In this SharePoint online tutorial, I will explain how to add members to a SharePoint Online site. We will add members to the SharePoint team site and a communication site.
Note: You need to be a site owner for the site to which you want to add members.
Add Members to a SharePoint Online Team Site
Let us see how to add members to a SharePoint Online team site.
From 3 different places, we can add members to a SharePoint site:
- From the site members section
- From site permissions
- From the SharePoint admin center
Add Members to a SharePoint Site From the Members Section
I will explain how to add members to a SharePoint Online team site directly from the site members section. Follow the below instructions:
- Open a SharePoint team site home page; click on members at the right corner.

- Then, it will open a Group membership dialogue box; click on Add members button.

- Now, it will open Add members pane, and here you provide a name in Add members dialogue box. Click on Save.

- Once you click the Save button, you can see the member has been added to the SharePoint Online team site.

This is how to add members to a SharePoint Online team site through the add members section.
Add members to a SharePoint Team site from site permissions
In this section, I will guide you on adding members to a SharePoint Online team site from site permissions.
- Open the SharePoint site home page, Select Site permissions under settings.

- Under the Permission window, click on Add members.
- By default, three groups will be there in the Permissions pane such as :
- Site owners: The user who has full control over a SharePoint site.
- Site members: The site members have limited control (Edit) over the SharePoint team site.
- Site visitors: Site visitors have no control; they can not be able to edit.

- Then, choose to Add members to group from the drop-down of Add members.

- Then, it will open a Group membership dialogue box; click on Add members button.

- It will open Add members pane, and start typing a name in Add members dialogue box. Click on Save.

- Now, you can see there will be two site members after adding a member by site permissions, as shown below:

This is how to add members directly to the SharePoint team site through Site permissions.
Add members to a SharePoint Team site from the SharePoint admin center
Next, I will show you how to add SharePoint Online team site members from the SharePoint admin center.
- Open SharePoint admin center. Expand sites and click on Active sites.

- Under Active sites, select the SharePoint team site to which you want to add members.

- Under Membership, Select Site members and click on Add site members.

- Then it will open Add site members to a SharePoint site, search by name or email address and Click on Add.

- Now, we can see it will be displayed as three site members after adding a Site member as shown below:

This is how to add site members to a SharePoint Online team site from the SharePoint admin center.
Add Members to a SharePoint Communication Site
Similarly, I will show you how to add members to a SharePoint Online Communication site.
We can add members to a SharePoint Online Communication site from three different places:
- From Site Permissions
- From the SharePoint admin center
Add Members to SharePoint Communication Site from Site Permissions
Likewise, I will show you how we can add members from site permissions to a SharePoint Online Communication site.
- Open a SharePoint Communication site home page; Select Site permissions under settings.

- It will open a Permissions window; click on Share site.
- In the site permissions, by default, three groups will be displayed such as:
- Site owners: The user who has full control permission level.
- Site members: The users who have limited control over a SharePoint site.
- Site visitors: The users who have Read permission can not edit.

- Then, it opens a Share site dialogue box, where we can search and select the member. Click on Add.

- After that, a site member can be added to a SharePoint Communication Online site as shown below:

This is how to add members directly to the SharePoint Communication site through Site permissions.
Add members to a Communication site from the SharePoint admin center
Let us now see, how to add members to a SharePoint Online Communication site through the SharePoint admin center.
- Open SharePoint admin center. Expand sites and click on Active sites.

- Select and open a SharePoint site for which you need to add members.

- Under Membership, Select Site members and click on Add site members.

- It opens Add site members to a SharePoint site window, search by name or email address and Click on Add.

- Now, the selected site member has been added to a SharePoint Online communication site as shown below:

So, this is how to add site members to a SharePoint Online Communication site through the SharePoint admin center.
Conclusion
Here we learned how to add members to a SharePoint Online team site and communication site.
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Preeti Sahu is an expert in Power Apps and has more than 6 years of experience working with SharePoint and the Power Platform. As a Power Platform expert for Power BI, Power Apps, Power Automate, Power Virtual Agents, and Power Pages, she is currently employed with TSinfo Technologies. She is the author of the book Microsoft Power Platform A Deep Dive. She also made a big technical contribution to SharePointDotNet.com in the form of articles on the Power Platform. She enjoys traveling and spending time with her family in her spare time.