Activate the license

Universal Search is free, and activating registers your Business Central environment with Bitta Apps for a free 50-year license. Activation is optional: search works exactly the same in every license state, so you can activate now, decline, or come back to it later. This page walks you through the three-step wizard and explains what is sent, what happens if you decline, and what to do in a sandbox.

Prerequisites

• The BAA SEARCH ADM permission set, or SUPER. See Assign permissions.
• In a sandbox environment, outbound requests must be allowed first. See Activate in a sandbox.

Run the activation wizard

1. In Tell Me, search for Assisted Setup and open it. In the Set up your company group, choose Set up Universal Search. You can also open Universal Search Setup and choose Actions, then Activate Free License.

2. On the first step, Activate your free license, read the Privacy text. It lists exactly what is sent. Turn on I agree to send this information to Bitta Apps, LLC to activate my free license., then choose Next. Next stays unavailable until you agree.

3. On Company details, confirm or edit Company Name and Contact E-Mail. Both default from Company Information and both are required. Choose Activate.

4. The Result step shows the outcome. On success it reads Activation succeeded. Your free 50-year license is now active. Choose Close.

5. Open Universal Search Setup. In the License group, Activation Status now reads Activated, and License Expiry Date, Registered Company Name and Registered Email are filled in.

What is sent when you activate

Nothing is sent until you agree on the first step. When you choose Activate, Universal Search sends one request to Bitta Apps containing:

• your Microsoft Entra tenant ID and domain;
• the environment name;
• the company name and contact email from step two;
• the country code from Company Information;
• the Business Central version and the Universal Search app version.

No business records, such as customers, vendors, items or transactions, are sent. The wizard links to the Bitta Apps privacy policy on its first step.

Activation status values

Activation Status	Meaning
Grace period	The starting state after installation. Activation has not been completed.
Activated	The free license was issued and its key and expiry date are stored.
Declined	An administrator chose Decline in the wizard.

Search works the same in all three states. Universal Search never limits features based on the license. Activation Status is stored per company, so the grace notification ends only in the company where you activate or decline.

Decline or skip activation

• Decline on the first step sets Activation Status to Declined and closes the wizard. No data is sent.
• Cancel on the second step closes the wizard without sending anything. The status does not change.

While the status is Grace period, users who can edit Universal Search Setup see a notification when they open Universal Search: "Universal Search is free. Activate your license to register your company for updates and support." Its Activate now action opens the wizard. Activating or declining ends the notification.

Activate in a sandbox

Sandbox environments block outbound HTTP requests from extensions until you allow them, so activation fails there with: "Could not reach the license service. In sandboxes, enable "Allow HttpClient Requests" for Universal Search on the Extension Management page, then try again. Search keeps working meanwhile."

1. Open Extension Management and select Universal Search.
2. Open the extension's settings and turn on Allow HttpClient Requests.

3. Run the wizard again, or choose Retry on the Result step if it is still open.

If activation fails for any reason, the wizard shows why and offers Retry. The status does not change, and search keeps working. For other failures, see Troubleshooting.

What's next

Turn indexing on so there is something to search: Start indexing.