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Policy Management in new Outlook for Windows

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Admins provide Windows users in your organization with standard policies for new Outlook. These policies maintain security, productivity, and data integrity by using Exchange PowerShell cmdlets and Cloud Policy.

Most policies configure the features that are available for the mailbox accounts in their organization and help protect company data and customize the user experience. These policies affect the configuration of any Outlook app where the organization mailbox is present.

You can manage most features with Exchange PowerShell cmdlets. However, for features that span multiple Microsoft 365 experiences, like Loop and in-product Feedback, as well as settings for Diagnostic Data and Connected Experiences, you should use Cloud Policy.

Important

Several App-wide settings, including Theme, Text Size and Spacing, and Diagnostic Data and Connected Experiences are associated with the first account added in new Outlook. This account is considered as the primary account.

While policies can be applied to any organization account in new Outlook, management of app-wide settings like Theme, Diagnostic Data, and Connected Experiences requires the designated account to be set as primary.

Important

Most features like Focused Inbox and Loop are specific to each account. If you disable these features, they turn off only for that account. However, in new Outlook, other features are disabled at the organization level, for example, if any account has in-product feedback disabled, the feature becomes unavailable for all accounts.

Important

Most of the mailbox policies are applicable for both OWA and Monarch, so you can’t have them enabled on one client but not the other.

Allow only corporate mailboxes to be added

There are two Mailbox Policies that should be used to allow only corporate mailboxes to be added to the new Outlook:

With the AllowedOrganizationAccountDomains parameter, admins can specify one or more domains, which are allowed to be added in Outlook. Check the syntax at Set-OwaMailboxPolicy - AllowedOrganizationAccountDomains.

Moreover, the PersonalAccountsEnabled parameter specifies whether to allow users to add their personal email accounts. Check the syntax at Set-owamailboxpolicy - PersonalAccountsEnabled.

Set Primary Account

Users can change the primary account in Settings > Accounts > Email accounts > Manage for the account they want to designate as primary.

Screenshot that shows how to change the primary account in Email accounts Settings.

We’re rolling out a new policy, ChangeSettingsAccountEnabled in the OwaMailboxPolicy cmdlet that allows organizations to set the organization account as primary so companies can ensure their policies are applied. For more information about this policy, see Set-OwaMailboxPolicy - ChangeSettingsAccountEnabled.

Disable automatic updating of weather location

The Weather Enabled parameter specifies whether to enable or disable weather information in the calendar in Outlook on the web. Check the syntax at Set-owamailboxpolicy - WeatherEnabled.

Disable Focused Inbox

The Set-organizationconfig: FocusedInboxOn  cmdlet turns Focused Inbox Off in your organization. However, it doesn't block the availability of the feature for your users. If they want, they can still re-enable Focused Inbox again on each of their clients. For more information, see Configure Focused Inbox for everyone in your organization.

Configure Junk settings

Junk Mail Configuration is another cmdlet on the organizational-level management that allows companies to foster an agile and adaptable IT infrastructure that is well-equipped to meet the diverse needs of a modern workforce.
Admins should use the Microsoft Defender portal to configure spam filter policies adjusting bulk mail thresholds and configure safe senders and blocked lists using the junk email settings on Exchange Online mailboxes.
For more information, see Set-MailboxJunkEmailConfiguration.

Disable signatures

If admins want to prevent users from creating signatures manually, they should use Exchange PowerShell to apply the policy to the users. Setting the -SignaturesEnabled parameter to false disables signatures for all users in OWA. See Set-OwaMailboxPolicy (ExchangePowerShell).

Another option to achieve the same result is to use the Exchange administrator dashboard to edit the Outlook Web App policies and uncheck the ‘Email signature’ feature.
In EAC, select > Roles > Owa web app policies. Open each policy details and select Manage Features > User Experience > Uncheck Email signature and save changes.

Specify calendar first day of week

Set-MailboxCalendarConfiguration is another cmdlet for managing various features and capabilities for Calendar, including:

Automatically configure account based on Active Directory Primary SMTP address

Admins are advised to configure the new policy for an easier account setup process on managed devices and to guarantee that company policies are always respected as this policy setting allows admins to control which account will be used as the Primary Account in Outlook for Windows.

Admins can set the policy Require the Primary Account to match the Windows signed-in account through the Microsoft Intune admin center > Apps > Policies for Office Apps.

If this policy is enabled, the primary SMTP address used to sign in to Windows is suggested the first time a user adds their account to new Outlook for Windows and the user can't change it.

If you disable or don't configure this policy setting, users are not restricted in their choice of Primary Account.

By default, no default email address is suggested.

