Invite users to a Microsoft 365 for business subscription (admin)

Important

These steps apply to Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Microsoft 365 Business Basic, and Microsoft 365 Apps for business.

As the admin of a Microsoft 365 business subscription, you can invite users to join your organization and start using Microsoft 365 apps and services. When you add users, they get access to the following features and services:

  • Get desktop versions of Microsoft 365 productivity apps, including Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote (plus Access and Publisher for PC only).
  • Create a hub for teamwork to connect people using Microsoft Teams.
  • Store and share files with 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage per user.
  • Use one license to cover fully installed Microsoft 365 productivity apps on five mobile devices, five tablets, and five PCs or Macs per user.
  • Get help anytime with around-the-clock phone and web support from Microsoft.

Note

The person who signs up for Microsoft 365 for business (usually the business owner) automatically becomes the technical administrator of the organization. You can add other people as admins if you want help with managing your Microsoft 365 services. For more information, see Assign admin roles.

Before you begin

Make sure to sign up for Microsoft 365 Business Standard or Microsoft 365 Apps for business. Also, make sure to set up your Business Standard organization or Set up Microsoft 365 Apps for business. After you complete the steps, you can share an invite with your users.

Share an invitation to a Microsoft 365 for business subscription

Note

Use the Microsoft 365 admin center for this task. You don't need to go to Identity or the Microsoft Entra admin center unless you're inviting a guest user from outside your organization. This article covers inviting people to use licenses in your Microsoft 365 business subscription.

  1. In the Microsoft 365 admin center, go to Users > Active users.

  2. Select Add a user.

  3. Enter the person's name and email address.

  4. On the account setup page, make sure a Microsoft 365 Business license is assigned.

  5. Select the option to send the account information and temporary password to the user by email, and then select Finish adding.

The user gets an email invitation with the sign-in details they need to join your organization and start using Microsoft 365.

Next steps

Follow up with your users and make sure they got the email invite you sent about sharing your Microsoft 365 Business Standard subscription.

Frequently asked questions

I shared an email invite but the user didn't receive the email

  1. Ask the user to check their spam folder.
  2. Open Users > Active users, select the user, and resend the email with their account information if that option is available.
  3. Make sure the email address you entered for your user is correct.

Is this invitation in Identity or Microsoft Entra?

No. For people who need a license in your Microsoft 365 business subscription, use the Microsoft 365 admin center and add them under Users > Active users.

Use Microsoft Entra only if you want to invite a guest user from outside your organization for collaboration scenarios. For more information, see Add and manage B2B collaboration users in the Microsoft Entra admin center.

How can I help an employee join my business and leave another business?

There are a couple of options in this case:

  1. They can contact the business owner or admin of the other business and ask to be removed from that business. You can then add them to your organization.

  2. They can remove themselves by following the steps provided here:

    1. Go to https://myapps.microsoft.com/.
    2. Sign in to your account and select your profile initials.
    3. Select View account > Manage organizations > Leave organization.
    4. Select Leave > OK.

How do I help someone install Microsoft 365?

Send them this article to help them install Microsoft 365: Download and install or reinstall Microsoft 365 or Office 2021 on a PC or Mac.

How do I meet common GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) obligations for my organization?

Under GDPR, an employee or customer might ask that you retrieve, or delete all information about them in your Microsoft cloud. For more information, see Data Subject Requests.

To search data that's saved in the Microsoft cloud as part of your Microsoft 365 Business subscription, you and each user you invite need to visit https://account.microsoft.com/account/privacy to search data in locations such as OneDrive. In addition, you (business or admin) might need to search for employee account data that's saved in the Microsoft Entra admin center.

Depending on how you and other users save documents, you and every user you invite might need to use built-in search and delete functionality to discover what is saved on your Windows PCs or Macs, on business apps on smartphones, and on non-Microsoft apps and sites.

Note

Once you attach a domain, and you and your users use business accounts to save data into the Microsoft cloud, you can conduct data subject requests on behalf of all users by following guidance in Microsoft 365 Data Subject Requests for the GDPR and CCPA.

Related content

Set up Microsoft 365 Business Standard

Accept invite to Microsoft 365 Business Standard (User)

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