How to configure the Microsoft Outlook app to meet your organization's needs?

Description

Microsoft Outlook has been the preferred mail client on desktops and now on mobile devices. However, configuring can be still be difficult for device users and IT administrators cannot configure Outlook on every device, especially in case of large organizations. Mobile Device Manager Plus automates this process with the use of the Managed App Configurations, which pre-configures the Outlook app settings without any user intervention. The app configurations are distributed along with the app and gets automatically added to the app, making it ready to use on installation.

Pre-requisites

For Android devices

Steps

Follow the steps given below, to configure the app with the configuration:

  • On the MDM console, click on Device Mgmt tab and select App Repository.
  • Click the Microsoft Outlook app to view more details and apply the configurations.
  • Select the Configurations tab and fill the requisite parameters as explained below:

For Android devices,

You need to provide values for certain parameters and for other parameters, you need to enable (or disable) them.

PARAMETER DESCRIPTION
E-mail address

The e-mail address of the device user. You can use the dynamic variable %email% to dynamically fetch user e-mail address

Account Description

You can optionally describe the type of account here

Exchange Server URL Specify the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of your Exchange On-Premises server
User Account Domain Specify your domain name 
User Name Specify the user name of the Exchange account. You can use the dynamic variable %upn% to dynamically fetch user name
Server Authentication Method Specify Username and Password as the server authentication method
Allowed Accounts Specify to restrict the sign-in option to specific accounts
Account Type Specify BasicAuth as the Account Type for Exchange On-Premises and ModernAuth for Exchange Online.
Block external images Prevent automatic download of images from external websites. However, the users can still manually download the images
Block external images (Allow user change) Same option as the one above, but this one allows users to change the option configured
Show external recipients MailTip MailTip notifies the sender in cases the mails are to be sent to external recipients (outside the organization). This is done to ensure the mail content has proper tone, wording, and content
Focused inbox Focused inbox divides your inbox into two tabs: Focused and Other. While the former contains the most important mails, the latter contains the other mails
Show Discover This enables Discover Feed which shows the user's and user's coworkers Office files.
Contact Sync Enabled This enables syncing of Outlook contacts on the managed device
Contact Sync Enabled (Allow user change) Same option as the one above, but this one allows users to change the option configured
Default Signature Enabled This ensures the default Microsoft Outlook signature is used during message composition. Users can add their own signature even if this option is disabled
Suggested Replies This option ensures Microsoft Outlook provides users with pre-composed responses in the quick reply compose view
Suggested Replies (Allow user change) Same option as the one above, but this one allows users to change the option configured
S/MIME setting Enables users to send digitally signed and encrypted messages
S/MIME setting (Allow user change) Same option as the one above, but this one allows users to change the option configured
Organize by thread Enabling this option organizes related emails into a single threaded conversation
Play My Emails This option enables users to play your email inbox out loud
Show Your Pride settings This option enables users to add rainbow color scheme to elements of Outlook such as home icon and mailbox, etc.

 

You can make use of dynamic variables as explained here.

For iOS devices,

The following keys are mandatory as they are used to set up account configurations in Outlook app.  

KEY DESCRIPTION
com.microsoft.outlook.EmailProfile.EmailAccountName

Specify the display name of the email account that will appear to users. You can use the dynamic variable %username% to dynamically fetch the user name.

com.microsoft.outlook.EmailProfile.EmailAddress

The e-mail address of the device user. You can use the dynamic variable %email% to dynamically fetch user e-mail address

com.microsoft.outlook.EmailProfile.EmailUPN

Specify the user name of the Exchange account. You can use the dynamic variable %upn% to dynamically fetch user name

com.microsoft.outlook.EmailProfile.ServerAuthentication

Specify the authentication model as Username and Password.

com.microsoft.outlook.EmailProfile.ServerHostName

Specify the host name of your Exchange server

com.microsoft.outlook.EmailProfile.AccountType Specify the account type being configured based on the authentication model. Specify BasicAuth as the Account Type for Exchange On-Premises and ModernAuth for Exchange Online.
com.microsoft.outlook.EmailProfile.AccountDomain This value specifies the user's account domain. Example: companyname

 

To configure in-app settings, make use of the following keys. You need to enable (or disable) them.

