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HishNa's avatar
HishNa
Occasional Reader
Sep 10, 2025

Guest accounts and groupchats

Hello everyone,

I recently received a support request regarding adding a person with a guest account to a group chat. Unfortunately, Teams refused to add that account. Copilot explained that this is due to the restrictions guest accounts have when it comes to communicating within the tenant they are invited to.

Apparently—and this is what I’d love for you to verify—guests are only able to communicate within channels (e.g., threads in a channel) and in 1:1 chats. After we deleted the guest account, we were able to add that person to the group chat.

Are the following informations correct?

Guest user in tenant: Added as a guest in your tenant’s Azure Active Directory
Access: Teams channels, files, meetings
Restriction: No regular group chats outside of Teams channels
External user (federation): Remains in their own tenant, connected to yours through federation
Access: Chats and calls like regular Teams users
Advantage: Can be added to regular group chats

Thank you for your help.

Best
Hisham

adoption
collaboration
Guest users
microsoft 365
microsoft teams

1 Reply

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  • Kidd_Ip's avatar
    Kidd_Ip
    MVP
    Sep 11, 2025

    Take a look at the following and why group chat was blocked:

     

    Guest User in Tenant (Azure AD B2B)

    • Definition: A user added to your tenant via Azure AD B2B collaboration.
    • Access:
      • Teams channels (standard and private)
      • Files shared in Teams
      • Meetings and calendar invites
      • 1:1 and group chats within the team they’re added to
    • Limitations:
      • Cannot be added to regular group chats outside of a team context.
      • Group chat invitations fail unless the guest is removed from the tenant and reconnected via federation.

     

    External User via Federation

    • Definition: A user from another Microsoft 365 tenant who is not added as a guest in your Azure AD.
    • Access:
      • 1:1 chats
      • Group chats with users in your tenant
      • Audio/video calls
      • File sharing (limited to chat context)
    • Advantage:
      • Behaves like a regular Teams user in chat scenarios.
      • No need to manage guest accounts in Azure AD.

     

    Why the Group Chat Block Happens

    Once a user is added as a guest, Teams treats them as part of your tenant but with restricted permissions. They lose the ability to participate in group chats outside of Teams channels, which is why removing the guest account allowed you to add them back via federation.

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