MC1418559 - Action required: Retirement of EWS-based Personal Bookings controls (Microsoft Bookings)

Introduction

We’re retiring the Exchange Web Services (EWS)–based controls used to enable or disable Personal Bookings (Bookings with me) in Microsoft Bookings. Beginning August 5, 2026, access to Personal Bookings will be managed exclusively through OWA Mailbox Policy settings.

This change aligns with Microsoft’s Exchange Online management and security principles, while providing a single, consistent administrative experience.

When this will happen

• Now: The OWA Mailbox Policy setting for Personal Bookings is available.
• August 5, 2026: EWS‑based Personal Bookings controls will be retired.

How this affects your organization

Who is affected

• Microsoft 365 administrators managing Microsoft Bookings and Exchange Online
• Organizations currently using EWS organization configuration or per‑user CAS mailbox settings to control Personal Bookings

What will happen

• After August 5, 2026, admins will no longer be able to manage Personal Bookings access using:
  • Set-OrganizationConfig (EWS settings)
  • EWS‑related parameters in Set-CASMailbox
• The default OWA Mailbox Policy is tenant‑configurable and may already include customized Personal Bookings settings.
• Any existing EWS‑based Personal Bookings configuration will be ignored.
• Access to Personal Bookings will be determined only by the OWA Mailbox Policy assigned to the user.
• If no custom OWA Mailbox Policy is assigned to a user, Personal Bookings availability will follow the settings configured in the tenant’s default OWA Mailbox Policy (OwaMailboxPolicy-Default).
• If your default OWA Mailbox Policy already reflects your intended Personal Bookings access state, no additional changes are required.

What you can do to prepare

Administrators should complete migration of any existing EWS‑based Personal Bookings controls to OWA Mailbox Policy before August 5, 2026, to avoid unintended changes to user access.

The following steps require Exchange Online PowerShell.

There is no change to the Personal Bookings user experience. This change affects only how administrators manage access.

Migrate your existing EWS‑based Personal Bookings controls to the new OWA Mailbox Policy

Review your current EWS‑based configuration

• Organization‑wide:

Get-OrganizationConfig | Select-Object EwsEnabled,EwsApplicationAccessPolicy,EwsBlockList,EwsAllowList

• Per user:

Get-CASMailbox -Identity | Select EwsEnabled,EwsApplicationAccessPolicy,EwsBlockList,EwsAllow

Configure Personal Bookings using OWA Mailbox Policy

Disable Personal Bookings for the entire organization

• Admin should run following PowerShell commands:

Set-OwaMailboxPolicy -Identity "OwaMailboxPolicy-Default" -PersonalBookingsDisabled $true

• Verification:

Get-OwaMailboxPolicy -Identity "OwaMailboxPolicy-Default" | Select PersonalBookingsDisabled

Enable Personal Bookings for specific users only

• Disable Personal Bookings org‑wide using the steps above.
• Create a custom policy:

New-OwaMailboxPolicy -Name "BwmEnablePolicy"

• Assign the policy to selected users:

Set-CASMailbox -Identity <smtp> -OwaMailboxPolicy "BwmEnablePolicy"

Disable Personal Bookings for specific users only (all others are enabled)

• Ensure Personal Bookings is enabled org‑wide:

Set-OwaMailboxPolicy -Identity "OwaMailboxPolicy-Default" -PersonalBookingsDisabled $false

• Create and configure a custom policy:

New-OwaMailboxPolicy -Name "BwmDisablePolicy"

Set-OwaMailboxPolicy -Identity "BwmDisablePolicy" -PersonalBookingsDisabled $true

• Assign the policy:

Set-CASMailbox -Identity <smtp> -OwaMailboxPolicy "BwmDisablePolicy"

After migrating

• Validate assigned OWA Mailbox Policies.
• Remove any EWS allow or block list entries related to Personal Bookings.
• Update internal administrative documentation.
• Notify helpdesk and Exchange administrators of the change.

Learn more: Turn off Personal Bookings | Microsoft Bookings | Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Learn

Compliance considerations