Manual sharing is the act of a record’s owner (or someone with full access) granting another user, public group, role, or queue access to that single record — through the Sharing button on the record page. It exists to handle one-off exceptions to the OWD/role-hierarchy/sharing-rule baseline. If OWD on Opportunity is Private and you need to give one colleague access to one specific opportunity, manual sharing is the cleanest tool for the job.
Who can manually share a record
By default, manual sharing is available to:
- The record owner.
- Users above the owner in the role hierarchy (if hierarchy access is on).
- Users with Modify All or Modify All Data on the object.
- The system administrator.
If none of these apply, the Sharing button is hidden from the user. There’s no “share permission” you can grant separately — it’s tied to ownership and elevated access.
When manual sharing is even available
Manual sharing only works when OWD = Private or Public Read Only for the object. On Public Read/Write, the share is meaningless — everyone already has access. Salesforce will let you create the share record but it has no effect.
It’s also unavailable on master-detail child objects (Controlled by Parent OWD) — children inherit from the parent.
How to do it
In Lightning Experience:
- Open the record.
- Click Sharing in the action menu (or Sharing Hierarchy depending on the layout).
- Click New in the Manual Sharing list.
- Pick the recipient: User, Public Group, Role, Role and Subordinates, Role and Internal Subordinates, or Queue.
- Set access level: Read Only or Read/Write.
- Save.
A row is inserted into the object’s *__Share table with RowCause = Manual.
Critical caveat — owner changes wipe manual shares
Manual shares are tied to the current owner. When ownership of the record changes, all manual shares with RowCause = Manual are automatically deleted. This is by design — the new owner gets to decide who has access to their record. If you need durable, owner-independent sharing, use:
- A sharing rule (if the rule applies to many records).
- Apex sharing with a custom sharing reason (on custom objects only — survives owner change).
Quick comparison
| Mechanism | Scope | Survives owner change? | Triggered by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manual sharing | One record to one user/group | No | Manual click on the record |
| Sharing rule | Many records to many users | Yes | Owner change or criteria match |
| Apex sharing (Manual reason) | One record from code | No | Code |
| Apex sharing (Custom reason) | One record from code, custom object | Yes | Code |
Common interview follow-ups
- Can I share to multiple users at once? No — the manual share UI is one recipient at a time. To share to a group of users, create a public group and share to the group.
- Why doesn’t my manual share work? Either (a) OWD is Public Read/Write so the share is moot, (b) the user already has higher access via hierarchy or another share, or (c) sharing recalculation hasn’t completed yet.
- Can manual sharing grant Edit if OWD is Public Read Only? Yes — that’s a common use case. Manual sharing can upgrade specific recipients from Read to Read/Write.
Verified against: Salesforce Help — Manual Sharing and Sharing & Visibility Architect resources. Last reviewed 2026-05-17.