Understand Planner trials and license assignments

Applies to:

  • Basic and premium plans in Planner for the web
  • Basic and premium plans in Planner in Teams

Within your organization's account, users might have a Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 license that provides them with access to Microsoft Planner. These users can access Planner either through the web, or through Teams. As your users explore the benefits of Planner, they might discover a need for more advanced work management capabilities. By signing up for a Planner and Project Plan 3 trial, they can experience the advanced features in Planner for 30 days at no cost.

As an admin, you can manage and approve these license requests in your organization.

Note

Trial licenses are also available for Planner Plan 1. For a detailed comparison of the key features included with Planner Plan 1 and Planner and Project Plan 3, see Compare Planner plans.

30-day trial for advanced features

When users follow the prompts in planner to enable a 30-day trial, they gain access to all the features and functionality available with a subscription license for Planner and Project Plan 3. Plan 3 includes features such as task history, advanced dependencies, custom calendars, timeline (Gantt) view, sprints, custom fields, people view, and managing goals. Once the trial starts, users can access these features within Planner in Teams and Planner for the web.

During the trial period, users can explore all the functionalities offered by the trial license and gain insights into how it can benefit their workflow and project management tasks. At the end of the 30-day trial, they can request a Planner and Project Plan 3 license from their Microsoft 365 administrator.

Approve license requests

As an admin, you can manage license assignments within your organization and review incoming license requests following the 30-day trial, including:

  • Process individual license requests: When a user requests a license, you receive a notification in the Microsoft 365 admin center. You can accept or deny each request using the Licenses tab located under Billing. Within the Requests tab, you can see all the submitted requests and assign the licenses either one at a time or in bulk.

Screenshot of a list of license requests that can be processed individually or in bulk.

  • Select the license to assign: Select a request and then choose from an available license via the drop-down menu under Select a product. You can see the number of available licenses, so you can manage these requests by plan.

Screenshot of a selected individual request for a license and the request information pane.

More admin controls

  • Monitor product usage: After a user starts a trial, you can track product usage metrics within the Microsoft 365 Admin Center to determine which users can benefit most from a permanent license.

  • Enable or disable license requests: To control who can access the trial and when, you can use the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, you can turn the option for people in your organization to request a license on or off.

  • Self-service purchases: Users can opt to purchase a license independently. While you can't assign or unassign licenses for these purchases, you can take over the subscription and manage it accordingly.

Other resources

Add users and assign licenses in Microsoft 365 - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn

Remove Microsoft 365 licenses from user accounts with PowerShell - Microsoft 365 Enterprise | Microsoft Learn

Project for the web get started guide for administrators - Project for the web | Microsoft Learn