External guest in Teams

[Amy Stallings]

I'm getting mixed information. I see that an external user only needs a gmail account to be invited to a team and then I'm seeing the external user must have a Microsoft account. can someone please let me know which is the case?

[#2]

Both! You can use a gmail or any other personal non MSA account but it will be tied to a MSA while accepting the invitation.
So basically, if not already a MSA account is created behind the scenes.

There is also a way to set up google federation which makes it possible to login using native google accounts:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/external-identities/google-federation

Adam

[#3]

@Amy Stallings  Here is the same thing happen to me so I am sure that is the case with everyone.

if you want them to collaborate on files, Chat, participate in the channel as a guest then yes they do need to have a Microsoft Account.

if they just want to access the files on the Sharepoint site which is associated with the Teams they will only need Gmail account though their access is limited they cannot post/chat/ as they need a Microsoft account to do so...

[#4]

@PDostiyar 

Sharing in SharePoint depends how you have setup the external sharing settings but by virtue of getting access to the SharePoint site through the Microsoft Team you will need a Microsoft Account that can be linked to your Gmail email address. 

You can have anonymous sharing in just SharePoint but I always recommend making users sign in with a Microsoft account as it is more secure and you know with more certainty who is accessing your information. 

[#5]

@Amy Stallings Hi Amy, sometimes (at least from my point of view) things makes more sense when reading about it yourself. So I'm attaching a couple of links that explains the external vs guest scenarios well. No heavy reading and should only take a couple of minutes.

Guest access in Microsoft Teams
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/guest-access 

Manage external access in Microsoft Teams
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/manage-external-access 

Communicate with users from other organizations in Microsoft Teams
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/communicate-with-users-from-other-organizations#comp... 

Add a guest to a team

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/add-guests

[#6]

@ChristianBergstromThis is a great resource shared I am sure she will have enough information on to get the issue resolve and know the difference between Guest and External members for a Team though both on the Team section is called Guest the articles in the links explains is very clear...

[#7]

@Andrew Hodges 

dude I am 100% agree with you on this but still, there are some users they would always want to use Google so should not just say it is by design and you only have to use Microsoft account rather we are telling yes you can use your Gmail with so and so Microsoft product but some features are limited and as you know the end-users will still say I don't want to change, why I cannot use Teams/Sharepoint with my Gmail and the rest is the story...

Thanks for the comment though. @Andrew Hodges 

[#8]

@PDostiyar 

You can federate to Google accounts, if the users want to use their same email and passwords that they use for Gmail.

If you don't want to use federation then the users can use their Gmail email addresses to sign up to a Microsoft account. They would then log into teams with their Gmail address and if they set the password* the same it would effectively be the same email and password for both Gmail and Teams. 

*from a security point of view its not a good idea to set passwords on different accounts to the same password but users do it anyway.