Microsoft says tenant administrators can re-enable the retired Exchange Web Services (EWS) API in Exchange Online to restore apps that stopped working after EWS was disabled.
EWS lets apps access mailbox items such as email, meetings and contacts. It is used by Outlook desktop add-ins, older Outlook for Windows versions, Apple Mail and Calendar on macOS, and other apps. When EWS is disabled, affected apps may report that the protocol is unavailable or repeatedly ask users to enter their credentials.
Administrators can re-enable EWS in the Microsoft 365 admin center by clearing “Block your entire organization from using EWS” on the Baseline Security Mode page. Alternatively, they can run Set-OrganizationConfig -EWSEnabled $true in Exchange Online PowerShell. Microsoft says this should restore EWS within 4 hours.
The change is temporary. Microsoft says re-enabling EWS will stop working in April 2027. It recommends that customers update apps to versions that do not use EWS, contacting the vendor or changing their own app’s code. Developers can switch to the Microsoft Graph API, which Microsoft says has near-complete feature parity with EWS for most scenarios.
The retirement applies to Microsoft 365 and Exchange Online. EWS will continue to work in on-premises Exchange Server installations.
Comments
0No comments yet. Be the first to comment.