Sharing options are greyed out when sharing from SharePoint Online or OneDrive

Overview

When attempting to share files or folders from SharePoint Online or OneDrive, users may encounter greyed-out sharing options. This typically indicates that sharing settings are restricted either at the organizational level, site level, or due to specific site collection features.

Common Causes

1. Restricted External Sharing Settings
   Organization-wide or site-level sharing policies may prevent certain link types (e.g., “Anyone with the link”) from being available.
2. Limited-access User Permission Lockdown Mode
   This site collection feature, when activated, disables external sharing options such as “Anyone” and “People in your organization.”
3. Unsupported File Types
   Certain file types, such as .aspx pages, cannot be shared externally and will result in greyed-out options.

Resolution Steps

1. Check Organization-Level Sharing Settings

• Sign in to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center as a Global Administrator or SharePoint Administrator.
• Navigate to Admin centers > SharePoint.
• In the SharePoint Admin Center, go to Policies > Sharing.
• Ensure that SharePoint and OneDrive are configured to allow:
  • New and existing guests
  • Or Anyone (if external sharing is permitted)

2. Check Site-Level Sharing Settings

• In the SharePoint Admin Center, go to Active sites.
• Select the affected site and click External sharing.
• Confirm that the sharing level is set to New and existing guests or Anyone.
• Save changes and retry sharing.

3. Check OneDrive Sharing Settings

• In the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, go to Admin centers > OneDrive.
• Under Sharing, ensure that OneDrive is set to allow:
  • New and existing external users
  • Or Anyone
• Save changes and retry sharing.

4. Deactivate Lockdown Mode (if applicable)

• Go to the site > Site Settings > Site Collection Features.
• Locate and deactivate the feature:
  Limited-access user permission lockdown mode

This feature is often enabled on classic sites or migrated environments and can block external sharing options.

Additional Considerations

• Conditional Access Policies or Information Protection Labels may also restrict sharing capabilities.
• Sharing .aspx pages is not supported and will always result in greyed-out options.
• Changes to sharing settings may take time to propagate across the tenant.

References

• Turn external sharing on or off
• Microsoft 365 guest sharing settings reference