Share a OneDrive File

To share a file stored in OneDrive, you'll first need to locate the file. Open OneDrive and navigate to the folder that contains the item(s) you wish to share. 

In list view, mouse-over the item you wish to share to find the share button, which looks like the bottom-left corner of a box with an arrow emerging.

list view with share button highlighted

In tile view, putting your mouse pointer over the item will open a panel that contains the share button

tile view of hovered item with share button highlighted

In either view, click the share button to open the SHARE panel.

The top half of the share pane is for emailing a link to the file. If you would like to put a link to the file into Blackboard or a virtual classroom chat window, you'll want to focus on the lower COPY LINK section.

The default access type for a file is ANYONE WITH THE LINK CAN EDIT. 

If you want this to be the case, click the COPY button to add the link to your clipboard for pasting.

Share panel, copy link section highlighted

To share a VIEW-ONLY version of the file click the "Anyone with the link can edit >" text to open the LINK SETTINGS pane.

Here you can adjust a number of options for your share.

Link settings pane

Use the Who would you like this link to work for option to limit access to the file.

The default selection (anyone with the link) means what it says -- anyone with the link will have access. If a student copies the file and sends it to a friend, that friend will also have access.

To limit access to only folks who have @udmercy.edu email addresses, choose People in udmercy.edu with the link. This will force folks to log in with their Office 365 account to view the file (note, because Blackboard uses Office 365 for authentication, nearly everyone who accesses the file from Blackboard should be logged into their Office 365 account and therefore will not need to log in).

who would you like this to work for section of link panel

To prevent folks from editing the file, uncheck the ALLOW EDITING box OR choose OPEN IN REVIEW MODE ONLY to allow folks to comment on the file without making actual changes.

allow editing options

To implement additional security, you can set an expiration date on the link (after that date, the link will no longer work) and / or set a password that folks will be required to enter before viewing the file.

Expiration and password portions highlighted

Finally, to prevent folks from downloading the file, click the button right of BLOCK DOWNLOAD to enable this feature.

Click APPLY to implement these changes.

Note: These settings are fundamental to the link. If you make changes to the Link Settings, OneDrive will create a new link with those new settings. Any previously created links will still work with the settings that were applied when the link was created.

copy link response

Click the COPY button to copy the link to your clipboard. You can then paste this into any Blackboard web link field.