Control External User Access to Microsoft Teams

THE PROBLEM

Microsoft 365 guest access wasn’t built for how you onboard.

Vendors, contractors, partners all need access for a while, then never again. But Entra ID doesn't know that. Without governance, guest accounts pile up, permissions linger, and your next audit becomes an Excel manhunt.

Forgotten Guest Accounts

Pain: Ex-vendors and former contractors still hold access months after their project ended.

Consequence: Unmanaged identities are a top GDPR red flag and the first thing auditors ask about.

No Visibility Across Tenants

Pain: Hundreds of guests spread across Teams, SharePoint, and channels, with no central overview and no way to filter by domain or activity.

Consequence: When IT needs to answer 'who has access to what?', the answer takes days of manual reconciliation in spreadsheets.

Native Tools Don’t Scale

Pain: Entra ID guest policies are too coarse. Domain rules apply tenant-wide, access reviews need Entra ID P2, and there's no audit report per guest.

Consequence: IT either over-blocks and frustrates project teams, or under-blocks and risks compliance findings. Both lose.

THE SOLUTION

External user governance that actually scales.

Self-service requests for your teams. Regular access reviews. An audit report for every guest.

STEP 01

Invite with guardrails

Your employees request guests through a guided form. IT defines domain rules, approvers, and the review interval, applied automatically.

STEP 02

Review without reminders

Approvers confirm each guest on a fixed interval. Denied guests are removed automatically. No manual cleanup, no forgotten accounts.

STEP 03

Audit any guest

Download a PDF report per guest or guest organization, with teams, requests, and lifecycle. Export the full guest list as CSV.

THE APPS BEHIND IT

Built on the apps IT trusts for guest governance.

Core governance & lifecycle

Teams Manager

The governance foundation: Teams Manager governs the broader Teams environment (provisioning, naming, lifecycle) alongside structured guest access.

Approval workflows without PowerShell
Automatic archiving with lifecycle policies
A common choice for teams moving from ShareGate Provisioning

Explore Teams Manager →

Governance score and active spaces in the Teams Manager admin dashboard

Guest & external access control

External User Manager

Know exactly who from outside your tenant has access to what, and remove access that's no longer needed.

Periodic access reviews for guest accounts
Domain-based invitation rules
PDF audit reports per guest and organization

Explore External User Manager →

Guest access under control with External User Manager, overview of externals

External users under control: IT teams tell the story.

Hear from organizations that replaced their guest-management spreadsheets with structured external user governance.

External User Manager is very easy to use, super fast to install and a great addition to an extensive governance strategy even for SMBs. It is our GO TO application when it comes to guest management in Microsoft 365.

Christian Gorn

Sales Representative, GABO mbH & Co. KG

With External User Manager, we know exactly which guest users have access to which channels and files. The approval process helps us keep a better overview. And the onboarding portal allows us to comply with company regulations by having our guest users sign an NDA beforehand.

Artur Strzalkowski

Team Lead Microsoft 365 Consulting, Digital Touch

With Teams Manager and External User Manager, managing Microsoft Teams runs on autopilot. We don't have to worry about anything and still have full overview and control over all guests and teams.

Michaël Schmitt

Network Administrator, Bioland e.V.

We immediately realized that this was exactly what we needed because we were looking for a manager that offered an automated approval process and clear reporting.

Dimitri Morgenstern

IT System Administrator, riha Wesergold GmbH & Co. KG

There are always customers who need a better and more controllable way for guests in their tenant. Especially when the responsible person for a guest is not in IT. External User Manager provides a quick and easy set of features that helps many customers with their requirements.

Hendrike Seidt

IT Consultant, Bechtle AG

Teams Manager has been helping us keep our Microsoft 365 environment organized and clean for 3 years. Since 2022 we also have External User Manager on board for our guest management. We are completely satisfied with Solutions2Share and the Teams apps.

