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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11Microsoft’s phased rollout to disable Exchange Web Services (EWS) by default in Exchange Online begins in October 2026. That does not mean every tenant changes on October 1: Microsoft says tenants will be handled over time. If a tenant is still using the default EWSEnabled setting when the rollout reaches it, Microsoft plans to change that setting from Null to False, blocking EWS requests. The Exchange Team says EWS will be permanently disabled in Exchange Online on April 1, 2027.
This is a change to Exchange Online in Microsoft 365, not to EWS support in on-premises Exchange Server. Administrators should identify EWS-dependent applications, validate replacements, and treat any continued EWS access as temporary.
What is changing, and when?
Microsoft first said in 2018 that EWS would receive no further functionality updates, then announced an Exchange Online disablement start in 2023. Microsoft Learn’s current EWS deprecation guidance says global disablement starts in October 2026 and EWS will be fully disabled in April 2027. The Exchange Team’s operational announcement, “Exchange Online EWS, Your Time is Almost Up,” published February 5, 2026 and updated June 19, 2026, specifies April 1, 2027 as the permanent shutdown date.
The October date is the start of a tenant-by-tenant rollout, not a guarantee that a particular tenant has already changed. Microsoft says it will provide tenant-specific EWS usage summaries through Message Center. Check those notices and your tenant’s actual configuration rather than inferring its status from the calendar.
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| Period or setting | What it means |
|---|---|
| Before the rollout reaches a tenant | EWSEnabled at Null is the default and allows EWS. |
| From October 2026 | Microsoft begins changing tenants left at Null to False in a phased rollout. False blocks EWS. |
EWSEnabled set to True |
EWS can remain available during the transition, subject to Microsoft’s app ID allow-list rules. |
| April 1, 2027 | The Exchange Team identifies this as the permanent Exchange Online shutdown date; tenant administrators will no longer be able to control EWSEnabled. |
Microsoft says administrators can temporarily re-enable EWS if a critical workflow is affected. That is transition runway, not a permanent exemption from the April 2027 shutdown.
Does the change affect your Exchange environment?
The deciding question is whether an application or integration makes EWS requests to Exchange Online. The retirement applies to Exchange Online and Microsoft 365; it does not change EWS support in Exchange Server on-premises. In hybrid environments, check where each mailbox is hosted and which Exchange endpoint each application calls. A deployment that uses only on-premises Exchange is not affected by this Exchange Online retirement.
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Inventory both internally developed and third-party software, including scheduled jobs and service integrations. Microsoft recommends using EWS Usage Reports to investigate usage and offers the EWS Analyzer to help analyze dependencies. For each finding, record the application owner, affected mailboxes, EWS operations, business impact, and vendor or internal migration contact.
What should administrators do before the shutdown?
- Find the callers. Review EWS Usage Reports and use the EWS Analyzer where useful. Include internal applications, vendor products, service integrations, and scheduled jobs in the inventory.
- Check tenant controls. Review the current
EWSEnabledstate and app ID allow list. Compare the list with actual application usage and the Microsoft guidance for each affected workload. - Map each operation to a replacement. Assess whether Microsoft Graph or another documented option supports the specific operations the application needs. Do not assume Graph is a drop-in replacement for every EWS capability.
- Plan and test migrations. Work with application vendors where needed, and validate the replacement against real workflows before changing production dependencies. For cross-tenant sharing, confirm feature availability in each tenant and coordinate with the other organization.
- Set a firm completion date. Use any continued EWS access only as a temporary continuity measure, and complete the migration before April 1, 2027.
Can Microsoft Graph replace EWS?
Microsoft points developers toward Graph for supported scenarios, but documents gaps that matter to migration design. Its EWS deprecation guidance says Graph will not add generic CRUD access for public folders, Microsoft 365 Group mailboxes, or legacy Discovery Mailboxes. If an application depends on one of those capabilities, identify that dependency explicitly and plan around the documented limitation rather than assuming an equivalent Graph API exists.
Migration decisions should be made at the operation level: determine whether the application calls Exchange Online EWS, whether Graph or another documented replacement covers those calls, whether another organization or a feature rollout is involved, and whether a workload-specific continuity measure has a cutoff. Ask vendors for their remediation plans when the application is not under your control.
What happens to specific Microsoft workloads?
| Workload or scenario | What Microsoft says | Administrator action |
|---|---|---|
| Skype for Business Server hybrid with Exchange Online mailboxes | Microsoft identifies this configuration as affected. Its guidance describes enabling EWS and adding the Skype server and desktop client app IDs to the allow list during the transition, then installing an upcoming server update that replaces EWS calls with Graph before April 1, 2027. Purely on-premises Skype for Business and Exchange Server deployments are not affected by this Exchange Online retirement. | Follow the workload-specific Microsoft instructions, maintain access only for the transition, and plan to install the replacement update before the shutdown. |
| System Center Service Manager 2022 or 2025 using Exchange Online | Customers using Email Notifications or the Exchange Connector may be affected. Microsoft recommends Exchange Connector 5.0 for impacted connectors. Its documented email-notification workaround is temporary and will not work after EWS is disabled in April 2027. | Check whether the installation uses the affected features, apply the recommended connector guidance where applicable, and do not treat the notification workaround as a post-shutdown solution. |
| Power Platform cross-tenant email sync | Microsoft says the functionality is transitioning from EWS to Graph by April 2027 and documents tenant allow-listing and Graph application permissions as continuity and migration tasks. | Follow Microsoft’s tenant allow-list and Graph permission guidance while moving the functionality to Graph. |
| Cross-tenant Free/Busy, Calendars, and MailTips | For applicable Microsoft 365-to-Microsoft 365 scenarios, Microsoft documents Cross-Tenant Access Policy as the replacement for Exchange Organization Relationships and Sharing Policies. The feature is rolling out and may not yet be available in a given tenant. Bidirectional sharing requires complementary policies. Availability Address Space-based Free/Busy between Microsoft 365 tenants does not depend on EWS and is not affected. | Verify that the policy feature has reached both tenants, coordinate settings with the other organization, and distinguish EWS-dependent sharing flows from Availability Address Space-based Free/Busy. |
How should multi-tenant organizations assess the impact?
Being part of a multi-tenant organization does not by itself establish whether a configuration depends on EWS. Check the actual sharing method. Exchange Organization Relationship and Sharing Policy flows for cross-tenant Free/Busy, Calendars, or MailTips may need to move to Cross-Tenant Access Policy in the applicable Microsoft 365 scenarios. Availability Address Space-based Free/Busy between Microsoft 365 tenants is specifically identified by Microsoft as not dependent on EWS.
Because Cross-Tenant Access Policy is still rolling out, verify availability for every participating tenant before planning a cutover. Coordinate with the other organization: a one-sided policy change is not sufficient for bidirectional sharing.
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