This article explains how to add external users to a SharePoint site.

External users are all the users who will access the SharePoint site you're sharing through an email that is not part of the University's domain (soton.ac.uk). "Internal" users are users with a University of Southampton (UoS) email address, such as:

• Staff
• Students
• Guests
• Visitors
• Alumni 

If you need more information about SharePoint and the difference between assigning an external or a guest access, please visit the page External Collaboration with non-University colleagues.

Before starting

Functionalities

Microsoft 365 has built-in functionality to enable you to share your work with colleagues and users not members of the University. You can:

• Share files
• Invite guests to teams
• Have meetings with external participants
• Chat with people from other organisations.

External access vs Guest access

Microsoft 365 distinguishes between 'external' and 'guest' access. Adding one or the other type of access will determine what our non-university colleagues have access to. Visit the page External Collaboration with non-University colleagues (section "External access vs Guest access") to know more about the differences.

Restrictions

University security policy does not allow non-University colleagues to have access to Communication sites. This happens even if you have already:

• Set up this non-University colleague as 'Guest' on a Microsoft Team, 
  or
• Added them as an external party to your contacts list.

An error message will also occur if any site member tries to Share a file stored on the site with a non-University colleague.

You may face other restrictions on what is possible due to:

• Our security policies
• How your external user's organisation has implemented Microsoft 365. 

If you are facing difficulties or need support, please contact ServiceLine or visit one of our Tech Hubs.

Security

You should be careful when sharing information with non-University colleagues. Here are some questions you should consider:

1. Is it appropriate for the information to be shared?
2. Do you have permission to share the information?
3. Are the recipients' IT systems and processes secure enough for the information?
4. Are there any GDPR considerations?

If you need further guidance, please contact the Information Security team at infosec@soton.ac.uk

Main differences between adding an external user to a SharePoint site and a Team in Teams

If you are working with external users, it might be better to add them to the team in Teams rather than to the SharePoint site.

Adding them to the site only means that:

• They will not have access to the Teams chat
• They will have access to all documents and pages on the site. If you just need them to access a specific file/ folder, then create a link to the file.

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Adding external users to a SharePoint Teams site

Step 1 – What you need to do

1. Open your SharePoint Team site

2. Select the gear icon close to your profile picture:

3. Select the option Site permissions:

4. Select the button Add members

5. Select Share site only from the drop-down menu:

Through this option, you will invite users to the SharePoint site itself, not to the whole group.

6. Now:

1. Enter the external user's email address. More than one can be added at a time
2. Select the permission level you want to give them. The options available are: Read, Edit, Full control
3. Tick the box Send email (recommended)
4. Add a message (optional)
    
   7.    Select the button Add to send your invite.

Step 2 – What your external user needs to do

1. Once the invite is sent, the external user receives an email containing:

1. The message added at the point 6 above
2. A direct link to your SharePoint site. In the example below, the name of the SharePoint site linked is "KB-repository":
   

2. Your external user needs to select the link. The link will have a new window or tab in your browser

3. Please advise your external colleague to select the "Read Group Files" link in the email

4. Once the external colleague has clicked the "Read Group Files" link, they will be prompted to log in with their Microsoft credentials (for many educational organisations this will be the same as their normal login)

If they do not have a Microsoft login associated with their email address, they will need to authenticate by using a temporary code. Enter the temporary code and select Sign-in

5. After logging in they will be prompted to accept Terms and Conditions

6. Once past the authentication and permission prompt, they will then be presented with the Documents library on your team site:

Please note that they do not see the homepage by default.

To avoid disruptions, you can send them a separate email pointing out the address of the homepage or any other points of interest in your site.

Step 3 – How external users can access a shared SharePoint Site again

If the external user needs to reaccess the same SharePoint site, they would need to:

1. Navigate to the site's URL

2. Enter their email address

3. Receive and enter a new temporary passcode. 

4. Sign in again

This would need to be done every single time your external user wants to access the shared SharePoint site.

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Sharing a folder from your SharePoint site with an external user

Step 1 - What you need to do

1. Open your SharePoint site

2. Select the Documents tab on the left sidebar

3. Select the three dots next to the file or folder you want to share:

4. Select Share from the menu 

5. A new pop-up window will appear:

1. Enter the user's email address
2. Specify the access level you will give to the file or folder. The default option is "View". The available options are: "Can edit"; "Can view"; "Can't download":
   
3. Add a message (optional)

6. Select the Send button

Step 2 - What your users need to do

1. They will receive an email from your university email address.

2. They need to select the Open button:

3. The user will grant access to the shared file or folder

External users can bookmark the shared files / folder(s) to get access again after closing the browser window. If you want to change their permission or delete the access, please read the article "Managing permissions and shared links in SharePoint".

Step 3 – How external users can access the shared files / folder again

External users can access the shared folder in two ways:

• Through the invitation email, by selecting again the Open button
• Through their bookmark, if they bookmarked it during the first access.  

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Sharing files and folders publicly

If you want to share things and you do not know who the people are, then you can share your files / folders through:

• Use the University's SafeSend to send or receive files up to 200 GB (gigabyte). Once uploaded, the files will be available for 32 days.
• Use OneDrive to share your files or folders. The link generated expires after 60 days.
• Use the University's SharePoint Public Documents to make your files available through the main University. To more about this service, please the article "Sharing documents publicly from SharePoint Online and OneDrive"

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Related content

SharePoint Online - Share or update permissions for your communication site

External Collaboration with non-University colleagues

Sharing documents publicly from SharePoint Online and OneDrive

Creating a site in SharePoint

SharePoint Online - As a site owner how do I?