Guenther Kerndl

Interzero Circular Solutions Europe GmbH

CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORIES

See how IT teams across industries use Solutions2Share to take control of Microsoft 365.

Teams Manager at IT-HAUS, case study on structure and lifecycle in Microsoft Teams

IT service and systems provider

Structure and governance in M365 at IT-HAUS GmbH

IT-HAUS brings structure to a fast-growing Microsoft Teams environment with Teams Manager: standardized templates, a clear creation process, and automatic cleanup of inactive teams.

Read Story →

Teams Manager and External User Manager at riha WeserGold, structure and automation in M365

Beverage manufacturer

Structure and automation in M365: How riha WeserGold saves significant time

riha WeserGold saves 50% time in team and guest management with Teams Manager and External User Manager, automating approval processes and external access control.

Read Story →

Teams Manager and External User Manager at Ernsting's family, M365 governance case study

Textile retail

Governance made easy: Ernsting's family relies on Teams Manager and External User Manager

Ernsting's family migrated from a competing governance tool to Teams Manager and External User Manager for more intuitive M365 governance.

Read Story →

View All Customer Stories →

FAQ

External user management: common questions answered.

What’s the difference between Microsoft’s native guest access and External User Manager?

Entra ID provides guest invitations, tenant-wide domain lists, and conditional access. Access reviews need Entra ID P2, and there's no audit report per guest. External User Manager adds a governance layer on top: structured invitations, periodic access reviews, audit reports per guest, and one dashboard for all your guests.

What audit reports does External User Manager provide?

For each guest, and for each guest organization, you can download an audit report as a PDF. It lists the teams, active and past requests, and the guest’s lifecycle. If guests confirm or sign documents during onboarding, a separate PDF report shows who signed what. The guest list exports as CSV.

How does External User Manager remove guests who no longer need access?

Through periodic access reviews. You set one review interval for your tenant, 30 days by default. Approvers confirm or deny each guest. Denied guests leave the team, including its SharePoint site and channels. Their guest account is deleted if they have no other access. Unanswered reviews can lead to removal too, after a grace period.

We have hundreds of existing guest accounts. Can External User Manager clean them up?

Yes. External User Manager scans your tenant daily and lists guests that weren't invited through it on a separate tab, with their teams, sponsor, and last sign-in. You can remove them in bulk or import them into External User Manager. Optionally, these guests are removed automatically after a period of inactivity.

How does External User Manager integrate with Entra ID conditional access?

External User Manager sits on top of Entra ID. It doesn't replace conditional access, sensitivity labels, or DLP. Instead it adds the governance layer Microsoft doesn't ship: team-based guest lifecycle, domain rules, and centralized reporting. The two tools complement each other.

What’s the typical rollout time for External User Manager?

Installation and setup usually take one to two days. If you'd like help, our optional implementation support brings governance best practices and industry templates from our customer projects.

Guests in Microsoft 365, without the blind spots.

Microsoft 365 guest access wasn’t built for how you onboard.

Forgotten Guest Accounts

No Visibility Across Tenants

Native Tools Don’t Scale

External user governance that actually scales.

Invite with guardrails

Review without reminders

Audit any guest

Get the guest governance playbook.

Built on the apps IT trusts for guest governance.

Teams Manager

External User Manager

External users under control: IT teams tell the story.

Christian Gorn

Artur Strzalkowski

Michaël Schmitt

Dimitri Morgenstern

Hendrike Seidt

Guenther Kerndl

CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORIES

Structure and governance in M365 at IT-HAUS GmbH

Structure and automation in M365: How riha WeserGold saves significant time

Governance made easy: Ernsting's family relies on Teams Manager and External User Manager

Take the next step on guest governance.

Microsoft Teams Governance Guide

Microsoft Teams Governance Checklist

Governance Problems & Solutions

External user management: common questions answered.

Ready to take control of your guest access?

Apps

Company

Resources