---
title: "Swap license recommendations"
slug: "swap-license-recommendations-in-tenant-manager"
updated: 2026-11-02T06:53:54Z
published: 2026-11-02T06:53:54Z
canonical: "docs.turbo360.com/swap-license-recommendations-in-tenant-manager"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.turbo360.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Swap license recommendations

## Overview

A swap recommendation suggests a cheaper license for a person who does not use everything their current license includes. It can also suggest removing a license that another license the person holds already covers. Swap recommendations appear under the **Swap license** filter on the **Users** tab and on the **Licenses** tab.

Each row shows the person, their current license, what to move them to, why, and how much you save each month. You can raise the change as a task for an approver to decide.

### Business value

A person on a premium license who only uses email, or who never opens the desktop apps, costs more than they need to. Swap recommendations find these people and show the saving, so you can right-size licenses without taking anything away that the person uses.

## Prerequisites

Before you use the filter, connect the tenant and let it finish its first sync. See [Connect a Microsoft 365 tenant](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/connect-a-microsoft-365-tenant).

### Required permissions

You need **Read** on Optimization to see swap recommendations. You need **Manage** on Optimization to add them to tasks, ignore them, and restore them. The **Owner** and **Contributor** roles have both. The **Reader** role has **Read** only. For details, see [Roles and permissions in Tenant Manager](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/tenant-manager-roles-and-permissions).

### Dependencies

Swap recommendations are only as good as the usage data Tenant Manager can read. Some of that data needs extra access that your Microsoft Entra administrator grants once. The **Permissions** button on the filter shows which access is working and which is missing. See the table in the How it works section.

## How it works

Select the tenant in the tree view, expand **License management**, and select **Optimization**. On the **Users** tab, select **Swap license**. On the **Licenses** tab, the same filter lists the licenses that have people to swap. The rules behind swaps are in [Recommendations and savings](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/recommendations-and-savings). This article shows how to read and use the list.

Tenant Manager looks at people whose account is enabled and who were active within the Inactive line. It looks only at paid licenses assigned directly to the person. People you excluded are never offered a swap. People who are past the Inactive line are not offered a swap either, because they appear under **Inactive** instead. Usage reports older than 35 days are not used.

How far back each check looks is set by the **Evaluation duration** in **Recommendation settings**. When it is empty, each check uses its own default, as the Swap rules table shows.

A swap moves the person to a cheaper license, sometimes with only the add-ons they use. A removal drops a license the person does not use, or one that another license they hold already covers. A recommendation is dropped when the new license would not save money.

### Swap rules

This table lists the changes Tenant Manager can recommend, what must be true for the person, how far back it looks by default, and the access it needs. Every rule also needs Turbo360 to read licenses, users, and groups in the tenant.

| Change | When it is recommended | Default look-back | Needs |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Any license to Remove | Every feature of the license is switched off for the person, or another license they hold already covers it. | None | Nothing extra |
| Dynamics 365 to Remove | No Dynamics 365 sign-in. | 30 days | AuditLog.Read.All |
| EMS E3 to Microsoft Entra ID P1, EMS E5 to Microsoft Entra ID P2 | No Intune sign-in. | 30 days | AuditLog.Read.All |
| Microsoft Entra ID P2 to P1 | The person is not eligible for any admin role through Privileged Identity Management (PIM). | None | RoleManagement.Read.Directory |
| An email-only suite to Exchange Online | Email is used, with no Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive or desktop Office use, and no sign-in to Intune, Power BI, Power Apps, Power Automate, or Dynamics 365. A sign-in to any one of these blocks the swap. Suites with Defender switched on are never offered. Microsoft 365 E3, E5, and F3 are offered only when the sign-in data has been read in full and shows no Intune use. Other suites are offered without sign-in data. | Teams 90 days, files 60 days, desktop Office 90 days, Intune 30 days | Reports.Read.All and real names in usage reports. AuditLog.Read.All only for Microsoft 365 E3, E5, and F3. |
| Exchange Online Plan 2 to Plan 1 | Mailbox under 45 GB. | None | Reports.Read.All and real names in usage reports |
| Intune to Remove | No Intune sign-in. | 30 days | AuditLog.Read.All |
| Microsoft 365 Apps to Remove | No desktop Office use. | 90 days | Reports.Read.All and real names in usage reports |
| Microsoft 365 Business Premium to Business Standard | Intune, Microsoft Entra ID P1, and Defender are switched off, or no Intune sign-in. | 30 days | AuditLog.Read.All for the sign-in check |
| Microsoft 365 Business Standard to Business Basic | Desktop apps are switched off, or no desktop Office use. | 90 days | Reports.Read.All and real names in usage reports for the usage check |
| Microsoft 365 E3 to Microsoft 365 F3 | No desktop Office use, and mailbox and OneDrive both under 2 GB. | 90 days | Reports.Read.All and real names in usage reports |
| Microsoft 365 E3 to Office 365 E3, E5 to Office 365 E5, F3 to Office 365 F3 | No Intune sign-in. | 30 days | AuditLog.Read.All |
| Microsoft 365 E5 to Microsoft 365 E3 | E5 features are switched off, or no Power BI sign-in. Also no phone call where Teams Phone is on, and no eligibility for a PIM admin role where Entra ID P2 is on. | Power BI 30 days, calls 90 days | CallRecord-PstnCalls.Read.All, RoleManagement.Read.Directory, AuditLog.Read.All |
| Microsoft 365 E5 to Microsoft 365 E3 plus add-ons | Power BI, Teams Phone calls, or PIM role eligibility keep E5, and E3 plus Power BI Pro, Teams Phone, or Entra ID P2 costs less. | Power BI 30 days, calls 90 days | AuditLog.Read.All, CallRecord-PstnCalls.Read.All, RoleManagement.Read.Directory |
| Office 365 E5 to Office 365 E3 plus add-ons | Same, without PIM. | Power BI 30 days, calls 90 days | AuditLog.Read.All, CallRecord-PstnCalls.Read.All |
| Office 365 E3 to Office 365 E1 | Desktop apps are switched off, or no desktop Office use. | 90 days | Reports.Read.All and real names in usage reports |
| Office 365 E5 to Office 365 E3 | E5 features are switched off, or no Power BI sign-in and no phone call where Teams Phone is on. | Power BI 30 days, calls 90 days | CallRecord-PstnCalls.Read.All, AuditLog.Read.All |
| Power Apps or Power Automate per user to Remove | No sign-in to the service. | 30 days | AuditLog.Read.All |
| Power BI Pro or Premium per user to Remove | No Power BI sign-in. | 30 days | AuditLog.Read.All |
| Project Plan 3 to Plan 1, Visio Plan 2 to Plan 1 | The desktop app is switched off, or not installed on any device. | None | Reports.Read.All and real names in usage reports for the install check |
| Project Plan 5 to Plan 3 | Plan 5 features are switched off. | None | Nothing extra |
| Teams Phone to Remove | No Calling Plan or Direct Routing call. | 90 days | CallRecord-PstnCalls.Read.All |

If you set an **Evaluation duration** in **Recommendation settings**, it replaces the look-back above, up to what Microsoft keeps: 30 days of sign-ins and 90 days of calls.

### Columns and reasons

The grid shows these columns.

| Column | What it shows |
| --- | --- |
| User | The person's name, with a badge when the row is **Requested** or ignored. |
| Email | The person's email address. |
| Current license | The license the person holds now. |
| Move to | The replacement license, with any add-ons. For a removal, it reads **Remove (unused)**, or **Remove (covered by** followed by the name of the other license and a closing bracket. |
| Change | **Swap** or **Remove**. |
| Why | The reason for the recommendation. |
| Free seats | **Not needed** when the change is a removal, **Not purchased** when you own none of the replacement license, or the number of unassigned seats of it. |
| Monthly savings | The price difference of a swap, or the full price of a license that is removed, whether unused or covered by another. A dash means a price is missing. |

Rows are sorted by the biggest saving, then by name, and the grid shows 100 rows per page.

