Licensing

Learn more about the licensing of CodeTwo Email Signatures 365. Looking for pricing? See the product page

• Trial version overview
• Can I extend the trial period?
• How is the software licensed and how are the licenses counted?
• How can I get a license?
• How can I check the number of available licenses and which accounts are using them?
• What happens when my license limit is exceeded?
• How to manage, limit, and reassign licenses?
• How can I reset the license count?
• How can I change the number of licenses?
• How can I change my subscription plan?
• How can I pay for my subscription?
• Where to find invoices for my subscriptions?
• How can I renew my subscription?
• What to do if my credit card expires or stops working otherwise?
• How can I remove my credit card?
• How can I cancel my subscription?
• What happens with my data and settings after I cancel a subscription?
• How can I resume a canceled/expired subscription?
• How can I stop using CodeTwo services completely?
• What will happen to my subscription if I change my domain in Microsoft 365?
• How to activate a subscription with a product license key?

Trial version overview

The trial version of CodeTwo Email Signatures 365 can be used for free for 14 days (you can easily extend it to 21 days) and for up to 1000 mailboxes. During the trial period, the program works exactly the same as the full, licensed version, and you also get full technical assistance from us.

The trial period starts as soon as you register your Microsoft 365 tenant in CodeTwo Admin Panel. Once the trial is over, the program stops adding signatures, and you receive multiple notifications by email about that. When you purchase a subscription, there is no need to reconfigure the software – all your settings are stored and ready for use.

Can I extend the trial period?

Yes, it’s possible without sacrificing all the benefits of the 14-day trial (e.g. full technical assistance). If you simply need more time to test our software, you can easily extend the trial period in CodeTwo Admin Panel by clicking Extend trial by # days (Fig. 1.).

Fig. 1. Extending the trial period of CodeTwo Email Signatures 365.

Note that the option to extend the trial appears in CodeTwo Admin Panel when your trial period is close to ending. You can extend the trial period twice: by 5 days and then by 2 days, which gives you 21 days in total for free testing (counted from the trial period starting date).

If your company needs additional time to test CodeTwo Email Signatures 365 after the trial version expires, contact us.

How is the software licensed and how are the licenses counted?

Licensing of CodeTwo Email Signatures 365 is based on a monthly or yearly subscription model. If you want to purchase a different subscription period, contact us.

When you buy a subscription, you get signature licenses plus the same number of autoresponder licenses. Each license type is counted separately, so you can use all of them for the same users or assign different license types to different users.

The minimum number of licenses is 10 and it is not possible to order fewer licenses. Also, if you ordered more than 10 licenses, it will not be possible to reduce their number below 10 at a later date.

Signature licenses

Signature licenses are consumed according to the following general rules:

• Only users included in the scope of licensed users can consume licenses. Learn more about this scope
• One license per user – each user whose mail goes through the CodeTwo cloud service or who uses the CodeTwo Outlook add-in consumes one license. Even if both types of signatures are used (cloud and Outlook), only one license is taken.
• Aliases – emails sent from aliases don’t use extra licenses.

Additional rules apply depending on the signature type you use.

Cloud (server-side) signatures

A license is consumed:

• for every user whose mail goes through the CodeTwo service, even if no signature is added (according to signature rule conditions),
• for shared mailboxes (Microsoft 365 treats them as users).

A license is not consumed:

• for mail-enabled public folders, groups, distribution lists, and contacts – they are not supported by the signature-adding mechanism.

To limit the scope of users routed through CodeTwo (eligible for cloud signatures), see How to manage, limit and reassign licenses?

Outlook (client-side) signatures

A license is consumed:

• when the add-in automatically adds a signature to the user's email in Outlook, or
• when the user opens the add-in pane and sees available signatures that they can insert.

A license is not consumed:

• if no Outlook signatures are configured for a user,
• if an email is sent as or on behalf of another user (including shared mailboxes).

