Collect client documents with a OneDrive file request

Use a OneDrive for Business file request for the folder where you want client documents to arrive. Clients with the request link can upload files into that folder without being able to view, edit, delete, or download its contents. These instructions follow Microsoft’s file request documentation; they are based on vendor documentation, not hands-on verification.

Create and send the request

In OneDrive for Business, select the folder that should hold the incoming documents, then select Request files. Under What files are you requesting, enter a description clients will recognize, such as “Signed intake form and supporting documents.” The description appears when they open the request, so make it specific enough to distinguish this collection from another one. Select Next.

Choose Copy link if you want to send the request link in your own message. Or enter your clients’ email addresses and, if useful, a message for the email OneDrive sends. Select Done. Anyone who has the link can upload, including someone who does not have OneDrive. Send it to the people you intend to invite, while accounting for the possibility that a recipient could forward it. The request link does not let recipients browse the folder or see what others submitted.

Tell clients to open the link, choose Select files, and use Add more files if they have several documents. They then select Upload. Microsoft says recipients receive a confirmation after a successful upload, while you receive a notification email when someone uploads to the request folder. Incoming files go into the one folder you selected. OneDrive prefixes each filename to help identify the uploader and adds a number if two uploaded files have the same name.

Check whether it fits your collection

Before sending the link, make one decision: is it acceptable for anyone holding it to upload? A file request keeps respondents from reading the folder or seeing who else uploaded, but the link is not limited to the email recipients you named. If you need to restrict who can submit, do not treat the request link itself as that control.

Consider how you will identify each submission, too. A recipient who is not signed in is asked for a first and last name, but Microsoft says those names are not validated. A signed-in recipient’s identity is recorded with the upload. The filename prefix can help you sort documents; it does not prove that a person who was not signed in is the client whose name they entered.

If clients find your description confusing, select the folder and Request files again to change it. People using the request will see the updated wording.

Handle missing options and close the request

If Request files is absent, check that you are using OneDrive for Business and ask your administrator whether the feature is enabled. Microsoft lists OneDrive for home, Office 365 operated by 21Vianet, and Office 365 Germany as unavailable. An administrator must enable the feature where it is supported.

When you have finished collecting documents, select the request folder in OneDrive, open its ellipsis menu, and choose Manage Access. In Links Giving Access, open the ellipsis next to the request link, select the x beside it, then select Delete link. People with that link can no longer upload to the folder. Deletion cannot be undone. If you need to collect more documents later, create a new request on the folder and send its new link or email invitation.