Setting Outlook Group Policies

When you are in an Active Directory network environment, you can set Outlook policies to enforce settings on a specific or a group of users or computers. This is mainly to be used to change or limit the default behavior of Outlook in a corporate environment but can also be useful in some home environments. For instance, as a home user you might want to set policies on what your children can and cannot do in Outlook.

This article explains how you can set Group Policies for Outlook and which tools are needed for it.

Download the Policy Templates

The Policy Templates and documentation are included in the Office Resource Kit. Use the links below to download the Resource Kit for your Outlook version.

• Outlook 2000 ORK
• Outlook 2002/XP ORK
• Outlook 2003 ORK
• Office 2007 Policy Templates
• Office 2010 Policy Templates

Updating the Office 2003 Policies

When you installed the Office 2003 Resource Kit you must update the policy templates.

1. Download the Outlook 2003 updated policies.
2. Run the installer and accept the License Agreement
3. Type a location to extract the file to. For example C:\Office2003ORK
4. Open the folder in Explorer
5. Select all the ADM-files (11 in total) and copy them to C:\Windows\inf
6. You'll get prompted if you want to overwrite the files. Choose "Yes to All"

Install the Office 2007 Policies

When you downloaded the Office 2007 policy templates you must install them first.

1. Run the installer and accept the License Agreement
2. Type a location to extract the file to. For example C:\Office2007Policies
3. Open the folder in Explorer
   • Windows XP
     Select all the ADM-files (15 in total) from the ADM\en-us folder (or your localized language when available) and copy them to;
     C:\Windows\inf
   • Windows Vista and Windows 7
     Select all the ADMX-files (15 in total) from the ADMX folder and the ADML-files (15) from the en-us folder (or your localized language when available) and copy them to;
     C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions
     If you want to control a Active Directory network environment, then you can also copy them to the Sysvol\PolicyDefinitions folder on a domain controller.
4. If you get prompted if you want to overwrite the files. Choose "Yes to All".
   If you get prompted by User Account Control (UAC), press Continue or provide Administrator level credentials.

Install the Office 2010 Policies

When you downloaded the Office 2010 policy templates you must install them first. While there are separate packages for the 32-bit and 64-bit AdminTemplates, this only applies to the Office Customization Tools (OCT) and not the policy templates itself. The adm and admx templates in both packages are exactly the same.

1. Run the installer and accept the License Agreement
2. Select a location to extract the file to. For example C:\Office2010Policies
3. Open the folder in Explorer
   • Windows XP:
     Select all the ADM-files (13 in total) from the ADM\en-us folder (or your localized language when available) and copy them to;
     C:\Windows\inf
   • Windows Vista and Windows 7:
     Select all the ADMX-files (13 in total) from the ADMX folder and the ADML-files (13) from the en-us folder (or your localized language when available) and copy them to;
     C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions
     If you want to control a Active Directory network environment, then you can also copy them to the Sysvol\PolicyDefinitions folder on a domain controller.
4. If you get prompted if you want to overwrite the files. Choose "Yes to All".
   If you get prompted by User Account Control (UAC), press Continue or provide Administrator level credentials.

Choose where you want to set the policies

If you want to set Group Policies for clients in an Active Directory network environment see;
Setting Policies in an Active Directory network environment
If you want to set Group Policies on your own computer see;
Setting Policies on the local computer

Setting Policies in an Active Directory network environment

Once you've installed the Office Resource Kit of your version you can control the policies via Group Policy Management Editor (GPMC).
Windows XP users can download it here.
Windows Vista users can download it here.
Windows 7 users can download it here.

1. Open the GPMC through Control panel-> Administrative Tools-> Group Policy Management
2. In the left column browse to the folder Group Policy Objects and select the Policy you wish to enforce Outlook policies on
   
   The Group Policy Management Console on Windows XP.
   (click on image to enlarge)
3. Right click the Policy and choose Edit…
4. When you use Windows Vista or Windows 7, then the policies will be loaded automatically under;
   User Configuration-> Policies-> Microsoft Office Outlook version.
   When you are using Windows XP then you'll have to load the templates first;
   1. In the left column of the Group Policy editor right click Administrative Templates in User Configuration and choose Add/Remove Templates…
   2. Press Add…
   3. Select the file corresponding with the installed version of the Office Resource Kit
      

      Outlook 2000	OUTLK9.ADM
      Outlook 2002/XP	OUTLK10.ADM
      Outlook 2003	OUTLK11.ADM
      Outlook 2007	OUTLK12.ADM
      Outlook 2010	OUTLK14.ADM

   4. Press Open and then Close to return to the Group Policy editor. You now will see Outlook listed and you can now enforce settings.

The Outlook 2003 policy template loaded in the Windows XP Group Policy Management Editor.
(click on image to enlarge)

Setting Policies on the local computer

Once you've installed the Office Resource Kit of your version you can control the policies via the Group Policy editor.
Note: The Group Policy Editor is not available when you are using a "Home" version of Windows.

1. You can open the Group Policy Editor in the following way;
   • Windows XP
     Start-> Run; gpedit.msc
   • Windows Vista and Windows 7
     Start-> type; gpedit.msc
2. When you use Windows Vista or Windows 7, then the policies will be loaded automatically under;
   User Configuration-> Administrative Templates-> Microsoft Office Outlook version.
   When you are using Windows XP then you'll have to load the templates first;
   1. In the left column of the MMC expand Local Computer Policy then right click Administrative Templates in User Configuration and choose Add/Remove Templates…
   2. Press Add…
   3. Select the file corresponding with the installed version of the Office Resource Kit
      

      Outlook 2000	OUTLK9.ADM
      Outlook 2002/XP	OUTLK10.ADM
      Outlook 2003	OUTLK11.ADM
      Outlook 2007	OUTLK12.ADM
      Outlook 2010	OUTLK14.ADM

   4. Press Open and then Close to return to the Local Policy editor.
3. You now will see Outlook listed and you can now enforce settings. Some of the settings will only take effect after you restart your computer. Note that the settings are enforced to all users of that computer even the administrator! As an administrator you can of course change settings through the Group Policy Editor when required.
   
   The Outlook 2010 policy template loaded in the Windows 7 local Group Policy Editor.
   (click on image to enlarge)