One of Microsoft Teams advantages is its tight integration to Office 365. Other UC/collaboration solutions can integrate with Microsoft Office/Office 365 but are limited to what Microsoft add-ins and APIs will allow.
Now Microsoft is adding a configuration option that allows third-party UC providers to be the default for every meeting online. A feature that adds online meeting details to calendar invites by default.
This support for third parties feature will begin rolling this out in early April and expect to complete rollout mid-June.
What is every meeting online (EMO)?
Outlook has a user or administrator configurable option to default every new meeting to be an online meeting (adding online meeting join details).
You can find the setting to make all meetings online in all Outlook applications: Outlook for Windows, Outlook for Mac, Outlook on the web, Outlook for Android, and Outlook for iOS. Look for the setting in the Options menu for your specific application.
IT Admins can also programmatically configure the setting for specific users or for their entire organization.
- To configure for a given user, admins should use the OnlineMeetingsByDefaultEnabled parameter from the Set-MailboxCalendarConfiguration cmdlet.
- To configure for the organization, admins should use the OnlineMeetingsByDefaultEnabled parameter from the Set-OrganizationConfig cmdlet.
Note that the user setting – configured from Outlook or via PowerShell – will be preferred over the organization default setting.
The feature is not yet enabled when using Outlook for Windows if your mailbox is hosted in GCC, GCC-High, or DoD environments. Users in these environments will have the feature when using other Outlook applications.
Supported Outlook default online meeting providers
Now users and administrators can configure a third-party solution as their default online meeting provider. The following providers are supported. They are shown if the providers’ Office Add-ins is installed (by the user or an admin).
- Zoom for Outlook
- Cisco WebEx Scheduler
- BlueJeans Meetings
- GoToMeeting
- Google Meet
- JioMeet for Outlook
How users can choose their Outlook default online meeting provider
If a customer uses a single online meeting provider, like Microsoft Teams or a third-party Office Add-in, then Outlook automatically sets it as the default provider.
In Outlook Mac (Office Insider Program starting in Version 16.57.1205.0), Web and soon Android and iOS, users will be able to choose their preferred online meeting provider under options and calendar settings.
Users can’t currently choose a third-party provider as their default meeting provider in Outlook on Windows, it defaults to the provider you have chosen in any of the other Outlook clients.
It doesn’t look like there is an administrative way to set meetings to default to a third-party provider, but if more than one meeting add-in is installed, priority is given to the one installed by the organization’s admin. If only one online meeting add-in is installed on the user’s mailbox, that add-in will be set as the default.
Users and organizations who have previously disabled the every meeting online option—either from an Outlook client or from PowerShell—will be unaffected. Their meetings will continue to be offline by default.
Microsoft support doc: Make every meeting online
Message center: MC340779
