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Hello, Insiders! My name is Stephen Rice, and I’m a Product Manager on the OneDrive & SharePoint team. I’m thrilled to share some exciting news with you and provide a glimpse into the future of file sharing in Microsoft 365.

In 2011, the cloud revolutionized collaboration and SharePoint Online empowered you to share files via direct permissioning. Three years later, “link-based sharing” entered the picture and allowed users to forward and share URLs that grant access within defined, yet secure scopes. 

Over the last decade, collaboration has grown and we see over 1.2 billon people using the Share dialog box across 64 apps in Microsoft 365 every month. Every day, new demands are emerging to meet the needs of collaborative, agentic workplaces. We are excited to share a glimpse into the third generation of sharing in Microsoft 365 and introduce the hero link, the power behind the next decade of collaboration.

Meet the hero link

Say goodbye to the need to create, delete, and manage multiple links to your files, and hello to a vastly simpler experience. Each file gets a single hero link which controls all access to the file.

How it works

1. Locate or open a file you want to share or have already shared, and then right-click it or select File, and then select Share.


2. To update the hero link, click File access settings, and then select that best suits your sharing needs: Anyone, People in , or Only people added.

Whether you’re copying a link in the Share dialog box, adding people, or even copying the link from the address bar, it’s all the hero link!

NOTE: With hero links, you can update a link that you have already sent and quickly increase or decrease its scope to match your sharing needs.

You’re in full control

Files that are shared with people outside your organization are explicitly tagged, with the label External, to make sure they stand out and can be managed appropriately.

You can further secure your content by controlling who can add people or update access of the file or folder, which gives you the granular control you need to protect your most important content.

At a glance access

By unifying all of the file sharing information into a single interface, you can easily manage not only who has access to a file, but also how they have access.

Bulk update

 It is now easier than ever to change or remove permissions for multiple people in a single action. Changes appear instantly, helping you stay in control!

Additional sharing links

If you have more advanced sharing scenarios that require additional granularity, you can now create additional sharing links for those purposes. You can even name each link to help you remember where and why it was created.

Copilot + Sharing

When sharing a file with others, you can use Copilot to generate a summary of your document that will be included in the notification mail. Recipients can now understand what the file is about, without needing to open it and read the content.

Choose when you notify

Notifications can be distracting and negatively impact productivity. To reduce the noise, you can now choose whether or not to send an e-mail notification when you add people to your file.

Availability

This new sharing experience and model will be rolling in late 2025!

You can track the latest timelines and updates via the Microsoft 365 Message Center or the Microsoft 365 Roadmap.

Additional Resources

In addition to the standard updates at Microsoft Docs, we’ll also be uploading how to videos for end users and IT Pros to the Microsoft Community Learning YouTube Channel, walking through the changes in depth on the Sync Up Podcast  and in the OneDrive Customer Office Hours.

We’re excited to share the future with you!