# Volunteer without SHHA Email

This page is for volunteers who participate using a personal email address. You usually do **not** need a paid Microsoft license.

## First-Time Setup

1. Look for the two Microsoft emails described below.
2. Open the organization invitation email and click **Accept invitation**.
3. Use that same email address when prompted to sign in.
4. Open your committee SharePoint link from the [Quick Reference](/books/shha-it-help-guide/page/quick-reference) page.
5. Confirm you receive committee mailing list messages.

## The 2 Emails You Should Expect

### 1) Organization invitation email (expected but confusing)

The subject is usually similar to **"Anna, SHHA invited you to collaborate with SHHA"**.

The email usually includes:

- A warning message telling you to proceed only if you trust the sender and organization
- **Sender:** Anna, SHHA (anna.levchuk@sandiahomeowners.org)
- **Organization:** SHHA
- **Domain:** sandiahomeowners.org

This is the important one. Click **Accept invitation** to activate your access.

After you click **Accept invitation**, Microsoft may bring you to a page that does not make much sense. This is normal and is just a Microsoft quirk. Use the direct links on the [Quick Reference](/books/shha-it-help-guide/page/quick-reference) page for useful pages and mailing lists.

### 2) Group/team invitation email (expected but confusing)

You may also get an email with a subject like **"You have been added to a team in Microsoft Teams"**.

This is a default Microsoft message and cannot be customized by SHHA.

For external volunteers, we do **not** recommend using Teams for SHHA work. Instead, follow the SharePoint links on the [Quick Reference](/books/shha-it-help-guide/page/quick-reference) page for the groups you are part of.

## What You Can Expect

- You can receive committee group email at your personal address.
- You can open SharePoint documents you were granted access to.
- You may see references to Microsoft tools SHHA does not use (safe to ignore).
- You may receive Teams-related emails even though your normal workflow is email and SharePoint.

## Most Common Mistakes

- **Not accepting the invitation** — until you do, access will fail.
- **Trying to use Teams** instead of using SharePoint links for committee files.
- **Trying to share files directly with groups** instead of sharing links.
- **Sending attachments** when the file belongs in SharePoint.

## Correct File Sharing Pattern

1. Upload to SharePoint.
2. Copy link.
3. Email link to committee list.

See [FAQ](/books/shha-it-help-guide/page/faq#can-i-share-a-file-directly-to-the-committee-mailing-list-from-sharepoint) for step-by-step sharing instructions.

## Need Help?

Contact <ITHelp@sandiahomeowners.org> if you cannot access files or receive committee messages.

### Related Pages

- [Overview](/books/shha-it-help-guide/page/overview)
- [FAQ](/books/shha-it-help-guide/page/faq)
- [Quick Reference](/books/shha-it-help-guide/page/quick-reference)