Shared mailboxes don't need a license unless the mailbox has over 50GB of data. Follow these instructions to remove a license from a shared mailbox so that you can either assign it to a user or return the license so that you aren't paying for a license you don't need.
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Remove the license
Tip
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In the admin center, go to Users > Active users.
Note
You'll need to remove the license from the Active users page. You can't remove the license from the Shared mailbox page because licenses are user settings.
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Select the shared mailbox to view the user details.
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Next to Product licenses, select Edit.
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Toggle the license Off, and then select Save.
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When you return to the Active users' page, it may take a few minutes for the user's status to refresh to Unlicensed.
Next steps
After you've removed the license, you can do the following:
Remove licenses from your Office 365 for business subscription
Assign licenses to users in Office 365 for business
Related Guides
- Share calendars with external users
- Centralised deployment of add-ins
- Manage deployment of add-ins
- Message center
- Basic mailbox settings for Outlook and other email clients (POP/IMAP)
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