Discover private vs public office 365 groups on SharePoint online site – when we create a SharePoint modern team site, we can see the “Private group” or “Public group” tag beneath the site name (example below). In this article, I will explain what these are “Private groups” or “Public groups” are in the modern SharePoint Online team site.
Key Highlights: Private vs Public office 365 groups
- What is the “Private – Office 365 group”?
- What is the “Public – Office 365 group”?
- What is the difference between private and public groups in office 365 (Public vs Private Groups)?
- How to change privacy settings in office 365 – in the modern SharePoint team site?
Private group tag in modern SharePoint Online team site:
We can see the “Private group” tag just under the site name.

Public group tag in modern SharePoint Online team site:
We can see the “Public group” tag just under the site name.

Why do we see the “Private group” or “Pubic group” beneath the SharePoint team site name (SharePoint site Public vs Private)?
Well, these are privacy settings applied during creating the SharePoint modern team site – in the “Get a team site connected to Office 365 Groups” screen, we have the option to select “Privacy settings” under the “Advanced settings” section.
We can have the below “Privacy settings”:
- Public – anyone in the organization can access this site.
- Private – only members can access this site.
Note:
- By default office 365 privacy setting is “Private – only members can access this site”. as the name implies, meaning no one can join the office 365 group until the group owner(site owner) allow them to in, on the other hand in a public group anyone can join to the group without group owner approval – meaning, any member can join and have Add/Edit/Delete access to all the assets of an Office 365 Group (SharePoint Site, Planner, Calendar, Teams) but this access cannot be granted to anyone without group owner approval in case private group.
Get a team site connected to Office 365 Groups – Privacy settings
Private vs Public office 365 groups (SharePoint site public vs private) – description
Details description about the Office 365 public and private group (office 365 public vs private group)

Private Office 365 group
The private group suggests that the current site (above the Custom Search RND) is permission restricted by your tenant and only those who have been granted access to this site can view the contents.
Basically what it means is the Group Owners control access to an Office 365 Group. You as a user or employee won’t be able to join or access the site until the group owners let you into the group or grant access to the site. As a best practice, the majority of the sites from your tenant will be Private.
Public Office 365 group
As the name implies it is public to all employees in your tenant – who can join the group without the group owner’s permission. Any member can join and have Add/Edit/Delete access to all the assets of an Office 365 Group (SharePoint Site, Planner, Calendar, Teams). As a result, anyone can access this site from your organization.
How to change privacy settings in office 365 – in the modern SharePoint team site (change privacy settings office 365)?
By now we have learned about what is the “Private group” and “Public group” in the office 365 modern SharePoint Online team site. Due to some business reasons, if we want to change the privacy settings in office 365 what can we do? So, in this section, we will see how to change privacy settings in office 365 – on the modern SharePoint team site.
We can change the Privacy settings of a team site via Settings > Site information > Privacy settings.

Note:
These “Private groups” or “Public groups” tags only appear in the modern SharePoint team sites, they will not appear on a communication site.
Summary: Private vs Public Office 365 groups (SharePoint site Public vs Private)
Thus, in this article – we have learned the below with respect to “Private groups” or “Public groups” in the Office 365 privacy settings:
- What is the “Private – Office 365 group”?
- What is the “Public – Office 365 group”?
- What is the difference between private and public groups in office 365 (Public vs Private Groups)?
- How to change privacy settings in office 365 – in the modern SharePoint team site?
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