What are the ways to invite external users to a SharePoint site?

One of the main benefits of SharePoint is the ability to collaborate on documents with other users and enable guest access. However, there are other methods for inviting outside users to the SharePoint site. This article aims to provide an overview of all the choices you have for inviting external users from outside your organization.

Invite External by sharing only the SharePoint Site

Few collaborations with the users outside the organization only requires sharing site with some documents.

For this it is quite important to learn and understand that SharePoint sites have two different options to offer. While talking about these options, the first one that is connected to Microsoft 365 Group (Team Sites) and the second one is not connected to the Team sites.

Looking at the first case where your site is connected to a Microsoft 365 group, and you are just thinking to share the site externally. You must invite your external users straight to the website, avoiding the group membership. But how? That we will discuss in this blog.

Where is this option applicable

If your website is linked to a Microsoft 365 Group and you would like to share it only, without granting the receiver access to any other Microsoft 365 Group features (Planner, Teams, etc.)
So, you see sharing site externally can be a real quick and easy task for you.

By Sharing a Microsoft 365 Group

For users willing to invite the external user as a member of the group, they can share the whole group. So basically, the external receive of the invite will be one of the group members.

But you must know that with this option you will not only giving access to the SharePoint site, but you will allow access to some other assets that are major or minor part of the specific group.

Where is this option applicable

1. When you want an external user to join an email distribution list or have access to Planner as well
2. When Microsoft 365 Group was created from a location other than Teams

Sharing from Teams

You must utilize this option if you wish to invite an outside user to work with you in Teams. If you created a group from Teams, this is the only method to add external users to the group. Naturally, this will provide the user access to a team, its channels, tabs, and other group resources (Planner, SharePoint Site).

When is this option applicable

1. In Teams, when you intend to work together (chat) with your users
2. Upon creating a Microsoft 365 Group team from Teams
3. When you desire to grant external users access to Team apps, channel tabs, channel chats, and the related SharePoint site

Inviting Users from Azure AD

To put it another way, the user invites an external user, who then accepts and completes the authentication process (creating an account, accepting terms and conditions, and entering their birthday for verification), after which they are granted access to a site, team, or group, depending on what was shared.

But occasionally, inviting guests in a more "controlled" way could be a smart idea. In other words, never add them to a particular site, team, or group; instead, invite them to your tenant first and need them to build their guest user accounts. In essence, they will be waiting to be accepted to a site, group, or team later while living in the directory, ready to go.

Where is this option applicable

1. When your SharePoint admin is willing to have a strict control and restricts users from inviting any guests they want
2. When sending out bulk invitations to several guest users at once
3. Once the SharePoint Admin Center's default sharing options are set to Existing Guests only, users are unable to invite any other external users unless they are already listed in the organization's directory

Sharing Files and Folders

Sharing externally from a SharePoint site can be done in another method. Additionally, this is for situations where you only want to share files and folders—not the entire website.

Where is this option applicable

When you prefer to share only particular files or folders and deny users access to the entire website, team, or group

Conclusion

With the options provided in this guide SharePoint and Microsoft 365 users can share SharePoint site with external users in more easy and efficient ways. So whether you are looking to share an entire site, a specific group for some collaboration or individual files and folders, SharePoint provides the flexibility to accommodate all of your collaboration requirements.

FAQ’s

1. How do I ensure that external sharing is enabled?

   You can find SharePoint Admin Center on Active Sites; you will click on your site and make your sharing settings to activate the external sharing. You may also choose to share with everybody, only selected users, or you refuse sharing.

2. What permissions can I assign to external users?

   You can assign three default permission levels:

   1. Visitors (Read-only access)
   2. Members (Edit access)
   3. Owners (Full control)
   
   

   Choose the appropriate level based on what you want them to be able to do within your site

3. Can I share a SharePoint site with multiple external users at once?

   Yes, you can invite multiple external users simultaneously by entering their email addresses separated by semicolons when using the sharing feature

• May 01, 2025