External Users in SharePoint Online, Part I: How to Invite an External User

To add external users to your SharePoint project or any other site, click the “Share” button at the top right of any page on your site.

How to Invite an External User 1

In the pop-up window, on the default tab “Invite people”, enter email address(es) of the person(s) you want to invite and make sure checkbox “Send an email invitation” is checked.

You should check to which group and permission level these new users will be added, as you probably don’t want an external user to have “Full Control” permission level. By default, SharePoint selects the “Members” group, with “Contribute” permission level.

When you have entered all this data, click the “Share” button.

How to Invite an External User 2

After this action, at the top right corner you will see a notification confirming your invitation.

How to Invite an External User 3

After the invitation was accepted, if you click the “Share” button on your website again, you will see this person’s name at the top of the pop-up.

How to Invite an External User 4

Also, if you go to Site Settings -> Users and Permissions -> People and Groups and you select a group to which you have added new users, you can see that this person’s name is in the list, just like any other “regular” member’s name. (Check out the 3 screenshots bellow.)

How to Invite an External User 5

How to Invite an External User 6

How to Invite an External User 7

In the next post, I will show what this experience looks like for the person you invited to join the website.


Hey there! I’m Toni, the Co-Founder and CEO of Syskit, creators of Syskit Point and SPDocKit. Welcome to Toni on Tech, where we explore the ever-evolving world of software, technology, and business.