SharePoint Online/OneDrive - "We couldnt find an exact match" for External Users (People Picker)

Question

Hello,

Our Office 365 tenant is encountering an error when a non-admin users (Global/SharePoint admin) try to add external users to SharePoint permission groups or share files/folders in onedrive by typing in the external user's email in the people picker. They receive the message "we couldnt find an exact match" and the share/send button is greyed out.

It's acting as if the people picker is only allowing the internal user to add external users who already exist on our tenant as guests. Up until about two weeks ago, the SharePoint site/OneDrive owner/admin/member would be able to send/add the external email address and it would create the guest user in our tenant once the external user accepts the invitation. The OneDrive "copy link" option does work currently if the internal user sets the folder/file to allow anonymous access (which we allow in our tenant settings).

The global admins and SharePoint admins in our tenant can still send the invitations normally to external users. They receive the message that the user is outside of our organization (normal), but the share/send button works correctly. So the issue is currently impacting all of our standard employee users.

We currently have our tenant, SharePoint, and Azure External sharing settings setup that users should be able to send external invitations correctly.

We have a ticket open with Microsoft support who have connected with us and double checked all of our sharing settings. They do not have an answer for us yet.

I'm posting this question in the hopes that someone may have some insight for us or to check if anyone has experienced this issue recently. The external sharing issue began around July 17th, 2023. The only other individuals I have seen online seem to also have been experiencing this issue in the last month or so: https://www.reddit.com/r/MicrosoftWord/comments/14jrrb6/we_couldnt_find_an_exact_match/

Thank you,

Scott

Answer 1

After working with Microsoft for a few weeks, they sent me this yesterday:

(Updated) SPO Site Sharing will now use Azure B2B Invitation Manager

MC525663 · Published Mar 10, 2023 · Last updated Jun 30, 2023

Message Summary

Updated June 30, 2023: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

We are updating the SharePoint Online Site Sharing backend to use Azure B2B Invitation Manager instead of the legacy SharePoint Invitation Manager. 

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 117557

When this will happen:

This change will begin rolling out in late March, and complete rollout by late July (previously late June).

How this will affect your organization:

Today, sharing just the SharePoint site goes through the original SharePoint Invitation Manager which always creates guest users in your organization's directory. We are now updating this flow & experience to use the Azure B2B Invitation Manager instead. The sharing flow will remain identical to what users see today, but external recipients will now go through your organization's B2B Invitation Manager experience.

Note: This change will only impact sharing of sites. Users who share files or folders will continue to receive the same experience they have today.

What you need to do to prepare:

You may want to review your Azure B2B Invitation Manager policies.

Answer 2

Hi Tammy,

I'm still encountering the same issue, particularly when using a shared SharePoint channel. Could you please update me on any plans to address this?

Best regards, Anastasia

Answer 3

Had the same issue. Reading through the thread, this is what fixed it for me - rather simple in the end. Some sites were working, some were not "can't find exact match".

Working sites:

Failing sites:

Switched failing site to "New and existing guests".

Also have SharePoint External sharing set to: