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External access and guest access in Microsoft Teams

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External access and guest access in Microsoft Teams

The four ways outsiders can collaborate with you in Teams — and the trade-offs between guest, external access, shared channels, and anonymous join.

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/microsoft-teams-external-and-guest-access

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01

What is the difference between external access and guest access in Teams?

External access (federation) lets your users chat, call, and meet with people in other Microsoft 365 tenants who stay in their own tenant. Guest access invites an outside person into your tenant as a B2B guest so they c…

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/microsoft-teams-external-and-guest-access

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02

Can I allow guest access for some teams only?

Yes, through sensitivity labels applied to teams: a label can allow or block guests per team, overriding the org-wide default. Without labels, the guest setting is tenant-wide and per-team control is limited to owners'…

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/microsoft-teams-external-and-guest-access

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03

Is external chat with Teams personal accounts safe?

It is a phishing and spam vector — attackers used it in 2023–2024 campaigns. Restrict external access to specific domains, disable chat with unmanaged Teams accounts unless there is a business need, and educate users th…

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/microsoft-teams-external-and-guest-access

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04

Long-term embedded contractor

Mechanism: Guest

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/microsoft-teams-external-and-guest-access

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05

Direct chat/call with another tenant

Mechanism: External access

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/microsoft-teams-external-and-guest-access

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06

Ongoing cross-tenant project channel

Mechanism: Shared channel

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/microsoft-teams-external-and-guest-access

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07

One-off external meeting attendee

Mechanism: Anonymous join

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/microsoft-teams-external-and-guest-access

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