OneDrive lets you share files of up to 250 GB each, according to Microsoft's own support pages, so size is not usually what stops you. The limits that matter for sending are elsewhere: a password or an expiry date on a shared link needs a Microsoft 365 subscription, and your files sit with a US company whose privacy statement says data may be processed in the United States. For storing and syncing, OneDrive is solid. For handing files to people outside your organisation, it is worth knowing where it stops.
I run Yungle, a sending tool, so I have a stake in this. The OneDrive facts below come from Microsoft's own documentation, checked on 21 September 2026.
Storage first, sharing second
OneDrive is built to keep your files and sync them across devices, with sharing added on top. That is exactly right if you live in Microsoft 365 and share mostly with colleagues. It is less right when you send a finished file to a client, a supplier or someone who has never heard of your tenant.
The limits that bite when sending
Passwords and expiry cost a subscription. Putting a password on a link, or making it stop working on a date, is listed by Microsoft as available to Microsoft 365 subscribers. On a free account, a shared link has neither — and those are the two controls that matter most for a delivery that should not live forever.
Links linger. Without an expiry, a shared link works until someone remembers to change it. Links get forwarded and pasted and outlive the project they were for.
Your recipient meets Microsoft first. Depending on how you share, the recipient lands in Microsoft's interface rather than on a page about your files.
Where it is processed. Microsoft Corporation is based in Redmond, Washington. Its privacy statement says personal data may be processed in your region, in the United States and elsewhere. For many teams that is fine; for European clients it is often the first question.
When OneDrive is exactly right
To be fair to it:
- Everyone involved is inside the same Microsoft 365 organisation.
- The file is a working document that several people edit.
- You already pay for Microsoft 365, so passwords and expiry are included.
In those cases, there is little reason to add another tool. The gaps appear when the recipient is outside, the file is finished, and the account is free.
Sending without the subscription question
For deliveries, separate the storage from the sending. Keep your working files where they are, and send finished files through a tool built for handing things over:
- A password on the link, free.
- An expiry date, so forwarded links stop on schedule.
- A receipt when the recipient downloads.
- An upload that resumes when the connection drops.
On Yungle, password-protected links and expiry dates come with free transfers of up to 10 GB, you see who downloaded what and when, and the files are stored on servers in Germany, run by a European company. For material clients come back to, a collection keeps a lasting address.
If location is the real reason
Sometimes the question is not features but jurisdiction: whose law applies to the company holding the files. That is a different decision from choosing a sending tool, and it deserves its own reading — the US CLOUD Act and your files explains it, and the European alternative page covers what moving looks like.
The short version
- 250 GB per file is generous; size is rarely the limit.
- Passwords and expiry on links need Microsoft 365.
- Microsoft may process data in the United States.
- Keep OneDrive for storage and editing; send finished files with a tool built for it.
The full sourced comparison is on the OneDrive comparison page, and if Google is also in the picture, see Google Drive's sharing limits.