Microsoft Teams' shared channels feature can be used to collaborate with external Microsoft 365 users. Shared channels provide a streamlined experience that has several advantages over the Teams guest user experience:
- External users do not need to be invited to the team; they can just be invited to one or more shared channels in a team.
- External users do not need to "switch organizations" to participate in the external team.
- The notification experience for a shared channel is the same as a standard channel in a team. Customers will no longer need to rely on missed-activity emails.
- External users see the shared channel with their list of all other teams of which they are a member.
- A shared channel can be shared with another team, which allows the external users to work in the channel under an existing team name in their organization.
At this point, CU Boulder users can only invite external users to a shared channel if they are from the following CU campuses:
- University of Colorado Colorado Springs
- University of Colorado Denver
- University of Colorado Anschutz
- University of Colorado System
Guest user vs. external user
A guest user is invited to a team and must sign in to your organization using a Microsoft account. The guest user method involves switching from one organization to another.
An external user can be added to a shared channel and not the team. This allows seamless collaboration with colleagues at other organizations who are configured for shared channel collaboration. It also enhances security by allowing the team owner to only the share files and other channel resources that the external user absolutely must access.
Help Resources
- How to create a shared channel in Teams
- Sharing a shared channel with individual users
- Sharing a shared channel with another team
- Why use a shared channel
- OIT shared channels information
Security and data considerations
Before sharing a channel with outside users, the owners of the team and channels should always take into consideration the type of data being shared and make sure members of the team are aware of best practices when sharing data:
Shared Channels limitations
Guest users (users who are not members of organizations with whom we have set up a relationship in Microsoft 365) cannot be added to a shared channel.
More Information & Support
For more information about shared channels, please request a Teams consult with the Messaging and Collaboration Team.
