M365: Using an External Microsoft Account for Collaboration with USNH

Summary

This article explains the options for using an external Microsoft account to collaborate on USNH Microsoft documents.

 

Content

People who are not current, active students, faculty, staff, or sponsored users at one of the USNH institutions are considered "external" to the USNH Microsoft M365 environment or "tenant".  External users must be invited into the USNH tenant in order to be able to collaborate on shared documents.  While view-only access is possible for some documents, users must be invited into the tenant to edit or comment on shared documents.

To accept the invitation as an external user, you must have a Microsoft account to log into and the invitation must be sent to the email address associated with that Microsoft account. 

IMPORTANT:  The mandated MFA requirement for the USNH Microsoft environment is required for anyone accessing USNH resources via an external email account.  Instructions for setting up MFA can be found via our Article:  MFA: Setting up Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for M365   

Choose one of these three options for the Microsoft account you use for external sharing from USNH.  

 

How-To

Task: To use an external Microsoft work, school, or institutional account

 

Instructions

Step 1 - Confirm you have access to your Microsoft account email Inbox

Step 1a - Browse to outlook.office.com 

Step 1b - Sign in with your external Microsoft work, school, or institutional account email address or appropriate credentials

Step 2 - Confirm you know what your email address is for this account.  If you already do know it, skip to Step 3.

Step 2a - Click "New mail" in the upper left to start a new email message.

Step 2b - Click the "Options" tab in the top menu bar.

Step 2c - Check the box to "Show From"

Step 2d - Look in the "From" field - your default email address will appear

Step 3 - Ask your USNH contacts to invite this email address to the USNH tenant as an external collaborator

Step 4 - When you receive the email invitation from Microsoft, click the link to access the USNH shared site - using that link in the invitation email "accepts" your invitation.

In this example, you would click New Site:

 

Outcome

You should be able to collaborate on USNH documents to which you have been invited using this email address.

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Task: To use a personal Microsoft account

 

Instructions

Step 1 - Confirm you have access to your Microsoft account email Inbox

Step 1a - Browse to outlook.office.com 

Step 1b - Sign in with your personal Microsoft account email address

Step 2 - Confirm you know what your email address is for this account.  If you already do know it, skip to Step 3.

Step 2a - Click "New mail" in the upper left to start a new email message.

Step 2b - Click the "Options" tab in the top menu bar.

Step 2c - Check the box to "Show From"

Step 2d - Look in the "From" field - your default email address will appear

Step 3 - Ask your USNH contacts to invite this email address to the USNH tenant as an external collaborator

Step 4 - When you receive the email invitation from Microsoft, click the link to access the USNH shared site - using that link in the invitation email "accepts" your invitation.

In this example, you would click New Site:

 

Outcome

You should be able to collaborate on USNH documents to which you have been invited using this email address.

Back to top

 

Task: To create a new personal Microsoft account

 

See How to create a new Microsoft account - with video or follow these steps.

Instructions

Step 1 - Browse to account.microsoft.com

Step 2 - Click "Sign in"

Step 3 - Below the blank, click on the "No account? Create one!" link.

Step 4 Option A - Type in your already-existing personal email address to use for your Microsoft account login and communication.  You may need to log into that email account to get a security code during the setup process, so be sure your personal Inbox is available before you continue.

OR

Step 4 Option B - If you'd rather create a new Microsoft email address to use for this Microsoft account, click the "Get a new email address" link.

  • Type in the email address you want and choose @outlook.com or @hotmail.com from the drop-down box.  When you click "Next", Microsoft will tell you if that email address is already taken and offer you the chance to type a different one or see some similar, available addresses. 

Step 5 - Click Next, and then follow the instructions to set up a password and the rest of the account information required by Microsoft.

 

Outcome

You have created a Microsoft account which you can use for collaborating with USNH as an external user.  Continue with the task: To use a personal Microsoft account.

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Further Readings

Outlook: Adding Members to your M365 Group

outlook.office.com  

account.microsoft.com 

How to create a new Microsoft account - with video

 

Need additional help?

For assistance concerning site creation, content sharing, file synchronization, or other common SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, or Office app activities, we recommend our Microsoft 365 Learning sites:

Learn more about the great tools our Microsoft 365 Learning sites offer!

Visit the Technology Help Desk Support page to locate your local campus contact information or to submit an online technology support request.  For password issues you must call or visit the Help Desk in person.  

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