Unassign licenses from users

You can unassign licenses from users on either the Active users page, or on the Licenses page. The method you use depends on whether you want to unassign product licenses from specific users or unassign users licenses from a specific product.

Use the Licenses page to unassign licenses

When you use the Licenses page to unassign licenses, you unassign licenses for a specific product for up to 20 users.

1. In the admin center, go to the Billing > Licenses page.

2. Select the product for which you want to unassign licenses.
3. Select the users for which you want to unassign licenses.
4. Select Unassign licenses.
5. In the Unassign licenses box, select Unassign.

Use the Active users page to unassign licenses

When you use the Active users page to unassign licenses, you unassign product licenses from users.

Unassign licenses from one user

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

2. Select the row of the user that you want to unassign a license for.
3. In the right pane, select Licenses and Apps.
4. Expand the Licenses section, clear the boxes for the licenses that you want to unassign, then select Save changes.

Unassign licenses from multiple users

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

2. Select the circles next to the names of the users that you want to unassign licenses for.
3. At the top, select More options (...), then select Manage product licenses.
4. In the Manage product licenses pane, select Replace existing product license assignments > Next.
5. At the bottom of the Replace existing products pane, select the Remove all product licenses from the selected users check box, then select Replace > Close.

What happens to a user's data when you remove their license?

• When a license is removed from a user, data that is associated with that account is held for 30 days. After the 30-day grace period, the data is deleted and can't be recovered.
• Files saved in OneDrive for Business aren't deleted unless the user is deleted from the Microsoft 365 admin center or is removed through Active Directory synchronization.
• When the license is removed, the user's mailbox is no longer searchable by using an eDiscovery tool such as Content Search or Advanced eDiscovery.
• If you have an Enterprise subscription, like Office 365 Enterprise E3, Exchange Online lets you preserve the mailbox data of a deleted user account by using inactive mailboxes.
• If you remove a user's license and they still have Office apps installed, they see Unlicensed Product and activation errors in Office when they use Office apps.