Forum Discussion
'End appointments and meetings early' feature now broken in Office Cloud Policy Service
Originally the option to in Outlook to 'End appointments and meetings early' was a simple on/off option and was reflected in the registry with a DWORD 'endeventsearly' in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Options\Calendar
Now a recent update now allows users to select 'End early' or 'Start Late' and the DWORD has been replaced with String Value ShortenEvents that can have the value 'End_Early', 'Start_Late', or 'None'.
However the Office Cloud Policy Service still only shows the previous settings which applies only the DWORD which now has no effect. Can you please update the Office Policy Service to reflect the new setting in Outlook so we can push this out to our users?
Thanks!
61 Replies
- ClaytonlopesCopper ContributorSo is this working for anyone ? The policy in Intune creates this registry key HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\office\16.0\outlook\options\calendar\ shortenevents (End_Early) but none of my outlook clients have the option ticked in calendar settings- Sam240Copper ContributorClaytonlopes did you ever figure this out? we're running into the same issue. 
 
- MindaugasG-ILCopper ContributorI used powershell command Set-OrganizationConfig to make changes org-wise: Set-OrganizationConfig -ShortenEventScopeDefault EndEarly -DefaultMinutesToReduceShortEventsBy 10 -DefaultMinutesToReduceLongEventsBy 15 It seems OK: users in Outlook get minutes changed and End Early, except one minor thing box "Shorten appointments and meetings" is not enabled 🙂 and users have to check it manually. Is there any powershell command property to check it org-wise? - Jetze MellemaBrass ContributorMindaugasG-IL You would use the ShortenEventScopeDefault switch for that. See https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/exchange/set-organizationconfig?view=exchange-ps - MindaugasG-ILCopper ContributorI did as wrote in my message:
 Set-OrganizationConfig -ShortenEventScopeDefault EndEarly -DefaultMinutesToReduceShortEventsBy 10 -DefaultMinutesToReduceLongEventsBy 15
 but Outlook do not set checkbox for "Shorten appointments and meetings".
 
 
- Matthew_StevensonCopper ContributorJust an update, we are now successfully able to configure this setting via GPO with the latest ADMX files and M365 App version 2203. Regards, Matthew Stevenson - BarryBuchananCopper ContributorMatthew_Stevenson thank you for that. I will schedule some time to day to give this a try. - ClaytonlopesCopper ContributorBarryBuchanan Matthew_Stevenson thanks for that, I'll wait for intune to update. Just wondering if you are using "Shorten appointments and meetings" or "end appointments and meetings early" and btw what is the difference ? 
 
 
- Sreekanth_ChityalaCopper ContributorIt worked for me this WAY!
 The GPO settings are clearly broken in the latest versions of Outlook Clients and after 4 hours of tweaking through the registry settings, It is found that the following registry entries will enforce the "Short appointments and Meetings" setting in the Outlook client for the end users.
 Add the following registry keys under the GPO settings
 <GPOName>\User Configuration\Preferences\Windows Settings\Registry
 Registry Setting 1:
 PropertiesHive = HKEY_CURRENT_USER
 Key path = Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Options\Calendar
 Value name = ShortenEvents
 Value type = REG_SZ
 Value data = End_Early
 Registry Setting 2:
 PropertiesHive = HKEY_CURRENT_USER
 Key path = Software\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Settings\Data
 Value name = global_shorten_event_scope
 Value type = REG_SZ
 Value data = {"name":"shorten_event_scope","itemClass":"RoamingSetting","id":"","scope":"global","parentSetting":"","secondaryKey":"","status":"SYNCEDTOSERVICE","type":"String","timestamp":0,"metadata":"","value":"End_Early","isFirstSync":"false","source":"UserOverride"}- schand1805Copper ContributorSreekanth_Chityala This has worked fine, we only want to set it once for users, they can change afterwards, hence a locked down GPO would not work. 
 We deployed to all users with .reg file via SCCM.Thanks 
 
- Christian_BlumCopper ContributorHi everyone, as far I have seen, this thread did not include a solution for Office Cloud Policies. We are currently upgrading our MS365 Apps version from 2102 to 2108 in Semi annual Enterprise channel and therefore ran into the issue described here. Since MS has added the possibility to start meetings late in between these two versions, the cloud policy "https://admx.help/?Category=Office2016&Policy=outlk16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows::L_EnableEndEarly" stopped working in version 2108 SAEC. The new cloud policy which has to be configured is called "https://admx.help/?Category=Office2016&Policy=outlk16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows::L_ShortenEventsType" The values (minutes) which meetings end early or start late should stay valid In case you have defined it. 
 All values can be found under [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Cloud\Office\16.0\outlook\options\calendar]
- ClaytonlopesCopper ContributorHas anyone tried powershell with exchange online ?
 Set-OrganizationConfig -ShortenEventScopeDefault 2 –DefaultMinutesToReduceLongEventsBy 5 –DefaultMinutesToReduceShortEventsBy 5- RoiitCopper ContributorI tried the script below without any success. I can see the registery key changes on the devices but does not reflect setting in outlook.
 pushed out through intune as with option "Run this script using the logged on credentials" YES
 if((Test-Path -LiteralPath "HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\options\Calendar") -ne $true) { New-Item "HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\options\Calendar" -force -ea SilentlyContinue };
 New-ItemProperty -LiteralPath 'HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\options\Calendar' -Name 'ShortenEvents' -Value 'End_Early' -PropertyType String -Force -ea SilentlyContinue;
 New-ItemProperty -LiteralPath 'HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\options\Calendar' -Name 'EndEarlyShort' -Value 5 -PropertyType DWord -Force -ea SilentlyContinue;
 New-ItemProperty -LiteralPath 'HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\options\Calendar' -Name 'EndEarlyLong' -Value 10 -PropertyType DWord -Force -ea SilentlyContinue;
 
- RoiitCopper ContributorAny update on this?
 We enabled this through Intune but not working? is there any fix for us that are using cloud only?- Dynamitten2212Copper ContributorI managed to get it working by using Policies for Office apps. I had tried that earlier, but it seems that Microsoft have done some updates / Torsten - Tuan-123Copper ContributorI'm wondering if you know how to verify if the policy is pushed out to the user's system without contacting the system? Thanks again for sharing this with us Tuan 
 
 
- Dynamitten2212Copper ContributorOh man - spent two hours troubleshooting on this until I found this forum. Why doesn´t Microsoft just fix their Template profile in Intune? 
- BarryBuchananCopper ContributorJoe Savage this is very insightful. I have been trying to set this up for our business but have realized I am really a novice with respect to deploying registry settings via GPO. My hope is MS will fix/unbreak the policy at some point. I will keep trying the registry adjustment with what you have written. Thank you. - Avith320Copper ContributorThis is a new registry key Path: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Options\Calendar 
 Name:ShortenEvents
 Value:End_Early
 Type:String- BarryBuchananCopper Contributor
 
 
- Matthew_StevensonCopper ContributorJoe Savage thanks for this post! It has helped restore a bit of sanity after troubleshooting for at few hours and not understanding why Outlook is not reading the registry values I have been setting! As you say, some recent change in Office seems to have broken this. We are hoping to roll out this feature to the company via GPO but I guess we'll have to wait. I am unable to make it work with GPO at all. Neither via the ADMX template values, nor via registry values via Preferences. Strangely, when setting the feature via Outlook GUI it works fine, despite the fact that the very same registry value is written to registry that I have been deploying via preferences. Matthew