You can find the answers to commonly asked questions for Teams Essentials users and subscription owners.

Teams Essentials in Microsoft Teams (free)

Microsoft Teams (free) no longer offers Teams Essentials subscriptions. All existing Teams Essentials accounts will continue to be active without any changes.

Teams Essentials in Teams Business

Expand your business and get more done with Teams. Easily stay connected with customers and employees. Meet, chat, and innovate together with a Teams Essentials subscription for small business.

Frequently asked questions

These are some frequently asked questions (FAQs) that'll help you navigate Teams Essentials.

FAQs for Teams Essentials users

When someone adds you to a Microsoft Teams Essentials subscription, you'll get an email invitation with steps on how to join.

  1. From the invitation email, select Accept.

    Teams Essentials email invite

  2. On the Join Microsoft Teams page, select Next.

  3. On the Sign up page, make sure you use the same email used in the invitation email, and create a password. Select Create account.

  4. Select Accept on the Terms and Conditions page.

  5. On the Review permissions page, select Accept.

  6. On the Welcome to Microsoft Teams Essentials page, you can download Teams desktop and mobile apps, and set up OneDrive.

Any documents and chats you save into the Microsoft 365 cloud (OneDrive, Teams) using your Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, or other email account won't be accessible by your technical admin. You own your documents and chats. 

However, as part of setting up Microsoft Teams Essentials, you are consenting that your technical admin will have access to a limited amount of account information, specifically, your account information, such as your name, profile picture, email address, and your sign-in details and sign-in activity. 

For further information about data privacy, refer to the Terms of Use.

No, it doesn’t. You can still sign in the same way as before.

FAQs for Teams Essentials subscription owners

The Microsoft 365 admin center is your place to add or remove contacts, verify a user license, edit account info, and assign user roles.

  1. From the admin screen, select Invite people to Microsoft Teams Essentials.

  2. Fill in the name and email address of the person you'd like to add, and then select Send invitation.

  • Select the Advanced role management dropdown to invite someone as an admin.

Notes: 

  • If you have already reached your limit of participants, you'll receive a notification that you’ve reached your maximum and can't add another user.

  • If the email address you entered already belongs to another organization, you may need to ask your contact for another email address.

  • Make sure that you send the invite to the email address that your contact wants to use to sign in.

When you invite someone to Teams Essentials, they'll get a notification of your invitation and whether they were added as a user or an admin. Once they accept, we'll walk them through set up.

  1. From the admin screen, select the user whose account information you'd like to edit.

  2. On the user’s profile on the right of the screen, select Edit contact info.

  1. From the admin screen, select the user you want to assign a role to.

  2. On the user’s profile on the right of the screen, select Assign admin role.

When you invite a user, they should receive an email notifying them of your invitation and should follow the steps outlined. 

Double check to make sure that you sent the invitation to the right email address. If so, have them check their spam folder. If the email isn't there, send it again.

Remove the first invitation and resend the invite to the user's preferred email address.

Contact us

For more help, contact support or ask a question in the Microsoft Teams Community.

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