Microsoft Delve FAQ's

Purpose

This article provides answers to a list of frequently asked questions regarding Microsoft Delve.

FAQs

Who Can See My Documents?

  • Only you can see your private documents in Delve unless you decide to share them. Your private documents are marked with a padlock and the text "Private Document".

Image highlighting the Private document icon.

  • You can see who has access to a specific document from within Delve, and you can also share the document with others.
  • Click on three dots icon (...) in the lower right corner, and then Who can see this?.

Image of the settings options highlighting the Who can see this? icon

Who Can See Attachments?

  • When you or others share a document as an attachment in the email, only people in the email conversation will see that document in Delve.
  • Attachments are marked with a Paper clip icon on the content card.

Who Can See the Documents on a Board?

  • Boards are open to everyone in your organization. You and others can see, add documents to, remove documents from, or follow any board in Delve.
  • However, if a board has documents that you don't have access to, those documents will not show up for you. If you create a board and add documents that only you or a few people have access to, no one else will see the documents, but they can see the board name.

Can I Delete a Document From Delve?

  • Documents are not stored in Delve, so you can't delete documents from Delve directly. The documents are stored in other places in Microsoft 365, for example in OneDrive for work or school or in SharePoint. Only people who already have access to a document can see it in Delve.
  • To delete a document or prevent it from showing up in Delve, use the link in the lower left of the content card to go to the location where the document is stored.

Image highlighting the location of the Document.

  • From there, delete the document, or:
    • To prevent others from seeing the document in Delve, change the permissions so only you have access to the document.
    • To prevent the document from showing up in Delve at all, move the document outside Microsoft 365, for example, to the Documents folder on your PC.

How Can I Keep a Document Private?

  • If you want to keep a document private, store it in OneDrive and choose not to share it. These documents will not show up in Delve for other users. Your private documents are marked with a padlock and the text “Private document”.

Image highlighting the Private document icon.

  • Documents that aren't shared are marked with a padlock and the text “Private” in the “Sharing” column in OneDrive. You can always share the document with others later.

My Private Document Has 10 Views in Delve – Does That Mean 10 People Viewed It?

  • No. If your document is stored in OneDrive and you haven’t shared it with other people, or if it's stored in another private location, only you can see the document in Delve. 10 views for a private document means that you opened it 10 times.

Can Other People See What Documents I’ve Viewed?

  • No, no one can see which documents you’ve opened and viewed in Delve.
  • If you’ve made changes to a document, other people can see that you modified the document, but only if they have access to the same document.

Who Can See My Documents?

  • You can’t turn off Delve completely, but you can choose not to show documents in Delve. If you choose not to show documents, other people will not see any documents when they go to your profile page in Delve, and you will not see documents on other people's profile pages. You and others will still be able to find each other's documents in Microsoft 365 if you have access to them. The documents just won't show up in Delve.
  • You can still use Delve to manage your profile information and to see other user's profile information, such as their names and contact information.

Turn off Documents in Delve:

  • In Delve, go to Settings at the top right corner.

  • Go to Feature settings.

Screenshot of the options under settings highlighting the feature settings

  • Select Off for Documents.

Screenshot of the feature settings

  • Click OK to save the changes.
Note: It can take up to a week for all changes to take effect.