SharePoint could not resolve user

Question

Sharing issue

Error: Could not resolve user

why is SharePoint not resolving external email accounts?

Answer 1

Hi @Dario Murillo,

Great to know that and thanks for sharing the update here.

This serendipitous issue is most likely a problem with SharePoint parsing external sharing settings, but I appreciate you sharing your workaround with me.

By the way, since the Microsoft Q&A community has a policy that "The question author cannot accept their own answer. They can only accept answers by others.". and according to the scenario introduced here: Answering your own questions on Microsoft Q&A, I would make a brief summary of this thread:

[SharePoint could not resolve user]

Issue Symptom: SharePoint get an error: Can't resolve external user when sharing files.

Current status: This is an incidental issue, and we can reconfigure the sharing and guest related configurations. The system is back to normal.

You can let more people know about your sparkling solution by clicking Accept this summary. This can help other users in the forum to find a solution when they encounter the same problem. Your contribution is highly appreciated.

Have a nice day!

Answer 2

Hi @Dario Murillo,

Thank you for posting in this community.

Failure to resolve a user error is rare in SharePoint sharing, maybe it's some kind of accidental error, please try the method to see if it helps.

First, I know you may have configured organization level external sharing settings, but not quite sure if you have turned on site level external sharing settings for your site. Could you please check External Sharing Settings:

• Go to the SharePoint admin center.
  • Navigate to Sites > Active sites.
  • Select the problematic site.
  • Click on Sharing and ensure that external sharing is set to "Anyone" or the appropriate level.

Second, please double check that your user's email address is correct, for external users we need to enter the full external user email address due to the limitations of the people selector.

Third, if the user was previously a guest user in your organization or has been invited to your site before, try removing the user and re-inviting them.

Forth, try to use a different browser or your browser's InPrivate mode to see if the same error occurs.

Finally, if this problem persists, you could try to share this file via this way to check the result:

Click file->Mange access-> Advanced settings-> Stop Inheriting Permissions-> Grant Permissions-> Enter user’s email address->Select permission level -> Share. To see can user access this file or not.  

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