External Sharing via SharePoint - Basic Info and Notes

External Sharing via SharePoint - Basic Info and Notes

Overview

We have two primary ways of sharing with external users who need access to documents from us, or need to share documents with us. One is for ongoing collaboration (often with contractors, consultants, or committee members), the other is for limited (in time and amount of data) use, and meant to be temporary.

The External Client Share is primarily in use by Lending (for now and this link is only visible to Lending members), and allows us to securely share documents with clients.

The External Share site is an umbrella site that houses a handful of other sites for other departments that are working on an extended basis with specific people and/or organizations.

For the External Client Share, the documents are shared out by folder, and our internal users can set this up (with instruction) and share files as needed. For many users, they only need an email address and a passcode to get their files. The exception is that, if the email address they wish to use has been used in any other Microsoft environment, they will be prompted for a password, and not given a code. See screenshots below.

The External Share (for extended use) requires that a subsite be established by IT for the department requesting it. Based on the requirements, permissions are established for external users, requiring that they use an email address of their choosing, and a password. This becomes a Microsoft-recognized email address and essentially their login id for any site/folder/library we give them access to.

For the External Share (contractor/consultant), this is the sequence of events

Step 1: IT triggers automated email

  1. IT creates the subsite and sets up the permissions for internal users. IT also sends out an invitation to the external users. Usually this permission is limited to a specific library in that site -- not to the whole site, as other parts of the site may be used for other functions with other users. The email the external user will receive will look like this:

Example of the email that the external user gets, After the invitation is sent out.

Step 2: User clicks link, chooses account type

2. After the external user clicks on the link (the name of the library being shared, highlighted in orange above), their browser will open to our SharePoint online site, where they will see a message similar to the one below. 

They must choose to use 1) an existing Microsoft account (often a "personal" account that is somehow tied to Microsoft), 2) a work account (that is tied to Microsoft), or, 3) if they have no Microsoft account, they can create one. If they choose to try a Microsoft-related account (first or second option), they will be prompted for the email address (as their login id) and then their password. If they choose the third option, they can choose to create a new account. See more about this option below.

NOTE: If a user is unsure if they have a related Microsoft account, or unsure what type of related account (personal or organizational), it does not hurt to try multiple options to determine which one they have. They can use the BACK button in their browser through all the steps below to simply go back one step to try a different option.



Options external users see after clicking on the link in the email.

Step 3a: User signs in

3a. If the user has a Microsoft-connected account, or a Microsoft organizational account, they select the appropriate option and then enter their email address to sign in. If not, jump to Step 3b.

I
If the user has a Microsoft-connected account, they see a prompt similar to this, and will be prompted for a password in the next step.

If Microsoft recognizes the email address as one that is used in one of their sites, it will prompt the user for their password.

There is a "Forgot password?" link, if they'd like to reset their password.

Please note that this will reset the password at every login where they use this for Microsoft services. In the example below, if I reset the password, my login/password to my Yahoo email account will not be affected. My Yahoo email address (in this instance) is only my login ID for using Microsoft services. Microsoft systems cannot reset my Yahoo (or any other) password. The password will only be reset for any Microsoft site, service or application where I use this email address as my login ID. Ex: Office 365 (personal), Word (subscription-based), personal OneDrive account, etc.



The password prompt (with a password reset link) for users with accounts tied to Microsoft. 
If Microsoft does NOT recognize the email address as being tied to any Microsoft service, they will let you know. You can click the Back button on the browser to choose a different login option or click Sign-in options for other options.




Step 3b: User creates new Microsoft account

3b. If the user chooses to create a Microsoft account, then they can either use an existing email account (ex: yahoo, gmail, aol, etc.) that is not already tied to any Microsoft services, or, they have the option to get a completely new email address (@outlook.com or @hotmail.com).



To create a new account for use on Microsoft sites, choose your own email address (and connect it to Microsoft), or create a brand new account. 

After these steps, the user should be able to access the site (if they successfully logged in with an existing account), or may need to confirm their account (if they created a new one), and then log in with their new account. 

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