How Do I Add Regular Skype Users To Skype For Business

Important: due to changes in Microsoft policies, we can no longer set up federation with consumer Skype for our customers in the shared environment. Customers hosted on dedicated platforms continue to have this functionality enabled until further notice.

In order to be able to add regular Skype users as your Skype For Business contacts, you need to submit Skype For Business Federation request.

Note: there are currently some issues with Skype For Business and Consumer Skype federation. Read the Knowledge Base article on Skype For Business And Consumer Skype Federation Known Issues for more information

Once the request is completed you will be able to add regular Skype users to Skype For Business contacts list using the below instructions.

Skype for Business on Windows

1. Open Skype For Business application and switch to Contacts view. Click a button withthe picture of a person and a plus sign > Add a Contact Not in My Organization > Skype.
2. Enter Skype username of a person you want to add in the search field.
3. Find a user you would like to add as a contact in the list of search results > right-click on a username > Add to Contacts List > select a group you would like to add a user to.
4. You will see the notification that a contact request was sent.
   After closing this window you will see the user you have just added in your Skype For Business Contacts list.
   Note: the user will have pending status in your contacts list and you will not be able to communicate with him until he accepts the request.
   Note: If you are not getting notifications when emails are sent from those regular Skype users while everything was set up correctly, check whether external notifications alerts are being blocked. To do so, click on the gear icon located at the top right-hand corner and go to Tools > Options > Alerts and select the Allow anyone to contact me option if it is not ticked.

Skype for Business on Mac OS

1. Open Skype For Business application and switch to Contacts.
2. Type in the regular Skype user’s email address you would like to add in the Search field
   Note: The Skype user’s account must be associated with their Microsoft account and not just the Skype ID (for example, [email protected])
3. Right-click the user and choose Add contact