriendly feature. It goes to show how out of touch they are.
Xavier-D 13,480 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-06-12T23:59:34.5533333+00:00

I’m sorry this has been such a frustrating experience.

I understand why it feels disappointing, especially when you expected OneDrive to make sharing multiple files with others simple and convenient.

From what you described, this appears to be part of the current shared-link behavior rather than something you can fully change from your side. If this workflow does not meet your needs, I understand why you may consider another service.

I’d recommend submitting this feedback directly through the

https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/forum/e3f04660-2c1c-ec11-b6e7-0022481f8472

, so the product team can review how this limitation affects real users.

Please note that this is a user-to-user support forum. Moderators and contributors, including external Microsoft employees, are not allowed to directly interfere with Microsoft product features or access back-end systems. Our role is limited solely to providing technical guidance on reported incidents, requests, or ideas.

Thank you for sharing your experience, and I hope you find a sharing method that works better for your workflow.