How can I change a guest to a member in Microsoft Teams to allow additional permissions?

Question

How can I change a guest to a member in Microsoft Teams to allow additional permissions?

Evans Darcy 20

I have created a Microsoft Teams team that includes approximately 80 guest users from different NHS organizations. I would like some of these guests to be able to perform actions such as scheduling meetings and sharing resources within the team. However, because they are currently added as guests, their permissions appear to be limited. Is it possible to change a guest user to a member, or otherwise grant them the necessary permissions to schedule meetings and share content while still collaborating across different NHS organizations? If so, what is the best way to do this?

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Answer accepted by question author

BabybooHN 3,040 Independent Advisor

Dear @Evans Darcy

I understand how important it is for your NHS cross-organizational team members to schedule meetings and share resources effectively.

By default, external users added to Microsoft Teams are assigned the Guest user type. In Teams architecture, Guests cannot directly schedule channel or group meetings because they do not host a licensed Exchange mailbox within your local tenant. Additionally, native Teams permissions restrict team roles so that external users cannot simply be toggled to a regular internal "Member" directly within the Teams app interface.

However, you can grant them the elevated capabilities they need through two main solutions depending on your access level:

Solution 1: Change UserType to "Member" via Microsoft Entra ID

If your NHS tenant IT administrators agree, they can elevate an external B2B account's permission level from Guest to External Member in Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD).

Have a Global Administrator sign in to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center > go to Microsoft Entra admin center.
Go to Identity > Users > All users.
Locate and click on the external NHS guest user.
Click Properties > Edit settings under the Identity section.
Change the User type setting from Guest to Member.
Save the changes.

Note: Converting their UserType to Member grants them expanded directory visibility and member-like permissions within your tenant. However, to schedule Teams meetings natively in your tenant, external members may also require an Exchange Online mailbox/license provisioned within your host tenant.

Solution 2: Workarounds for Teams Owners (If you do not have Admin privileges)

If you are a Team Owner without administrative access to Microsoft Entra ID, you can use these practical workarounds to achieve your goals:

For Sharing Resources & Editing Content:

As a Team Owner, click next to the Team name > Manage team > Settings > Guest permissions.
Ensure options like "Allow guests to create and update channels" or "Allow guests to delete channels" are enabled if required.
Ensure SharePoint folder permissions allow Edit access so guests can upload and manage shared files within channels.

For Scheduling Meetings:

"Meet Now" in Channel: Guests can initiate an instant meeting within a team channel if Allow Meet Now in channels is enabled under Guest Policies in the Teams Admin Center.
Host Meetings from their Home NHS Tenant: Guests can schedule the meeting from their own native NHS Outlook/Teams account and invite the rest of the group or post the meeting join link directly into the team channel.

For more information, you can refer to official Microsoft documentation on B2B Guest User Properties and Turn on or off Guest Access in Microsoft Teams.

Please let me know if you need additional assistance.

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BabybooHN 3,040 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-08-18T12:53:01.0933333+00:00

Dear @Evans Darcy

I hope you’re doing well. I just wanted to check in and see how things are going with the steps I shared earlier. If you ran into any difficulties at any point or if something is unclear, please don’t hesitate to let me know. I completely understand that these processes can sometimes be tricky, and I’m here to make it as easy as possible for you.

Feel free to share any details or questions you might have, I’m ready to listen and assist you further
Evans Darcy 20 Reputation points

2026-08-18T12:59:10.82+00:00

Thanks for sharing, I’ll try out your suggestions

1 additional answer

Your answer

BabybooHN 3,040 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-08-18T12:53:01.0933333+00:00

Dear @Evans Darcy

I hope you’re doing well. I just wanted to check in and see how things are going with the steps I shared earlier. If you ran into any difficulties at any point or if something is unclear, please don’t hesitate to let me know. I completely understand that these processes can sometimes be tricky, and I’m here to make it as easy as possible for you.

Feel free to share any details or questions you might have, I’m ready to listen and assist you further
Evans Darcy 20 Reputation points

2026-08-18T12:59:10.82+00:00

Thanks for sharing, I’ll try out your suggestions

Answer 1

No. A guest from a different organization cannot be directly converted to a Teams member in the same way as an internal user. Membership is limited to users in the host organization’s Microsoft Entra ID tenant.

What can be done:

Use guest access with the permissions that are available
- Team owners can allow guests to create, update, or delete channels.
- In Teams, go to team name > More options > Manage team > Settings > Guest permissions.
- This helps with channel collaboration, but it does not remove the built-in guest limitations.
Enable guest access at the tenant level if it is not already enabled
- In the Microsoft 365 admin center, go to Admin centers > Teams.
- In the Teams admin center, go to Users > Guest access.
- Make sure Allow guest access in Teams is On.
For full member-style capabilities, create accounts for those users in the host tenant
- If those external users need broader capabilities, the practical approach is to create accounts for them in the host organization’s tenant and assign the appropriate access there.
- The accepted guidance in the provided material states that external users from another organization cannot be directly changed from guest to member.

Important limitation for the scenario described:

Guests in Teams have limited permissions by design.
The provided guidance specifically states that guests cannot create or schedule meetings directly in a channel.
Changing guest permissions in the team settings can help with channel actions, but it does not grant channel meeting scheduling.

Also note:

File permissions for guests are controlled by SharePoint settings set by the admin.
Those file permission settings cannot be changed by a team owner.
Microsoft Entra ID guest access restriction settings affect directory access for guests, but they do not prevent access to joined groups in some Microsoft 365 services such as Teams.

References: