How to Get Teams Channels with External Members Report in Microsoft 365

Granting guest user access in Microsoft Teams channels facilitates collaboration with external partners, but it also introduces security challenges. Understanding these risks is essential to ensure sensitive information remains protected.

Below are the key risks to consider when enabling guest access in Microsoft Teams:

Guest users could unintentionally or deliberately access sensitive company data, such as confidential files, private conversations, or project plans, shared within Teams channels. They might also copy, download, or share this information with unauthorized parties, which increases the risk of data breaches.

Guests might accidentally or maliciously send phishing links, spam, or malware, putting your organization’s network at risk. This can expose both internal users and external contacts to security threats.

External users might not be subject to the same internal security policies as employees, making it difficult to ensure consistent adherence to organizational standards for data protection and compliance.

Revoking a guest user’s permissions promptly can be challenging when they no longer require access. Delays or oversights in removal may allow former guests to retain access to confidential data, which increases the risk of unauthorized exposure even after collaboration ends.

While guest access in Microsoft Teams can enhance collaboration, it’s essential for organizations to stay vigilant about the associated risks. By configuring appropriate security settings, restricting access to sensitive data, and continuously monitoring guest activity, organizations can minimize security vulnerabilities.

Adding external users to Teams channels and granting them access to essential resources enhances collaboration by making it more efficient and flexible. However, it’s important to limit their permissions to only what is necessary and to promptly revoke access when it is no longer needed.

Additionally, when any user is added to a team, they are automatically granted access to the general channel. However, for private and shared channels, external users must be added manually.

• The external members / guests in private channels report in AdminDroid provides details, such as team name, channel name, member name, member email, department, job title, country, and more.
• It shows the external member count for each domain, which helps admins identify those with the most external users.

Additionally, you can use the external members in shared channels report to easily identify the external users from a specific shared channel in Teams.

The external domain activity report in the Microsoft Teams admin center tracks communication with approved external domains. It provides detailed insights into 1:1 chats, group chats, and meeting chats. It includes a base version (basic domain-level insights) and a Teams Premium version (more granular details like message counts and specific users communication).

Monitoring external domain activity in Teams helps administrators oversee communication with external users while ensuring security, compliance, and fostering efficient collaboration in chats and meetings across the organization.

While the native methods shows the chat activity of external user, it lacks the detailed audits of external user.

• Monitor external user activities in Teams and channels, such as file sharing or accessing private meetings, to prevent data breaches and unauthorized access to sensitive information.
• This report includes details such as the event time, operation performed, user involved, target resource, and more.

Microsoft Teams supports secure collaboration with external users through three key options: Guest Access, External Access, and Shared Channels. Each serves distinct purposes, enabling businesses to communicate and collaborate efficiently while ensuring compliance and security.

Understanding the differences between External Access, Guest Access and Shared Channels helps admins choose the right method to enable external collaboration while maintaining security and compliance in Microsoft Teams.

Manage external and guest access in Microsoft Teams to control collaboration with external participants. By configuring appropriate permissions, allowing or blocking specific domains, and customizing collaboration levels, you can enhance security while maintaining productivity.