See also: Who gets CodeTwo signatures? User scopes explained

Autoresponder licenses

Only users specified in the scope of licensed users can consume licenses. Learn more about this scope

Autoresponder licenses are consumed based on autoresponder rule settings. If you create an autoresponder rule for X users in your organization (this includes user/shared/room/equipment mailboxes defined in the Reply from step of the rule), X licenses will be instantly consumed when you save the rule. If you select the Group members (inside organization) option and select a group / distribution list with Y members, Y licenses will be consumed when you save the rule (the group / distribution list itself will not consume a license).

Automatic replies set up for alias addresses won’t consume any additional licenses.

How can I get a license?

The product license is sold as a subscription, which can be purchased in CodeTwo Admin Panel. Any user with the Owner or Admin Panel admin role in your organization's Admin Panel account can purchase the subscription (learn more about admin roles in CodeTwo Email Signatures 365).

To purchase a subscription for your Microsoft 365 tenant, first sign in to CodeTwo Admin Panel and select your tenant on the Tenants page. Next, in the Subscription settings, click Buy subscription (Fig. 2.). A wizard will guide you through the entire process. 

Fig. 2. Purchasing a CodeTwo Email Signatures 365 subscription.

If you have not defined a payment method (credit/debit card) and have not filled out required billing info, you will be asked to do so in the Payment method and Billing info step of the wizard, respectively.

In the Subscription plan & licenses step, enter the number of licenses you want to buy and select a subscription plan (monthly or yearly), currency and payment method (Fig. 3.). Click Next to proceed.

Fig. 3. The subscription purchase wizard in CodeTwo Admin Panel.

In the Order summary step, verify subscription details and your billing info, accept all the terms, and click Pay <amount> now to make the purchase.

How can I check the number of available licenses and which accounts are using them?

You can check the number of available licenses in CodeTwo Admin Panel. To do this, sign in to the Admin Panel, select your tenant on the Tenants page, and go to Licenses in the left menu (Fig. 4.).

Fig. 4. Checking the number of available signature & autoresponder licenses.

The Licenses page contains two indicators that show the number of used signature and autoresponder licenses. Using options to the right of each indicator, you can:

• See who is using signature/autoresponder licenses by displaying the list of all email addresses to which a license has been assigned,
• Reset signature/autoresponder license count, as described in this section,
• Export used signature/autoresponder licenses to a CSV file listing all users with an assigned license.

If you want to change the number of licenses, see this section.

What happens when my license limit is exceeded?

If you are using cloud (server-side) signatures and you exceed the license limit, some of your users will be sending emails without signatures (or will not send automatic replies if you enabled them).

In the case of Outlook (client-side) signatures, the users who are unlicensed will not get any signatures and will see a relevant message in the pane of the CodeTwo Outlook Add-in.

If necessary, you can limit the users who get signatures / auto replies (as explained here) or purchase additional licenses to cover all users who e.g. need signatures (as described here).

How to manage, limit, and reassign licenses?

CodeTwo Email Signatures 365 assigns licenses automatically to every user (and shared mailbox) whose emails travel through the CodeTwo service and to every user who uses a CodeTwo signatures add-in for Outlook, as described earlier in this article.

If your Microsoft 365 organization has more users than available CodeTwo licenses, you can control who gets:

• Cloud (server-side) signatures by limiting the scope of senders to a selected group of users during the configuration of Exchange Online connectors (for more information, click here). If necessary, you can create a distribution list that includes only those users that should get CodeTwo cloud signatures.
• Outlook (client-side) signatures by deploying the Outlook add-in to the selected group of users only (see deployment instructions) or defining these users in the Senders step of your Outlook (client-side) signature rule (as described here).
• Automatic replies by selecting specific users/groups in the Reply from step when you configure your autoresponder rules in the signature management app. Learn more

If you want only a specific group of users to benefit from CodeTwo (get signatures, automatic replies, etc.), you can specify these users in the scope of licensed users, as described in this article.

Additionally, if you want to prevent external users (i.e. guest users in your Microsoft 365 tenant) from consuming CodeTwo licenses, follow the steps outlined in this article.

Once a license is assigned to a specific user / shared mailbox, it will not be automatically reassigned to another one even if you change the scope of licensed users, uninstall the Outlook add-in from some users/machines or delete users from your Microsoft 365 tenant. However, if some licenses were assigned to the wrong users, you can reset the license count to unassign all licenses and reassign them to other users.

