Permission & Access Issues

How to Give External Users Read Access to SharePoint Sites

Maira Mehtab Sep 21, 2026 868 views

Question details

The user needs to grant an external guest read-only permissions to a SharePoint site, which requires configuring specific organizational and site-level sharing settings.

Product: Microsoft SharePoint
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Collaborating securely by sharing a SharePoint site with an external user while restricting their permissions to view-only.
Observed behavior: External sharing must be explicitly enabled at both the organization and site levels, and specific read permissions must be assigned to the external user's email address to trigger the authentication invitation.

Before you start

Ensure you have SharePoint Administrator or Global Administrator privileges to modify organizational policies, and that you are an owner of the specific site you wish to share.

Solution 1Recommended

Enable External Sharing in the SharePoint Admin Center

Activate external sharing capabilities across your tenant and for the specific site to allow guest access.

Before you can share a site with someone outside your organization, external sharing must be enabled globally in your tenant policies.

Access Admin Center

Modify Sharing Policies

In the left navigation pane, expand 'Policies' and click on 'Sharing'.

Adjust External Sharing

Under 'External sharing', adjust the slider for SharePoint to allow 'New and existing guests' or 'Anyone'.

Verify Site Settings

Save the changes, then navigate to 'Sites' > 'Active sites' to ensure external sharing is also enabled for your target site.

Solution 2

Grant Read Permissions to the External User

Directly invite the external user to the site with a restricted read-only permission level.

Solution 3

Troubleshoot Missing Administrator Settings

Resolve issues where external sharing options are missing despite having Global Administrator rights.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can an external user access the SharePoint site without a Microsoft account?

Yes, depending on your sharing settings, external users can access the site using a one-time passcode sent to their email, without needing to create a dedicated Microsoft account.

What does the 'Read' permission level allow external users to do?

The Read permission level allows external users to view pages, open items, and download documents, but they cannot edit, delete, or upload new files to the SharePoint site.

Why is the 'Share site only' option grayed out or missing?

This option may be missing if external sharing is disabled at the tenant or site level, or if you do not have Full Control or Site Owner permissions for that specific SharePoint site.

Document & File Issues