External Access to SharePoint Tenant – Step-by-Step & Troubleshooting
This documentation describes how to grant external users access to a SharePoint site within your Microsoft 365 tenant, and how to resolve common issues such as the error message indicating a user has not yet been added to the tenant.
Prerequisites for External Access
- Azure Active Directory B2B must be enabled.
- External sharing in SharePoint and OneDrive must be activated.
- Users must be invited as guest users in the tenant before they can gain access.
Step-by-Step: Granting Access to an External User
Step 1: Check Tenant Settings
- Go to Microsoft Entra Admin Center (Azure AD) (opens in a new tab).
- Navigate to External Identities > External collaboration settings.
- Ensure external invitations are allowed.
Step 2: Configure SharePoint Sharing Settings
- Go to SharePoint Admin Center (opens in a new tab).
- Under Policies > Sharing, make sure the external sharing level allows "New and existing guests".
Step 3: Invite Guest User
- In Microsoft Entra or Azure AD:
- Go to Users > New guest user.
- Enter the external user’s email and optional message.
- Click Invite.
Step 4: Grant Access to SharePoint Site
- Navigate to the SharePoint site.
- Click Settings > Site Permissions > Invite people.
- Choose Add members to group or Share site only.
- Enter the external user’s email address.
🛠️ Troubleshooting
Error: "User not found in the directory"
- Ensure the user accepted the guest invitation.
- Check that the user was added to the correct tenant.
- Refresh directory sync or wait 15–30 minutes.
Error: "Access Denied"
- Verify the user has permissions to the SharePoint site.
- Ensure the external domain is not blocked under Azure AD > External Identities > Cross-tenant access settings.
✅ Summary
By completing these steps, your external users should have access to the appropriate SharePoint site, provided guest invitations are accepted and directory settings allow for external collaboration.