Full Guest Access in Microsoft Teams still 'a few months' off

One of the most requested features for Microsoft's Slack-competitor, Microsoft Teams, has been Guest Access. And while Microsoft has been diligently working on implementing the feature, which lets organizations add someone from outside of the team (such as a freelancer or contractor), it hasn't exactly been smooth runnings.

Guest Access was initially delayed once in June, before eventually beginning a slow rollout to Office 365 and Education customers in September. The catch was that it was initially limited to inviting those with Azure Active Directory accounts as guests, with Microsoft promising support for guests with Microsoft Accounts (MSA) would roll out over the coming weeks. Now, it seems, the timeline for MSA support has been extended a little further.

Microsoft Program Manager Suphatra Rufo recently revealed on Twitter (via ZDNet) that Guest Access for MSAs "should be here in a few months."

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In another tweet, Rufo stated the Guest Access remains a "top prioriy" and that it is a difficult feature to implement, requiring "work from multiple engineering groups across the company."

Guest Access still remains available for Azure Active Directory accounts, but its full implementation is still off by a bit. Once complete, anyone with a Microsoft Account will be able to join a team as a guest. If the invitee doesn't have a Microsoft account, Microsoft previously explained that they'll be asked to create one before joining a team.

Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl