Let users add external contacts from Skype

Questions about this article? Email: Skype for Business contact with Skype

With Skype for Business, your users can contact more than the people in your organization. They can also search for and IM with everyone who uses Skype, the free app! This article explains what you need to do so they can add Skype contacts.

You must have admin permissions in Office 365 to do this.

1. Sign in with your Office 365 admin account at https://portal.office.com/adminportal/home.

2. In the Office 365 admin center, go to Admin Centers > Skype for Business.

3. In the Skype for Business admin center, choose organization > external communications.

4. In the drop-down box, choose On only for allowed domains. (When you enable contact with Skype users, skype.com is automatically added as an allowed domain behind the scenes.)

   If there are businesses you don't want your employees to contact, choose On except for blocked domains, and choose + to add those domains. Some businesses might choose this option, for example, if they are in litigation and need to ensure there's no contact with the other business.

5. Choose Let people use Skype for Business to communicate with Skype users outside your organization.

6. If you're using Windows Firewall, Skype for Business opens the required ports automatically.

   If your organization uses another solution to restrict computers on your network from connecting to the Internet, ensure client computers are able to access all of the IP addresses and URLs for Skype connectivity and Skype Directory Search. This may require adding them to the outbound allow list in your firewall or proxy infrastructure configuration.

7. 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.

8. Show your users how to find and add Skype contacts to their list of Skype for Business contacts. Point them to Search for people in Skype for Business.

What you can and can't do

• Skype for Business on Mac doesn't have the ability to search for and communicate with Skype contacts.

• While you can search for and find Skype users, they can not search for and find Skype for Business users.

• It's not possible to allow IM connectivity with other IM providers such as Google or Facebook. You can't use Skype for Business to send cell phone text messages.

What features are available when adding Skype contacts?

Skype contacts that signed in with their Microsoft account (formerly Windows Live ID) can get some but not all features when they are talking to your Skype for Business users.

Available with Skype contacts	Not available with Skype contacts
Video conversations Person-to-person instant messaging Presence	Multi-party IM conversations Audio and video conversations with three or more people Desktop and program sharing

See Also

Allow users to contact external Skype for Business users

Set up Skype for Business Online