Microsoft 365 Files (OneDrive & SharePoint)

Microsoft 365 Files (OneDrive & SharePoint)

Overview

Microsoft 365 provides two file storage surfaces: OneDrive (personal, per-user) and SharePoint (team/department libraries). Both are accessible through the same Microsoft Graph /drives endpoint. MSP support tasks include investigating access issues, checking storage quotas, managing sharing permissions, and transferring file access during offboarding.

Core Concepts

Surface	Use	Graph Resource
OneDrive Personal	Individual user's documents	/users/{id}/drive
SharePoint Site Drive	Team/department files	/sites/{id}/drives
SharePoint Library	Document library within a site	/drives/{driveId}

Graph API Patterns

Get a User's OneDrive Info (Quota)

GET /v1.0/users/{userId}/drive?$select=id,name,quota

Response:

{
  "id": "drive-guid",
  "name": "OneDrive",
  "quota": {
    "used": 5368709120,
    "remaining": 1127428915200,
    "total": 1132797624320,
    "state": "normal"
  }
}

state values: normal, nearing, critical, exceeded

List Files in Root

GET /v1.0/users/{userId}/drive/root/children?$select=id,name,size,lastModifiedDateTime,webUrl,folder,file

List Files in a Specific Folder

GET /v1.0/users/{userId}/drive/items/{folderId}/children?$select=id,name,size,lastModifiedDateTime,webUrl

Search for Files Across OneDrive

GET /v1.0/users/{userId}/drive/root/search(q='budget 2024')?$select=id,name,parentReference,lastModifiedDateTime,webUrl

Get File Sharing Permissions

GET /v1.0/drives/{driveId}/items/{itemId}/permissions

Response includes:

{
  "value": [
    {
      "id": "perm-id",
      "roles": ["write"],
      "grantedToV2": {
        "user": { "displayName": "Bob Manager", "email": "[email protected]" }
      },
      "link": null
    },
    {
      "id": "link-id",
      "roles": ["read"],
      "link": {
        "type": "view",
        "scope": "anonymous",
        "webUrl": "https://contoso-my.sharepoint.com/..."
      }
    }
  ]
}

Share a File (Create Sharing Link)

POST /v1.0/drives/{driveId}/items/{itemId}/createLink
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "type": "view",
  "scope": "organization"
}

type: view, edit, embed scope: anonymous, organization, users

Grant Direct Access to a File/Folder

POST /v1.0/drives/{driveId}/items/{itemId}/invite
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "requireSignIn": true,
  "sendInvitation": false,
  "roles": ["read"],
  "recipients": [
    { "email": "[email protected]" }
  ],
  "message": "Shared as part of employee transition"
}

Remove a Permission

DELETE /v1.0/drives/{driveId}/items/{itemId}/permissions/{permissionId}

Transfer OneDrive Access (Offboarding)

Grant another user access to the departing employee's entire OneDrive:

POST /v1.0/users/{departingUserId}/drive/root/invite
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "requireSignIn": true,
  "sendInvitation": false,
  "roles": ["write"],
  "recipients": [{ "email": "[email protected]" }]
}

Full ownership transfer (changing site admin) requires SharePoint admin PowerShell: Set-SPOSite -Identity <url> -Owner <email>

SharePoint Document Libraries

List SharePoint Sites

GET /v1.0/sites?search=*&$select=id,displayName,webUrl,createdDateTime

List Drives (Document Libraries) in a Site

GET /v1.0/sites/{siteId}/drives?$select=id,name,driveType,quota

Get Files from a SharePoint Library

GET /v1.0/drives/{driveId}/root/children?$select=id,name,size,lastModifiedDateTime,webUrl

Common MSP Workflows

User Can't Access a File

1. Get the file's current permissions: GET /items/{id}/permissions
2. Check if user has direct access or if it's link-based
3. Check if user is in a group that has access: GET /users/{id}/memberOf
4. If sharing link expired: create new sharing link
5. If direct access missing: add via /invite

Pre-Offboarding Data Review

Before offboarding, identify files the user owns that are widely shared:

GET /v1.0/users/{userId}/drive/root/search(q='*')?$select=id,name,permissions,parentReference

Look for items with scope: anonymous sharing links — these should be cleaned up or ownership transferred.

OneDrive Quota Alert

Check users approaching quota limits:

GET /v1.0/users/{userId}/drive?$select=quota

If quota.state is nearing (>80%) or critical (>90%), alert for cleanup or quota increase.

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Resolution
itemNotFound	File or folder doesn't exist	Check path or item ID
accessDenied	No Files.Read permission	Grant permission and admin consent
quotaLimitReached	OneDrive full	Clean up or expand quota
sharingDisabled	Tenant sharing policy blocks external	Review SharePoint admin settings

Permissions Required

Task	Microsoft Graph Permission
Read user's files	Files.Read.All
Read/write files	Files.ReadWrite.All
Read SharePoint sites	Sites.Read.All
Manage sharing	Files.ReadWrite.All
SharePoint admin	Sites.ReadWrite.All

Related Skills

• M365 Users - User offboarding, OneDrive transfer
• M365 Security - Audit external sharing
• M365 API Patterns - Search syntax, pagination