AccessDropYour OneDrive link works for you and not for them
The file isn't broken. You're signed in as the owner, or as a member of an organisation your buyer has never heard of — and neither of those is true for them.
You've sent a customer a OneDrive link. It opens straight away for you. They say it asks them to sign in, or tells them they need permission, or shows a blank page that never loads.
You're testing signed in as the file's owner, or as a member of the organisation it belongs to. OneDrive is granting you access because of who you are, not because of the link itself — and your buyer is neither of those people. The only way to see what they see is to stop being you.
The setting that actually causes it
Microsoft lists four kinds of sharing link, and only one of them works for a buyer you've never met:
| Link type | Who can actually open it |
|---|---|
| “Anyone” | Anyone who receives the link, directly or forwarded. With editing off, Microsoft says people can view, copy or download “without signing in”. This is the one a buyer needs. |
| “People in [Organization]” | Only people signed in with an account that belongs to that organisation. A buyer with a personal Microsoft account, or none at all, is refused. |
| “People with existing access” | Only people who could already open it. Microsoft says it “does not change any permissions”, so nobody new gets in. |
| “Specific people” | Only the people you name, and each has to sign in or type a one-time code emailed to them. You can't name a buyer before they buy. On a personal account you can only choose people who also have a personal Microsoft account. |
Fix it in the share dialog
- 1
Share the folder, not the individual files
Right-click the folder and choose Share. One setting on the folder covers everything inside it, rather than thirty individual files where one gets missed.
- 2
Change the link type to “Anyone”
This is the fix for almost every version of this problem. If it's set to your organisation or to specific people, that's the whole fault.
- 3
Untick “Allow editing”
With editing allowed, anyone who has the link and signs in with a Microsoft account can copy, move, edit, rename, share and delete what's in the folder, buyers included. Unticked, Microsoft says people can view, copy or download without signing in, and can't change your originals.
On a work or school account there's also a Block download option, which Microsoft only offers when editing is off. If it's on, buyers can look at your files but not save them, so make sure it's off.
Then test it as a stranger
Changing the setting isn't enough to know it worked, because you still can't see what a signed-out visitor sees while you're signed in.
The stranger test
- Copy the share link from the dialog
- Open a private or InPrivate window — this signs you out for that window only
- Paste the link and open it
- You should see the file immediately, with no sign-in prompt and no “you need permission” message
- Repeat on a phone, on mobile data rather than home Wi-Fi
- Try actually downloading it, not just viewing it
If the private window opens it cleanly, your buyers will too. If it asks you to sign in, they'll be asked the same thing — whatever the share dialog claims the setting is. Exactly the same test applies to a Google Drive or Dropbox link; it's the identical failure wearing Microsoft's menu names.
Link expiry is worth checking too
Microsoft 365 subscribers can set an expiry date on an Anyone link (and a password, which is one more thing a buyer has to find and type). After that date, Microsoft says, “the link won't work anymore”. That suits sending something temporarily, not selling a product that has to keep working, so leave both blank. If a link that worked for months suddenly fails for every buyer at once, an expiry date set when the link was made is worth checking in Manage access.
The failure that costs the most
It's rarely the link that never worked in the first place — a buyer messages you and it gets fixed. It's the link that worked for months and then stopped. Microsoft's help page is blunt about the commonest cause: “Links will stop working if files or folders are moved within your OneDrive.”
- Never move a shared folder. Create a new one and share it again instead, because moving breaks every copy of the link already sitting in a buyer's downloaded PDF.
- Re-test after adding files. Microsoft notes that files moved into a shared folder may need the folder sharing again before they're included.
- Keep product files in a folder separate from your everyday working files, so a routine tidy-up can't touch them.
- Re-run the private-window test on live products every few months, not just when you first set them up.
- Better: don't put the raw OneDrive URL in the product at all — see below.
Putting a link you control in front
The structural fix is the same one that applies to Drive, Dropbox or Canva: don't hand buyers the raw OneDrive URL. Give them a short link you own that points at the folder. If the destination ever needs to change, you repoint the short link once, instead of finding every past buyer to resend a working file.
That's what AccessDrop does with a OneDrive link exactly as it does with Drive, Dropbox or Canva: you paste it in, and it produces a branded delivery PDF with a QR code and a short link — checking first whether the link opens without signing in. For OneDrive that check spots a redirect to Microsoft's work or school sign-in page; treat it as a first pass, not a substitute for the private-window test above.
£19 for a year, one payment, up to 5 deliverables. It doesn't host the files — OneDrive still does — it makes the handover reliable and keeps checking that it stays that way.
See how the link check works
A real example delivery PDF, and what the access check catches.
See a sample delivery