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Microsoft Search Does Not Show Guest Accounts in People Results: Explained

Rana Garcia Oct 15, 2026 869 views

Question details

Guest accounts do not appear in Microsoft Search People results, even though they are visible in classic SharePoint Search.

Microsoft Search Does Not Show Guest Accounts in People Results: Explained

Product: Microsoft Search
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Administrators or users are trying to search for guest accounts in Microsoft Search or attempting to configure search visibility for external users.
Observed behavior: Guest accounts are completely hidden from Microsoft Search People results, and tenant-level or site-collection custom result sources fail to override this behavior.

Before you start

Verify your administrative permissions in the Microsoft 365 admin center and confirm whether you are comparing modern Microsoft Search results with classic SharePoint Search results.

Solution 1Recommended

Acknowledge Microsoft Search Limitations for Guest Accounts

Recognize that this is the expected behavior, as Microsoft Search currently does not support broad customization for guest accounts in People results.

Microsoft Search is designed with different default behaviors compared to legacy SharePoint Search. Currently, Microsoft Search cannot be broadly customized by search administrators to include guest accounts in People results.

If Microsoft Search is deployed via the Microsoft 365 admin center, any custom result sources configured at the site collection or tenant level will not override this default behavior.

Check Microsoft Search settings

Navigate to the Microsoft 365 admin center and go to Settings > Search & intelligence to view your current configurations and understand the available scopes.

Review custom result sources

Acknowledge that any existing custom result sources created in the SharePoint admin center will not alter how Microsoft Search handles guest accounts in the People tab.

Acknowledge Microsoft Search Limitations for Guest Accounts

Expected Behavior: The absence of guest accounts in these results is currently by design in Microsoft Search and is not a bug or misconfiguration in your specific tenant.

Solution 2

Use Classic SharePoint Search for Guest Account Visibility

If finding guest accounts via search is strictly necessary for your workflow, utilize classic SharePoint Search where these accounts are still indexed.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why do guest accounts appear in SharePoint Search but not Microsoft Search?

Microsoft Search uses a different backend index and set of rules that currently restrict guest accounts from appearing in the modern People results, whereas classic SharePoint Search still indexes and displays them based on older search schemas.

Can I use custom result sources to force guest accounts to appear in Microsoft Search?

No. Custom result sources configured at the tenant or site collection level do not override the default behavior of Microsoft Search People results.

Is there a way for administrators to customize Microsoft Search to show these accounts?

Currently, Microsoft Search does not provide search administrators with the ability to broadly customize or override the visibility of guest accounts in the People results tab.

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