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SharePoint Online

How to Track All Site Access Requests in SharePoint Online

Access requests in SharePoint Online allow users to seek permission to use restricted sites, files, or folders. This helps prevent unauthorized access and ensures that legitimate users can access content after approval. However, if these requests are not managed properly, users may face delays and oversight can weaken. This guide explains how to track and manage all SharePoint Online site access requests to maintain full control over access approvals across your organization.

Microsoft 365 tools
Solution 1
Solution 2
Solution 3
Important Tips
Errors and Resolution Steps
FAQs

Audit Site Access Requests Created Using Microsoft Purview

Microsoft 365 Permission Required
View-Only Audit Logs Least Privilege
Global Admin Most Privilege
  • Log in to the Microsoft Purview compliance portal.
  • Navigate to Solution » Audit » Search.
  • Customize the Date and time range as required. Then, search and select the following operation in the Activities - friendly names field.

    Created Access Request

  • Choose SharePoint from the Workloads dropdown and click Search.
  • Once the search is completed, click the result to view all SharePoint site access requests created within the specific timeframe.
Audit Site Access Requests Created Using Microsoft Purview

Export SharePoint Site Access Requests Report Using PowerShell

Microsoft 365 Permission Required
View-Only Audit Logs Least Privilege
Global Admin Most Privilege
  • Connect to the Exchange Online PowerShell module using the cmdlet below.
  • Windows PowerShell Windows PowerShell 
     Connect-ExchangeOnline
  • Run the cmdlet below to get all access requests created records for SharePoint Online sites using PowerShell.
  • Replace "<MM/DD/YYYY>" with the required start and end dates to filter the logs for a specific amount of time.
  • Windows PowerShell Windows PowerShell 
     Search-UnifiedAuditLog -StartDate <MM/DD/YYYY> -EndDate <MM/DD/YYYY> -RecordType SharePointSharingOperation -Operations AccessRequestCreated |
ForEach-Object { $d = $_.AuditData |
	ConvertFrom-Json; [pscustomobject]@{
	RecordType = $.RecordType;
	CreationDate = $_.CreationDate;
	UserIds = $_.UserIds;
	Operation = $d.Operation;
	ObjectId = $d.ObjectId
	}}
Export SharePoint Site Access Requests Report Using PowerShell
AdminDroid SharePoint Online Reporter

Monitor Site Access Requests Created in SharePoint Online to Maintain Proper Governance!

AdminDroid’s SharePoint Online auditing tool offers instant visibility into access request activities across all sites. It provides detailed reports on key access metrics, such as site usage summaries, sharing activity, site access traffic trends, links & invitations, and more. This helps you monitor how SharePoint Online sites are accessed and ensures your Microsoft environment remains secure and well-governed.

Access All SharePoint Online Site Request Logs in One Place

Get a complete overview of SharePoint Online access requests with key insights such as daily request trends, approval & denial patterns, and more in one centralized location.

Detect and Act on Revised SharePoint Site Access Requests

Track all updated access requests across SharePoint Online sites to identify and act on the most recent request submitted by a user.

Review Org Wide Site Access Request Activity by External Users

Monitor external user access request activity in SharePoint Online to ensure proper oversight of requests created, approved, or denied by users outside your organization.

Analyze Accepted Request to Ensure Proper Access Levels

Review accepted access requests to prevent unauthorized approvals and ensure users are granted only the permission required for their tasks.

Stop Unapproved Site Access via Anonymous Sharing Links

Audit and remove anonymous link creations in SharePoint Online to prevent users from accessing your site without approval.

Catch Risky Updates in Site Access Request Settings

Keep an eye on access request settings changes in SharePoint Online to quickly detect unusual updates, especially on sensitive sites across your organization.

In conclusion, AdminDroid’s SharePoint Online management tool equips you with powerful real-time insights into SharePoint Online site access requests. Beyond detailed insights, it streamlines key administrative tasks such as managing sharing settings, controlling site access, and handling permissions. This makes SharePoint reporting and management simpler and more efficient than ever before.