If the user had already added their personal accounts before this policy gets set, when this policy is detected the personal accounts will be disabled.

This could be used in conjunction with the OWA Mailbox Policy "PersonalAccountsEnabled=false" that will block users to add their personal accounts to new Outlook.

Important

Note that this feature uses OneAuth therefore EntraID or Workplace join or Office activation on Local AD Join environments are required.

Specify what attachments can be downloaded

By default, new Outlook for Windows allows you to open attached Word, Excel, PowerPoint, text files, and many media files directly. The files you open vary depending on the account settings. Admins can configure the list of file name extensions that you can open in new Outlook for Windows using the cmdlets Set-OwaMailboxPolicy - AllowedFileTypes and BlockedFileTypes.

Disable non-Microsoft online attachments

The AdditionalStorageProvidersAvailable parameter specifies whether to allow more storage providers (for example, Box, Dropbox, Facebook, Google Drive, Egnyte, personal OneDrive) attachments in Outlook on the web. For more information, see Set-OwaMailboxPolicy- AdditionalStorageProvidersAvailable.

Disable Offline mode

The OfflineEnabledWin parameter specifies whether to allow the new Outlook for Windows to be used offline.
For more information, see Set-OwaMailboxPolicy - OfflineEnabledWin.

Enable Location Suggestions

The PlacesEnabled parameter specifies whether to enable or disable Places in Outlook on the web. Places lets users search, share, and map location details by using Bing.
For more information, see Set-OwaMailboxPolicy - PlacesEnabled.

Enable a default Theme

A theme defines the colors, fonts, and images that are displayed to users in the new Outlook for Windows and on the web. Admins can check more information on how to Create a theme for Outlook on the web in Exchange Server | Microsoft Learn and then use the cmdlet Set-OwaMailboxPolicy - DefaultTheme to set the default value.

Disable Suggested Replies

OrganizationConfig is a cmdlet that supports a seamless user experience, as employees can transition effortlessly between devices and platforms without encountering discrepancies in functionality or accessibility for the following features: Set-OrganizationConfig – WebSuggestedRepliesDisabled.

Disable Microsoft Loop

Loop components in Outlook are portable, editable pieces of content that stay in sync across all the places they’re shared.

For more information, see Manage Loop components in OneDrive and SharePoint.

Disable Diagnostic Data and Connected Experiences

Organizations can control whether connected experiences or diagnostic data can be sent from the new Outlook for Windows. This capability is part of our commitment to giving you the information and controls over your privacy.

Screenshot that shows how to turn on optional connected experiences in privacy settings.

For more information, see Use policy settings to manage privacy controls for Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise.

Disable In-product feedback

New Outlook provides in-product feedback that can be managed as part of Microsoft 365 wide settings for Feedback in Cloud Policy:

Screenshot that shows how to provide in-product feedback through Feedback to Microsoft.

For more information, see Manage Microsoft feedback for your organization.

Disable Contact Support in the new Outlook for Windows

Disable contact support is configured via Cloud Policy for a Microsoft 365 organization from the Microsoft 365 Apps admin center, specifically on the Office Policies page.

Screenshot of the Configure Settings page in the Microsoft 365 Apps admin center. It shows the policy management process with steps for Basics, Scope, Policies, and Review and publish. The Policies section lists five policies related to the new Outlook, including their platforms, applications, and status, all marked as Not configured.

When you create a policy, after providing a name and setting a scope, you can search for new outlook from the Policies screen. It brings up all the available policies for new Outlook for Windows. One of those policies is Allow access to Contact Support in the new Outlook. This policy can be configured as Disabled to disable the Contact Support option under the Help menu in new Outlook.

Screenshot of the Allow access to Contact Support in the new Outlook policy settings, showing default, enabled, and disabled configurations, and a note on diagnostic troubleshooting. The configuration setting is shown as Disabled.

Disable toggle from classic Outlook for Windows

Some organizations could use a policy to block the toggle from appearing in the classic Outlook for Windows until they’re ready to migrate. For guidance on this policy, see Enable or disable access to the new Outlook for Windows.

While this policy hides the toggle within the application, it doesn’t block the mailbox from being added to the new Outlook for Windows. A separate Exchange policy can be used to block organization mailboxes from being added to new Outlook. For guidance on this policy, see Enable or disable access to the new Outlook for Windows.

Users can enable new Outlook via the toggle from the Mail and Calendar application that ship with Windows. To block new Outlook from these applications, organizations can block users from downloading and/or installing new Outlook using Intune or other management solutions.

Organizations can also block the user of Mail and Calendar with organization accounts via the UniversalOutlookEnabled parameter in CASMailbox: Set-CASMailbox.