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.
171 comments
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Chris Webb
commented
All of you paying for Dropbox for no reason......
You can already easily do this. Go to or quickly create a folder you want to have them upload and Right click Share (Since new shell integration this is easier than ever). Select Anyone can edit the folder, click apply, next step lets you put in e-mail address and send a message, type in "Hey click this link and upload your files". Boom done.....And with Microsoft Flow you could technically build this functionality out as well if you use it all the time....... sure it's not a single button click, but it doesn't take much time to just do the folder Share. -
ChrisC
commented
Dropbox has this and I used it all the time until work forced me to switch - it's a VERY useful feature for some people. Please consider adding it.
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Anonymous
commented
We needed this feature when working with claims with our clients to upload their files/photos/narrative/etc.... Fortunately enough, i convinced our IT department to switch to Drop Box where this feature is implemented.
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Anonymous
commented
Make it a higher priority. I just paid for a dropbox account to do this.
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DO
commented
I would like to have a blind drop option, like DropBox does. That way we can give everyone that's sending us documents the same link. They go to the link, drag and drop files, it prompts them for their email for labeling purposes, done. We get notified. But every time someone visits the link, they can't view anything. It's just for uploading. Similar to above, but without us requesting each one.
We are also stuck in a DropBox agreement because of needing this feature. Confused as to why OneDrive doesn't have it. I've often wondered if they have some kind of patent or protected IP around it.
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Anonymous
commented
I too would find this very useful.
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Josh
commented
Not sure why this isn't high on the backlog, it's a low hanging fruit. And a fruit that will pay dividends, the company I work for needs this functionality and won't switch to Microsoft until it's available.
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Muhammad Yasir Khan
commented
Please enable this option. This is one of the big show stopper when it comes to using ODFB adoption.
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Fermin
commented
This is the only one reason preventing us from using OneDrive at the organization. We are stuck to Dropbox because of this.
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Colin Leschert
commented
Please make this happen! IT would be so useful to have a true drop box link for our organization through OneDrive. As it is we have to use a third party to do this.
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Jason Giles
commented
Not only would this feature be helpful but having a programmable API where our website could generate a unique link, for customers that have authenticated and ordered through our website, where we could send them so that they could upload their digital files to our OneDrive would be very helpful.
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Scott Adams
commented
My team is using drop-box for this feature, but we'd rather use OneDrive.. if only we could ;)
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Abiel
commented
@Dan, yes, you'll be giving a guest full access to a folder. I have been creating a special subfolder to share in this manner. Guests will be able to see the folder path or address of the shared folder, but they won't have access to any parent folders of the one you share.
For example, consider a made-up directory OneDrive\Files\Pictures\Garenstein Mirrors\Customer Files. If you get a link to Customer Files and share it publicly/anonymously, anyone that clicks the link will be able to see the full path, but they would not see any files in the Garenstein Mirrors or Pictures folder. -
Abiel
commented
@William Dibbern, I agree that forcing an outside to create a Microsoft account - even a free one - is not ideal, and that's why I created this UserVoice request in first place.
However, recently Microsoft added more functionality to the "Get a link" option. You can now "Get a Link" that anybody can Edit without signing into OneDrive. This is the anonymous write permissions I've needed since mid-2014.
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Dan
commented
@Chris, thanks. Better than nothing, but not quite the functionality of "Dropbox Requests."
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Chris Webb
commented
@Dan, yea that's all it is, is setting permissions on a folder that has a link to get to access, there isn't a mechnism in place to allow people to just randomly send files in.
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Dan
commented
It works as @Abiel describes, but is this simply giving guests full access to a folder? On Dropbox, guests upload their files and never see the directory the file goes to, nor the other files one might be collecting there. Is that the case here? Because it seems like guests would have the ability to see - and edit - other files in the destination folder. Am I looking at this correctly?
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Chris Webb
commented
@William you don't have to log in, hence why he said the "Get a link" feature. This is an anonymous link that does NOT require a login. They click the link. Upload the file(s) to the folder and boom let you know it's done. (Notifications for this are planned). So essentially this is done. They could probably make a button that does this all in one step I suppose very easily but the functionality definatley is there and has been added recently in the past month or two.
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William Dibbern
commented
@Abiel so close to perfect. Ideally you wouldn't need to be signed in to upload a file to a folder created in such a manner. Forcing some outsider to sign up for an account just to upload one file doesn't quite cover the use case. I'll stick with dropbox for this for now.
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Abiel
commented
I'm happy to report that this feature has been implemented. Simply open OneDrive for Business, create a new folder and click "Get a Link". The default link allows any user to edit. Forward that link to an outside collaborator and they are able to upload files.
That's precisely what I wanted. Thank you, finally, and you can mark this request "Boom! It's Done".
