OneDrive Request Files: How to Set It Up, Why It's Missing, and Its Limits

If you've gone looking for Request files in OneDrive and the button isn't there, the feature isn't broken — a setting is. Request files is a link that lets anyone drop files into a folder you choose without seeing anything else inside it, but it only exists on OneDrive for work or school, and only when a Microsoft 365 admin has a specific set of sharing settings turned on. Get the account type and those settings right, and the steps themselves take under a minute.

I build DokuTrak because I watched professionals chase clients for documents that should have just shown up. If you're past "how does OneDrive's version work" and want the follow-up and file-checking it doesn't do, start a 14-day trial, no card. If you want the setup steps, the real reasons the option goes missing, and an honest comparison with Dropbox and Google Drive first, that's the rest of this.

Key Takeaways

• Request files works only on a OneDrive for work or school account — not a personal "OneDrive for home."
• When the button is missing, it's almost always one of several tenant settings a Microsoft 365 admin controls, not a bug.
• It collects uploads into one folder with no reminders, no per-client checklist, and no check on what arrives.

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How do you request files in OneDrive?

Open the folder you want files uploaded into, then select Request files. Give the request a descriptive name, select Next, then either select Copy link to share it yourself or enter the email addresses of the people you're requesting files from with an optional message, then select Done.¹ You'll get a notification email each time someone uploads,¹ and you can rename the request later by selecting Request files on the folder again.

The five steps, in Microsoft's order:

1. Select the folder, then select Request files.
2. Enter a descriptive name for the files you're requesting.
3. Select Next.
4. Select Copy link, or enter the recipients' email addresses with an optional message.
5. Select Done.¹

What the person uploading sees

They open the link, select Select files (or Add more files for a second batch), then select Upload. If they aren't signed in to a Microsoft account, OneDrive asks for a first and last name before the upload completes, and they see a confirmation once it's done.¹

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Why is "Request files" missing in OneDrive?

Request files is missing when you're on a personal OneDrive (what Microsoft calls OneDrive for home), when your admin hasn't enabled "Anyone" links, when the folder's link permissions don't allow uploads, or when sharing is restricted to specific security groups. All but the first are tenant settings a Microsoft 365 admin controls, not something you fix from your own account.¹²

Microsoft ties two of these together directly: disabling Anyone links also disables Request files, on both SharePoint and OneDrive.² An optional expiration window — -OneDriveRequestFilesLinkExpirationInDays — is a separate setting an admin can add on top; it doesn't explain a missing button.²

Citation capsule: Microsoft documents several reasons the Request files option can be missing from OneDrive: a personal "OneDrive for home" account, disabled "Anyone" links, folder permissions that don't allow uploads, an organization setting restricted to specific security groups, the feature switched off at the tenant level, or a sovereign-cloud tenant. All but the personal-account case are settings a Microsoft 365 admin controls.

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Does the uploader need a Microsoft account?

No. Microsoft says anyone with the file request link can send you a file; they don't need to have OneDrive.¹ If they aren't signed in, OneDrive asks them to add a first and last name "to help the requestor identify the different files uploaded" — and Microsoft is explicit that this name "is not validated... and is not a guarantee of identity when the recipient is currently not signed in."¹ Sign in instead, and the identity is recorded as part of the upload.¹

For client work, that caveat matters more than it looks. The name prefixed on each file is whatever the uploader typed, not a verified identity. Anyone who has the link — forwarded or screenshotted — can upload under any name they choose. Treat it as a label for sorting files, not as proof of who sent them; our guide to document upload setups makes the same point about unsigned name fields in general.

Citation capsule: Microsoft states that anyone with a OneDrive file request link can upload without a OneDrive account, and that an unsigned-in uploader's typed first and last name "is not validated... and is not a guarantee of identity." A signed-in upload records the person's actual identity instead.

