Connected experiences in Office
Note
For a list of Office products covered by this privacy information, see Privacy controls available for Office products.
Office consists of client software applications and connected experiences designed to enable you to create, communicate, and collaborate more effectively. Working with others on a document stored on OneDrive or translating the contents of a Word document into a different language are examples of connected experiences.
Connected experiences that analyze your content are experiences that use your Office content to provide you with design recommendations, editing suggestions, data insights, and similar features. For example, PowerPoint Designer or Translator.
The following table provides a list of connected experiences that analyze your content and also provides links to more information about them.
Note
[1] When users are signed in with a work or school account, these connected experiences are optional connected experiences and are provided under the terms of the Microsoft Services Agreement and privacy statement, and other terms may also apply. For more information, see Overview of optional connected experiences in Office. If you're an admin, these optional connected experiences can be managed by privacy controls for connected experiences or by the Allow the use of additional optional connected experiences in Office policy setting.
[2] These connected experiences in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook (classic) of Microsoft 365 Apps won’t be available to your users in the following scenarios on Windows devices:
- If your organization is using the PowerShell advanced setting BlockContentAnalysisServices with sensitivity labels from Microsoft Purview Information Protection. For more information, see Prevent some connected experiences that analyze content.
- If your organization is using Double Key Encryption (DKE) to protect files and emails.
This applies to Version 2406 or later in Current Channel and Monthly Enterprise Channel, and Version 2402 (Build 17328.20550) or later in Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel.
[3] Starting with Version 2406 of Microsoft 365 Apps, these connected experiences are no longer managed by privacy controls for connected experiences. Instead, these connected experiences can be managed by using existing security controls available in Microsoft Purview portals. For more information, see Apply a sensitivity label to content automatically and Send email notifications and show policy tips for DLP policies.
[4] These connected experiences won’t be available to your users in Outlook (classic) on Windows devices if all of the following conditions are true:
- You’ve configured the “Block processing of S/MIME encrypted messages by certain connected experiences” policy setting to Enabled.
- The email messages are using S/MIME encryption.
- Your users have Version 2405 or later in Current Channel or Monthly Enterprise Channel, or have Version 2402 (Build 17328.20550) or later in Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel.
For Editor, only spelling and grammar check are affected.
[5] Basic functionality of Editor remains available even if you're not connected to the internet. That same basic functionality also remains available if you decide to disable the use of connected experiences that analyze your content. In both cases, no content or data related to your use of Editor is sent to Microsoft.
[6] For devices running Android, these ink capabilities remain available even if you're not connected to the internet. These ink capabilities also remain available on devices running Android even if you decide to disable the use of connected experiences that analyze your content. In both cases, no data about the use of these ink capabilities is sent to Microsoft.
[7] If you're not connected to the internet, Read Aloud only uses the text-to-speech functionality your device provides.
[8] In some scenarios, basic functionality of text predictions remains available even if you're not connected to the internet or if you've decided to disable the use of connected experiences that analyze your content. For example, if you're using text predictions in Outlook on a Windows device or in Word on a Mac device. In those scenarios, no content or data related to your use of text predictions is sent to Microsoft.
Connected experiences that download online content are experiences that allow you to search and download online content including templates, images, 3D models, videos, and reference materials to enhance your documents. For example, Office templates or PowerPoint QuickStarter.
The following table provides a list of connected experiences that download online content and also provides links to more information about them.