The **Why** column uses these labels.

| Label | What it tells you |
| --- | --- |
| Every feature switched off | Every feature of the license is switched off for the person. |
| Premium features switched off | The premium features of the license are switched off for the person. |
| E5 features unused | The E5-only features are not used. |
| Desktop app not installed, Desktop app switched off, Desktop Office switched off, No desktop Office use | The person does not use the desktop Office apps. |
| Email only | The person uses only email. |
| Small mailbox | The mailbox and storage are small enough for a lighter license. |
| Cheaper with add-ons | A cheaper license plus only the add-ons the person uses costs less. |
| No phone calls | The person made no calls in the evaluation period, so a phone license is not needed. |
| Not signed in to the service | The person has not signed in to the service in the evaluation period. |
| No admin role through PIM | The person is not eligible for any admin role through PIM. |
| Covered by another license | Another license the person holds already includes everything this one does. |

A swap needs a free seat of the replacement license. When there is none, the row says so, and the change cannot be added until you free or buy a seat. When you check several people, Tenant Manager adds them in grid order only up to the number of free seats.

### Permissions button

The **Permissions** button shows a count of items that are missing or not read yet. Selecting it lists the access that unlocks more recommendations. The panel is titled **Permissions for swap license recommendations**, and it starts with "Each one finds more people. Grant it on the app registration with admin consent, then sync." Each item shows a state: **Working**, **Missing**, **Not read yet**, or **Not needed**. The state is the worst one across the tenants in scope. For a missing item, the panel says what to grant, for example "Call records were not read. The app registration needs the CallRecord-PstnCalls.Read.All permission, with admin consent." or "PIM role eligibility was not read. The app registration needs the RoleManagement.Read.Directory permission, with admin consent." Ask your Microsoft Entra administrator to grant a missing permission with admin consent, and then sync the tenant.

| Item | What it lets Tenant Manager check | Recommendations it unlocks |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reports.Read.All | Office app use, installs and storage. | Email-only to Exchange Online, E3 to E1 or F3, Business Standard to Basic, Visio and Project to Plan 1, Exchange Plan 2 to Plan 1, and Microsoft 365 Apps. |
| Real names in usage reports | Names in usage reports. | Every usage-based swap, and Idle Copilot. |
| CallRecord-PstnCalls.Read.All | Phone calls. | E5 to E3, and removing a standalone Teams Phone, when no calls are made. |
| RoleManagement.Read.Directory | PIM role eligibility. | E5 to E3, and Entra ID P2 to P1, when the person has no PIM admin role eligibility. |
| AuditLog.Read.All | Service sign-ins. | Removals for Power BI, Power Apps, Power Automate, Dynamics 365, and Intune. Microsoft 365 to Office 365. EMS to Microsoft Entra ID P1 or P2. Business Premium to Business Standard. E5 to E3 when Power BI is unused. Email-only to Exchange Online for Microsoft 365 E3, E5, and F3. |

An item such as **Real names in usage reports** can show as missing when Microsoft conceals user, group, and site names in its usage reports, and the Troubleshooting section lists the fix.

## Steps

The steps below cover the common tasks for swap recommendations. You start in Optimization for the tenant. For the shared settings and the **Ignore** dialog, see [Optimization overview](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/optimization-overview-in-tenant-manager).

### Review swap recommendations

This procedure shows who could move to a cheaper license and why.

1. On the **Users** tab, select **Swap license**.
2. Read the **Move to**, **Why**, and **Free seats** columns.
3. Select a row to open the popup. It shows the change, the current license, the reason, the free seats, and the monthly saving.

### Check what is missing

This procedure shows which access would unlock more recommendations.

1. Select **Permissions**.
2. Read the state of each item.
3. Ask your Microsoft Entra administrator to grant any item that is **Missing**, and then sync the tenant. If **Real names in usage reports** is **Missing**, ask your Microsoft 365 administrator to go to Settings > Org settings > Reports in the Microsoft 365 admin center and clear **Display concealed user, group, and site names in all reports**, and then sync the tenant again.

### Add swaps to tasks

This procedure raises one task per person for an approver to decide.

1. Select the **Add to tasks** icon on a row. To add several, check the rows and select **Actions** > **Add to Tasks**.
2. Read the confirmation. Enter a note if you want to record a reason.
3. Select **Continue**.

