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  5. Microsoft 365 – How to join a Teams meeting as an external guest
  1. Home
  2. Staff guides
  3. Microsoft Office 365
  4. How to use Microsoft 365 and its features
  5. Microsoft 365 – How to join a Teams meeting as an external guest

Microsoft 365 – How to join a Teams meeting as an external guest

If you have been invited to an online meeting/event hosted by University of Southampton that uses Microsoft Teams, and you don’t have a @soton.ac.uk email address. Then it can seem as if there is no way to join in. However, there are a number of things you can so that you can still join in. Each depends on how you received the invitation and/or on whether you have an Teams account with your main institution.

Join the meeting through your browser

If you don’t have a Teams account, then you can join through your browser. e.g. Chrome or Edge.

University of Southampton colleagues may have used their Outlook account to invite you to join a Teams-hosted meeting. If they have, then joining through the browser is the simplest way to join a meeting.

Accept the invitation to join a University of Southampton Teams Site

It’s also possible that colleagues at Southampton may also invite you to join a Teams Site. The Teams Site will give you access to files, conversations, meetings that are specific to that Teams Site. If this is the case, then your University of Southampton contact person will have made you a ‘guest’ within the University of Southampton tenancy.

View more about what you need to do join the Teams Site in the University of Southampton.

Switch to University of Southampton’s tenancy

You may have a Teams account, for example, your own institution/organisation may already provide you with Microsoft Teams. If you have also been invited to a University of Southampton Teams Site, then you will need to switch tenancy to access files and chat.

In Teams, access the drop down to the left of your profile picture. Then change your institution to University of Southampton.

We have a quick video (24 seconds), that shows how to switch tenancy.

Speak to your IT support team

If your own institution/organisation uses Teams and you can’t access external meetings (even after trying to switch tenancies), then talk with your own IT support team. It is possible that your own institution/organisation may have switched certain features off and this might be stopping you from joining a Teams Site or join a Teams-hosted meeting.

Also

Microsoft’s guide on how join with a link without any of the above options, where you select a link to load Teams instead.

In addition Microsoft’s guide for joining with a telephone.

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