User recommendations

Overview

The Users tab in Optimization lists people who hold licenses they do not use. Each row is one person, with the reason, the licenses involved, and the saving if you remove them. You can raise the recommended change as a task, ignore it, or open the row to see the details.

A recommendation changes nothing by itself. The change goes to an approver in Tasks first.

Business value

The tab shows who is disabled but still licensed, who never signed in, who is inactive, and who holds a Copilot seat they do not use. You can reclaim paid licenses and see the yearly saving before you act.

Prerequisites

Before you use the tab, connect the tenant and let it finish its first sync. See Connect a Microsoft 365 tenant.

Required permissions

You need Read on Optimization to view the tab. You need Manage on Optimization to add recommendations 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.

Dependencies

• Last sync: the list shows what the last sync read from Microsoft. It is not live.
• Sign-in data: the Never signed in and Inactive filters need Turbo360 to have the AuditLog.Read.All permission with admin consent, and the tenant needs Microsoft Entra ID P1 or P2 for Microsoft to provide sign-in data. Optimization shows a note about it when no user has a sign-in date. Without sign-in data, Never signed in and Inactive both list nobody. Inactive does not fall back to usage reports, and the recommendations that depend on it are not made. See How data sync works.
• Copilot usage data: Idle Copilot needs the Microsoft 365 usage reports, and the reports must show real user names. When this data is not available, a note above the grid explains what is missing. See Swap license recommendations.

How it works

Select the tenant in the tree view, expand License management, and select Optimization. The Users tab opens first. The rules behind each reason are in Recommendations and savings. This article shows how to read and use the tab.

A direct license is a license assigned to the person themselves, not through a Microsoft Entra ID group. The tab works with direct licenses, because only those can be removed from the person.

Tiles and filters

Four tiles sit above the grid.

The filter pills cut the list by reason.

The Filter settings icon appears on the All and Inactive filters. It sets the number of days after which a person counts as inactive. The setting is yours only, so a colleague can see a different Inactive list.

Activity means an interactive sign-in, or use of email, Teams, SharePoint, or OneDrive. A background sign-in counts as activity only when Microsoft's usage reports have nothing for that person. People you exclude in Explore never appear under any reason. To exclude a user, see Explore users.

When Copilot usage cannot be judged, a note above the grid says why. For example, Copilot usage may not have been read yet. It is read on the next sync.

Columns

These columns are shown by default. You can add the others in Column options.

The columns that are hidden by default are Licenses, Sign-in name, Department, Manager, and Last activity.

What a task removes

For Disabled, Never signed in, and Inactive, the task removes every license that is assigned directly to the person, free or paid. For Idle Copilot, it removes only the Copilot seats. For Multiple assignments, it removes the direct copy of a license that the person also gets through a Microsoft Entra ID group, which saves nothing. When every license comes from a group, the row says "Nothing to reclaim here because every license comes from a group", and you use the Groups tab.

Steps

The steps below cover the common tasks on the Users tab. You start in Optimization for the tenant, with the Users tab open. For ignoring, restoring, and the settings, see Optimization overview.

Review a recommendation

This procedure shows the evidence behind a recommendation before you act on it.

1. Select a filter pill, for example Inactive.
2. Select a row to open the recommendation popup.
3. Read the summary card and the Details. Select Explain if you want an explanation in plain words.
4. Use the arrows in the header to step to the next person.

Add a recommendation to tasks from a row

This procedure raises every change that a row recommends as one request.

1. Select the Add to tasks icon on the row.
2. Read the confirmation. Enter a note if you want to record a reason or a ticket reference.
3. Select Continue.

The task note reads "Added from the Users tab" followed by the licenses and the reasons, and then your note.

Add several recommendations to tasks

This procedure raises the changes for several people in one action.

1. Check the rows.
2. Select Actions > Add to Tasks.
3. Read the confirmation, and select Continue.

When you check one person, all their removals go in one request. When you check several, Tenant Manager raises one request per license, covering every checked person who holds it.

Choose which changes to raise

This procedure lets you raise only part of a recommendation, for example one license of several.

1. Select the row to open the popup.
2. In Changes to raise, clear the changes you do not want.
3. Select Add n changes to Tasks.

Permission behavior

What you can do on the tab depends on your role.

• Without Manage on Optimization, Add to tasks, Ignore, Restore, and Actions are disabled. Hover over one to see "You are not authorized to perform this operation".
• A change that is already waiting in Tasks shows Requested and is not raised again.
• A removal for an excluded user is refused. The message says to clear the exclusion on the user first, if the removal is intended.
• Explain needs the Use AI agents permission and the account's AI agents switch. On private hosting, it also needs an OpenAI connection.

Example scenario

The yearly license review at Coho Winery starts with the inactive users. Naledi Dlamini, a module owner, opens Optimization for Coho Winery South Africa and selects Inactive. The tile Paid licenses to reclaim shows how many paid licenses are held by these people, and Annual savings shows the yearly figure for the people whose price is known.

She opens a row, reads that the last activity was months ago, and selects Add to tasks. She types a ticket number in the note and selects Continue. The request appears in Tasks with the status Awaiting approval.

Limitations

• The tab lists direct licenses only. Licenses that come from a Microsoft Entra ID group are handled on the Groups tab.
• Recommendations come from the last sync. They are not live.
• An excluded user is never a removal candidate.
• Only one open request is allowed for each person and license.
• The savings include only licenses with a known price.

Troubleshooting

1. Add to tasks is disabled and says "Already requested".
   Cause: an open task covers every change in the row.
   Fix: approve or decline the task in Tasks, and then raise the request again.

2. A person is missing from Inactive.
   Cause: the Inactive line is set higher than their inactivity, the person is excluded, the person has no direct license, or the tenant has no sign-in data.
   Fix: check Filter settings, and check whether the user is excluded in Explore. If a note says the tenant has no sign-in data, see the last item in this list.

3. Idle Copilot is empty and a note appears above the grid.
   Cause: Tenant Manager has not read the Copilot usage report yet, or the reports hide user names.
   Fix: ask your Microsoft 365 administrator to turn off concealed names in the reports settings, and to grant the reports access that the note names. Then sync the tenant. See Swap license recommendations.

4. A person was skipped when you added the change, and the message says the user is excluded.
   Cause: the user is excluded from removals in Tenant Manager.
   Fix: include the user in removals in Explore first, if the removal is intended.

5. Monthly savings shows a dash.
   Cause: no price is known for the license.
   Fix: set a custom price in the Global price catalog, or connect a billing account that Tenant Manager can read.

6. Never signed in and Inactive show no one, or a note says that the tenant does not have Microsoft Entra ID P1.
   Cause: Turbo360 has no access to sign-in data for the tenant, because the AuditLog.Read.All permission is not granted or the tenant has no Microsoft Entra ID P1. Without sign-in data, both filters list nobody.
   Fix: select the information icon next to the page title to check the permission, and ask your Microsoft Entra administrator to grant it with admin consent. If the tenant has no P1, the two filters stay empty.

FAQs

1. Why does a person with a disabled account show no saving?
   The license may be free or a trial, or no price may be known. A saving counts only paid licenses with a known price.

2. Why can I not remove a license from a user?
   The license may come from a Microsoft Entra ID group, the user may be excluded, or a task for the change may already be waiting. Licenses that come from a group are handled on the Groups tab.

3. Does adding to tasks remove the license?
   No. It creates a task. The license is removed only after an approver approves the task.

Related articles

• Optimization overview
• Group recommendations
• License recommendations
• Swap license recommendations
• License tasks
• Recommendations and savings
• Explore users
• Roles and permissions in Tenant Manager