Changes in how we share files with external people

ARTICLE SUMMARY

This article explains about some changes in how we share files with outside people will affect how guest users authenticate to gain access to files shared with them.

INSTRUCTIONS

The current experience when you share a file with someone is they will receive a prompt to enter their email which will look like this:

The user doesn't have to do anything else other than type in their email which matches the email the person would have entered to share the file.

We need to switch to an updated authentication system which will change the user experience to require a one time password to be used instead of verifying their email. So it will look like this:

The user will get an email with a link to the file, they will be asked to enter the email address just like the above image, however the system will convert them over to the new way of doing things which will ask them to login using the Microsoft login:

The user enters their email and instead of a password will be prompted to click the button to receive a “one time code” this terminology can be a bit misleading as it could mean you get this code and you never have to login again but in reality this is going to pop up EVERY time you login to the system.

This is what the one time password prompt looks like.

This next one will probably be the biggest noticeable change. The user must accept a permission request. This means once they log in we could potentially track things they do only in our systems, for example if they edit a document their username would appear in our system that they edited that document. Not much more than that, we definitely don't get access to anything personal within their account. But a screen like this makes people think we will be digging through their personal emails, bank accounts, photos and anything else associated with that email address.