Teams: How to Invite External Partners with Shared Channels

You work with external partners, agencies or suppliers on a regular basis and every time it is the same story: guest accounts have to be set up, the other person has to switch tenants, files end up on five different platforms and nobody knows which one is the current version. 😤

I know this from practice and I know a good way out: Shared channels in Microsoft Teams. With them you invite external people straight into a single channel, with no guest account and no tenant switching. The other side works in their own Teams account, you work in yours. Everything still happens in the same channel.

In this post I show you how Shared channels work, when you should use them and how to set up your first one.

What are Shared channels?

A Shared channel is a special Teams channel that you can share with people who are not members of your team. That can be colleagues from another internal department or external partners from a completely different organisation.

The decisive difference compared with normal guest access: the external person does not have to sign in to a different Microsoft 365 tenant. They see the channel directly in their own Teams, as if it belonged to their own organisation. No switching, no second account. 🎯

The technical basis for this is Microsoft Entra B2B direct connect, a trust relationship between two organisations. As a user you do not have to configure any of it, IT sets this up at organisation level.

Shared channel or guest account: which one when?

Guest accounts still make sense when you want to integrate someone into your team deeply and for the longer term. For collaboration with a clear scope, Shared channels are often the cleaner solution. Important: according to Microsoft, people who already have a guest account in your organisation cannot be added to a shared channel.

Step 1: Check whether Shared channels are enabled

Before you can get started, the feature has to be switched on. Here is how to tell: in a team where you are an owner, click More options (the three dots) next to the team name and choose Add channel. If you can pick Shared as the channel type, you are ready to go. 🟢

If the option is missing, contact your IT team. In the Teams policies they decide whether people may create shared channels, share them with external people and join external shared channels. To work with other organisations, cross-tenant access settings in Microsoft Entra are also needed on both sides. According to Microsoft, guest access in Teams must also be switched on, even though the external people do not get a guest account. Allow for some coordination with your partner company’s IT team.

Step 2: Create a Shared channel

Here is how to set up your first Shared channel: 🛠️

1. Open Microsoft Teams and go to the team where the channel should live. You need to be a team owner there.
2. Next to the team name, click More options and choose Add channel.
3. Give it a meaningful name, for example «Project Acme Q3-2026», «Supplier Meyer» or «Agency campaign». Tip: include the time frame in the name, it helps later when you tidy up.
4. Choose Shared as the channel type.
5. Click Create.

Depending on your version, the labels may differ slightly. The new channel appears in your list straight away, with its own icon that sets it apart from standard and private channels.

Step 3: Invite external people

Now comes the most important part: inviting the external partners. 📨

1. Click More options next to the channel and choose Share channel, then Share with people.
2. Type the person’s business email address and select them from the list.
3. Click Share. The person then sees the channel directly in their own Teams.

Two things are worth knowing. First: according to Microsoft, people outside your organisation can only be members of a shared channel, not owners. The owner role stays with your internal colleagues. Second: Shared channels only work between Microsoft 365 organisations. You cannot invite personal accounts such as Gmail or Hotmail, for those a normal guest account remains the right choice.

Step 4: Work productively in the channel

What can you do in a Shared channel? Much of what you know from other channels: 💬

• Write messages, use @mentions and react to posts
• Upload files and edit them together in Word, Excel or PowerPoint
• Add tabs with Word, Excel, PowerPoint or OneNote content. Since the end of August 2026, Microsoft also supports Planner tabs with basic plans in shared channels (announcement MC1262590).
• Start meetings straight from the channel

Not every app works in shared channels. Microsoft keeps a list of supported apps. If an app you are used to is missing, that is usually why.

The channel’s files live on a dedicated SharePoint site that only the channel’s owners and members can access. External people only see the files of this channel, not the rest of your team’s storage. According to Microsoft, not even the members of the parent team have access unless they are in the channel themselves.

Step 5: Actively manage the channel lifecycle

A common mistake in practice: Shared channels are opened and never cleaned up again. Three simple measures help: 📋

1. Choose channel names with context: «Agency X campaign Q2-2026» rather than just «Agency X». That way you can see at a glance what it is about and whether the channel should still be active.
2. Archive after the project ends: click More options next to the channel and choose Archive channel. Team owners can do this and, for shared channels, channel owners too. Conversations and files stay readable and searchable, but nobody can post any more.
3. Review the member list regularly: who still has access? Do you still need it? As a channel owner you find the members under More options and Manage channel in the Members section and remove people who are no longer involved.

A well-maintained channel is also a security gain: external people do not keep access long after the project has ended. If you delete a channel by mistake, Microsoft lets you restore it within 30 days.

Practical tip: add a starting page as a tab

When you set up a new Shared channel for a project, start by adding a tab with a shared document, for example a OneNote notebook or a Word document called «Project kickoff». 🔗

There you enter the project goal, the contacts on both sides, the important links and the meeting notes. All channel members, internal and external, see the same state and work in the same file. The Microsoft Loop app is not on the list of apps Microsoft supports in shared channels, so Word or OneNote is the safer choice.

In the first kickoff you then do not have to sort out who has which version and who is sending the minutes. One simple tab that gives everyone the same starting point.

Conclusion & call to action

Shared channels are one of the underrated features in Microsoft Teams. They solve a problem many companies face every day: how do I work with external partners without losing clarity and security?

Try it now: check with your IT team whether the connection to your next partner’s organisation is in place, set up a Shared channel for the project and invite the other side straight in. 🚀