Why this matters for Microsoft 365 admins
OneDrive sharing links are one of the most common ways content leaks beyond its intended audience. A link created for a single project can quietly remain active for years, long after the original purpose has passed. Because of this, any Microsoft announcement about automatically expiring sharing links tends to get a lot of attention from SMB administrators who are trying to balance easy collaboration with reasonable data governance.
Microsoft has recently published two Tech Community blog posts that touch on this topic: one introducing “Hero Links” as a simplified sharing model, and a newer one describing a “Coming Soon” feature that would let admins automatically expire hero links shared to an entire organization after a set period, such as 90 days. This article walks through exactly what Microsoft has confirmed, what is still in development, and what remains unclear so you can plan realistically rather than assuming a feature is already available.
What Hero Links are, according to Microsoft
According to Microsoft’s OneDrive blog, Hero Links are described as giving each file or folder a single link by default, rather than requiring separate links for different people or permission levels. If you later change who has access, the same link reflects the updated permissions automatically, so you don’t need to generate or distribute a new URL.
As of the blog’s publication, Microsoft describes Hero Links as “now rolling out,” which indicates an active deployment rather than a feature that is already fully available to every tenant. If your organization has not yet seen this sharing experience, that is consistent with a staged rollout rather than a missing configuration on your part.
The expiring hero link access feature: confirmed as “Coming Soon”
The specific capability referenced in this article’s research question, an admin policy that expires hero links shared to the entire organization after 90 days and reverts them to “Only People Added,” is described by Microsoft under a section explicitly labeled “Coming Soon: Expiring hero link access.”
Microsoft’s own wording frames this as something the team is “developing,” not a feature that is currently configurable in any admin center. The 90-day example given in the source material is presented as an illustration of how the policy could work once available:
- An admin could configure a policy requiring hero links shared to the entire organization to expire after a defined period.
- Microsoft’s example uses 90 days specifically.
- When that period elapses, the link’s effective permission would revert to “Only People Added,” which Microsoft describes as the secure default state for a hero link.
It is important to be precise here: this is a documented example of intended future behaviour, not a confirmed shipping feature with a fixed, universal default. The supplied source does not state that 90 days is the only available interval, the default interval, or a mandatory setting. It is presented as a configurable policy, similar in spirit to other expiring-link controls Microsoft has introduced elsewhere in OneDrive.
What is not yet confirmed
Based on the supplied Microsoft source material, the following details are not specified:
- Rollout timeline – no general availability date, preview date, or regional rollout schedule is given for expiring hero link access.
- Licensing requirements – neither source states which Microsoft 365 or OneDrive plan is required to use this policy.
- Configuration path – no admin center location, PowerShell cmdlet, or policy name is documented for setting this up.
- Available intervals – only the 90-day example is mentioned; whether other timeframes (such as 30 days or a custom value) will be supported for hero links specifically is not confirmed.
Admins should treat this feature as announced intent rather than something to plan a rollout around just yet.
A related, already-documented policy: expiring “People in your organization” links
It’s worth distinguishing the coming hero link expiration feature from a separate capability Microsoft has already described: an admin policy for expiring “People in your organization” links.
According to Microsoft’s earlier OneDrive innovations blog, this policy lets admins configure expiration timeframes for links shared internally, with examples given as 30 days, 90 days, or a custom period. This policy is presented in that source as an existing capability tied to organizational link governance, rather than as a “coming soon” feature.
These are two distinct things:
| Feature | Status per supplied sources | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Expiring hero link access (90-day example, reverts to “Only People Added”) | Described as “Coming Soon” / in development | Hero Links shared to the entire organization |
| Admin policy for expiring “People in your organization” links | Described as an existing admin policy | Links shared internally to people in the organization |
Because both policies use similar language around 90-day expiration, it’s easy to conflate them. Based on the supplied sources, Microsoft has not stated that these are the same policy, nor has it confirmed that the expiring hero link feature will simply extend the existing “People in your organization” link policy. Treat them as separate capabilities unless Microsoft publishes documentation that explicitly merges them.
Practical recommendations for SMB admins
The following guidance is practical advice from UpdateCompass, not a documented Microsoft requirement or confirmed default:
- Don’t build governance plans around the 90-day hero link example yet. Since the feature is still in development, treat it as a signal of direction rather than a setting you can configure today.
- Review your existing sharing link policies now. If your tenant already supports expiring “People in your organization” links, consider whether a 30-day, 90-day, or custom expiration aligns with your organization’s data handling practices.
- Watch official Microsoft 365 roadmap and admin center announcements for the general availability of expiring hero link controls, including licensing and configuration details, before communicating a rollout date to your users.
- Audit existing hero links periodically in the meantime, since automatic expiration is not yet confirmed as available for this link type.
Conclusion
Microsoft has confirmed, through its own OneDrive blog, that it is developing an admin policy to automatically expire hero links shared to an entire organization and revert them to a more restrictive “Only People Added” state, using 90 days as an illustrative example. However, this capability is explicitly labeled “Coming Soon,” meaning it is not yet generally available, and Microsoft’s supplied documentation does not confirm a rollout date, licensing tier, or configuration path.
Separately, Microsoft has already described an admin policy for expiring “People in your organization” links with configurable timeframes, which is a related but distinct capability. SMB administrators should keep these two features separate in their planning, rely on official Microsoft announcements for the hero link expiration timeline, and revisit this topic once Microsoft publishes formal documentation confirming availability and configuration steps.
This article is a draft based on currently available Microsoft source material and is subject to human review before publication. As with any feature described as “Coming Soon,” details may change before general availability.