Troubleshoot sharing a Microsoft 365 subscription

Applies To
Excel for Microsoft 365 Word for Microsoft 365 PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 Excel for Microsoft 365 for Mac Word for Microsoft 365 for Mac PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 for Mac Microsoft 365 for home Microsoft account dashboard

Here are the solutions to some common problems faced when sharing a Microsoft 365 Family, Premium and Pro subscription.

Important

Only the subscription account holder can share their subscription.

Microsoft 365 sharing invitation not received

If the person you invited to share your subscription didn't receive the invitation:

  • Check that you used their preferred email address.
  • Ask them to check their junk mail folder for a message with "Microsoft 365" in the subject.

Microsoft 365 sharing not available

You can only share your subscription if:

  1. You are the subscription holder of an active Microsoft 365 Family, Premium and Pro subscription. If you don't see Share subscription on the Services & subscriptions page of your Microsoft account dashboard, you don't have a Microsoft 365 Family subscription. Learn how to switch to a different Microsoft 365 subscription.
  2. You have some subscription Shares remaining. Your subscription can be shared with up to five others.
  3. The person you have shared with has accepted the invitation to join your Microsoft family group. Only once they have selected "Join now" and joined your family group, will your Microsoft 365 Family subscription dashboard update to show "Start sharing".
  4. The person you have shared with is already part of another shared subscription. You cannot share with them because they already have the full benefits you are trying to share.

Microsoft 365 subscription no longer available

If you leave the family group, everyone you've shared the subscription with will lose access.
If your Microsoft 365 Family, Premium and Pro subscription expires, you may need to remove then re-share to the Family group.

Microsoft 365 product key already used

Product keys aren't meant to be used for subscription sharing. Instead, please use the steps in Share your Microsoft 365 subscription to send an email or link to each person you want to share with.

OneDrive storage not updating

Sometimes, even after accepting the invitation, users may find that their OneDrive storage remains limited to 5 GB instead of the expected 1 TB or 2 TB shared OneDrive cloud storage.

Note

Starting October 8, 2026, all new (including expired and repurchased) Microsoft 365 Family and Premium subscribers get 2 TB of pooled OneDrive cloud storage, and Microsoft 365 Pro subscribers get 5 TB pooled storage. From May 2, 2027, all existing Microsoft 365 Family and Premium subscribers will get 2 TB of pooled cloud storage when the subscription renews. Pooled storage means the cloud storage allowance is shared across all members of a shared subscription. Each person's mailbox, files and folders continue to remain private. All subscription types can be extended up to 10 TB to give everyone even more OneDrive storage.

In such cases:

  • Verify that the user has accepted the invitation link.
  • Once accepted, they may need to wait 2 hours before changes to your storage show. Go to Manage storage, Refresh the page, and check if the additional storage is visible.

Each account has its own storage quota. If you want to share files and folders, read Share OneDrive files and folders.

See also

Share your Microsoft 365 subscription

Learn more about sharing your Microsoft 365 subscription

Microsoft Family group roles, permissions, and data sharing