Expired sharing links in SharePoint Online can weaken security and clutter permissions if left unchecked. Misconfigurations may keep sensitive files exposed, while legitimate users face sudden access issues. This guide explains how to find all expired sharing links so admins can close security gaps and ensure external access ends as intended.
Windows PowerShell Connect-PnPOnline -Url "<SiteURL>" -ClientId "<AppClientId>" -Interactive Windows PowerShell $report = @()
Get-PnPList | Where-Object { $_.BaseType -eq "DocumentLibrary" -and -not $_.Hidden } | ForEach-Object {
$query = "<View Scope='RecursiveAll'><ViewFields><FieldRef Name='FileRef'/>
<FieldRef Name='FileLeafRef'/><FieldRef Name='FSObjType'/>
</ViewFields></View>"
Get-PnPListItem -List $_ -PageSize 2000 -Query $query | ForEach-Object {
try {
$ref = $_["FileRef"]; $name = $_["FileLeafRef"]; $isFolder = $_["FSObjType"] -eq 1
$links = if ($isFolder) { Get-PnPFolderSharingLink -Folder $ref }
else { Get-PnPFileSharingLink -Identity $ref }
$links | Where-Object { $_.ExpirationDateTime -is [datetime] -and $_.ExpirationDateTime -lt (Get-Date) }
| ForEach-Object {
$report += [pscustomobject]@{
ItemPath = $ref
ItemName = $name
ExpirationDate = $_.ExpirationDateTime.ToShortDateString()
} } } catch {} } }
$report | Format-Table -AutoSize 
Note: Execute the script in Windows PowerShell 7 or later, as it uses cmdlets from the PnP.PowerShell module, which is only supported in PowerShell 7+.
Windows PowerShell ./GetAllSharingLinks.ps1 -ExpiredLinks 
Note: Admins must enable Deep Insights tracking to view all expired sharing links of a specific SharePoint Online site.
AdminDroid’s SharePoint Online reporting tool provides Microsoft 365 admins with detailed insights into the expiry status of sharing links, such as links that are expiring soon, set to never expire, and more. These insights enable you to avoid potential security risks caused by expired sharing links across Microsoft 365.
Monitor the expired anonymous sharing links report to confirm that “Anyone” links have properly expired and no longer grant content access for maintaining compliance with privacy policies.
Identify never-expiring sharing links in SharePoint Online to minimize prolonged data exposure and prevent violation of retention policies.
Audit secure link events to verify whether expired secure links were removed or if access was extended with proper authorization in SharePoint Online.
Track sharing links overview dashboard to check on link sharing summary along with details on expired links, upcoming expirations, etc., to prevent collaboration issues.
Monitor expired OneDrive sharing links to maintain controlled content sharing and support compliance requirements in Microsoft 365.
Review all file and folder sharing links to identify those shared with internal users, external users, or groups, and apply expiration on sensitive content to ensure timely access termination.
In summary, AdminDroid’s SharePoint Online management tool provides a detailed view of sharing links and their expiration details across all SharePoint Online sites. It also allows you to manage sharing links, view permission summaries by link type, track access request activities, and more to strengthen Microsoft 365 security.
Restrict external site sharing settings by granting only site owners to create, view, or manage sharing links with expiration dates and passwords to ensure strict external access control.
Configure default sharing links in the SharePoint admin center to prevent users from creating ‘Anyone links’ and minimize the risk of oversharing.
Limit external sharing by domain and set link expiration to ensure accountability and maintain well-managed sharing activities.
This error occurs because the current execution policy is set to “Restricted”, which blocks the script execution.
Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process ErrorThe error occurs when executing the Remove-PnPFileSharingLink cmdlet with an incorrect value in the -FileUrl parameter.
Get-PnPListItem -List "Shared Documents" | ForEach-Object { $_.FieldValues["FileRef"] }This error occurs when the GetAllSharingLink.ps1 script is executed without a certificate thumbprint.
./GetAllSharingLinks.ps1 -CertificateThumbprint "<thumbprint>" -ExpiredLinksThis warning appears when you try to set an expiry date for Anyone links using the Set-PnPTenant cmdlet while these links are disabled tenant-wide.
This error occurs when you try to set the expiration using Set-PnPTenant with the -RequireAnonymousLinksExpireInDays parameter and the value exceeds the allowed limit.
This error occurs when the user is trying to access an expired sharing link in SPO.
