📰 Tutorial: How to create a global reader account in Microsoft Office 365

IT vendors often demand access to an organization's entire Microsoft 365 tenant of an organization. So, too often external individuals have access to the admin panel of Microsoft 365 allowing them to make adjustments on data or users they do not need to have access to. Thus, they gain access to all the data of these organizations.

To prevent vendors or others from making changes, you can create a global reader account. A global reader is a "Read-Only" Account for Office 365 or Microsoft 365.

1. Open the Microsoft 365 administrator center via admin.microsoft.com

Navigate to the Microsoft 365 management center: https://admin.microsoft.com

2. Create a new Office 365 user through the management portal.

Enter a first name, last name, display name and finally a username.

3. Add the necessary license in Office 365

Administrator roles sometimes require a license. Especially in the security section within Microsoft 365.

4. Add the global Reader role via roles in Office 365

You can give multiple roles to the person you desire.

TIP: Try to avoid global administrators. Work with specific roles for the specific need.

There are at least 16 new built-in roles - including Global reader - these have been available since 2020. Source

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