Request that someone sends a file to me
I (and my users) often need to request large files from a contact outside my organization, but Office 365 and OneDrive do not provide this functionality in a simple way. Microsoft support tells me to “either create a shared Sharepoint site or ask the other party to upload files to their own OneDrive and share the file”. Both of these “solutions” require the other party to have a Microsoft ID and force me into the awkward position of being a Microsoft evangelist (as I tell them how to get a Microsoft ID, upload the file, and then share it with me).
It would be so much better if I could request files with a true “drop box” link; a reverse-sharing link that allows outsiders to drop files into my OneDrive storage similar to the key drop box at vehicle repair shops. I believe this would require Write-Only permissions for an external user.
For example, an auto insurance agent needs pictures of an accident from a customer using a secure method. They can email a ‘file request link’ to the customer, who can easily upload files to a folder in the insurance companies OneDrive storage.
I apologize in advance if posting a link to competitor’s functionality is considered bad etiquette, but I have experience with other file sharing services who have provided this functionality for a while. This video by ShareFile explains the functionality in better detail: http://support.citrixonline.com/ShareFile/help_files/SF040027
Thank you!
Abiel
shared this idea
We are rolling out Request Files to OneDrive for Business this month (November 2019). Anyone with the file request link will be able to upload files without having to sign in, no OneDrive account required. Best of all, uploaders will only be able to upload files. They can’t view, edit, or even see who else may have uploaded to the request.
There are multiple use cases where this feature can be extremely valuable – consider “Request for Proposal” (RFP) scenario where you need to collect bids from others, or a marketing professional accumulating quotes from various vendors for a campaign, a teacher collecting assignments , a manager reaching out for feedback from his team members or a financial rep or recruiter gathering documents from their clients- just to name a few.
150 comments
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E Cobb
commented
Please ensure that this file upload is encrypted!
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Conrad
commented
This feature is needed on OneDrive. Currently, we are using filerequestpro.com which integrate with OneDrive but would be great to have this feature in One Drive by default.
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Anonymous
commented
This would be really useful but please allow admins control over which users are able to do this. Please don’t just make it a domain wide on/off. Control it through groups. At least have the option to.
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Gilles
commented
This feature sometimes called "File Deposit Link" is very usefull.
They are disposable links, which expires in a short time.
We intend to buy NetExplorer to do this.
We cannot manage shared folder for thousands of clients with in each different departments.
Each department is related to a different departement in our organization.
It will be a full time job to manage users access rights. -
Alejandro Morcate
commented
I would like to join the call for this feature. It fragments the user experience, not to mention the compliance headache that exists when people resort to personal accounts for this. Our company uses sharefile only for this purpose, having plenty of cloud storage already available in OneDrive for Business.
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Anonymous
commented
@Eugene Lin - any timeline?
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Jason Jentzsch
commented
Dropbox has had this function for a longtime and used to use it all the time. Hope that this can be added to OneDrive.
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Andy
commented
Please do this, it's the one thing that stops us from banning DropBox etc on our network and it's a nightmare!
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Rohde
commented
Sorry should of been US20160308881A1
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Rohde
commented
The reason this isn't implemented is because Dropbox owns a patent on it. Look up US10102388B2 .
And write your congressman or senator to stop software patents like this.
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Giovanni
commented
This is a feature that should have already been implemented since long time. Microsoft please add to your pipeline as soon as possible.
Thanks! -
Trevor
commented
It's a little disheartening that this idea is four years old and we're still only 'thinking about it' - ShareFile have got the implementation and aesthetic exactly right, and this is a function that my users are crying out for - please move up the timeframe on some kind of implementation of a document request system.
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Hüseyin Gültekin
commented
Upload only folder would be a good option.
If we can set a password (non MS account) with (write only/read/edit permissions to for a specific folder would be great. -
Nik
commented
Please implement this request, Microsoft. I love OneDrive but I find myself using Dropbox very often with clients to request files from them.
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Josh Roeda
commented
please do this. it would be a huge help to our workflow
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Rob Nicholson
commented
My client sometimes needs to get large files from their clients. They have Office 365 and from a security point of view, keeping everything within OneDrive is a big audit tick. The lack of this very useful features means my client *has* to use Dropbox
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Adrian
commented
so simple please do it!
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Arun Gordon
commented
This is very simple to use in Citrix ShareFile
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Andrew Almond
commented
We desperately need this feature. I don't understand why Microsoft decides to make tons of changes that nobody wants, meanwhile it ignores features that make a ton of sense and are demanded by customers.
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Steve
commented
Ditto to 110 other comments.