Explore a full range of reporting options
Download Live Demo

Important Tips

Set up guest access expiration on Sharepoint Online sites to automatically revoke access granted to external users after a specific number of days.

Limit domain Sharing in Sharepoint to allow site access requests solely from trusted tenants and reduce the risk of unauthorized or excessive external sharing.

Avoid granting high level permission such as site owners while approving access requests unless necessary, to prevent unwanted activity on SharePoint sites.

Common Errors and Resolution Steps

The following are possible errors and troubleshooting hints while checking SharePoint site access requests.

Error Sorry, we're having trouble figuring out if activity is being recorded. Try refreshing the page.

This error occurs in Microsoft Purview audit search when you don't have sufficient permissions to access audit logs.

Fix

To fix, assign the required role by going to the Microsoft Entra Admin Center » Roles & Administrators » select Compliance Administrator or Audit Log Reader » assign the role to the intended user.

Error Access Denied john@contoso.onmicrosoft.com does not have permissions to access this resource.

This error occurs when you try to open pending access requests for a SharePoint Online site with full control access.

Fix

Ensure to have the site owner or site admin role before managing SharePoint access requests.

Error Search-UnifiedAuditLog: The term 'Search-UnifiedAuditLog' is not recognized as a name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or executable program.

This error occurs in PowerShell when you run the Search-UnifiedAuditLog cmdlet before connecting to Exchange Online PowerShell.

Fix

Connect the Exchange Online PowerShell module using the following cmdlet, and rerun the audit logs cmdlet.

Connect-ExchangeOnline

Error Connect-PnPOnline: Specified method is not supported.

This error occurs in PowerShell when using -Interactive authentication without specifying a Client ID.

Fix

Register an application in Microsoft Entra ID, then use its Client ID in the following cmdlet to connect PnP PowerShell.

Connect-PnPOnline -Url "https://<Tenantname>-admin.sharepoint.com" -ClientId "<AppClientID>" -Interactive

1. How to manage access request setting in SharePoint online?

Access request setting in SharePoint Online helps you manage how users interact with restricted site content. You can decide whether users can request permission to use sites or if access should be limited strictly to users who have been granted direct permissions.

These settings are applied at the site level, which allows you to configure access requests separately for each site based on its sensitivity or intended purpose.

Note: Only users with site owner, site collection admin, or full control permissions can manage access request settings in a SharePoint Online site.

Update access request settings for a site in SharePoint Online

  • Log in to the Sharepoint Online admin center.
  • Navigate to Sites » Active sites.
  • Select the site where you want to manage access request settings.
  • On the site, click the Settings(⚙️) and choose Site permissions.
  • Under Site Sharing, click Change how members can share.
  • Toggle the Allow access requests switch to either enable or disable site requests.
  • Click Save to apply the changes.
access-request-settings-in-sharepoint-site

Note: By default, when access requests are enabled, emails are sent to site owners. If you want to forward access request emails to other users, choose Specify email option and enter the desired recipient’s email address.

Configure SharePoint Online site access request settings using PowerShell

Manually updating access request settings for each SharePoint Online site can be time-consuming. PowerShell simplifies the task by allowing you to make changes quickly across multiple sites.

Enable access request settings using PowerShell

  • Run the following cmdlet to connect to the SharePoint Online site using PowerShell.
    Connect-PnPOnline -Url "<SharePointSiteAddress>" -ClientId "<AppClientId>" -Interactive

    Replace <SharePointSiteAddress> with the SharePoint site URL and <AppClientId> with the Client ID of the Microsoft Entra application.

  • Run the following cmdlet to enable access request settings on a SharePoint Online site.
    Set-PnPRequestAccessEmails

    This command configures the site to allow access requests, with site owners automatically set as the recipients.

