SharePoint and OneDrive are the best ways for external sharing of sites, libraries, and documents. It is so advanced that the users can share sites, files, and folders with a single click of a button.
Do you want to control the sharing of items by the domain and know whether it is possible for sites like gmail.com or xyz.com? Yes! it is actually possible. There is a feature available now in the SharePoint Admin Center that allows you to block the sharing of items to a particular domain. This article will explain how you can limit external sharing by domain in SharePoint Online.
Working
Actually, you can add a few domains in SharePoint Admin Center as reliable domains or blocked domains. Before sharing, the system will identify them and either share if the domain is trusted and block sharing to the other domains. That means , any domain that is not on the list won’t be able to share anything externally.
For instance, If the domain gmail.com is added to the list of blocked domains and when a user tries to share anything externally to gmail.com that user will receive an error message. This blocking can be done on the site level or tenant level.
Steps to block domains at a Tenant Level
- Click on the apps menu and navigate to the Office 365 Admin Center.
2. Click on “SharePoint Admin Center” under “Admin Centers”.
3. Under Policies, click on Sharing.
4. Click to expand “More external sharing settings” drop-down.
5. Select the checkbox “Limit external sharing by domain”. As soon as you select the checkbox a new “Add domains” button will appear.
Click on the Add domains button, on the pop-up screen on the right, you can allow or block specific domains using a radio button. Type the domain name (here gmail.com) and, click Save.
6. Click the “Save” button beneath the “Other settings” to save the changes you have made.
How to block domains at a Site Level
To allow the external sharing to a specific domain for a specific site and not the whole tenant site-level this Share point online blocking is helpful. Below are the steps to do that.
- Click on the apps menu and navigate to the Office 365 Admin Center.
2. Click on “SharePoint Admin Center” under “Admin Centers “.
3. Under Sites, navigate to “Active Sites”. Check the box next to a site, click “Sharing”.
4. Then select “Advanced settings for External sharing” and tick the checkbox “Limit sharing by domain”.
5. Here a pop-up will appear and, in the box, you can specify domains to block and click on save.
When you Try to Share Content Externally
When a user tries to share a content with a domain that has been blocked, that user will get an error message that your organization doesn’t allow items with users from this domain.