Microsoft Teams External Users: How to Add Guests?
Microsoft Teams is intended to be used within an organization. Generally, users are set up over an active directory and normally from the same network or organization. Because it’s free, it can also be used outside of an organization as users can bring anyone on board by merely sending them an invite.
Microsoft Teams external users
So how exactly does it work to add Microsoft Teams external users? Let’s break it down in two categories:
- If you’re using Microsoft Teams with your personal account, you can invite anyone.
- If you’re using a corporate account that’s linked to an enterprise license though, inviting outside users is generally restricted.
But what if you’re running into a problem and cannot add guests or external users?
Microsoft Teams cannot add guest
Inviting outside users to an organization team is usually restricted to keep the network private but the feature does exist.
It may need to be enabled.
Here’s what you can do if you cannot add guests in Microsoft Teams.
1. Enable guest policy
You need to enable guests for your organization. This can only be done by someone who has admin access to the Teams dashboard.
- Visit the Microsoft Teams admin center.
- In the column on the left, expand Org-wide settings.
- Select Guest Access.
- Turn on the “Allow guest access in Teams’ switch.
- Go over what features you want guests to have access to. Make sure ‘Allow guest access to Teams’ is turned on.
- Click Save.
- In the column on the left, under Org-wide settings, click External access.
- Turn on ‘Users can communicate with other Skype for Business and Teams users’.
- Click the ‘Add domain’ button.
- Enter the domain the guest users’ email account uses and add it.
- Click Save.
- Give the settings 24-hours to apply.
2. Enable guest access from PowerShell
You can enable guest access via PowerShell. Again, an admin should handle this and not an end-user.
- Open PowerShell with admin rights.
- Run the following command to install the AzureAD module. Tap Y if prompted to.
Install-Module -Name AzureAD
- Run this command to connect the AzureAD to your Microsoft account. If this command doesn’t work, consult this document for alternative commands.
Connect-AzureAD
- Sign in with your Microsoft Teams/Microsoft 365 admin account.
- Run this command.
Set-MsolCompanySettings -UsersPermissionToReadOtherUsersEnabled $True
- Restart the Microsoft Teams client and try adding a guest.
3. Update Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams normally updates automatically and in the background however, it can fail to update at times.
- Open Microsoft Teams.
- Click your profile at the top right.
- Select Check for updates.
- Allow the app to check for updates, and download them.
- Quit Microsoft Teams.
- Run Microsoft Teams again and the app will be updated before you can use it.
Conclusion
On an enterprise license, Microsoft Teams has to restrict users from adding guests unless an organization explicitly enables it.
This is done to keep the data shared over Teams private, and to also restrict who is able to use an enterprise license or the enterprise features.
