Windows 10: Limit Office 365 Telemetry with this undocumented setting

Office 365, just like Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office and other Microsoft products collect and submit telemetry data to Microsoft servers by default. Only a few options to limit data collection are provided to most users of Windows and other Microsoft products; Enterprise customers do get more options.

When it comes to Office 365, there is an undocumented setting that administrators may set on Windows devices to limit telemetry.

The setting was revealed by Aleksandar Milenkoski on Twitter. Milenkoski analyzed telemetry in Microsoft Office and published a report about his findings for the German Federal Office for Information Security. The English version of the report is available as a PDF document that you can download / view with a click on this link.

It includes a treasure trove of information about telemetry in Office, including an entire chapter on disabling the output of diagnostic data. The chapter lists Microsoft endpoint servers that telemetry data is submitted to and an undocumented Registry setting that will limit telemetry when enabled.



Here is what needs to be done:

1. Use Windows-R to open the run box on the Windows system.
2. Type regedit.exe and click OK to load the Registry Editor.
3. Confirm the UAC prompt if it is displayed.
4. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\office\
   common\clienttelemetry\.
   
   1. Create missing keys by right-clicking on the previous key and selecting New > Key. Name them according to the path information.

• Right-click on clienttelemetry and select New > Dword (32-bit) Value.

• Name it DisableTelemetry.

• Set its value to 1 to disable some of the data collecting that goes on normally.

Milenkoski notes:

Setting the registry value HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\office\
common\clienttelemetry\DisableTelemetry to 1 disables the Aria and Nexus Office telemetry
modules (see Section 2). For example, if DisableTelemetry is set to 1, Office applications do not load the
MSOARIANEXT.dll library file, which implements Aria (see Section 2.1)
​

He goes on to note that the setting does not impact Office functionality. Not all data collecting is disabled when the Registry value is set to 1.

However, it disables the output of diagnostic data only from the Aria and Nexus Office telemetry modules. It
does not disable, for example, the output of diagnostic data produced by connected experiences, sent to
Microsoft by Windows telemetry modules (see Section 2). For example, when DisableTelemetry is set to
1, OLE32 Extensions for Win32 still sends diagnostic events to
hubblecontent.osi.office.net/contentsvc/api/telemetry when a user uses the Insert Icon
connected experience in Word.
​

The undocumented Registry setting cannot be configured using the Group Policy editor. Milenkoski lists policies that are relevant for limited telemetry as well in the document.

Now You: which Office application do you use? (via Ask Woody)

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read more...

 

Microsoft Office 365 privacy and telemetry

@Brink

Is there a comprehensive thread on tenforums (or reddit or elsewhere) that details various registry tweaks and windows settings to enable/disable telemetry and privacy for Office 365? Tutorials on tenforums give plenty of information about Windows privacy and telemetry settings but not much on Office. Can anyone please help?

There is some information about increasing privacy and reducing telemetry for the standalone, older versions of office but since 365 is so much more cloud based, do the old settings apply to the newest versions of the 365 Office suites?

Thanks!

 

Cortana & Office 365 Integration

We are trying to integrate Cortana with our Office 365 subscription, but it never works. Here are the steps we have done:

• Turned on Cortona in the Office 365 Admin portal
• We are using Windows 10 1703 – connected Office 365 service to Cortana

Did the same on windows 10 mobile with no luck, Cortana says its connected to Office 365, but sees no data and we are getting zero errors

We went rough office 365 support first and tried all fo their suggestions, they kicked us over to Windows support which is currently closed.

We are on v1703 with all updates in place, it does not work on Windows 10 desktop or mobile

any ideas? I can give you all steps 365 support had us run through if that will be helpful

Thank you

Doug

 

need to re-install office 365 personal on windows 10 p.c.

Hi Jane,



One common cause that may inhibit the reinstallation of Office 365 on a device is that the number of installs exceeded that limit of your subscription or the old Office 365 installation used on your device has not yet been deactivated under your account.
To assist in resolving your concern, kindly answer the questions below:

• What troubleshooting steps have you completed?
• Did you receive any error messages?
• What were the steps you took and where did you get the installer for Office 365?

In the meantime, you can check the articles below on how you can manage your Office 365 account as well as deactivate active Office 365 installations. Also, the article we provided titled " Troubleshoot installing Office" has an option labeled "How
do I reinstall Office?" under the "Common questions" section of the article. This option includes detailed steps on how you can reinstall Office 365.

• Manage the account you use with Office
• Deactivate Office 365 if you see a "limit reached"
  error
• Troubleshoot installing Office

To notify us and have us get back to you, simply reply to this post.