How can I reset the license count?

To reset the license count, sign in to CodeTwo Admin Panel. On the Tenants page, select your Microsoft 365 tenant and click Licenses in the left menu. Next, click Reset signature license count or Reset autoresponder license count (as shown in Fig. 5.) depending on which type of licenses you want to reset. The program will begin to count signature or autoresponder licenses from zero.

Fig. 5. Resetting the license count in CodeTwo Admin Panel.

When resetting the license count, note the following:

• Resetting the license count does not interrupt your mail flow.
• You cannot reset the license count for the same type of licenses (signature or autoresponder licenses) more often than every 24 hours. Therefore, before you use the reset option, make sure that you have limited the scope of licensed users and the deployment of the CodeTwo Signatures add-in for Outlook to the selected group of users first.
• It might take up to 5 minutes to reset all licenses, so if you don't see your changes right away, check the Licenses page again in a few minutes.
• Once you reset the license count for signature licenses, you can reset the count for autoresponder licenses right away as well (or the other way around).

Automatic license count reset

If there are frequent changes in users or groups in your organization (e.g., due to staff rotation), you can also enable the Automatically reset license count toggle on the Licenses page (see Fig. 5.). This will automatically reset signature and autoresponder license counters every 24 hours and reassign licenses as users send emails (on a first come, first served basis).

Note that the automatic license count reset starts around 0:00 a.m., but the exact time may vary. If you need to reset your licenses right away, without waiting for the automatic reset, you can always use the manual reset options described above.

How can I change the number of licenses?

If you want to change the number of licenses (for example, buy licenses for more users), you can do it in CodeTwo Admin Panel by editing your subscription. On the Tenants page, first select your Microsoft 365 tenant to open its settings. To change the number of licenses, click Edit subscription, as shown in Fig. 6. A wizard will open.

Fig. 6. Opening the subscription editing wizard.

Keep the following in mind when editing your subscription:

• If you change the number of licenses, the same number of signature licenses and autoresponder licenses will be removed from or added to your account.
• To edit a subscription purchased by another user (CodeTwo Admin Panel owner or admin), you first need to add your own payment method and update the payment method for the subscription. To find out who purchased the current subscription, check the information next to Payment method in the Subscription settings, as shown in Fig. 6. This information is available only to the Owner and CodeTwo Admin Panel admins.
• The subscription renews automatically, and the renewal process starts 12 hours before the end of your current subscription period. When the renewal process is underway, you cannot make any changes to the subscription (add/remove licenses or change subscription plan). 
• If you reduce the number of licenses in your subscription, the change will take effect at the renewal (at which you’ll be charged only for the new, lower number of licenses). Until the renewal, you won’t be able to add licenses to the subscription.

Go to the Subscription plan & licenses step and modify the number of licenses (Fig. 7.). The wizard will show an updated total price for your subscription period. Click Next to proceed.

Fig. 7. Changing the number of licenses for a subscription.

In the Order summary step (Fig. 8.), review the modified subscription order. You can check how many licenses will be added/removed, the amount to be paid for the new licenses, and verify your billing information.

Fig. 8. Reviewing the subscription order summary.

To finish, accept all the terms and click Pay now (if you added licenses) or Next (if you removed licenses from your current license pool).

• If you increased the number of licenses (as shown in Fig. 8.), then at this point you will be charged only for the additional licenses that will be used in the current billing cycle. In the next billing cycle, your credit/debit card will be charged for the total number of licenses.
• If you decreased the number of licenses, then the subscription price and the number of available licenses will be decreased starting from the next payment renewal date (next billing cycle). In the next billing cycle, the license count will reset automatically, and the program will begin to reassign licenses to your users.

How can I change my subscription plan?

If you want to change your subscription plan (e.g. from monthly to yearly), you need to cancel your current subscription and buy a new one. See this Knowledge Base article for step-by-step guidelines.

How can I pay for my subscription?

To buy a subscription and maintain its continuity, you need to add a payment method. You can add one or more credit/debit cards to pay for your subscriptions.

Adding a new payment method

If you don't have any payment methods defined yet, you need to add a new credit or debit card. You can do that when you purchase a subscription for the first time or you can go directly to the Billing page in CodeTwo Admin Panel and click Add in the Payment methods section (Fig. 9.).

