Add a user and assign a licence in Microsoft 365

Add a new member of staff to Microsoft 365 and give them a licence, so they get a mailbox, Teams and OneDrive straight away. It takes about five minutes in the Microsoft 365 admin centre.

• Applies to: Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard and Premium
• Time: about 5 minutes per user
• Difficulty: Beginner

Before you start

• You need an admin account with the User Administrator or Global Administrator role. If you set up the subscription, you're already a Global Administrator.
• Check you have a spare licence. In the admin centre go to Billing → Licenses and compare the number assigned with the number available.
• Your domain should already be connected to Microsoft 365, so the new user gets an address like name@yourbusiness.co.uk instead of name@yourbusiness.onmicrosoft.com. See Connect your domain to Microsoft 365.

Step-by-step: add a user

1. Sign in to the admin centre. Go to admin.microsoft.com and sign in with your admin account.
2. Open Active users. In the left-hand menu choose Users → Active users, then select Add a user. If your admin centre is in Simplified view, select Add user instead. The steps that follow are the same.
3. Set up the basics. Enter the first name, last name and display name, then the Username (the part before the @, for example sarah). Pick your business domain from the Domains list.
4. Choose the password settings. Leave Automatically create a password and Require this user to change their password when they first sign in ticked. That way only the new starter knows their final password. Select Next.
5. Assign a product licence. Choose the location (United Kingdom), then tick the licence, for example Microsoft 365 Business Standard. The user won't get a mailbox without a licence. Select Next.
6. Optional settings. Leave Roles set to the standard user option (no admin access) unless this person really needs admin rights (see Give someone admin rights). You can add a job title and department under Profile info. Select Next.
7. Review and finish. Check the details and select Finish adding.
8. Save the sign-in details. The last page shows the username and temporary password. Select Print and save it as a PDF, or write it down, then select Close.

What the new user does next

1. Go to office.com and sign in with their new email address and the temporary password.
2. Choose their own password when asked.
3. Set up the Microsoft Authenticator app if prompted. This is normal when security defaults are on (see Set up multi-factor authentication).
4. Set up Outlook and install the apps: see Set up Outlook for Windows and Install the Microsoft 365 apps.

Give an existing user a licence

If someone already has an account but no licence (for example, after a licence was removed):

1. Go to Users → Active users and select the person's name.
2. Open the Licenses and apps tab.
3. Expand Licenses, tick the licence and select Save changes. The mailbox is usually ready within a few minutes.

You can also do it from Billing → Licenses: choose the product, then select Assign licenses.

Find users quickly with filters and custom views

On the Active users page, the filter list (labelled Filter set in the toolbar) includes ready-made views such as Licensed users, Unlicensed users, Global admins and Guest users. Unlicensed users is a handy way to spot accounts that won't get email.

To make your own view (for example, everyone in Sales, or everyone whose sign-in is blocked):

1. On Active users, open the filter list and choose New filter.
2. Give the filter a name and pick the conditions, such as Domain, Sign-in status, Assigned product license or Department. People must match every condition you choose.
3. Select Add. Your view now appears under the custom filters, and every admin in your organisation can use it.

To change or delete a custom view, switch to it, open the filter list again and choose Edit filter. You can have up to 50 custom views.

Troubleshooting

There's no licence to choose, or "no licenses available"

All your licences are in use. Either remove a licence from someone who has left (see Remove a leaver) or ask us to add one. You can still create the user without a licence and assign one later.

The user can't receive email

Check they have a licence that includes Exchange (Business Basic, Standard and Premium all do) and that it was assigned more than about 15 minutes ago. If outside senders get bounces, check your domain's MX record points to Microsoft 365: see Microsoft 365 DNS records on Host Dada nameservers.

The username ends in onmicrosoft.com

Your own domain wasn't selected in the Domains list, or it isn't verified yet. Open the user, select Manage username and email and change the domain once it's verified.

The new starter has lost the temporary password

Reset it: see Reset a user's password.

Last reviewed: October 2026