Forum Discussion
Out-of-organization profiles and content viewing
Hello, I imagine this is a relatively simple question...
I built a SharePoint site for my small nonprofit, primarily for employees who use organization-issued email addresses. I also created a page specifically for our board members, who use personal (external) email accounts. I’ve granted them access to the page and to specific files stored on our organization’s S Drive.
While they can access the page and some content (only when I use the Document Library web part and manually insert the file path), most SharePoint web parts don’t function properly for them. It seems that, although they technically have access, SharePoint’s other widgets hit minor permission barriers when trying to pull data—likely due to how Microsoft handles external user access.
From what I’ve gathered, the best long-term solution might be to issue board members organization email addresses.
One additional note: Instead of granting each board member access individually, I created a Microsoft 365 group for the board and assigned file permissions to that group. I’m wondering if this approach could also be affecting access in some way.
Thank you so much!
1 Reply
SharePoint’s web parts, like Highlighted Content, News, and even some list views, rely on users being internal members of your organization. Guest users (even in a Microsoft 365 Group) have limited access and will often see: Missing content, Web parts not loading correctly, Permissions errors on roll-up or dynamic content.
If your goal is a seamless, professional experience — issue internal org. accounts. (A M365 F3 , Microsoft 365 Business Basic, or SharePoint Online plan 1 license is enough for basic SharePoint/Teams use) If you're okay with a restricted experience for basic document sharing — guest accounts with tight permissions should work. (Test from outside, open InPrivate/Incognito, sign in as a guest, click through every page and web part and validate that nothing breaks)
