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Fix SharePoint and Teams File Sharing When 'Can Edit' Fails
Question details
Users are unable to share files with 'Can Edit' permissions on Teams-connected SharePoint sites, even though 'Can View' sharing works normally.
- Product
- SharePoint and Microsoft Teams
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Attempting to share files for editing after a tenant migration (e.g., via ShareGate) or within large document libraries.
- Observed behavior
- Selecting 'Can Edit' during file sharing fails and returns an error, often caused by duplicate English and German permission levels or exceeding the list view threshold.
Verify that you have SharePoint Site Administrator or Microsoft 365 Global Administrator privileges, as you will need to access and modify advanced site permission settings.
Remove Duplicate or Conflicting Permission Levels
Use this solution if your site recently underwent a tenant migration and is experiencing duplicate Read and Edit permission levels (e.g., English and German overlapping).
Migrations using tools like ShareGate can sometimes duplicate permission levels across languages. Cleaning up these conflicts restores normal sharing capabilities, but care must be taken not to break existing root-site permissions.
Navigate to your affected SharePoint site, click the gear icon (Settings), and select 'Site permissions'. Then, click on 'Advanced permissions settings'.
Click 'Permission Levels' in the ribbon. Open a separate tab with a known working SharePoint site and compare the lists. Look specifically for duplicate 'Read' and 'Edit' entries in different languages (like English and German).
Select the checkboxes next to the duplicated permission levels that do not belong to your primary configuration and click 'Delete Selected Permission Levels'.
Return to the document library and attempt to share a file using the 'Can Edit' option to verify the issue is resolved.
Check the 5,000 Item List View Threshold
SharePoint document libraries containing more than 5,000 items can experience sharing errors due to background processing limitations.
Remove and Re-add Affected Users
If the issue only affects specific users, their user profile mapping in the site collection might be corrupted.
Collaborate Effortlessly with WPS Office
If complex SharePoint permission structures are slowing down your team's productivity, consider WPS Office. It provides a lightweight, highly compatible alternative to Microsoft Office, featuring intuitive cloud-based document sharing without the hassle of intricate tenant permission conflicts.
- 1. Download and Install: Visit the official WPS Office website to download and install the application on your PC or mobile device.
- 2. Create a Team Workspace: Sign in to your WPS account and upload your documents to WPS Cloud for centralized access.
- 3. Share via Link: Click 'Share' on any document to generate a simple, secure link with direct viewing or editing permissions for your teammates.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does 'Can View' work but 'Can Edit' fails in SharePoint?
This discrepancy usually happens because granting 'Can Edit' requires SharePoint to create unique, item-level permission inheritance. If there are duplicate permission levels from a tenant migration or the library exceeds 5,000 items, this background process breaks down, resulting in an error.
Will fixing duplicate permission levels affect my existing SharePoint site?
Yes, deleting duplicate or conflicting Read/Edit permission levels can sometimes strip existing access at the root-site level. It is highly recommended to document current permissions so you can manually re-add users if their access is removed during the cleanup process.
What is the ShareGate tenant migration bug?
When migrating sites between Microsoft 365 tenants using third-party tools like ShareGate, localizations for permission levels (like English and German 'Edit' roles) can be duplicated. SharePoint gets confused by these redundant roles when trying to apply new edit sharing links.
How do I fix file sharing if I am not a SharePoint admin?
If you do not have Site Administrator or Global Admin rights, you cannot resolve permission duplication or site collection user profile errors yourself. You will need to contact your IT department or Microsoft 365 administrator to perform the necessary backend fixes.
