Unable to access some onedrive shared files

Question

Unable to access some onedrive shared files

Komal Bagai 20

Hi,

I am unable to access some onedrive files that people in my organisation have shared with me, while others I can. I think the likely issue that my email was deactivated for some time in between, and now that its reactivated, the old profile is causing some conflicts. IT has already deleted the old profile and started a new profile on the same email. The odd part is that some files (like a screenshot) that are shared on teams, I can view in teams, but when I open onedrive, it says that I dont have access. Would appreciate any help with this. Attaching the error screenshot for reference.

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Thanks!

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Answer accepted by question author

Dora-T 635 Independent Advisor

Hi Komal Bagai

Based on your description and the error message shown in your screenshot, this appears to be related to a legacy SharePoint user account that is still associated with the affected site. This can happen if a user account was previously deactivated or recreated using the same email address, as SharePoint may still retain a reference to the previous account.

In this case, I recommend asking your SharePoint Administrator or Global Administrator to run Microsoft's Site User ID Mismatch diagnostic. You can find more information here: Fix site user ID mismatch in SharePoint or OneDrive - SharePoint | Microsoft Learn

The administrator will need the affected user's email address and the URL of the affected SharePoint site.

If the issue persists, the SharePoint Administrator or site owner may need to:

-Remove the old (legacy) user account from the affected SharePoint site's permissions or User Information List (UserInfo).

-Grant permissions to your current account again.

-Ask you to sign out of Microsoft 365, sign back in, and then test access to the affected files.

For more information, you may also refer to: Remove users from SharePoint - SharePoint in Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Learn

If your IT administrator needs further assistance or would like Microsoft to investigate the issue further, they can open a support request through the Microsoft 365 admin center. This is the recommended approach for scenarios involving recreated accounts or SharePoint User ID mismatches that require further investigation.

For detailed instructions on how to get support, please refer to Get support - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn.

I hope this helps clarify the situation.

If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

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Komal Bagai 20 Reputation points

2026-08-18T07:38:33+00:00

Hi @Dora-T Thank you so much for your detailed answer. This helped a lot. I am now able to access files that users specifically give me access to.

But I am still unable to access files that have view permissions for the whole organization and have to request special permission every time. Could you please point me to the link that would help with this. Thanks!
Dora-T 635 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-08-18T23:55:28.7+00:00
Hi Komal Bagai

I'm glad to hear that you can now access files that are shared directly with your account.

For the remaining issue with files shared through “People in your organization,” the same legacy user reference may still exist on other SharePoint sites. Since user information is maintained separately for each site, resolving the issue on one site does not automatically resolve it on other affected sites.

I recommend asking your IT or SharePoint administrator to identify the SharePoint or OneDrive site where one of the affected files is stored and run Microsoft's Check User Access and Site User ID Mismatch diagnostics for your account on that site.

Since your account was previously deactivated and recreated using the same email address, these checks can help determine whether the previous account is still referenced on the affected site.

If the issue occurs on multiple sites, the administrator may need to check each affected site.

For more information, please refer to:

Access Denied or You need permission errors in SharePoint Online and OneDrive - SharePoint | Micros…

Fix site user ID mismatch in SharePoint or OneDrive - SharePoint | Microsoft Learn

If the issue still persists after these checks, I recommend having your IT administrator contact Microsoft Support through the Microsoft 365 admin center so that the SharePoint team can investigate the issue further.

For detailed instructions on how to get support, please refer to Get support - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn.

I hope this helps clarify the situation.

1 additional answer

Your answer

Komal Bagai 20 Reputation points

2026-08-18T07:38:33+00:00

Hi @Dora-T Thank you so much for your detailed answer. This helped a lot. I am now able to access files that users specifically give me access to.

But I am still unable to access files that have view permissions for the whole organization and have to request special permission every time. Could you please point me to the link that would help with this. Thanks!
Dora-T 635 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-08-18T23:55:28.7+00:00

Hi Komal Bagai

I'm glad to hear that you can now access files that are shared directly with your account.

For the remaining issue with files shared through “People in your organization,” the same legacy user reference may still exist on other SharePoint sites. Since user information is maintained separately for each site, resolving the issue on one site does not automatically resolve it on other affected sites.

I recommend asking your IT or SharePoint administrator to identify the SharePoint or OneDrive site where one of the affected files is stored and run Microsoft's Check User Access and Site User ID Mismatch diagnostics for your account on that site.

Since your account was previously deactivated and recreated using the same email address, these checks can help determine whether the previous account is still referenced on the affected site.

If the issue occurs on multiple sites, the administrator may need to check each affected site.

For more information, please refer to:

Access Denied or You need permission errors in SharePoint Online and OneDrive - SharePoint | Micros…

Fix site user ID mismatch in SharePoint or OneDrive - SharePoint | Microsoft Learn

If the issue still persists after these checks, I recommend having your IT administrator contact Microsoft Support through the Microsoft 365 admin center so that the SharePoint team can investigate the issue further.

For detailed instructions on how to get support, please refer to Get support - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn.

I hope this helps clarify the situation.

Answer 1

Ramesh Subedi 185

Hi Komal,

It did happen to one of our users as well.

What we did was create a new account using different UPN and add their old emaill address as alias and the sharing has been sent to their new UPN which resolves the issue and we have no any sharing issues with them afterwards.

I believe if you do the same, it will fix your sharing issue as well.

Many Thanks

Ramesh

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