Guest Import: View all M365 guests and manage them efficiently

Why an overview of all M365 guests is important

Working with externals makes it increasingly challenging to monitor and manage guest users in Microsoft 365 environments over time. To ensure Microsoft 365 Security and compliance, it’s essential to keep track of all M365 guests — whether newly added or long-standing.

This article explores different ways to show all M365 guests.

With Solutions2Share’s External User Manager you can not only view all M365 guest users but also automate guest lifecycle management and onboarding in Teams and M365 Groups, ensuring that all guests are properly managed. Learn more about it below.

4 Methods to view all M365 guests

Here are four ways to gain an overview of all guest users in M365.

1. View all M365 guests in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center

In the M365 Admin Center, you’ll get a simple list of all your guests.

How to do it:

1. Log in to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center.
2. Go to Users > Guest users.
3. You’ll now see all guest users.

Limitations: This method only provides a simple overview of your guests. There’s no way to view activity or manage lifecycles and other options.

2. View all M365 guests in the Microsoft Entra Admin Center

Alternatively, in the Microsoft Entra Admin Center, you can get an overview for managing identities.

1. Open the Entra Admin Center.
2. Navigate to Users > All users.
3. Filter by User type = Guest.

You’ll now see your guest users with some identity-related details.

Limitations: You’ll get a quick overview of identity data, but generally only limited information about your guest users. There’s no way to manage guests here with lifecycles or onboarding.

3. View all M365 guests with a PowerShell script

A PowerShell script can give you more detailed insights into your M365 guests, though it requires technical knowledge to set up.

This allows you to quickly display and export an overview of your M365 guests:

1. Open PowerShell and connect to your M365 account by running:
   Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "User.Read.All","Group.ReadWrite.All"
2. Once connected, use the following command to view all guest users:
   Get-MgUser -All -Filter "UserType eq 'Guest'"
3. To export the guest user list to a CSV file, use:
   Get-MgUser -All -Filter "UserType eq 'Guest'" | Select-Object DisplayName, UserPrincipalName | Export-Csv -Path "M365_Gastbenutzer.csv" -NoTypeInformation

Limitations: This method lists all guests but doesn’t offer additional insights or approval and management options for guests.

4. View all M365 guests in the External User Manager

The External User Manager (EUM) provides an overview and comprehensive management options for all your M365 guests.

How to do it:

1. Open the External User Manager app in Teams.
2. Go to the Overview tab.
3. Here you’ll get a complete overview of your guests.

If you want an overview specifically of M365 guests not yet managed by the External User Manager, you can use the Guest Crawler for that.

How to do it:

1. Open the External User Manager app in Teams.
2. Go to Requests > Configuration (gear icon)
3. Go to Automation > Guest Import.
4. Click Check to start the scan.
5. All unmanaged guests will now be displayed.
6. To manage these guests with the External User Manager, click Request with EUM.

Benefits: The EUM provides not only a complete overview of all M365 guests, including those not yet managed. It also allows you to manage unmanaged guests with approval workflows, onboarding processes, and lifecycle options.

Conclusion: External User Manager offers the best overview of your M365 guests

Of the four methods, the External User Manager provides the best solution for viewing and fully managing all guests in M365.

Guest Import in the External User Manager: Managing existing guests

With the External User Manager, you can now not only manage new guests. The new Guest Import feature also captures existing guests — including those added before EUM installation or invited without EUM — and lets you manage them automatically:

• Automatic inclusion of existing guests: EUM checks which guests are not yet managed and makes it easy to include them in EUM management.
• Auto approve: Decide if pre-existing guests are automatically approved or receive a request in the External User Manager.
• Skip onboarding: Existing guests can be added to the lifecycle without onboarding, or they can go through the onboarding process.
• Reports: Track the status of your guests and their onboarding process.
• Additional function: Auto request after x days: Automate regular reviews and requests for new guests —such as weekly — and bring them into the lifecycle and onboarding process.

Want to keep track of your M365 guests and ensure Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams compliance and security?

Find out now how easy it can be to manage guest users: