Blog Post

Windows IT Pro Blog
4 MIN READ

Organizational messages for Windows 11 now in public preview

Maggie_Dakeva's avatar
Maggie_Dakeva
Icon for Microsoft rankMicrosoft
Nov 17, 2022

Today we announce the public preview of organizational messages for Windows 11, enabling you to communicate with your employees natively on their Windows 11 devices.

A new way to communicate with users

As many organizations embrace the hybrid work environment there's an increased need to connect with employees. With organizational messages, you can leverage Microsoft Intune to configure and send branded messages to help people learn about their organization or ramp up for new roles. You can also notify users about organizational updates and trainings. Messages can be delivered just above the taskbar or in the Windows notifications area to keep users informed of important information—or in the Get Started app to support people onboarding to a new device.

We initially shared details about this new capability at Microsoft Ignite in October and today we're excited to outline what features are available today in the public preview:

Key features

Organizational messages provide the following capabilities in public preview:

  • Enable always-on device onboarding messages to help people ramp more quickly within your organization. Choose from 12 message types and create personalized versions from your organization for the Get Started app.
  • Reach people during work on their device with important information updates. Choose from 7 message types and create personalized messages from your organization for the Taskbar area and Windows notifications.
  • Upload your organization's logo for branded messages.
  • Deliver people to a custom destination URL for each organizational message.
  • Offer messages localized in 15 languages (with admin preview) that are displayed in a dark or light theme depending on user settings.
  • Schedule a time window and frequency for the delivery of the taskbar and notifications area messages—or set a message to always appear in the Get Started app for users onboarding new devices.
  • Select who can see a message by assigning it to Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) user groups.
  • Track the status of the organizational messages you've created as well as user engagement (count of message views and engagement).
  • Cancel scheduled or active organizational messages.
  • Configure a new Intune built-in role for Organizational Messages Manager, or Azure AD built-in role for Organizational Messages Writer, honored in Intune, option to allow select organizational admins to manage and configure messages.

Get started with organizational messages

You can configure organizational messages in the Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin center starting with the 2211 release of Microsoft Intune.

After completing all the steps outlined in the prerequisites, go to Tenant administration > Organizational messages, and navigate to the Message tab. Here you can review your messages and track insights on user interaction. Select Create and choose the type of message you'd like to create and the message theme. Follow the prompts to customize your message with logo and URL, schedule when to deliver, and assign to users.

Below is a walkthrough of the admin experience. It shows how to configure Get Started app messages to help users review details about their organization and easily find required trainings. The admin sets the message to always be available for all users, for recently set up devices.

During onboarding, after the user reaches the desktop, the Get Started app will autolaunch once during the first 7 days following device enrollment and display the organizational messages assigned to them (content will remain available for reference in the Get Started app for 30 days). The user can click on any message to access the resource configured by their admin. In the walkthrough below, the organizational message guides the user to the Contoso Training Center where they can complete required trainings to finish onboarding.

There's more to explore

Interested in learning more about organizational messages? Check out the following resources:

Frequently asked questions about organizational messages

What licenses are required for organizational messages?

  • Microsoft 365 E3/E5, or
  • Enterprise Mobility + Security E3/E5 and Windows 11 Enterprise E3/E5

Which platforms does this feature support?

Organizational messages are only supported for devices running Windows 11, version 22H2 and later.

What role do I need to create organizational message?

  • Azure AD global administrator
  • Intune administrator
  • Intune Organizational Messages Manager (new built-in role)
  • Azure AD Organizational Messages Writer (new built-in role)

What do I need to set up before I configure my organizational message?

Before creating organizational messages, ensure the following are configured:

  • To enable delivery for taskbar messages, enable the policies for AllowWindowsSpotlight, AllowWindowsTips, and EnableOrganizationalMessages. For Intune, use the Settings catalog or Device restrictions template to configure these policies.
  • To enable delivery for Notifications area messages, enable the policies for AllowWindowsSpotlight, AllowWindowsSpotlightOnActionCenter, and EnableOrganizationalMessages. For Intune, use the Settings catalog or Device restrictions template to configure these policies.
  • To enable delivery for Get Started app messages, enable the policies for AllowWindowsSpotlight and EnableOrganizationalMessages, and turn off the DisableCloudOptimizedContent policy. For Intune, use the Settings catalog or Device restrictions template to configure these policies.

Before you create your messages, you'll also need to prepare the following items:

  • For branded messages, you will need three sizes of logos for your organization in PNG format with a transparent background:
    • 48 x 48 pixels (for messages in the Notifications area)
    • 64 x 64 pixels (for messages attached to the Taskbar)
    • 50 x 50 pixels or 50 x 100 pixels (for Get Started app messages)
  • For any messages featuring links, ensure that all URLs use verified Azure AD custom domain names.

Share your feedback

Have an idea for organizational messages, or suggestions for improvements? Share your thoughts in the Comments below!

 

Updated Feb 01, 2023
Version 3.0