SharePoint Online: Change in behavior when viewing another users OneDrive
Summary
Starting around May 2026, SharePoint Online (SPO) users may notice a difference in behavior when viewing another users OneDrive files. This may be particularly evident for Admins using the “Create a link to view and edit <theUser’s> OneDrive files” link from the Microsoft 365 (M365) Admin Center.
This change was documented in an M365 Roadmap post, but the language is a little vague and doesn’t specifically call out the “Create a link to view and edit <theUser’s> OneDrive files” scenario.
The New Behavior
When a Global Admin goes to the M365 Admin Center | Users, selects a user, and goes to the OneDrive tab, there’s a “Create link to files” link under “Get access to files” | “Create a link to view and edit <theUser’s> OneDrive files”.
When browsing to that created link, the Admin may expect to access that users OneDrive as if they were that user. But that’s not how it works anymore.
That is being replaced by a new experience.
When the Admin user browses to another users OneDrive URL, they are redirected to a “Shared” view at https://yourTenant-my.sharepoint.com/shared?id=<theEndUser>.
The middle pane shows the end user’s OneDrive content, but the rest of the page (left-hand pane, settings, etc) is the Admin users OneDrive.
The “Create a link to view and edit <theUser’s> OneDrive files” link is doing exactly that. You’re now viewing the other users OneDrive content, but from within the context of your own OneDrive.
This has other ramifications that may catch you off guard. For example, if you go to the “gear” icon in the upper right-hand corner of the screen and choose “OneDrive settings”, it will take you to your own OneDrive settings, not the other users OneDrive settings. This should make sense because within the new behavior, you’re actually browsing to your own OneDrive.
This may cause confusion as it previously was a way that admins would access the OneDrive settings for another user or change site collection administrators for that users OneDrive site. That can still be done, but you have to get there a different way. Go to the SharePoint Admin Center | More Features | User Profiles | Manage User Profiles. Find the user, hit the drop-down and choose “Manage Personal Site”.
Status
As of August 2026, this feature change is still in the process of rolling out worldwide. A given tenant may see either the old or new behaviors, depending on whether or not the update has been applied to their tenant.