KEY DESCRIPTION
com.microsoft.outlook.Mail.FocusedInbox Focused inbox divides your inbox into two tabs: Focused and Other. While the former contains the most important mails, the latter contains the other mails
com.microsoft.outlook.Auth.Biometric Specify whether FaceID or TouchID is required to access the app
com.microsoft.outlook.Auth.Biometric.UserChangeAllowed Same option as the one above, but this one allows users to change the option configured
com.microsoft.outlook.Contacts.LocalSyncEnabled This enables syncing of Outlook contacts on the managed device
com.microsoft.outlook.Contacts.LocalSyncEnabled.UserChangeAllowed Same option as the one above, but this one allows users to change the option configured
com.microsoft.outlook.Mail.ExternalRecipientsToolTipEnabled MailTip notifies the sender in cases the mails are to be sent to external recipients (outside the organization). This is done to ensure the mail content has proper tone, wording, and content
com.microsoft.outlook.Mail.BlockExternalImagesEnabled Prevent automatic download of images from external websites. However, the users can still manually download the images.
com.microsoft.outlook.Mail.BlockExternalImagesEnabled.UserChangeAllowed Same option as the one above, but this one allows users to change the option configured
com.microsoft.outlook.Mail.DefaultSignatureEnabled This ensures the default Microsoft Outlook signature is used during message composition. Users can add their own signature even if this option is disabled
com.microsoft.outlook.Mail.SuggestedRepliesEnabled This option ensures Microsoft Outlook provides users with pre-composed responses in the quick reply compose view
com.microsoft.outlook.Mail.SuggestedRepliesEnabled.UserChangeAllowed Same option as the one above, but this one allows users to change the option configured
com.microsoft.outlook.Mail.officeFeedEnabled Enable the Discover Feed which shows the user's and user's coworkers Office files.
com.microsoft.outlook.Mail.OrganizeByThreadEnabled Enable to organize the conversation by threaded view

 

You need to make use of an XML file to upload app configurations. A sample XML can be viewed below:

 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">

<plist version="1.0">

<dict>

  <key>com.microsoft.outlook.EmailProfile.EmailAccountName</key>

  <string>Example: it-admin@zylker.com. You can use the dynamic variable %username%</string>

  <key>com.microsoft.outlook.EmailProfile.EmailAddress</key>

  <string>Example: it-admin@zylker.com. You can use the dynamic variable %email%</string>

  <key>com.microsoft.outlook.EmailProfile.EmailUPN</key>

  <string>Example: it-admin@zylker.com. You can use the dynamic variable %upn%</string>

  <key>com.microsoft.outlook.EmailProfile.ServerAuthentication</key>

  <string>Example: Username and Password</string>

  <key>com.microsoft.outlook.EmailProfile.ServerHostName</key>

  <string>Example: mail.company.com</string>

  <key>com.microsoft.outlook.EmailProfile.AccountType</key>

  <string>ModernAuth</string>

  <key>IntuneMAMUPN</key>

  <string>%upn%</string>

  <key>IntuneMAMAllowedAccountsOnly</key>

  <string>Enabled</string>

  <key>com.microsoft.intune.mam.AllowedAccountUPNs</key>

  <string>%upn%</string>

  <key>com.microsoft.outlook.Mail.FocusedInbox</key>

  <false/>

  <key>com.microsoft.outlook.Contacts.LocalSyncEnabled</key>

  <true/>

  <key>com.microsoft.outlook.Mail.DefaultSignatureEnabled</key>

  <false/>

  <key>com.microsoft.outlook.Mail.officeFeedEnabled</key>

  <false/>

  <key>com.microsoft.outlook.Mail.OrganizeByThreadEnabled</key>

  <false/>

</dict>

</plist>

 You can use dynamic variables to configure the same as explained here.

  • Once you have entered the values and made all the changes, click Save.
  • The apps can now be distributed to the devices or groups.