- You have users on different domains in your business. For example, [email protected] and [email protected].
- You want the people in your organization to use Skype for Business to contact people in specific businesses outside of your organization.
- You want anyone else in the world who uses Skype for Business to be able to find and contact you, using your email address. If you and they use the default Skype for Business settings, this will work automatically. If they don't, then they need to make sure their configuration isn't blocking your domain.
Enable business-to-business communications for your users
- Sign in with your Office 365 admin account.
- In the Office 365 admin center, go to Admin Centers > Teams.
- In the Teams center, choose Skype > Legacy Portal
- In the Skype for Business admin center , choose Organization > External communications.
- To set up communication with a specific business or with users in another domain, in the drop-down box, choose On only for allowed domains.OR, if you want to enable communication with everyone else in the world who has open Skype for Business policies, choose On except for blocked domains. This is the default setting.
- Under Blocked or allowed domains, choose + and add the name of the domain you want to allow.
- Make sure the admin in the other organization does these same steps in their Skype for Business admin center. For example, in their allowed domains list, their admin needs to enter the domain for your business.
- If you're using Windows Firewall, Skype for Business opens the required ports automatically.If your organization is using a different firewall solution to restrict computers on your network from connecting to the Internet, ensure your client computers are able to access the following Office 365 URLs and IP address ranges. This may require adding the FQDNs to the outbound allow list in your firewall or proxy infrastructure configuration: *.api.skype.com, *.users.storage.live.com, and graph.skype.com. For instructions on how to open these ports in your firewall, check the documentation that came with it.For a list of all ports you need to open, see Office 365 URLs and IP address ranges.
- Make sure that the administrator in the organization has also followed these steps.
- WAIT UP TO 24 HOURS TO TEST. Any time you change the external communications settings, it can take up to 24 hours for the changes to populate across all the data centers.
Test and troubleshoot
- After you change your external communications settings, WAIT UP TO 24 HOURS TO TEST.
- In Skype for Business, search for your contact in Skype for Business, and send a request to chat.If you get a message that it couldn't be sent due to company policy, you need to double-check your Office 365 URLs and IP address ranges.
- Ask your Skype for Business contact to send you a request to chat. If you don't receive their request, the problem is your firewall settings (assuming they've already confirmed their firewall settings are correct).
- Another way to test whether the problem is your firewall is to go to a wifi location not behind your firewall such as a coffee shop, and use Skype for Business to send a request to your contact to chat. If the message goes through there, but not when you're at work, then you know the problem is your firewall.
How to find others, and be found, when connecting with another business
Tips on setting up communications with federated businesses
- To configure federation between Skype for Business 2015 and Skype for Business Online, see this article: Configure federation with Skype for Business Online.
- To configure federation between Lync and Skype for Business Online, see this article: Configuring Federation Support for a Lync Online Customer.
- When two Skype for Business users in Office 365 are communicating with each other on separate domains, they can only use Skype for Business features (for example, video conversations or desktop sharing) that are turned on in both organizations.
- If a Skype for Business user in your organization is put on an In-Place or Litigation Hold, any IM conversations between that user and other Skype for Business or Skype users will be saved in Recoverable Items in their mailbox. These conversations aren't saved in the Conversations History folder in their mailbox.
Turn off external communication for specific individuals
- Sign in with your Office 365 admin account.
- In the Office 365 admin center, go to Users > Active users.
- In the list of users, choose the user, and then, under More Settings, click Edit Skype for Business properties.
- In the Skype for Business admin center, choose External communications.On the Options page, all of the choices will be selected. Clear the communications you want to disable. The following image shows that Jakob will be able to communicate with people in other trusted businesses, but not with other Skype users.
- Choose Save.
Related topics
If you can’t communicate with Lync users in other organizations, or with Skype users, first verify that your organization allows communication with external contacts. If necessary, contact your workplace technical support and refer them to this guided walkthrough for admins: Set up Lync Online external communications.
If your organization does allow external Lync contacts, here are some other troubleshooting steps you can take.
Lync external contacts still show “Presence Unknown” after 72 hours
Notify your workplace technical support. You can communicate with external Lync users only if the Lync admin in both organizations has turned on external communications.
Can’t communicate with Skype contacts
- Verify that the Skype user is signed in with a Microsoft account (formerly Windows Live ID).
- If the Skype user has a custom Microsoft account (one that does not end in outlook.com, live.com, hotmail.com, or msn.com) you must format their IM address like this:name(example.com )@msn.com
For example, if your Skype contact’s Microsoft account is [email protected], enter it as
bob(contoso.com)@msn.com.
- If you still can’t communicate with the Skype user after 72 hours, notify your workplace technical support, and provide them with this link: Set up Lync Online external communications.
Can’t talk to two or more Skype users at the same time
This scenario isn’t supported. However, you can set up a conference call with multiple Skype users by inviting them to a Lync Meeting.
Can’t communicate with AOL, Yahoo!, or Google Talk users
Lync 2013 for Office 365 supports external Lync users, and Skype users signed in with a Microsoft account. Communication with other IM providers isn’t supported.
I have a Skype issue that isn’t listed here
Troubleshooting Lync-Skype Connectivity describes some of the less-common scenarios.