sharepoint - difference between members and site members

Question

Hi My question may be quite simple, but what is the difference of being "member" of a sharepoint and be a "site member" of this same sharepoint ? I have read this https://learn.microsoft.com/en-US/sharepoint/site-permissions?WT.mc_id=365AdminCSH_spo but still not understand. My use case is the following : I added via graph api a user to the group O365 of the sharepoint. When trying to access to the sharepoint, the user needs to request access on top. When adding the sharepoint O365 group as a site member, all works fine for the use and no request access is needed. Why that ? What is the difference ?

Answer 1

There are two types of group in the SharePoint online: Microsoft 365 group and SharePoint group.

Microsoft 365 group has two memberships, owner and member. And SharePoint group has three memberships, owner, member and visitor.

When you create a new Team site, a Microsoft 365 group and three SharePoint groups are also automatically created with Team site.

By default, three SharePoint groups have permissions for Team site. But the Microsoft 365 group do not have permissions for Team site. So, you need to add the Microsoft 365 group into Site members.

The difference between Microsoft 365 group and SharePoint group is Microsoft 365 group can used in the SharePoint, Teams, Exchange and etc. Microsoft products, but SharePoint group can only be used in the SharePoint.

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Answer 2

Hi Emily, thank you for your information, I finally correct my issue as you mentionned above