Forum Discussion
Microsoft 365 Business Basic in New Outlook
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/outlook-blog/how-licensing-works-for-work-and-school-accounts-in-the-new/ba-p/4047361
ChrisAtMaf After dealing with this for a couple of weeks now, I want to add some thoughts. Overall, trying to rely on your Microsoft 365 Family subscription as a way to get the desktop apps for your business basic account will be difficult at best. Microsoft will continually harass you and you will find that features just don't work. The issue with the new Outlook is an example, but by no means the only one.
For instance, when you schedule meetings on Teams and you intend to join with your business account you may find that you are not allowed to use the desktop app, but rather are forced to use the browser. And even then you may find that you are not allowed to set different backgrounds, etc, in the browser, because you are using a business basic account.
The big picture here is that Microsoft is not going to make it easy for someone who is not willing to at least upgrade to Microsoft 365 Business Standard. I think Business Basic exists only because Google also offers an intro level at the same price.
I actually cancelled my Business Basic and went with Business Standard for a year. It just isn't worth the harassment and frustration for $6.50 per month.
It worked for me after quite some headache, and searching the web. You can only use add basic accounts when you select the account that has the full license on it and switch that to be the primary account. Then you can add additional basic accounts and they will be allowed to use the desktop version.
- Great news! Have not tried it yet but it seems like MS did listen to the feedback! Thats awesome!
- I've just tried it but it doesn't work. My outlook.com (Microsoft 365 Family account) works but all my business basic accounts still display a licensing error.
As always these days it's virtually impossible to work out if you have the current version of the apps and have altered whatever settings are needed on the Microsoft 365 Business Basic accounts.According to the article it might take until the middle of this month before you see the changes:
When will I see the capability change in the new Outlook for Windows?
We began rolling out these improvements on February 1st, 2024. They should reach all users by the middle of February.
