Dynamics 365 Preview Lets Admins Add Unlicensed Entra ID Users to Activity Recipients

This doesn't let anyone use Dynamics 365 for free. These people can be named on an activity, but they still can't sign in to or run the app.

What's changing​

Microsoft Learn's page on the feature says that by default, only users with a Dataverse or Power Apps license can be added to activities in Dynamics 365 apps. With the setting on, any user in the tenant who has a Microsoft Entra ID can be added to recipient fields. Learn gives these examples:

• Email: To, Cc and Bcc
• Appointment: Required Attendees and Optional Attendees
• Phone call: Call From and Call To

The Message Center notice MC1506229 lists a slightly longer set. According to copies of the notice from Merill Fernando's Message Center archive and PupuWeb, active Entra ID users who do not have a valid Dynamics 365 or Power Apps license can be selected in fields such as: Email: To, Cc, and Bcc; Appointment: Owner, Required Attendees, and Optional Attendees; Phone call: Owner, Call From, and Call To; Task: Owner (co-owner).

The Learn page doesn't mention the Owner fields or the task co-owner case. Until Microsoft's two documents agree, plan around the recipient fields both of them list, and test Owner behaviour in a sandbox before you rely on it.

In short: unlicensed colleagues can now be recorded on emails, appointments and phone calls, which reflects who actually took part.

Timing and scope​

The Message Center notice is more specific than the roadmap. It says this feature will reach public preview on October 15, 2026, and PupuWeb's copy shows it was published: Oct 13, 2026 under Dynamics 365 Apps. Microsoft classes it as an awareness notice: no action is required unless you want to turn the feature on.

There was an earlier announcement too. An older notice archived by M365 Admin (HANDS ON tek) described a plan to assign non-Power Platform licensed Entra users to Dataverse activities, and said this feature will reach public preview on September 30, 2026. That notice explained that these non-licensed users are created at run-time as stub users and can then be assigned to the activities. The later notice moved the preview date to October 15. Roadmap dates move, and the roadmap itself says all its information is subject to change.

Government clouds aren't covered: the roadmap lists only Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant). And because this is a preview, Microsoft's usual warning applies: preview features aren't meant for production use and might have restricted functionality.

How it works​

Once the feature is on, the user lookup in activity fields searches the Microsoft Entra ID table. That's a virtual Dataverse table showing the current list of active Entra ID users, so the picker can find people who were never added to the environment.

When someone picks one of those people, Dataverse creates an unlicensed-user record for them in that environment. The record has a Disabled status. The person shows up on the activity, but they can't sign in to or run Dynamics 365 apps.

Microsoft's "Create users" documentation now lists Users without licenses (preview) as a user type. It says these users are created in Dataverse when they're added to Dataverse activities in ToLine, ccLine, or bccLine. Created with a user status of Disabled. Can't access Microsoft Dataverse web applications, Power Apps, or Power Platform admin portals.

People who have built model-driven apps will know why this is welcome. Recording meeting participants has always needed workarounds. In a post about Power Apps people pickers, Forward Forever pointed out that making someone a Dataverse user requires a license, which is a bit awkward when we would just like to record the participants of a meeting. Teams used text fields, contact records for their own staff, or custom tables. This feature handles the most common case in the product itself.

Prerequisites​

You need two admin roles:

1. Privileged Role Administrator in the Microsoft Entra admin center, to grant users read access to the Microsoft Entra ID table.
2. Power Platform administrator, to turn the feature on in the Power Platform admin center.

Before you turn it on, give all users in the tenant read permission on the Microsoft Entra ID table. Microsoft documents two ways:

• Option A: Add read permission for the Microsoft Entra ID table to each existing security role that's assigned to users.
• Option B: Create a custom security role that grants read permission for the table, then assign that role to all users.

Option B is usually easier to manage. One role is easy to audit and remove, while edits spread across many existing roles are easy to lose track of. Either way, check with your security team that tenant-wide read access to the active-user list fits your policies. People can usually see this information in Outlook's address book anyway, but auditors may still ask about it.

Turning it on​

The setting applies to one environment at a time, so repeat these steps in each environment where you want it:

1. Sign in to the Power Platform admin center.
2. Select Manage in the navigation pane.
3. In the Manage pane, select Environments, then select the environment.
4. Select Settings.
5. Select Product, then Features.
6. Go to Activities for users without licenses.
7. Select the Add anyone with an Entra ID to an activity's recipients fields checkbox.

To check it worked: open a new email, appointment or phone call in a Dynamics 365 Sales or Customer Service app. Search a recipient field for a colleague you know has no Dataverse or Power Apps license. If they appear and can be selected, the feature is working. A disabled unlicensed-user record for them should then exist in the environment.

If it doesn't work:

• The colleague doesn't appear in the lookup: check that read permission on the Microsoft Entra ID table reached every relevant user. Microsoft lists this as a prerequisite to complete before enabling the feature.
• The checkbox is missing: the preview may not have reached your environment yet, or you may not have the Power Platform administrator role.
• The person still doesn't appear: the lookup shows only active Entra ID users. Microsoft's user documentation says the user is enabled and not deleted or soft-deleted in Microsoft Entra ID is a basic requirement for adding a user to Dataverse, so check the account in Entra.
• You're testing in a government cloud tenant: the roadmap lists only the Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) cloud.

What happens when someone gets a license​

If an unlicensed user is later given a license, Microsoft says they're automatically updated to a licensed user. What they can do then depends on their security roles and permissions. Activities already linked to them stay on the same user record, and no migration or conversion is needed.

That matters for organisations that roll out Dynamics 365 in stages. Someone named on activities as an unlicensed recipient keeps that history when they become a seller or agent. Remember, though, that a license alone doesn't give them access. They still need security roles before they can do any work in the app.

Don't read this as a licensing loophole​

This feature doesn't stretch what anyone can do in the app. Microsoft says the records are disabled and the people can't sign in to Dynamics 365 or reach Power Apps or the admin portals. Anyone who needs to use the application still needs a license.

Some open questions:

• The two documents disagree on Owner fields. The Message Center notice lists Owner on appointments, phone calls and tasks; the Learn page doesn't. Wait for Microsoft to clarify before you build owner-based processes on it.
• Reports may pick up extra users. Disabled unlicensed-user records will build up in each environment. Reports, flows or audits that count system users may need a filter on license or status. This is my own reasoning, not a documented Microsoft issue.
• No build details yet. Microsoft hasn't published a minimum version, a rollout percentage or a deployment schedule.

Bottom line​

This is a modest change that fixes a long-standing CRM annoyance. Unlicensed colleagues can now appear by name on emails, appointments and phone calls. Their records are created disabled, so licensing and access rules stay as they were.

Admins have two jobs before switching it on: grant read access to the Entra ID table across the tenant, and enable the setting in each environment. Try it in a sandbox now, while it's in preview, ahead of the planned January 2027 general availability.