Managing Access to OneDrive files and sub-folders deletes access to the top level folder

Kai, I have shared with edit access a top level folder with a few people so we can jointly manage the files/folders within and we can jointly manage access to the files/folders within. I am the owner. They and I have created files and folders within and have created links to them which we share with others. That all seems to work.

But, when I go into OneDrive and clean up a lot of old links in the manner described in your answer, the access links to the top level folder I have shared with those few people are also destroyed. My process to clean up old links is, I open "Manage Access" and then check for links. If there are any I delete them. Then I look at People and if there are any direct access links I remove them. Once that is done, there is only one person, me, the owner. There are never any groups. I find that if I use this process, that the people with edit access to the top level folder have lost their access, even though access to the top level folder was never edited. I don't see how to clean up the old links that may have been created without cutting off the access I have given to a few people to the top level folder. This seems to be a pretty elementary process that should work without the need for complex work around.

Hi, dclark15773

What’s happening is that the file or sub-folder often is not fully independent from the parent folder’s permission scope. Files can inherit permissions from the folder that contains them, and changes to a folder can apply to the documents inside it unless that item has its own separate permissions.

Here are some suggestions you can try:

Open OneDrive on the web, select the exact file or sub-folder, then open Details > Manage access and check both the Links section and Direct access section for that specific item. If you do not see a separate link or separate direct-access entry there, that usually means the item is still riding on the parent folder’s sharing, so removing access from the child can affect the parent path too.

If the goal is to keep the top folder shared but make one file/sub-folder separate, the cleanest fix is usually to move that item into its own folder and share that folder separately. Microsoft’s own guidance says if you only want people to see certain files, put those files in a separate folder first, and forum users report that re-housing the sub-folder is often the least messy workaround.

If the existing link setup looks tangled, delete the old sharing link and create a fresh one only from the exact item you want to share. Microsoft specifically notes that link permissions are not converted in place, the workaround is to delete the old link and create a new one with the permission you want.

Hope this helps. Feel free to get back if you need further assistance.

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