Why Am I Unable To Contact People In Other Organizations From Skype For Business?

Most organizations have blocked users from contacting people in other other organizations due to some protocol within their company.

Do you want to know how the Office365 administrator blocks the external contacts? It’s a simple setting in Office 365 to perform this function. We can block the external contacts in the following ways.

Block All External Contacts in Skype for Business

Follow the below steps to disable people from contacting anyone outside of your organization.

Step 1

Go to Office365 Admin Center portal.

Step 2

Expand Settings from the left navigation.

Step 3

Click on "Services & Add-ins" submenu under Settings.

Step 4

Select "Skype for Business" service from the available list of services. This will open a right-side panel where we can see the options for Skype for Business.

Step 5

Turn Off the toggle "Let people in your organization contact people with Skype for Business in other organizations" under External Sharing.

Step 6

Now, the external contact feature is disabled in Skype for Business. Click "Close" to close the right-side panel.

This setting disables the option to contact all external domains other than internal users.

Block some external domain contacts in Skype for Business

In some of the organizations, they want to restrict certain external contacts. For example, If ABC and XYZ organizations are competitors and they want to restrict contact, Office 365 provides a simple setting to achieve this.

Step 1

Go to Office365 Admin Center portal

Step 2

Expand Settings from the Left navigation

Step 3

Click on Services & add-ins submenu under Settings

Step 4

Select Skype for Business service from the available list of service. This will open a right-side panel, where we can see the options for Skype for Business

Step 5

Under External Sharing -> Domain exceptions, click on Block the domains radio button. This will expand the option to enter the domain names.

Step 6

Enter XYZ.com to block to contact with XYZ organization users. We can also add multiple domains by separating them by using comma separator. Ex., (org1.com, org2.com)

Step 7

Click Save to update the settings.

Step 8

Now, you won’t able to contact with XYZ.com users through Skype for Business. Click Close to close the right-side panel.

This settings disables the internal users to contact external people from specific domains.

Block All external contacts except some domains in Skype for Business

Scenario like, some organizations want to block all external contacts and want to enable for its sister organizations. Follow the below steps to update the settings,

Step 1

Go to Office365 Admin Center portal

Step 2

Expand Settings from the Left navigation

Step 3

Click on Services & add-ins submenu under Settings

Step 4

Select Skype for Business service from the available list of service. This will open a right-side panel, where we can see the options for Skype for Business

Step 5

Under External Sharing -> Domain exceptions, click on All domains are blocked except radio button. This will expand the option to enter the domain names.

Step 6

Enter external domain names, which you want to enable the external contacts for certain organizations.

Step 7

Click Save to update the settings

Step 8

Now, you have blocked all external domains, except certain domains in Skype for Business. Click Close to close the right-side panel.

This settings enables the internal users to contact certain domain external users.

Block personal Skype contacts in Skype for Business

Skype for Business in Office 365 enables us to connect with personal skype accounts. Follow the steps below to block them from contacting through their work account from within an organization,

Step 1

Go to Office365 Admin Center portal

Step 2

Expand Settings from the Left navigation

Step 3

Click on Services & add-ins submenu under Settings

Step 4

Select Skype for Business service from the available list of services. This will open a right-side panel, where we can see the options for Skype for Business

Step 5

Turn Off the toggle. Let people use Skype for Business to communicate with Skype users under External Sharing.

Step 6

Now, communication between Skype and Skype for Business is disabled. Click "Close" to close the right-side panel.

The settings provided above will disable the users from Skype for Business contacting users in Skype. 

Summary

This article explains the different ways of blocking the contacts from Skype for Business in Office 365 environment. By doing the opposite, it enables the internal users to contact external contacts.