The tasks appear in **Tasks** with the status **Awaiting approval**. When a task is approved, Tenant Manager gives the person the new license and removes the old one in one change, so nobody is left without a license.

### Ignore a swap

This procedure hides a swap recommendation for everyone in the account.

1. Check one or more rows, and select **Actions** > **Ignore**.
2. Choose **Ignore always**, or choose **Ignore until** and pick a date.
3. Select **Continue**.

### Restore an ignored swap

This procedure brings an ignored swap back to the list.

1. Turn on **Show ignored**. The switch shows the number of ignored swaps, and it appears only when at least one swap is ignored.
2. Check the rows, and select **Actions** > **Restore**, or select the **Restore** icon on a row.
3. Select **Continue**.

## Permission behavior

What you can do depends on your role.

- Without **Manage** on Optimization, **Add to Tasks**, **Ignore**, and **Restore** are disabled. Hover over one to see "You are not authorized to perform this operation".
- A swap is blocked when there is no free seat of the replacement license, or when you own none of it.
- A person who already has a pending request for the license is skipped. Decide that request first.

## Example scenario

Ayesha Khan, a module owner at Fourth Coffee, wants to stop paying for premium licenses where a lighter one is enough. She opens Optimization for Fourth Coffee Stores, selects **Users**, and then **Swap license**. One row shows a person on a premium license whose **Why** says **Email only**, with a lighter license in **Move to** and one free seat.

She selects **Add to tasks** and **Continue**. A task appears in **Tasks**. When it is approved, the person gets the lighter license and the premium license is removed in the same change.

## Limitations

- Only paid licenses that are assigned directly to a person are evaluated.
- Excluded users and people past the Inactive line are not offered a swap.
- A swap needs a free seat of the replacement license, and you cannot raise more swaps than there are free seats.
- Usage reports older than 35 days are not used.
- Recommendations come from the last sync. They are not live.

## Troubleshooting

1. **There are few or no swap recommendations.** Cause: some access is missing, or the usage reports hide user names. Fix: select **Permissions**, ask your Microsoft Entra administrator to grant what is missing, and sync the tenant. If **Real names in usage reports** is missing, your Microsoft 365 administrator needs to turn off concealed names. In the Microsoft 365 admin center, go to Settings > Org settings > Reports, clear **Display concealed user, group, and site names in all reports**, and sync the tenant again.
2. **A swap shows "Not purchased" under Free seats.** Cause: your tenant owns no seats of the cheaper license. Fix: buy seats of the cheaper license, and then add the swap.
3. **A swap was skipped and the message says it is no longer recommended.** Cause: the licenses or usage changed after the page loaded. Fix: reload the page and check the recommendation again.
4. **A swap was skipped because no unassigned seat is left.** Cause: the free seats were used after the page loaded. Fix: free or buy seats of the replacement license, and add the swap again.
5. **An ignored swap is not under Users > Ignored.** Cause: an ignored swap is kept with the swaps. Fix: select **Swap license**, and turn on **Show ignored**.
6. **A note says that license plans have not been read yet.** Cause: Turbo360 has not yet read what each license includes, so it cannot check switched-off features or licenses covered by another license. Fix: none is needed. The plans are read on the next sync.

## FAQs

1. **Does a swap take anything away that the person uses?** The recommendation is made only when the usage data shows the person does not use the features that the cheaper license lacks. Check the **Why** column before you add it.
2. **Why do some people never get a swap?** People you excluded, people who are inactive, and people with licenses assigned through a Microsoft Entra ID group are not offered a swap.
3. **Can I undo an approved swap?** Not from Tenant Manager. To reverse it, raise a swap back to the original license.

## Related articles

- [Optimization overview](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/optimization-overview-in-tenant-manager)
- [User recommendations](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/user-recommendations-in-tenant-manager)
- [License recommendations](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/license-recommendations-in-tenant-manager)
- [Group recommendations](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/group-recommendations-in-tenant-manager)
- [License tasks](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/license-tasks-in-tenant-manager)
- [Recommendations and savings](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/recommendations-and-savings)
- [Syncing a Microsoft 365 tenant](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/syncing-a-microsoft-365-tenant)
- [Roles and permissions in Tenant Manager](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/tenant-manager-roles-and-permissions)