Fig. 9. Adding a new payment method on the Billing page in CodeTwo Admin Panel.

Changing or updating a payment method

If you need to change or update your payment method for a subscription, e.g. because your credit/debit card has expired, first add a new payment method (if necessary) in CodeTwo Admin Panel.

Next, go to the Tenants page, select your Microsoft 365 tenant to open its settings, and click Edit subscription, as shown in Fig. 6. A wizard will open.

Go to the Subscription plan & licenses step choose the card you just added from the Payment method drop-down menu (Fig. 10.). Proceed with the wizard to update the payment method for this subscription.

Fig. 10. Changing the payment method for a subscription.

When you finish, you can remove your old credit card, as shown here (if applicable). Before you do so, make sure that all of your subscriptions are updated first.

Alternative payment methods

By default, credit/debit card is the only available payment method. If you can’t use a card or prefer to use another payment method like wire transfer, contact us.

Where to find invoices for my subscriptions?

If you are the Owner of your organization's CodeTwo Admin Panel account, you can view your organization's billing history and download invoices for all your CodeTwo Email Signatures 365 subscriptions on the Billing page in CodeTwo Admin Panel (Fig. 11.).

Fig. 11. Accessing billing history & invoices in CodeTwo Admin Panel.

Invoices are also sent to the contact email address of the CodeTwo Admin Panel Owner.

How can I renew my subscription?

Subscriptions purchased in CodeTwo Admin Panel renew automatically for the next billing cycle (month or year, depending on your subscription plan). You don't need to do anything. The renewal date is shown on the Tenants page in CodeTwo Admin Panel (Fig. 12.).

Fig. 12. Subscription renewal date shown in CodeTwo Admin Panel for a specific tenant.

The subscription will not renew automatically if:

• You canceled the subscription. To renew your subscription, you need to buy it again, as shown in Fig. 2. Learn more
• You credit/debit card expired or the payment for subscription failed. See how to fix this
• Your tax ID number is invalid or missing. In such a case, the Owner of your organization's CodeTwo Admin Panel account needs to provide a valid tax ID on the Billing info page. If your subscription was canceled, you also need to purchase it again. 
• You activated your subscription with a product license key. Learn how to renew it

What to do if my credit card expires or stops working otherwise?

When your payment fails, your subscription temporarily expires. Do not worry about your signatures - we will continue adding them for some time and you will receive multiple email notifications from us regarding the payment problems.

• If your card stops working, our payment processor will try to charge it several times within the next 72 hours. When you fix your card problems after that period, you will have to reactivate your subscription in CodeTwo Admin Panel (as shown in Fig. 13.).

Fig. 13. Reactivating a subscription in the event of a payment failure.

• If your credit card expires, your subscription will resume the moment you add a new card and assign it to your subscription, as explained here.

How can I remove my credit card?

To remove a credit/debit card, go the Billing page in CodeTwo Admin Panel and click Remove () next to it (Fig. 14.).

Fig. 14. Removing a credit card from CodeTwo Admin Panel.

If there are any active subscriptions that use this card, you will not be able to remove the card until you cancel these subscriptions. Note that if your card expired and you want to add a new card, you do not need to remove the old one. You can update your card by editing it – that way, your subscription will not be interrupted. Learn more

How can I cancel my subscription?

To cancel a subscription for a Microsoft 365 tenant, sign in to CodeTwo Admin Panel and select the tenant on the Tenants page to open its Subscription settings. Click Cancel subscription (Fig. 15.) and then confirm your action. This will prevent the subscription from renewing automatically at the end of your current subscription period (billing cycle) – until then, your signatures will be added as usual.

Fig. 15. Cancelling a subscription.

To prevent potential blocking of your mail flow, remember to deregister your tenant after your subscription expires – this will remove the CodeTwo Exchange Online connectors that route email through the CodeTwo service. These connectors are not removed automatically when you cancel your subscription.

What happens with my data and settings after I cancel a subscription?

