The “Sharing and access” dashboard summarizes how SharePoint sites are configured for sharing and external access. It shows how SharePoint sites are distributed across different sharing combinations and identifies configurations that may require review. It also provides access to filtered reports for reviewing sites with higher-risk sharing configurations.
The dashboard includes the following widgets:
- Site distribution by sharing and permission settings
- Sharing risk heatmap
Understand site distribution by sharing settings
The “Site distribution by sharing and permission settings” widget shows how SharePoint sites are distributed based on the combination of:
- Sharing settings
- External sharing settings
The chart represents the total number of sites for each combination.
Hovering over a segment displays the related combination and the number of sites it represents. For example:
- Open / Anyone: 12 sites
Sharing settings
-
Open
Site owners and members can share files, folders, and the site. People with Edit permissions can share files and folders. -
Controlled
Site owners and members, and people with Edit permissions, can share files and folders, but only site owners can share the site. -
Restricted
Only site owners can share files, folders, and the site.
External sharing settings
-
New and existing guests
Guests must sign in or provide a verification code. -
Anyone
Users can share files and folders using links that do not require sign-in. -
Existing guests
Only existing guests already in the organization's directory. -
Only people in your organization
No external sharing allowed.
Identify higher-risk combinations
The “Sharing risk heatmap” widget displays the same site distribution data in a grid layout.
Each box in the heatmap represents the number of sites that match a specific combination of:
- Sharing setting
- External sharing setting
The color of each box indicates the relative level of risk:
- Green: low risk
- Yellow: medium risk
- Red: high risk
Hovering over a box displays the sharing setting, the external sharing setting, and the number of sites represented by that box.
Each box is clickable. Selecting a box opens the “SharePoint Sites Drilldowns” report already filtered to show only the sites included in that heatmap cell.
From the report, you can review the sites in more detail and investigate the items that may require attention, such as items with Anyone links, items with sharing links, and other configurations that may increase exposure. This supports moving from dashboard review to site-level investigation.