SharePoint Online 2013 - Sharing with external users - Part 2

I wrote an article about sharing SharePoint Online 2013 with external users. SharePoint Online 2013 comes with the amazing new feature to send an anonymous link. The external user can open an Office document (this only works for documents) in the browser.  It's a very useful feature in project scenario's. The situation can always arise were you want to collaborate with external users were they can add items or documents.



To do this you need to click at Share at the top right corner of the site:

You probably noticed that I am using a Gmail address! After my last article I wasn't certain if we could use a non Microsoft e-mail account such as Gmail or Contoso. I contacted Microsoft and got referred to two excellent articles:

Share a site with external users

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/office365-sharepoint-online-small-business-help/share-a-site-with-external-users-HA101850586.aspx

Manage sharing with external users
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint-help/manage-sharing-with-external-users-HA102849862.aspx

The external user can connect an existing e-mail account, such as Gmail, to a Microsoft account. Just refer them to the following site:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/office365-sharepoint-online-small-business-help/redir/XT101810845.aspx?CTT=5&origin=HA101850586

This works like a charm, I connected my Gmail account so let's continue!

My Gmail account received the invitation and I can click at the green button. The following appears:

I click at the second icon and I am required to sign in with my Gmail account:

Pretty cool right? This makes SharePoint Online really accessible for every user.

Posted in: SharePoint Online 2013