I need to disable the ability of the end-user to modify Stationery and force a default stationery and font. I have found the "font" forcing but not the rest. I was trying to work with control ID but don't know how to find the right ones.
You'll need to make at least three changes:
1) The registry value that controls the default stationery for the user is in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\nn.0\Common\MailSettings key (nn is your version of Outlook) in an expandable string value named NewStationery. Set the value to the name of the HTML file, without the .htm tag. In other words, if the name of the stationery file is "Company Letterhead.htm," the value for NewStationery would be "Company Letterhead." If you put in the name of a stationery file that is not in the user's Stationery folder, e.g. "dummy," Outlook will use the user's default fonts, and the user will not be able to invoke any default stationery.
2) In the same key, you should also create a string value named NewTheme to a dummy value to block the user from using Word's Tools | Options | E-mail Options dialog to set a theme.
3) You would also want to disable the Actions | New Mail Message Using | More Stationery command using a group policy object and the "Disable command bar buttons and menu items" policy setting or edit the registry at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\office\xx.0\outlook\disabledcmdbaritemslist. The ID for More Stationery command is 5611. The Options | Mail | Stationery and Fonts button ID is 3766.
Outlook needs to be restarted for new group policies to take effect.
However, these measures will be only partially effective in enforcing the use of particular stationery. The user could always edit the raw .htm file in the Signatures folder or replace it with one with the same name. A WordMail user can also change the background and fonts by using the Format | Theme command, unless you block that menu choice for all Word documents. Furthermore, if the user has previously used stationery, the most recently used stationery choices will be available in the Actions | New Message Using menu and cannot be cleared. I haven't found the MRU list yet.
Night says
what is the dummy value in the step2
KING says
I had tried. It worked with the code 5611. but cannot work for this code 3766 (The Options | Mail | Stationery and Fonts button)
Johnny Reel (@jraz11_13) says
Hi Diane, Nice post. I was wondering if you knew the control ID for the two buttons in Options|Mail for Stationary and Fonts and Signatures? I set a GPO to disable these controls, 5611,3766,5608,22965.14014,14823,12305,16182,13779,13991,12863,12864,12445,11584, I might add that a comma separated list in the GPO fails, but each on their own line succeeds. When I did this, the option for previously used themes disappeared. But the dialog box remains for the Signatures/Stationary and Fonts. Signatures is greyed out but not the stationary options.
I was able to obtain those control IDs via this MS document. Office2013FluentUserInterfaceControlIdentifiers\Office UI Help Files
But the aforementioned buttons remain active and at least halfway useable. Any thoughts you can shed on this topic?
Diane Poremsky says
3766 should disable the button in options. (But its not doing anything in Outlook 2016. The other IDs are disabling features.)
Yeah, you need one value per line.
christopher wiedel says
Yeah I just tested this in 2016 3766 doesn't work? Any ideas?
Diane Poremsky says
As of now, no.
Christopher Wiedel says
3766 disables the signature drop down, doesn't seem to be tied to stationary.
Mark Clift says
This worked for me. It does not disabled the Stationery and Fonts button in options but it does not allow them to be changed. The user can attempt to change the setting but it reverts to null after they click OK. Tested in 2013 only but should work for 2016 as well.
By setting the preference under the "Policies" reg key, a user can choose a different theme, but as soon as they click OK, the setting flips back.
Set these REG_SZ values in GPO (User ConfigurationPreferencesWindows SettingsRegistry)
[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwarePoliciesMicrosoftOffice15.0commonmailsettings]
"NewStationery"=""
"NewTheme"=""
From: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/f3c9c08a-bc0a-40c9-be17-faf54eeca3f9/outlook-2013-gpo-or-other-to-restrict-stationary-font-theme?forum=officeitpro