Body
Questions
- How do I add someone outside Bowdoin to my Microsoft Team?
- Can a guest see all of our files, or only the channel I added them to?
- Can I use a shared channel to work with someone outside Bowdoin?
- Why can't I add our guest to a shared channel?
- Can I add a guest to a private channel?
- Why did our guest lose access to a file they could open last month?
- How do I remove a guest after a project ends?
- Can I give a vendor or a consultant access to one channel only?
- What does a guest see after I send the invitation?
- How do I keep personnel files and student records away from guests?
- As a Team owner, how do I see which guests are already in my Team?
- Our guest cannot open anything yet. What should I check?
Environment
Adding or removing a guest in a Microsoft Team requires Team owner permissions, and members of a Team cannot do it. A guest needs a work, school, or personal email account of their own, and the guest must accept an emailed invitation before reaching anything in the Team.
- Applies to owners of a Microsoft Team at Bowdoin College who work with people outside the College, such as vendors, consultants, and colleagues at other institutions.
- Microsoft Teams in a web browser, in the desktop app on Windows 11 or on macOS Sequoia (15.x), Tahoe (26.x), or newer, and in the Teams app on the current version of iPadOS.
- Bowdoin-issued computers and tablets are supported. Personal devices are best effort only.
- Guest access can take a few hours to become active after a Team owner adds someone.
- Shared channels with people outside Bowdoin are not available. Guests work in standard and private channels only.
- Not in scope: sending one file or folder to a person outside Bowdoin without adding them to the Team. For those steps, see Share a File or Folder from Teams or OneDrive in the Related Articles section.
Resolution
Choose between a sharing link and a guest account
There are two ways to work with someone outside Bowdoin. They differ mainly in how much of the Team that person can see. Pick the narrower option if it does the job.
- Send an external sharing link. Best for a few documents or a single folder over a short period. The person outside Bowdoin sees only what you sent, and nothing about the Team changes. Start with an external sharing link unless there is a reason not to. For the steps, see Share a File or Folder from Teams or OneDrive in the Related Articles section.
- Add a guest to the Team. Best for someone who works alongside the department over a long period, such as a contractor on a multi-month engagement. A guest joins the whole Team, not one channel. Understand what a guest account exposes before creating one.
Shared channels are not an option for people outside Bowdoin. A guest account cannot be added to a shared channel, and Bowdoin does not offer the cross-organization setup that lets people from other organizations join a shared channel directly. Plan a guest's work around standard and private channels.
If someone outside Bowdoin should see only one project, create a separate Team for that project and add the guest there, or send a sharing link instead.
Which channels a guest can reach
Important: A guest added to a Microsoft Team can see every standard channel in that Team and every file in those channels. You cannot limit a guest to one channel.
Plan the channel layout before you invite anyone. Put work the guest should see in standard channels. Put anything the guest should not see in a private channel that the guest is not a member of.
- Standard channels: A guest reaches every standard channel as soon as they join the Team.
- Private channels: A guest reaches a private channel only when an owner of that private channel adds them, and only after the guest is a member of the Team. Adding a guest to a private channel does not hide the standard channels from them.
- Shared channels: A guest cannot be added to a shared channel, and a guest does not get access to shared channels in the Team.
A guest can take part in channel conversations and share files inside a channel. A guest cannot create private or shared channels, add or remove members or other guests, add apps, or create teams. Whether a guest can create or edit standard channels depends on the guest permissions the Team owner sets.
Before adding a guest, look at what is already sitting in the standard channels of the Team. Anything you would not email to that person should be moved into a private channel or out of the Team first. For a way to check who currently reaches each channel, see Review Who Can See Your Team's Files in the Related Articles section.
Add a guest to a Team
- Select the Team name in Microsoft Teams, choose More options, then choose Add member.
- Type the full email address of the person you are inviting, then select the address again to confirm it.
- Choose Add (name) as a guest?, then select Add.
The person you invited receives a welcome email and must accept the invitation before opening anything. Once they accept, the word Guest appears next to their name on the Members tab under Manage team.
If the guest also needs a private channel, add them to that private channel after they are a member of the Team. For the steps, see Manage Membership of a Team or Channel in the Related Articles section.
Send the person you invited the article Accessing Files Shared from Bowdoin Teams or OneDrive (External Users), listed in the Related Articles section. That article walks through accepting an invitation from the guest's side and covers the verification code that some accounts are asked for.
Keep restricted material out of channels a guest can reach
Warning: Personnel files, student records, and anything carrying a sensitivity label do not belong in a standard channel that has a guest in it. Move that material to a private channel with no guests, or to a separate Team, before adding a guest.
A guest account removes the assumption that everything in a channel stays inside the College. For how sensitivity labels work and how to apply one, see Add or Change Sensitivity Labels for Files and Teams in Microsoft 365 in the Related Articles section.
The 180-day expiry on external access
Note: External guest access expires after 180 days, and only the owner of a file can renew access to it.
When a guest reports losing access to something they could open a month earlier, expiry is the first thing to check. For how to renew access or end it early, see Extend or Remove Guest Access in OneDrive and Teams in the Related Articles section.
The 180-day expiry is a backstop, not a plan. Expiry does not remove the guest from the Team, and expiry does not tell anyone that the project is over.
Remove a guest when the work ends
As soon as a project closes, remove the guest from the Members tab under Manage team. Removing a guest from a Team does not revoke separate sharing links that were sent to that person, so also review the external sharing list for the Team's SharePoint site. For membership changes, see Manage Membership of a Team or Channel in the Related Articles section. For the external sharing list, see List SharePoint or OneDrive Files Shared with External Users in the Related Articles section.
Review the guest list on a schedule
Guest accounts accumulate quietly. Once a quarter, open the Members tab under Manage team, confirm that each guest still needs access, and remove the ones who do not. Record in the channel who sponsored each guest and when the work is expected to end, so the next owner of the Team is not left guessing. For what else belongs in an owner's record, see What a Microsoft Team Owner Is Responsible For in the Related Articles section.
Additional Help
If you need further assistance, you have several options:
- Bowdoin Bot: Chat with Bowdoin Bot directly from any KB page for instant answers.
- Phone: Call the Bowdoin College Service Desk at (207) 725-3030.
- In person: Visit the Tech Hub in Smith Union during business hours.
- Submit a ticket: Request assistance through the Service Catalog.
Additional Resources
AI-assisted content: This article was created with AI. It was verified and edited by a human.