Name | More information |
---|---|
Cloud fonts | Cloud fonts in Office |
FAQs | When you choose Settings > Help & Feedback > FAQs on Outlook for iOS and Android, you're taken to either Outlook for iOS Help or Outlook for Android Help. |
Ink effects | Draw and write with ink in Office |
Insert icons | Insert icons in Microsoft 365 |
Insert Microsoft Forms | Insert a form or quiz into PowerPoint |
Insert online 3D models [9] | Get creative with 3D models |
Insert online pictures [9] | Insert pictures (Word) Insert a picture in PowerPoint |
Insert online video [9] | Insert a video from YouTube or another site |
Interesting calendars [9] | Subscribe to a calendar about your favorite sports teams or TV shows on Outlook for iOS and Android. |
Location suggestions [9] | When you add a public place with a street address to a calendar item, Outlook for iOS and Android also includes the full street address in the Location field. |
Map in event details | The event details page shows a map based on the address of the location of the event on Outlook for iOS and Android. |
Office Help | When you choose Help > Help on the ribbon or use F1 in an Office app |
Online shape search | Find more shapes and stencils |
PowerPoint QuickStarter [9] | Research a topic with PowerPoint QuickStarter |
Researcher [9] | Research your paper easily within Word |
Tell Me [10] | Do things quickly with Tell Me |
Templates | Download free, pre-built templates |
Travel time estimates in Up Next [9] | When you choose to allow Outlook for iOS and Android to access your location, an estimate of your travel time to your next event will be included in the Up Next card at the top of your inbox. What happens to your data when you turn Time to Leave on and connect to Cortana? |
Weather Bar [9] | Change the calendar Weather Bar forecast city |
Weather on calendar [9] | How do I turn on weather on calendar on Outlook mobile? |
Note
[9] When users are signed in with a work or school account, these connected experiences are optional connected experiences and are provided under the terms of the Microsoft Services Agreement and privacy statement, and other terms may also apply. For more information, see Overview of optional connected experiences in Office. If you're an admin, these optional connected experiences can be managed by privacy controls for connected experiences or by the Allow the use of additional optional connected experiences in Office policy setting.
[10] Basic functionality of Tell Me remains available even if you're not connected to the internet. That same basic functionality also remains available if you decide to disable the use of connected experiences that download online content. In both cases, no data about the use of Tell Me is sent to Microsoft.
In addition to connected experiences that analyze content and connected experiences that download online connected experiences, there are some other connected experiences available in Office.
The following table provides a list of those other connected experiences and provides links to more information about them.
Note
[11] When users are signed in with a work or school account, these connected experiences are optional connected experiences and are provided under the terms of the Microsoft Services Agreement and privacy statement, and other terms may also apply. For more information, see Overview of optional connected experiences in Office. If you're an admin, these optional connected experiences can be managed by privacy controls for connected experiences or by the Allow the use of additional optional connected experiences in Office policy setting.
[12] Starting with Version 2405 of Microsoft 365 Apps, these connected experiences are no longer managed by privacy controls for connected experiences. Instead, these connected experiences can be managed by using existing security controls available in Microsoft Purview portals. For more information, see Set up Information Rights Management (IRM) in SharePoint admin center and Manage sensitivity labels in Office apps.
You can choose whether certain types of connected experiences, such as connected experiences that download online content, are available to use. How you make that choice depends on whether you're signed into Office with a Microsoft account, such as a personal outlook.com email address, or with a work or school account.
If you're signed in with a Microsoft account, open an Office app, such as Word, and go to File > Account > Account Privacy > Manage Settings. Under the Connected experiences section, you can choose whether certain types of connected experiences, such as experiences that analyze your content, are available to use. If you don't go to Manage Settings, all connected experiences are available to you.
If you're signed in with a work or school account, the admin in your organization decides whether these connected experiences are available to you. You don't see any choices for these connected experiences when you go to File > Account > Account Privacy > Manage Settings.
Note
- If you're using Office for Mac, open any Office application and select the app menu (such as Word, or Excel) > Preferences > Privacy. This will open the Account Privacy settings dialog box where you can see your privacy options.
- For more information, see Account Privacy Settings.
If you're the admin for your organization, you can use policy settings to determine whether these connected experiences are available to your users. If you don't use these policy settings, all connected experiences are available for your users. For more information about using these policy settings, see the following articles:
- Use policy settings to manage privacy controls for Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise
- Use preferences to manage privacy controls for Office for Mac.
- Use preferences to manage privacy controls for Office on iOS devices
- Use policy settings to manage privacy controls for Office on Android devices
Note
For information about the effect of these policy settings on Microsoft 365 Copilot features, see Microsoft 365 Copilot and privacy controls for connected experiences.
If you choose to turn off some types of connected experiences, either the ribbon or menu command for those connected experiences is grayed out, or you get an error message when you try to use those connected experiences.
Even if you decide to turn off these connected experiences, certain Office functionality remains available, such as synching a mailbox in Outlook, and Teams and Skype for Business continues to work. Also, there's a set of services that are essential to how Office functions that can't be turned off, such as the licensing service that confirms that you're properly licensed to use Office.