Microsoft have released a new plan for Microsoft Preview, the Purview Discovery Service Plan, giving users access to free versions of select Microsoft Purview applications.
The rollout of the Microsoft Purview Discovery service plan is aimed to begin around mid-November this year (2023) and is set for the rollout to be completed by mid-December 2023.
You do not have to do anything to activate this service as it will be automatically made available for all users.
Users will have noticed the alert was added to the Microsoft 365 Message centre on the 19th of October 2023 with message centre ID: MC682559.
Message Summary
Your Office 365 subscription is being updated with a new service plan: Purview Discovery service. This service plan enables access to free versions of select Microsoft Purview applications.
Whether you already have a Purview subscription or are a new member, the new features are available from within the new Microsoft Purview experience. If this is you first time accessing the new Purview experience, head to https://purview.microsoft.com/ and acknowledge the terms and conditions.
You can then verify you have the free tier of Microsoft Purview by selecting Settings on the home page and viewing the Account type.
Once you do, you will gain access to the following currently available applications in the free version of Microsoft Purview:
- Data catalog – Browse and search for your assets in Azure.
- Data share – Secure share data both within your organisation and externally.
- Data map history – Log changes to data and make the information available in Purview.
As you can expect, with these settings only in preview and the investment Microsoft make towards development, more features are likely to be added to the free tier of Microsoft Purview in the not-too-distant future. Future details on whats available in the Free tier are available on Microsoft Learn.
