Are guests not allowed to share files, screenshots, etc in Microsoft Teams?

Question

Are guests not allowed to share files, screenshots, etc in Microsoft Teams?

Daniel CM 0

Hi there,

I'm a guest in a company's Teams workspace. I'm trying to share screenshots and screen recordings, but it says I need OneDrive for that. When dragging a file in, it says: "Your OneDrive isn't available."

When clicking on Attach Files, it says: "Sorry, you need OneDrive to share files See your admin about getting a license."

In Slack, I'm able to share screenshots and stuff just fine. How does this work in Teams?

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2 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

Yes. In Teams, that behavior is expected for guests in chat.

A guest can:

participate in private chat
download private chat files
share a channel file
access SharePoint files

A guest cannot:

share a chat file
use OneDrive for Business storage

That matches the errors shown:

“Your OneDrive isn’t available”
“Sorry, you need OneDrive to share files”

Teams chat file sharing relies on OneDrive/SharePoint. Since guests don’t have OneDrive for Business storage in the host organization, they can’t attach files directly in chat the same way internal users can.

What works instead:

Use a channel instead of chat if the team allows it. Guests can share a channel file.
Ask a member of the organization to share the file location or upload it on behalf of the conversation.
Use a secure SharePoint link if the organization shares files externally that way.

If this is an external/federated chat rather than guest access, file upload in chat depends on whether the organization has enabled file sharing in external chats. When file sharing is off, users can only paste existing links and can’t upload files directly.

Answer 2

Hi Daniel,

Good day. Thank you for the clear explanation of your concern.

In Microsoft Teams, guests are not completely blocked from sharing files, but file-sharing permissions are more limited compared to internal users.

Files shared in a private or group chat usually require the sender’s OneDrive. Since guest users typically do not have a OneDrive license or OneDrive storage in the company’s tenant, you may see errors such as “Your OneDrive isn’t available” or “You need OneDrive to share files.”

If you need to share screenshots or screen recordings, please try uploading them in a Team channel instead, either by attaching the file in a channel post or by uploading it to the Files/Shared tab. Channel files are stored in SharePoint rather than the guest user’s OneDrive.

To do this, you can follow the steps below:

Open Microsoft Teams and go to the Team where you were added as a guest.
Select the relevant channel.
To attach the file in a channel post, click New conversation or Reply, select Attach file, then choose the screenshot or screen recording from your device.
Alternatively, go to the Files or Shared tab at the top of the channel, then select Upload and choose the file from your device.
Once uploaded, the file should be available to members of that channel, depending on the permissions configured by the company.

For additional information, you may also refer to Guest experience in Microsoft Teams - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn

In case you are still unable to upload files in the channel, please reach out to the IT admin of the company that granted you guest access. They can review the Teams guest permissions and SharePoint sharing settings for your account.

I hope this information is helpful. Should you have any further questions or need additional assistance, please feel free to share them in the comment below. I'm very happy to help.

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