How do I chat with or call people from other institutions using Teams?

Overview

By default, users at MSU Denver are only allowed to send Teams messages to and make Teams calls with people from approved domain names (the part after the '@' symbol in an email address). In 2025, the IT departments on the Auraria campus collaborated to allow Teams chats and calls between all four institutions. This means that you can chat and call people from these institutions without any additional set up or permissions.

Before you begin...

• You must know the full email address of the person you are trying to reach. You can not search simply by name.
• The person must be from an institution with an approved domain name:
  • Auraria Campus
    • @msudenver.edu
    • @ahec.edu
    • @ccd.edu
    • @ucdenver.edu
  • Other institutions
    • @unco.edu
    • @aims.edu
    • @cuanschutz.edu
• The other institution's IT department must have also approved msudenver.edu on their end in order for you to communicate. At the time of writing, all the above domain names have been verified and are working.
• Understand that these instructions are only for 1:1 chats, group chats, meeting chats, and calls in Microsoft Teams. This functionality does NOT extend to Teams teams (think channels which have threaded conversations see First things to know about teams in Microsoft Teams to tell the difference).
• Users from other organizations are known as "External users" in Teams. This is different than "Guest users". See Use guest access and external access to collaborate with people outside your organization for more information.

Instructions

1. Open the Microsoft Teams app.
2. Click the new message button or press Ctrl+N on your keyboard.
3. Type the full email address of the person you are trying to reach.
4. Select the person. If you have the option of "Guest" versus "External" ALWAYS choose "External".
5. Send a message to start your chat. The other person will be notified and will have the option to approve or deny your request.

Once you've sent the person a message and they accept, you can call them on Teams using the call button in the top right corner of the chat window:

You can also add them to group chats by clicking the add button and typing in their email address.

Limitations

• Files cannot be shared with external users. You can still use email or OneDrive/SharePoint to accomplish this.
• Profile pictures and personal pronouns will not appear for external users.
• Your messages are subject to the other organization's Teams policies and may affect the available features in chats. For example, if the other org does not allow GIFs to be sent in chats, you may not be able to send them.