How do I add a guest to a TEAMS channel?

Question

I would like to add a guest to one of my teams for a meeting.

Answer 1

Hi @Cathal Meenagh

Good day to you! Thank you for contacting Microsoft Q&A. 

To add a guest to Microsoft Teams: 

Step 1: Make sure Guest Access is enabled 

Before you can invite someone outside your organization (a guest), your Microsoft 365 tenant must have Guest Access enabled. 

If you're not an admin, you’ll need to contact your IT administrator to check this setting. 
You can refer to this article: Turn guest access in Microsoft Teams on or off - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn 

 

Step 2: Add the guest to the Team (not directly to the channel) 

Guests must first be added to the entire Team before they can access any channels within it. You cannot add a guest directly to a channel unless they’re already a member of the Team. 

Here’s how to add a guest: 

1. Open Microsoft Teams 
2. Go to the Team you want to add the guest to 
3. Click the More options (⋯) next to the team name → Manage team 
4. Select Add member 
5. Enter the guest’s full email address 
6. Choose “Add” when prompted 
    

The guest will receive an email invitation to join the team. 

 
 

Step 3: Invite the guest to a meeting 

Once the guest has accepted the invitation and joined the team, you can: 

• Schedule a meeting in a channel, and they’ll be able to join directly 
• Or send them a Teams meeting link via email if the meeting isn’t tied to a channel 

Notes 

• If the channel is private, you’ll need to add the guest to the team first, then explicitly add them to the private channel. 
• If you don’t see the guest’s email when trying to add them, it could be because: 
  • Guest Access is not enabled in your tenant 
  • The guest has never been invited before 
  • You’re not a team owner, and only owners can add members 

A few questions to help assist you better: 

• Are you the owner of the team? 
• Has the guest ever been added to your organization before? 
• Are you using Microsoft Teams for Education, and if so, what type of team is it (Class, Staff, PLC, or Other)? 
• Do you have access to the Teams Admin Center, or can you contact your IT admin? 

Let me know your setup, and I’ll be happy to guide you further! 

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Answer 2

When did it become required that an external guest user must be present in Entra directory prior to being able to invite them to a team?

I added a user without issue last week, now today I need to add the use as an external guest to Entra before I can add the user to teams.

I don't remember seeing any notification is message center does anyone have the message ID so I can look into this.