A comprehensive software solution for companies – Microsoft Teams allows you to optimize many processes of interaction within the team and between departments. In addition to providing corporate access, the user can log in to Teams as a guest. How to do this and why it is necessary will be discussed further.
Why do I need guest access to Microsoft Teams?
This feature allows you to connect third-party participants to the main tools, data, and capabilities of the company. The administrator retains the authority to regulate access to corporate data. A guest can be anyone with an Outlook, Gmail, Yandex account, etc. When invited, a Microsoft Entra ID guest account is created within the framework of the unified Microsoft Office365 ecosystem, with the same rights as the rest.
If an invited user is present in the team, all regular participants can see it by a special tag. The number of invitees is also displayed, if he is not alone. Once in the team, temporary participants can optionally log out of the account at any time, while the guest account is saved. Only the administrator or another participant with such rights should delete it.
The process of inviting guests
Administrators in the Teams Administration Center have the right to add temporary users. The added participant can be invited by managers to their teams. This process may take several hours. Also, any person from the company can take the role of administrator. To do this, he must be assigned special powers.
You can add many guests at once. This can be relevant when organizing joint meetings, business meetings and other things. In this case, we recommend following the algorithm:
- open the team to which the participant should be added;
- click on the three dots to expand the parameters;
- in the drop-down list, select «add a participant»;
- enter the temporary participant’s email address;
- click on the pencil icon;
- enter a name in the field that opens;
- click on the check mark and save the result with the «add» button.
After that, a notification will be sent to the mail, which will contain a link to join the team.
It often happens that you need to add a large number of participants at once. To do this, it is better to break the process into steps, and delegate some of the tasks to other employees of the company. The responsible person should prepare lists with the necessary personal data and email address. Next, the lists are passed to the administrator for addition. This division of responsibilities makes it possible to shorten the process. After the temporary user follows the link from the email, they will be able to actively interact with regular participants using tools in teams and channels.
Setting up Guest Access
A Microsoft Teams corporate account may contain a lot of important information. Not all documents should be visible to third-party users, as well as not all tools should be available to them. To do this, configure the guest access settings in advance. First, make sure that the ability to interact with external users is not disabled:
- log in to Microsoft Entra;
- find the «external identities» item and expand it;
- click on «external interaction parameters»;
- assign who can invite users from the outside;
- save the changes.
After that, you can make additional changes to the guest access settings. You can do this in the administration center. Sometimes it may take time for all changes to take effect.
Guest Access Licenses
Holders of any of the available Microsoft Teams licenses can arrange invitations for temporary team or group members. Invoices are issued automatically using the MAU model if the participant is connected by subscription. Or you will have to bind through the administration center.
Tracking guests in the organization
The ability to track the addition of third-party participants is also available. If necessary, the administrator can create a repeating algorithm for checking all added employees who have access to groups, teams, application tools, and data. It is much easier to monitor in this format, and the frequency of inspections can be set at will.
What to do if there are problems connecting guests
Sometimes administrators encounter problems in the process of inviting temporary participants. If this has happened:
- make sure you have a stable internet connection;
- install all the necessary updates for the Microsoft package and restart your device;
- connect to your account via a private tab.
If the problems have not disappeared after that and the participant cannot log in to Teams as a guest, check if there are any problems on his side. Otherwise, contact the administrator or try to wait for a while, then reconnect the guest.