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SharePoint Request files

SharePoint document libraries carry the same feature, under the same name, with the same "Anyone" links prerequisite.² Admins turn it on tenant-wide with Set-SPOTenant -CoreRequestFilesLinkEnabled $True, or site by site with Set-SPOSite -RequestFilesLinkEnabled $True after checking the current value with Get-SPOSite -Identity <SiteURL> -Detailed.² Either way, folder permissions still need to be set to View, edit, and upload (or View and upload), and "Allow only specific security groups" still has to be off.²

Expiration is optional and separate from enablement: -CoreRequestFilesLinkExpirationInDays at the tenant level, -RequestFilesLinkExpirationInDays per site.² If OneDrive's Request files works for you but a colleague's SharePoint library won't take uploads, check the site-level setting before assuming it's broken — it's a separate switch from the tenant default.

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How to stop a file request

Open the folder, go to Manage Access, find the request link under Links Giving Access, select the x beside it, then select Delete link.¹ Microsoft is direct about the consequence: "The link deletion can't be undone."¹ Microsoft documents no pause or disable option, only delete. To collect from the same person again, you create a new request, which generates a new link.

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What OneDrive Request files does well

Credit where it's due. Uploaders never need an account, can't see, edit, delete, or download anything else in the folder, and can't see who else has uploaded.¹ Duplicate file names get a number added automatically instead of overwriting each other.¹ Everything lands in the one folder you chose, and you get a notification email on every upload.¹

For a colleague sending one file, or a handful of one-off senders, that's enough. The trouble starts when the sender isn't a colleague but a client, and there's more than one file.

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What it can't do when the files come from clients

Request files collects whatever arrives into one folder. It doesn't send reminders to someone who hasn't uploaded, doesn't track which documents a given client still owes you, and doesn't check whether a file is the right one, readable, or current. For a colleague, that's fine. For a client who owes you six documents by Friday, the follow-up and the checking both stay with you.

Microsoft's documentation describes no reminder or deadline feature for file requests — there's no setting that nudges someone who's gone quiet.¹² And a request is one folder, one link: tracking several clients means a separate request and a separate link for each one, with no shared view across them. It works, but it's bookkeeping you own.

There's no checklist either. Request files doesn't know you're waiting on a W-9 and a signed engagement letter specifically — it just accepts whatever lands in the folder, including last year's form, a blurry photo, or the wrong document entirely, and stores it exactly as it would store the right one.

That's the gap I built DokuTrak to close. One request per client carries the actual list of what you need; the client uploads from one secure link; DokuTrak follows up on its own, as a file status update ("Your file: 4 of 6 documents received"); an optional AI first pass flags a file that's the wrong type, unreadable, or expired; you accept every file yourself. OneDrive already gives the uploader a no-account link — that part isn't new. What it's missing for client work is the follow-up and the check.

If you're mostly dealing with colleagues or occasional one-off senders, OneDrive's Request files is enough. For the other two tools in this cluster, see how Dropbox's file request and Google Drive compare.

Citation capsule: OneDrive's Request files has no reminder or deadline setting, no per-document checklist, and no check on whether an uploaded file is correct, readable, or current; Microsoft's documentation describes none of these. A purpose-built collection tool adds a per-client request list, follow-up that runs on its own, and an optional AI first pass that flags a bad file before a human accepts it.

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OneDrive vs Dropbox File Request vs Google Drive

OneDrive and Dropbox both ship a native, upload-only link that needs no account from the sender. Google Drive doesn't — the common workarounds, sharing a folder with Editor access or building a Google Form with a file-upload question, both push the uploader through a Google sign-in.³

All three share the same ceiling: none of them checks whether the file that lands is the right one.

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OneDrive's Request files gets the no-account link right and stops there. If you're collecting from clients rather than colleagues, and you're tired of being the one who checks every file and chases every late one, start a 14-day trial, no card. See plan details on pricing.

Sources

Footnotes

1. Microsoft Support. "Create a file request." Accessed 2026-10-07. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/create-a-file-request-f54aa7f8-2589-4421-b351-d415fc3b83af ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰

2. Microsoft Learn. "Enable File Requests in SharePoint or OneDrive." Page dated 2026-05-07. Accessed 2026-10-07. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/enable-file-requests ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴

3. Google Docs Editors Help. "Fix common errors while you respond to a Google Form." Accessed 2026-10-07. https://support.google.com/docs/answer/15473134?hl=en ↩ ↩² ↩³

4. Dropbox Help. "Collect files easily with file requests." Accessed 2026-10-07. https://help.dropbox.com/share/create-file-request ↩ ↩² ↩³