I've set up a Multi Tenant Organization, but I'm not sure if the user contact information is correct

Hi Lefty, It sounds like you've successfully set up a Microsoft 365 Multi-Tenant Organization (MTO) and enabled user synchronization, but you're facing presence status issues in Outlook/Teams and missing the chat link. Here's what you should expect and how to troubleshoot:

1️⃣ What You Should Expect in a Correctly Configured MTO

• Users appear in the Global Address List (GAL) of each tenant ✅ (confirmed in your setup)
• Users can start Teams chats seamlessly ✅ (confirmed in your setup)
• Users should appear online/offline accurately across tenants ❌ (this is where you're seeing issues)
• A "Chat" link should be visible in Outlook & Teams ❌ (missing in your case)

2️⃣ Why Are Users Showing as Offline Until a Chat Starts?

Microsoft's MTO does not enable full presence visibility by default across tenants.

• Teams presence is not fully federated between MTO tenants like it is within a single tenant.
• A user’s presence updates only after an interaction (e.g., starting a chat) because their status is checked on-demand.
• This is a known behavior with B2B Direct Connect, which MTO relies on.

✅ Workaround: Ensure "B2B Direct Connect" is enabled for Teams presence sync
Run the following in PowerShell:

Set-CsTenantFederationConfiguration -SharedSipAddressSpace $true

Then, restart Teams for both users.

3️⃣ Why Is the "Chat" Link Missing in Outlook?

• This can happen if External Access settings are not fully configured.
• Outlook relies on Teams federation and contact syncing. If presence is not fully synced, Outlook won't show the "Chat" option.

✅ Fix: Check External Access in Microsoft Teams Admin Center

1. Go to Microsoft Teams Admin Center → External Access
2. Ensure "Users can communicate with other Teams users" is enabled
3. If both tenants allow external access but still have issues, try adding each other's domains manually:
   • Click "Add a domain"
   • Enter the other tenant’s domain (tenant2.onmicrosoft.com)
   • Set it to "Allowed"
4. Restart Teams and Outlook.

4️⃣ Expected Presence Behavior (and Limitations)

• If a user actively chats, their presence updates temporarily ✅
• Presence may not persist across sessions ❌ (this is a limitation of MTO)
• No cross-tenant Outlook presence syncing ❌ (Outlook presence relies on a single Azure AD, which MTO does not merge)

5️⃣ Additional Fixes (If Issues Persist)

1. Confirm That Address Book Policies Are Not Preventing Cross-Tenant Visibility
   Run:Get-AddressBookPolicyIf you see separate GALs per tenant, you may need to modify your policy.
2. Ensure Both Tenants Have "People Search" Enabled
   • Go to Microsoft 365 Admin Center
   • Check if People Search is enabled for both tenants.
3. Check Azure AD Conditional Access & Security Settings
   • If a tenant has strict policies blocking external users, presence sync may be blocked.

🚀 Final Answer / Key Takeaways

• MTO does not provide native real-time presence syncing between tenants by default.
• Presence status updates only when a chat is started, but disappears afterward.
• Teams federation settings and B2B Direct Connect should be configured to improve syncing.
• Outlook may not always show the "Chat" link due to limitations in MTO's cross-tenant presence sync.

✅ To Fix These Issues:

1. Enable Teams External Access & Federation
2. Run Set-CsTenantFederationConfiguration -SharedSipAddressSpace $true
3. Manually allow domains in Teams External Access settings
4. Restart Teams & Outlook for users after changes

Unfortunately, full real-time presence across tenants is not natively supported in MTO (yet). Let me know if you need more help! 🚀