  • If you want access requests to be sent to users other than the site owners, use the -Emails parameter as follows.
    Set-PnPRequestAccessEmails -Emails "<EmailId>"

    Replace <EmailID> with the email address of the user or group who should receive access request notifications for the SharePoint site. This directs notifications to the specified recipients instead of the default site owners.

Disable access request settings in SharePoint Online using PowerShell

Connect to the SharePoint Online site and run the cmdlet below to disable access requests for the site.

Set-PnPRequestAccessEmails -Disabled

Easily Manage SharePoint Online Access Request Settings Across All Sites with AdminDroid!

  • The update access request settings action allows you to configure access request settings for all SharePoint Online sites from a single, user-friendly interface. Using this action, you can manage access requests for sites where you don’t have ownership or full control permissions.
  • With the bulk update feature, you can apply changes across multiple sites in just a few clicks. Simply select the sites, choose the desired option, and click Update, and let AdminDroid handle the rest.
update-access-request-settings-in-droid

2. How to manage created SharePoint Online site access requests?

In SharePoint Online, access requests submitted by users are directed to the site owners, or the designated users for approval or rejection. These people have the authority to manage these SharePoint Online access requests based on the relevance and sensitivity of the SharePoint Online site. The site access requests can be managed in both a SharePoint Online site or outlook.

Manage access request in SharePoint Online site

  • Login to the SharePoint Online site.
  • On the top right, click Settings, and select Site Information » View all site settings.
  • Under User and Permissions click Access request and invitations.
  • In PENDING REQUESTS, you can view all the access requests submitted for the specific SharePoint Online site.
  • Review the request and choose one of the following actions:
    • Approve : Click the permission dropdown, select the appropriate permission level (eg..,read, edit, full control),then select APPROVE the request to grant access.
    • Decline : Click DECLINE to reject the access request if you don’t want the users to access the site or its content.
manage-access-request-in-sharepoint-site

Note: The Access requests and invitations option will only appear if at least one access request has been submitted for the site.

Review pending site access requests using Outlook

Follow the steps below to manage SharePoint site access requests via Outlook.

  • Log in to Outlook.
  • Use the search bar to look for emails from SharePoint Online.
  • Find and click the access request email to view the requester’s details and the content they want to access.
  • Respond to the site access request email by choosing one of the following actions.
    • Approve : Select the appropriate permission level and click Approve to grant access.
    • Decline : Click Decline if you do not wish to provide access to the site or its contents.
manage-access-request-in-outlook

3. How to send access requests to multiple e-mail addresses in SharePoint Online?

In SharePoint Online, access requests are sent to site owners by default. However, you can choose to redirect these requests to a specific email address. When doing so, SharePoint only allows you to enter one email address. Attempting to add more than one results in the following error:

"Set-PnPRequestAccessEmails: Request access email is not valid."

This limitation becomes a challenge when access requests need to be sent to multiple users. To overcome the challenge of sending access requests to multiple users, create a distribution list or shared mailbox with all intended recipients.

Once created, update the SharePoint access request settings with its email address to ensure all relevant users receive the notifications.

Configure access request email settings in SharePoint Online site

  • Open the SharePoint Online site.
  • Navigate to Settings » Site permissions » Site Sharing.
  • Click Change how members can share and then enable Access Request.
  • Choose 'Specific email' and enter the email address of the group or shared mailbox.
  • Click Save to direct site access requests emails to multiple users.
send-site-access-request-to-multiple-emails

4. How to view SharePoint site access request history?

Access request history in SharePoint Online helps you track how past access requests were handled. You can see whether requests were approved or declined, and identify any that were left unreviewed to maintain a clear audit trail.

This insights allows you to detect patterns such as repeated or unauthorized access attempts and verify that access decisions were managed appropriately.

Follow the steps below to view access request history for a particular SharePoint site.

  • Log in to a SharePoint Online site.
  • Navigate to Settings and click Site Information » View all site settings.
  • Under User and Permissions click Access request and invitations.
  • Hit SHOW HISTORY to view all the access requests created for the specific SharePoint Online site.
access-request-history-for-a-sharepoint-site

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