Permissions on Document/page library - Read access for external users without office 365 account

Question

It should be possible to enable certain libraries for customers. The customers should be able to read documents/sites. A normal link should be shared with the customers, so that they can access my wiki and visit some document/page libraries - the customers should view it like a normal page.

So far I have only found out that single documents can be shared with guests. You can also authorize these guests like normal users in sharepoint, right?! External users have to create an office 365 account to access the pages/document. This is not desired!

My question summarized:

• a normal link
• no office 365 account required
• grant external users access to my wiki and there to some libraries

How can I implement my requirements?

Answer 1

I'm afraid your needs won't be met.

By design, guest link only for documents, if you want to share the site to these users, then they must register their account.

1.Sharing documents as a guest link does not required the sign in.

Share a link to a non-sensitive or non-confidential document with people outside your organization so that they can either view it or update it with feedback. These people do not require ongoing access to content on your internal site.

More information: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-OneDrive-Blog/Introducing-a-new-secure-external-sharing-experience/ba-p/112624/page/3

2.But if you want share a site or need more trail who access the file / sites then you need to share it with sign in option.

Users who receive an email must sign in with any Microsoft domain email account (hotmail.com, live.com, outlook.com, or other Office 365 accounts). If they don't have an account, they must first create one.

Answer 2

if you are going to do it manually, then you need to follow this steps:

1. create a guest user using the customer email
2. the customer will receive an invitation by email, he will click on that, create his own password then he will have a Microsoft Account (not an organisational account, not a O365 account)
3. Now, you need to access to your page (the one who you want to share it)
4. go to it permission, and Break the inheritance
5. now you need to Grant permission, enter your customer's name (the one who you created in the 1st step), and choose the Read permission
6. The customer will receive an email and he will be able to read the page you just shared with him

Very IMPORTANT note: you need to access to your Admin Center → SharePoint Admin Center → Active Sites → Select your Site → Click on Sharing option → Choose "Existing Guest Only" and don't forget to enable external sharing too

I hope this will answer your issue.

Best regards