MC220791 – Updated May 07, 2021: Microsoft has updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.
You will soon be able to create a policy that automatically revokes access for external guests to SharePoint Online (SPO) sites and individual OneDrives after a defined period of time.
This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 43797.
When will this happen
How this affects your organization
One of the strengths of SharePoint and OneDrive is that it facilitates sharing and collaborating among peers, not only within an organization but also with people outside the organization (guests).
In order to better manage sharing, tenant admins will be able to create a policy to revoke guest access to SPO sites and individual OneDrives after a defined period of time. With this policy, you can limit guest user access; thus guests who are no longer active partners will not retain indefinite access to documents and files.
SharePoint site administrators can extend access at any time, up to the limit of the tenant policy. For example, if the tenant policy is 10 days, and today is the 10th of the month, the SharePoint site admin could extend access for an external guest to the 20th of the month. There is no limit on the number of time a site admin can extend access.
SharePoint site administrators will receive e-mail notifications advising of upcoming guest user access expirations.
What do I need to do to prepare for this change?
If you plan to enable this feature, be sure to inform your SharePoint site administrators and users about the new process so that they are prepared to manage guest access as needed.
You can enable this policy, which applies to both SPO and OneDrive, in the SharePoint admin center.
Until you enable the policy, there will be no change in how long new guests may access shared content.
Previous OneDrive for Business Changelog Messages
Previous SharePoint Online Changelog Messages
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