After logging in to a brand new macOS user account, Kalvass launched Outlook. Because Office wasn’t yet activated, it first displayed an activation window. However, the activation window was pre-populated with the end user’s email address. He only had to enter a password. From there, activation completed and then returned to Outlook where the Main Window opened, added the Office 365 email account and began downloading messages. We saw no “What’s New” messages, no prompts to configure additional accounts and no requests to re-enter the same password.
Let’s use to make this happen. Overview The magic that makes all this work is configuration profiles. Along the way, we’ll use a few tools that demonstrate end-to-end how plist preference files relate to configuration profiles.
Requirements:. Jamf Pro server (any version). Active Directory or other LDAP service connected to Jamf Pro (recommended). Office 365 account enabled for email. Terminal application The Active Directory or LDAP server is recommended only to make populating email addresses for multiple end users easier. This connected service automatically populates the Email Address field when a username is added to a computer record in Jamf Pro. First, we’ll use the Terminal application to make a plist file on the Desktop with the correct settings.
Get Outlook for Mac Help test drive support for Google Calendar and Contacts in the Outlook for Mac Preview. No purchase required until June 30, 2017. Office 2016 for Mac is available for Office 365 and Volume Licensing customers. The new versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote provide the best of both worlds for Mac users: the familiar Office experience paired with the best of Mac.
Then we’ll load the plist file into a Custom Settings payload in a new configuration profile in Jamf Pro. Finally, we’ll deploy and test. Create the plist file A plist file is the foundation of most configuration profiles. Configuration profiles are all about managing plists like those found in an end user’s home folder in /Library/Preferences. Applications store their preferences and settings in plists.
![Outlook 365 Help For Mac Outlook 365 Help For Mac](/uploads/1/2/5/5/125555945/465039729.png)
If we manage the plist, then we manage the application. Open the Terminal application found in /Applications/Utilities, type or copy/paste the following one-line command and press the return key: defaults write /Desktop/com.microsoft.office.plist OfficeActivationEmailAddress -string '$EMAIL' This creates a file on your Desktop named ‘com.microsoft.office.plist’. Locate and select that file on your Desktop and tap the spacebar to QuickLook its contents. You should see something similar to this. The defaults command creates plist files and it populates them with a preference key on one line followed by a value on the next line to manage that setting for an application.
Keys are usually easy to read and understand. In this case, we’re going to use ‘OfficeActivationEmailAddress’ to specify the Office 365 email address that will activate the software. The value ‘$EMAIL’ is a. It’s a placeholder for now, but Jamf Pro will replace it with the email address specified in the computer record just before deploying the configuration profile. The name of the plist file determines which app we’re managing. (Although “Office” is not really an application, this plist manages some settings across all the Office applications.) Let’s add a couple more key/value pairs.
![Help Help](/uploads/1/2/5/5/125555945/872770412.png)
In Terminal, enter each of these one-line commands followed with a return: defaults write /Desktop/com.microsoft.office.plist DefaultEmailAddressOrDomain -string '$EMAIL' and defaults write /Desktop/com.microsoft.office.plist OfficeAutoSignIn -bool TRUE The ‘DefaultEmailAddressOrDomain’ key is only required if the username used to activate Office is different from the email address we’ll configure in Outlook. For example, if we’re using a User Principal Name (UPN) to activate Office but an email address in Outlook, we’ll need to configure an extension attribute with a new LDAP Attribute Mapping to collect this extra information from Active Directory or the LDAP server. For more information see. And the ‘OfficeAutoSignIn’ key suppresses windows that may get in the way the first time Outlook is launched.
The final plist looks like this when viewing with QuickLook. Create the configuration profile Next, we’ll take this plist file sitting on our Desktop and upload it to Jamf Pro to create a new configuration profile that we’ll push to our Macs. In Jamf Pro, choose Computers Configuration Profiles and click the New button to create a new configuration profile. Under the General payload, give the new profile a name such as ‘Office 365 Activation and Outlook Setup’. Set the profile to install automatically and apply at computer level. Scroll down in the list of payloads, locate the Custom Settings payload and click the Configure button.
Click the Upload button and choose the com.microsoft.office.plist file on your desktop. Upload the file. (If the upload fails, follow the instructions in red to convert the plist file to a plain text XML file and upload again.). Once the settings are complete, click the Scope tab and scope to a Mac or virtual machine for testing. Don’t use the Download button in the configuration profile to download a mobileconfig file for testing.
This doesn’t support payload variables. Testing Once scoped to a test Mac, log in as any user and open Apple menu System Preferences Profiles. Locate the ‘Office 365 Activation and Outlook Setup’ profile and select it. On the right, scroll to the payload details and verify Jamf Pro has replaced the ‘$EMAIL’ payload variable with the email address from the computer record in Jamf Pro. Additional windows Environments differ between organizations.
Some end users may see additional windows that add clicks to the activation and configuration experience, but these can usually be suppressed. For example, if end users see the Intelligent Services window, use the defaults command from earlier to generate a com.microsoft.Outlook.plist file and upload it to the same configuration profile: defaults write /Desktop/com.microsoft.Outlook.plist PIIAndIntelligentServicesPreference -bool TRUE The Mac Admins community has done a great job documenting these and other key/value pairs for managing Outlook and other Office applications. Good to know The new activation and setup features don’t require Macs be bound to Active Directory.
Only Jamf Pro needs access to an LDAP server to populate the email address in the computer record. This solution is only ideal for 1-to-1 Macs because Jamf Pro doesn’t allow for more than one email address per computer record. Deploying a configuration profile that includes the OfficeAutoSignIn key automatically suppresses several first run dialogs. It’s useful by itself, even if Jamf Pro cannot automatically pre-populate the username for Office 365.
Currently, automatic Outlook configuration works only with Office 365 accounts and not on-premises Exchange servers. This setup and configuration method fully supports using the on a smart phone or watch. Jamf will post the video for Paul Bowden’s and Jeff Kalvass’ in a few weeks. Be sure to watch it to learn about additional new manageability features in Microsoft Office and Outlook for Mac. Keep the “defaults write” command handy in case you see some additional settings you’d like to implement for your end users. Not already a Jamf Pro customer? Take the gold standard for Apple device management for a free test drive and start putting these workflows to use in your environment.
Microsoft today updated its suite of Office for Mac apps, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, with support for Dark Mode on macOS Mojave and several other new features. The updates are available to both Office 365 subscribers and to users who purchased Office 2019 for Mac as a one-time purchase.
The update also makes it easier to insert a photo from an iPhone or iPad into a PowerPoint slide using Apple's new. This allows users to where you want the photo to appear, quickly take a photo on a nearby iPhone or iPad, and import it into a slide. And with v16.20 some customers will see our Ribbon Visual Refresh with new icons and styling in Office 365 for Mac, as we begin rolling out and getting your feedback! On macOS Mojave, the new icons adapt to Light and Dark Mode as well! — Derek Snook (@dereksnook) Office for Mac apps can be updated via the Microsoft AutoUpdate mechanism by navigating to Help Check for Updates in each app. For a full list of new features, read the.
(Thanks, Daniel!). Dark Mode in Mojave is the biggest UI improvement ever in iOS.
But it isn't in iOS, it's in MacOS. And I'm one of the people who think it's absolutely terrible. I kept at it for three days, tried a few different background colours, eventually gave up because of various things. One of the major ones was the inability to tell unread mail from read mail because a bold light font on a dark background is far less visible than a bold dark font on a light background and the new mail blue circle doesn't stick out as much. There were so many other visual cues that just disappeared into 50 shades of grey I had to turn it off so I could use the machine again.