.svg)
One of our experts recently encountered an unusual issue in SharePoint Online. While this error message had been seen before – typically in the context of guest users – this time, it involved an internal user. Documenting this case may prove helpful for future reference.
Issue
User received a valid sharing link and was granted direct permissions to an internal SharePoint Online Modern Team site. However, they were unable to log in to the site and received the following error message:
“This link is not available to you.
Sorry, you are currently signed in a user@domain.com but that account is not on the list of people this is secured to. To try a different email please sign out and open the link again.”
Investigation and Resolution
This error message is commonly associated with guest users attempting to access a tenant using the wrong Microsoft Account or Organizational Account. Initially, that seemed to be the likely cause. However, the user was logged in with their organizational email address but was still being redirected to the GuestAccess.aspx page when attempting to log in.
Attempts were made to remove previous sharing configurations and re-grant permissions, but the issue persisted. Even direct links to the shared folder failed to resolve the access problem.
Closer inspection in Azure AD revealed a slight discrepancy in the account name, later confirmed via Delve: the user’s UPN was jdoe@domain.org, while their Skype ID and Email was JDoe@domain.org.
The underlying cause: SharePoint still enforces case sensitivity in certain scenarios, and this was one of them.
Fortunately, the account did not need to be recreated again. The issue was resolved by completely removing the user from the site collection (via the User Information List) and re-granting permissions. For detailed steps, refer to Microsoft’s documentation: “Remove people from the UserInfo list.”
Let this serve as a reminder to system administrators: if something seems off, dig deeper—subtle inconsistencies like name casing can still trip up modern systems.
Looking for a new job? We work with some of the biggest names in tech, and we’re hiring! Check out our open jobs and make your next career move with Planet.