After you cancel a subscription and it expires (your current billing cycle ends), or after your trial period expires, we keep your tenant-related data and program settings (such as signature rules) on Microsoft Azure servers for 180 days (unless the law requires us to keep customer data longer) before they are permanently removed. Within this 6-month period, you can conveniently return to our services and all of your settings are available immediately.

If you want us to delete your data right after you cancel your subscription, contact us.

Learn more about data safety

How can I resume a canceled/expired subscription?

Before you resume your subscription, remember that:

• If you recently canceled a subscription, your signatures are still added until this subscription expires (which is at the end of your current billing cycle). To avoid double payment, it's best to resume the subscription right before the current one expires.
• If you resume using the program within 6 months after your subscription expired, all the settings associated with your tenant (including email signature rules) will be restored. Learn more about our data retention policy

To resume a subscription, go to the Subscription settings of your tenant in CodeTwo Admin Panel and click Buy subscription (as shown in Fig. 2.) to resume the subscription.

How can I stop using CodeTwo services completely?

If you want to stop using our services, all you need to do is deregister your tenant (as described in this article) and the software will immediately stop adding signatures. Deregistering a tenant automatically cancels this tenant's subscription.

What will happen to my subscription if I change my domain in Microsoft 365?

Nothing, because subscriptions are associated with tenants, not with domains. If you change a domain (i.e. add a new domain and remove the old one in Microsoft 365), the signatures will be added as previously.

How can I activate my subscription with a product license key?

If you received a product license key for CodeTwo Email Signatures 365 from your reseller or CodeTwo Customer Success, you need to use the key to activate your subscription. To do so, sign in to CodeTwo Admin Panel and select your tenant on the Tenants page to open its Subscription settings. Next, click the link shown in Fig. 16. to open the subscription activation wizard.

Fig. 16. Accessing the subscription activation wizard.

In the Activation step, enter your product license key to validate it (Fig. 17.). If the validation is successful, the number of available licenses and subscription details will be shown. To activate the subscription, click Next (you also may be asked to accept all the terms to continue).

Fig. 17. Activating the subscription for CodeTwo Email Signatures 365.

Renewing a subscription activated with a product license key

You need to contact your CodeTwo reseller or CodeTwo Customer Success to renew your subscription for the next period (1 year). Once the subscription is renewed, it will be automatically extended for your tenant in CodeTwo Admin Panel.

Deactivating a product license key

You can deactivate a used product license key at any time. This may be useful, for example, if you want to:

• switch to the automatically renewed subscription purchased via CodeTwo Admin Panel, or
• replace the current key with a different one.

To deactivate your key, sign in to CodeTwo Admin Panel, select a relevant tenant, and click deactivate and transfer the license key on the Subscription page, as shown in Fig. 18.

Fig. 18. Accessing the license key deactivation option.

In the Deactivate license key window that opens, you can copy your license key for future use. Note that once the key is deactivated, you will no longer find it in CodeTwo Admin Panel. Next, confirm your choice by selecting the checkbox I am aware of this and want to continue, and then click Deactivate license key (Fig. 19.).

Fig. 19. Copying and deactivating the product license key.

After you deactivate your tenant’s license key:

• If the subscription was still active at the time of deactivation, or if it expired less than 30 days ago, CodeTwo Email Signatures 365 switches to trial mode for that tenant and remains fully functional for 7 days.
• If the subscription expired more than 30 days ago, you’ll need to buy a new subscription to continue using CodeTwo Email Signatures 365 for that tenant.

Limitations of a subscription activated with a product license key

Unlike subscriptions purchased via CodeTwo Admin Panel, subscriptions activated using product license keys have some limitations:

• you cannot buy a monthly subscription plan,
• the subscription is not renewed automatically,
• you cannot make any changes to the subscription from CodeTwo Admin Panel. This means you need to contact your CodeTwo reseller or CodeTwo Customer Success every time you want to:
  • modify (increase or decrease) the number of licenses,
  • renew the subscription,
  • reactivate the subscription.

If you would like to use the monthly subscription plan, have your subscription renewed automatically or be able to manage your subscription on your own, you need to purchase a subscription directly in CodeTwo Admin Panel by following these steps.

See also

License Agreement - this article contains the terms and conditions of using CodeTwo software.