Here is a resource to which you can point those users you collaborate with using the guest user experiences on SharePoint Online. There are three possible experiences a user can encounter when being invited to SharePoint Online. We will deal with each of those in turn.
To use this post, you can select one of the links below and send that to your guest user based on the type of invitation you want to send. Here are the links to copy:
- Classic SharePoint Invitations
- New Sharing Experience Invitations
- Azure Active Directory Business To Business (B2B) Invitations
Classic SharePoint Invitations
When you are invited at the list or site level, or added to a SharePoint group, you will receive a classic SharePoint Invitation. The classic invitation experience begins with an email:
The link in the email will point you to AcceptInvite.aspx. By clicking on that, you will then land on a screen that will ask you what type of account you have:
If you are using a consumer email account, such as those from Hotmail.com, gmail.com, outlook.com, yahoo.com, etc., then you will want to choose Microsoft Account. If you are using your email from work, or school, choose Organizational Account. If you choose a Microsoft Account, you’ll see the following interface:
Note: if you do not already have a Microsoft Account, and you enter your email, you’ll see the following dialog:
Click “Get a New One” or “Create One!” to register a new Microsoft account:
Provide a password:
Then enter your first and last name:
And provide your Birthday:
Check your email. Microsoft will send you a code to verify you own the email address. Enter the code:
Once you enter the code and click next, it will bring you to the Keep Me Signed In dialog:
If you are accessing from a shared computer, you should choose No. Once you select this, you will then get access to the site.
The New Sharing Experience, also called ad hoc, is received when a user shares a file or folder in a SharePoint Online or OneDrive Library. If the user already exists in the directory, or if a site or list is shared with the user, it will fall back to the classic experience. Like the classic experience, it begins with an invitation:
Clicking on the link, however, is a little different:
Click the send code, and you will generate the one time code, which will be sent to your email:
Enter the code in the following screen:
Once you enter the valid code, and then you’ll have access to the resource.
This process is a little harder to illustrate uniformly, because one of the strengths of the feature is that organizations can customize the look and feel of the invitation. From the text displayed in the message, to the location you are sent after acceptance, down to the email address used for invitations.
Here is what a sample invitation could look like:
You will then be asked to confirm the invitation and that you grant the inviting institution to know your email address and name information:
You will then be directed to authenticate, either with Microsoft or, in the case that your organization also has an Office Account, the Identity Provide we have on record. Once you authenticate in that manner, you are a guest user in the inviting party’s tenant.
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