Teams Exploratory to paid Teams license

Has your organization used Microsoft Teams Exploratory during the Covid-19 period? This free Teams version has now expired. In this article we explain the scenarios that could cause you to no longer have access to Teams, and how you can safely upgrade to the correct paid Teams variant.

What is Microsoft Teams Exploratory?

With Microsoft Teams Exploratory, organizations could use a free Microsoft Teams trial version. This was available to organizations already using Microsoft Azure AD.  

The free Teams variant was introduced in February 2020 during the Covid-19 period. Many organizations have gratefully taken advantage of this, but the free version has now expired for some time since September 15, 2021.  

After the trial expired, organizations could retain access for up to 30 days. If a paid license is purchased within 60 days of the expiration date, users can regain access to Teams and all content.  

Microsoft indicates the following scenarios that could cause users to lose access to Teams:  

• Customer has the correct amount of paid licenses, but they are not linked to a user.  
• Microsoft 365 Apps does have the Teams client software, but does not entitle users to the Teams service.  
• Exchange online or Exchange Kiosk are not entitled to Microsoft Teams.  
• More Teams users than paid licenses.  

When should you upgrade?

In your Microsoft account you can see how many active users you have and whether you are still using a trial version. Go to Billing > Your Products in the Microsoft 365 admin environment. You will also receive a notification from Microsoft when your trial version expires.  

 
How can you upgrade?

Depending on the situation, there are 3 options to switch to a paid Teams license.  

• Upgrading an existing license . You can use this choice if your organization already has a license for other Office products, but not yet Teams. You can upgrade here to another “business plan” as Microsoft calls it.  
• Add users to an existing Microsoft 365 license . If your company does not have enough paid licenses for the number of users, you can purchase additional licenses. For this you can assign users to an available license. In the Microsoft 365 admin environment you can see which active users there are for the current licenses.  
• Buy a new Microsoft 365 license. You purchase a new license if there are no existing licenses or if you want to use a different license than the license that Teams Exploratory falls under.
   

Assign paid licenses to users

NB! Before you undo a Teams Exploratory license, you must first assign the new license! If you do not do this, your user will lose access to Teams until you assign the paid license.  

You can do this in the Microsoft 365 admin environment under “Assign licenses to users”. You can then revoke the Teams Exploratory license from users via “Unassign licenses from users”.  

Need support with Teams Exploratory towards a paid Teams license?

View our hardware & software page. Do you not yet have an Office and/or Teams license and do you want to use Office 365 and Teams ? We are happy to advise you on the best license for your organization. Please contact us for this.