Configure Outlook Web App Policy in Exchange 2013MustBeGeek

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Outlook Web App policies are created to apply set of different features in outlook web app for different users. These policies are used to restrict or allow various features of OWA (Outlook Web App). You can create and apply custom outlook web app policy for individual mailboxes. In Exchange 2013, you can configure outlook web app policy in Outlook Web App virtual directory or create custom policy and apply to individual mailboxes. The policy applied to individual mailboxes overrides the policy applied to OWA virtual directory. A default outlook web app policy is create by default when the Exchange server is installed. This default policy contains all the features enabled. But this policy is not applied to any mailbox by default.

Configure Outlook Web App Policy in Exchange 2013

You can view and edit the default OWA virtual directory policy. To view the policy, open EAC (Exchange Administration Center). Click servers on the features pane. Select virtual directories tab. Double-click OWA virtual directory.

As you can see above, all the features are selected. You can change these settings from here and it will apply to all the mailboxes in the organization. But if you want to setup different OWA settings for different mailboxes, then you have to create custom outlook web app policy. This custom policy actually overrides the default settings of OWA virtual directory shown above.

To create a custom web app policy, log on to EAC. Click permissions on the features pane. Click outlook web app policies tab. Here, you can see the default outlook web app policy listed. This default policy have all the features enabled by default.

To create a new custom policy click ‘+’ new sign. Type name of the policy. Here, I have named CustomOWAPolicy. Deselect features that you don’t want the particular mailbox have.

As you can see above I have unchecked few settings. After applying this policy to a particular mailbox, the user won’t be able to change password, can’t create inbox rules, can’t have premium OWA experience and so on. The features listed are self explanatory. You can hover the mouse pointer to a particular feature to view detail information. After finishing the policy configuration click the save button.

Now, to apply the policy, open the properties of particular mailbox. For this scenario, I will open the properties of Diana Walda mailbox. In EAC, click recipient in the features pane. Double-click Diana Walda mailbox. Then, select mailbox features tab.

As you can see in the picture above. Under Email Connectivity option, click view details. This is where we apply the custom OWA policy.

Now click browse to select the outlook web app policy created earlier.

Select the policy and click OK. Click save two times. You have now applied the OWA policy setting to DWalda mailbox. You can test the policy by logging into the mailbox via outlook web access.

As we had unchecked the premium client feature under user experience we see the light version of OWA. This is how you apply OWA policies in Exchange 2013.