SharePoint and Microsoft 365 Groups integration (IT Admins)

Article
07/27/2023

Some settings for Microsoft 365 Groups and SharePoint in Microsoft 365, particularly related to sharing and group and team site creation, overlap with each other. This article provides descriptions of these interactions and best practices for how to work with these settings.

Venn diagram of SharePoint, Viva Engage, and groups features.

The effects of SharePoint settings on Microsoft 365 groups

SharePoint setting	Description	Effect on Microsoft 365 groups	Recommendation
External sharing for organization and site	Determines if sites, files, and folders can be shared with people outside the organization.	If SharePoint and Microsoft 365 Groups settings don't match, guests in the group may be blocked from accessing the site, or external access may be available in the site but not the group.	When changing sharing settings, check both Microsoft 365 Groups settings and SharePoint site settings for group-connected team sites. See Collaborate with guests in a site.
Domain allow/block	Allows or prevents content being shared with specified domains.	Microsoft 365 Groups doesn't recognize SharePoint allowlists or blocklists. Users from domains disallowed in SharePoint could gain access to SharePoint through a group.	Manage domain allowlists or blocklists for Microsoft Entra ID and SharePoint together, along with external access for meetings. Create an org-wide governance process for allowing and blocking domains. See SharePoint domain settings, Microsoft Entra domain settings, and External access.
Allow only users in specific security groups to share externally	Specifies security groups who can share sites, folders, and files externally.	This setting doesn't affect group owners sharing Microsoft 365 groups externally. Group guests have access to the associated SharePoint site.
SharePoint site sharing settings	Determines who can share the site directly, outside of group membership. (The group or site owner configures this setting.)	This setting doesn't affect the group directly, but it can allow users to be added to a site and not have access to other group resources	Consider using this setting to limit sharing of the site directly and manage site access through the group.
Let users create sites from the SharePoint start page and OneDrive	Specifies if users can create new SharePoint sites.	If this setting is turned off, users can still create group-connected team sites by creating a group.

The effects of Microsoft 365 Groups settings on SharePoint

Microsoft 365 Groups setting	Description	Effect on SharePoint	Recommendation
Naming policies	Specifies group name prefixes and suffixes, and blocked words for group creation	Policies are enforced for users creating group-connected team sites, but not communication sites or sites with other templates.	Create separate naming guidance for communication sites if needed.
Group guest access	Specifies if people outside the organization can be added to groups.	If SharePoint and Microsoft 365 Groups settings don't match, guests in the group may be blocked from accessing the site, or external access may be available in the site but not the group.	When changing sharing settings, check both Microsoft 365 Groups settings and SharePoint site settings for group-connected team sites. See Collaborate with guests in a site
Group creation by security group	Only members of a specific security group can create Microsoft 365 groups.	Users who aren't members of the security group can't create a group-connected team site.	Be sure your process for requesting a group includes instructions for requesting a site.
Group expiration policy	Specifies a time period after which Microsoft 365 groups that aren't actively used are automatically deleted.	When the group is deleted, the associated SharePoint site is also deleted. Content protected by retention policies is retained.	Use expiration policies to avoid sprawl of unused Microsoft 365 groups and sites.