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Create and Manage Guest Users Using B2B Collaboration in Microsoft 365

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In today’s digital-first and collaboration-heavy world, extending access to your organization’s resources to partners, vendors, and contractors is not just common—it’s essential. Microsoft 365 provides a powerful and secure way to enable this through Azure Active Directory B2B collaboration.

With Azure AD B2B (Business-to-Business), organizations can invite guest users from external domains to collaborate seamlessly within Microsoft 365 services like Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive—without compromising security or governance.

In this blog post, we’ll walk through how to create and manage guest users using B2B collaboration in Microsoft 365.

What Is Azure AD B2B Collaboration?

Azure AD B2B allows you to securely share your apps and services with guest users from any organization, while maintaining control over your corporate data. Guest users can use their own credentials to access resources, reducing the overhead of managing external accounts.

Benefits:

  • Centralized access management
  • Multi-factor authentication (MFA) enforcement
  • Conditional Access policies
  • Audit logging and reporting
  • Integration with Microsoft 365 services (e.g., Teams, SharePoint)

Step-by-Step: Inviting Guest Users

1. Using the Microsoft Entra Admin Center

You can add guest users directly via the portal:

  • Go to Microsoft Entra admin center → Users → New guest user
  • Choose Invite user
  • Fill in the details like:
    • Name
    • Email address
    • Optional personal message
  • Click Invite

An invitation email is sent to the guest user with a link to access your tenant’s resources.

2. Using Microsoft Teams

From within Teams:

  • Go to the Team where you want to add a guest
  • Click More options (•••) → Manage team → Members
  • Select Add member → Enter the guest’s email address
  • Choose Add as guest

Once accepted, the guest user will have access based on the team settings.

3. Using PowerShell

Admins can automate invitations with PowerShell:

powershellCopyEditConnect-AzureAD
New-AzureADMSInvitation -InvitedUserEmailAddress "guest@example.com" `
  -InviteRedirectUrl "https://myapps.microsoft.com" `
  -SendInvitationMessage $true

Managing Guest Users

1. Viewing and Editing Guest Accounts

  • Go to Microsoft Entra admin center → Users
  • Filter by User type = Guest
  • Click on a user to manage properties, reset passwords, or block sign-ins

2. Access Reviews

Use Access Reviews (part of Microsoft Entra Identity Governance) to review guest access periodically:

  • Configure automatic reviews
  • Require justification or approval from resource owners
  • Remove access automatically if not reviewed

3. Conditional Access Policies

Apply Conditional Access to guests:

  • Require MFA
  • Restrict access to specific locations or devices
  • Block legacy authentication

Best Practices

  • Use groups: Assign guests to security or Microsoft 365 groups for easy management.
  • Label external users: Use naming conventions or dynamic groups to distinguish guests.
  • Enable Terms of Use: Enforce acknowledgment of policies before access is granted.
  • Monitor activity: Use sign-in logs, audit logs, and Microsoft Purview for visibility.
  • Review regularly: Implement lifecycle policies and remove inactive accounts.

Wrapping Up

Azure AD B2B in Microsoft 365 is a robust solution that helps organizations collaborate with external users without losing control. With proper policies and governance in place, you can strike the right balance between productivity and security.

Are you currently using B2B collaboration in your Microsoft 365 environment? If not, now is the time to start!