Admins can set expiration dates on sharing links to ensure that files and folders remain accessible only for a limited time. This reduces the risk of unauthorized access and strengthens overall security in SharePoint Online. Initially, expiration could be applied only to ‘Anyone’ (anonymous) links.
Currently, SharePoint Online allows setting expiration for other sharing link types, such as ‘People in your organization’ and ‘People you choose’, which provide greater control over access. The ‘Only people with existing access’ link type cannot be configured with an expiration date.
Note: If the "Create and share new links" option is unavailable, a sharing link likely already exists. Instead, use the Share or Copy link option to create a new sharing link with expiration date.
When a sharing link reaches its predefined end date, the experience and available actions differ depending on whether you are the user trying to access the content or the site owner responsible for it.
Sharing links expiration dates help organizations balance seamless collaboration with strong data protection. It helps prevent prolonged vulnerabilities while supporting productive teamwork.
Here’s why enforcing expiration dates in Microsoft 365 is important.
‘Anyone’ links enable anonymous access, which can lead to data exposure if not time-limited. Administrators can configure expiration settings to control how long anonymous links stay active and ensure access ends automatically.
Run the cmdlet below to make sure that the sharing link expires after a number of days.
Instead of going through multiple tabs in the SharePoint admin center, you can use a single PnP PowerShell cmdlet to set the expiration limit for “Anyone links” in SharePoint Online.
Use the cmdlet below to connect to the PnP PowerShell module with admin access. Ensure you replace <Tenant-Name> and <AppClientId> with the actual tenant name and client ID before execution.
Connect-PnPOnline -Url "https://<Tenant-Name>-admin.sharepoint.com" -ClientId “<AppClientId>” -Interactive
The expiry of ‘Anyone’ sharing links can be managed through the SharePoint admin center and PowerShell.
Set-PnPTenant -RequireAnonymousLinksExpireInDays <Days>
Replace <Days> with the desired period to set a tenant-wide expiration for 'Anyone' sharing links.
Although expired sharing links revoke access, they are not automatically removed and still appear on the links page. This often causes confusion and clutter while managing sharing links.
To keep the environment secure and organized, administrators should remove expired links in the SharePoint Online.
Manually searching for expired sharing links and deleting them one by one is a time-consuming process in SharePoint Online. PowerShell lets you remove all sharing links that have expired for an entire site effortlessly.
Connect-PnPOnline -Url "<SiteURL>" -ClientId "<AppclientId>" -Interactive
Get-PnPList | Where-Object { $_.BaseType -eq "DocumentLibrary" -and -not $_.Hidden } | ForEach-Object {
$lib = $_.Title
Write-Host "Checking: $lib" -ForegroundColor Cyan
$query = "<View Scope='RecursiveAll'><ViewFields><FieldRef Name='FileRef'/><FieldRef Name='FileLeafRef'/><FieldRef Name='FSObjType'/></ViewFields></View>"
Get-PnPListItem -List $_ -PageSize 2000 -Query $query | ForEach-Object {
$ref = $_["FileRef"]; $name = $_["FileLeafRef"]; $isFolder = $_["FSObjType"] -eq 1
$links = if ($isFolder) { Get-PnPFolderSharingLink -Folder $ref } else { Get-PnPFileSharingLink -Identity $ref }
$links | Where-Object { $_.ExpirationDateTime -is [datetime] -and $_.ExpirationDateTime -lt (Get-Date) } | ForEach-Object {
Write-Host "Removing expired link from $name (Library: $lib)" -ForegroundColor Yellow
if ($isFolder) {
Remove-PnPFolderSharingLink -Folder $ref -Identity $_.Id -Force
} else {
Remove-PnPFileSharingLink -FileUrl $ref -Identity $_.Id -Force
} } } }
PnP PowerShell cmdlets allow removing expired links on a single site, but traversing multiple sites to clean them up is not practical and again becomes a time-consuming task. To address all these limitations, we have developed a PowerShell script that automates the bulk removal of expired sharing links across the entire Microsoft 365 organization.
Download and run the following script to generate a detailed report of sharing links by type (anonymous, company, specific people) or expiration status (active, expired). After reviewing the report, admins can re-run the script with removal filters to securely revoke the selected links in the Microsoft 365 environment.
Execute the script with params like -ExpiredLinks and -RemoveSharingLinks as shown below to remove all expired sharing links in the SharePoint Online environment.
./RemoveSharingLinks.ps1 -ExpiredLinks -RemoveSharingLinks