Microsoft 365: Hero Link Is Set to Replace SharePoint and OneDrive Sharing Links

Hero Link is the name of the new sharing experience for SharePoint Online and OneDrive being prepared by Microsoft, with rollout set to finish at the end of October 2026. Here’s what you need to know before these links arrive in your tenant.

At the beginning of September, through a new blog post, Microsoft detailed this new file-sharing experience planned for Microsoft 365. More specifically, it applies directly to SharePoint Online and OneDrive, and it was unveiled in May 2025 at the Microsoft 365 Community Conference. At the time, this new experience was presented as the third generation of file sharing in SharePoint Online and OneDrive.

Before talking about what’s new, let’s look at the current state of affairs and the existing sharing mechanism. The reality is this: every action can potentially generate a new URL. One link copied here, another sent by email, a third with an expiration date... This leads to the following situation: multiple links coexist for the same document, each with its own lifecycle. Microsoft also refers to this as link sprawl, and as a result, they are difficult to audit. That’s where Hero Link comes in to save admins.

Hero Link: one link, a configurable audience

With Hero Link, every file and every folder will have a primary link, corresponding to its Hero Link displayed in the sharing management window. No matter the sharing method (copy link, share by email, etc.), the same link will be used.

Beyond that, it’s worth noting that this link can be changed later. If a recipient can’t open the file, the user can adjust the link configuration without having to generate and send a new URL: the link will not break.

A few rules to keep in mind:

• Restrictive default audience. The hero link is configured by default to provide access only to explicitly added people. The user must therefore add the people who need access or change the sharing type.
• Read-only by default. The hero link starts with view permissions. Available levels are edit, review, view, and view without download.
• Revocation in case of leakage. A compromised hero link can be invalidated. The old URL stops working and a new link is issued, without affecting direct permissions granted on the item.
• Compatibility with existing links. Already created sharing links will continue to work and will appear in a section grouping other links. So, in theory: no impact on what already exists.

What changes in the interface, and what to prepare

For the end user, what changes is not so much what sharing allows, but how it is presented. Microsoft’s article includes a set of before-and-after images and animations showing how the sharing experience evolves. In other words, this shows you the real impact for your users.

• Access management becomes a single view. No more separate People, Groups, and Links tabs. Everything is grouped into one interface, and advanced settings are available through the gear icon.
• Expiration links require one extra step. Through the settings, you must create a new sharing link to define an expiration date. Too bad it’s hidden away.
• Stopping sharing no longer has the same effect. In the classic experience, this action removes unique permissions and restores inheritance from the parent object. Now, it removes all access and leaves only the owners group.
• A tutorial at first launch. A guided tour appears the first time the new sharing experience is opened, helping your users get started.

On the admin side, there is nothing you need to prepare. However, according to message center notification MC1454378, it is possible to define the default audience for Hero Link at the site collection or OneDrive level. A DefaultMainLinkScope setting is also available via PowerShell, and it accepts two values: OnlyPeopleAdded (default) or Organization.

In terms of timing, Microsoft is planning a worldwide rollout from mid-September to the end of October 2026, whereas it was originally scheduled for the end of August. Needless to say, this is coming soon.

Still on the SharePoint Online side, I mentioned in June the end of OTP for external SharePoint sharing in favor of Entra B2B, as well as the migration of OneDrive URLs to cloud.microsoft. Hero Link now joins this list of Microsoft sharing-related changes.

Florian Burnel Co-founder of IT-Connect

Systems and network engineer, co-founder of IT-Connect and Microsoft MVP "Cloud and Datacenter Management". I'd like to share my experience and discoveries through my articles. I'm a generalist with a particular interest in Microsoft solutions and scripting. Enjoy your reading.

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