Microsoft announces sharing experience improvements for 365 and Office apps in its 'Year of Sharing'

By Robert Carnevale
published

Microsoft wants to share an update with you.

Microsoft Shared With
Microsoft Shared With (Image credit: Microsoft)

What you need to know

  • Microsoft has announced its Year of Sharing.
  • The year will be centered around improving the sharing experience in 365 and Office apps.
  • According to Microsoft, the changes will be feedback-driven.

Microsoft has kicked off its Year of Sharing, which is all about improving the sharing experience for 365 and Office apps. Updates will be incremental and built so that the developers behind the tools have time to listen to feedback and address it, ensuring that the Year of Sharing is feedback-driven and truly beneficial to end-users.

As for what improvements you can expect throughout the year, here's a quick rundown of the highlights, including a few items that are available right this very moment:

  • Quick permissions: Easier permission adjustments when sharing files
  • Link settings: New link settings entry point
  • Copy link: Easier link modification and sharing options
  • Shared with: You'll be able to see who files are shared with more easily
  • Manage access: More controls to manage how others access your files
  • Share menu dropdown: Contextual menu that makes reaching options easier

Here are images of two items from the above list that are rolling out right now, quick permissions and the additional entry point for link settings. First, let's take a look at the quick permissions menu.

Microsoft Quick Permissions

Source: Microsoft (Image credit: Source: Microsoft)

And here's where that new link settings entry point will be.

Microsoft Link Settings

Source: Microsoft (Image credit: Source: Microsoft)

For a full rundown of what each of these features looks like and does, you can check out Microsoft's Year of Sharing post (opens in new tab) to see the expanded details firsthand. From there, you can also easily access the Microsoft 365 Roadmap pages for each item to know exactly when each of the not-yet-released improvements is slated to arrive (spoiler: Expect many of these updates in November).

Robert Carnevale
Robert Carnevale

Robert Carnevale is the News Editor for Windows Central. He's a big fan of Kinect (it lives on in his heart), Sonic the Hedgehog, and the legendary intersection of those two titans, Sonic Free Riders. He is the author of Cold War 2395. Have a useful tip? Send it to robert.carnevale@futurenet.com.

4 Comments
  • Thanks for sharing the news! ;-)
  • It's the 'Year of Sharing' (TM)! How could I not?
  • I hope the sharing improvements extend everywhere else in the OS. Share and app to app communication has been one of W10's biggest weaknesses in comparison to iOS, Android and even MacOS. MS could learn a thing or two from Huawei's recently announced HarmonyOS and how tightly it integrates Huawei's various hardware together. W10 Home especially could benefit from such tight integration.
  • HI
    Regarding M&S's new sharing strategy based on user feedback, here is an early contribution. My major irritation is when replaying to received correspondence in Outlook on my PC there is no easily visible opportunity to attach a file or a shared document. Given the age of Outlook it is a really damaging weakness and makes me want to quite the app
    Roger Stenson