Updated August 26,June 15, 2026: We have updated the content timeline. Thank you for your patience.
Introduction
Viva Engage will stop sending email notifications to frontline users (F1 and F3 licenses) who do not have a valid mailbox or routable email destination.an active Exchange mailbox. Previously, email notifications could still be attempted for these users,sent to users without provisioned mailboxes, resulting in repeated delivery retries, increased load on email systems, and,and in some cases,cases delays to the delivery of important business communications.
This change reduces unnecessary email traffic, improves delivery efficiency, and helps ensure importantbusiness-critical communications are delivered reliably and on time.
Users with supported mailbox configurations, including cloud mailboxes, on-premises mailboxes, shared mailboxes, and other routable email destinations, will continue to receive Viva Engage email notifications as expected.
Notifications delivered through supported channels such as Microsoft Teams remain unaffected.
When this will happen:
General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout begins mid-SeptemberJune 2026 (previously end of August) and is expected to complete by end of Octoberearly August 2026 (previously end of September).
How this affects your organization:
Who is affected:
Users who do not have a validFrontline users assigned F1 and F3 licenses without an active Exchange Online mailbox or routable email destination.- Microsoft 365 admins managing Viva Engage
users and mailbox configurations.Exchange licensing
What will happen:
- Viva Engage will no longer
attempt to send email notifications to users who do not have a valid mailbox or routable email destination.without active Exchange mailboxes. - Users with
cloud, on-premises, shared, or other supportedvalid Exchange mailbox configurationslicenses will continue to receive email notifications as expected.usual. This change does not affect the existing email notification experience for users with a valid mailbox or routable email destination.- Notifications delivered
throughvia Microsoft Teams or other supported channels are not impacted.impacted. - The change is enabled by default and applies automatically.
- Organizations may see:
- Reduced load on email
systems and gateways. - Fewer retry attempts for undeliverable messages.
- Improved
email delivery efficiency and reliability.reliability for critical emails.
What you can do to prepare:
- No action is required.
- Review your Exchange Online licensing configuration to identify users without mailbox access.
- Evaluate your notification strategy (e.g., Teams vs. Email) for frontline workers.
- Inform helpdesk and user support teams of the expected behavior change.
- Update internal documentation if email notifications are referenced for frontline users.
Compliance considerations:
- Alters how existing customer data is processed: Email notifications to users without mailboxes are no longer attempted, reducing unnecessary processing of undeliverable messages.
- No other compliance impacts identified.