r/SysAdmin: Sharing Files with External Users in Teams

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This article archives a conversation, which took place in a subreddit post (original source linked below) and to which I contributed a solution or answer (with the u/MasterofSynapse handle), in a Q&A format.

Original Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/wmp08t/sharing_files_with_external_users_in_teams/

Question

I am looking for some simple options for our users to share documents to external users via Teams. We recently acquired a company that is also using Microsoft 365. For some reason, I cannot figure out a way to drag and drop a files in to a Teams chat for external users. It works fine for guest accounts but we do not really want to invite every user in to our tenant as guests, and vice versa. We already have Teams looking up external users in each other's tenants. It appears the Microsoft documentation states sharing of documents in Teams is not supported.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Answer

If the "external users" are just known people with MS365 accounts, then Microsoft recently implemented the perfect tool for you. It's called Shared Teams channels. Usually, a Teams team would only be available to users in the same tenant or invited guests. But now you can basically type the mail address of the external user into the shared channel and they get access, right next to the teams in their tenant. And all can access the "Files" tab in that channel.

If you don't have the luxury of exclusively working with other MS365 companies then create shared files /& folders like /u/St0nywall suggested.

Just be sure to configure a link expiry in the Sharepoint Admin center to protect your files. And, if possible, limit the sharing for any anonymous users to some trusty staff through an AzureAD security group.