Unable to add external users to access Sharepoint site

Question

I'm using sharepoint online to create a customer support site.

Under People and Groups, I have and have added a group, with read access to the site. 

However, the users keep getting the below error. 

I have already checked that they are in the active user list.

Have also tried removing and adding them several times, both as a group, and as individuals in different occasions.

Have also removed and added them both from:

• outlook
• through the admin panel
• Site permissions-advanced permissions settings

Still doesnt work.

They have an office 365 subscription too, so this error is really unexpected.

Please help.

<PII has been masked by the moderator>

Answer 1

Hi Krbot,

I would like to clarify what is an external user in SharePoint Online. They are users that are not part of your organization and usually uses a work/school account of a different tenant, or a personal Microsoft account.

If the user is part of your organization (same tenant), then he/she is not an external user. Can you please let us know what the user's account type is?

Regarding the permission issue, we'd first like to confirm the detailed steps you did to add the user/group to the site (if possible, please add screenshots for each step).

Based on your description, I do not see an issue with your steps, which is why I would like some screenshots to see whether it may be an issue with the site.

Please also use your browser's private mode to make sure that the user logged in is the user you have invited to the site.

Regards,

Sheen

Answer 2

Hi Sheen,

Thanks for your reply.

It is an external user - their accounts belong to another organization, which is registered with microsoft licences, and not a personal account. Their account is subscribed under business essentials.

These are the steps for what i did: 

I clicked on site permissions on the top right:

Then i clicked on a pre set group with read access. The other users in this group are able to read, so this is not a group issue.

then i add users here. I have tried adding them as a group, and as individuals. all do not work. 

<PII has been masked by the moderator>

Answer 3

Hi Krbot,

I'd like to confirm where did you see the Active User list. Was it in the Office 365 Admin Center?

Normally, when you invite a user, you enter the email address. In this example, let's say the email is ******@contoso.com.

When the user opens their email and see this invitation then click on it, the login screen will show up. Here, you can use any email (not necesarilly the initial ******@contoso.com) to login.

In this case, the user might forgot the he logged in using different email (such as a personal account) and forgot, and now when he/she used the work/school account, it is not located in your directory.

To check, you can:

1. Navigate to the SharePoint Admin Center > User Profiles
2. Manage User Profiles
3. Enter the user's email address
4. Compare the account name with the e-mail address

Here is an example where the email was sent to my personal Outlook account, but was logged in using my corporate account. The account name will not match the e-mail address. Please make sure that this isn't the case with your external users.

Regards,

Sheen

Answer 4

Hi Sheen

i have checked and it is the same email.

In fact, i have gotten the users to log out of all accounts and click on the invite, also to try in incognito. 

Please see below. it is the same, left and right. So this means they are logged in with the correct account

only thing is that it is an underscore instead of a @ on the left. what would have caused it?

Answer 5

Hi Krbot,

Thank you for the update.

I'd like to collect more information in order to get a clearer look at the problem:

1. Do all the problematic users come from the same tenant?
2. Have these users logged in successfully before? Either to this site or a different site.
3. Have you tried a different site collection? If not, please do and let us know.
4. Have you tried inviting a personal Microsoft account? If not, please do and let us know.

In addition, I'd also like to collect your tenant as well as the external user's accounts to check the configuration from the backend. I would also like to collect a network trace of the user that is logging in and getting the issue.

To protect your privacy, we will collect the information via private message. You can access it here.

Regards,

Sheen