The following articles were included in our Exchange Messaging Outlook (EMO) newsletter published on January 30, 2025.
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Today's Highlights »
- Changing the default appointment duration in new Outlook
- Enable Forwarding in Exchange Online
- Blackmail Emails
Changing the default appointment duration in new Outlook
A user asked how to change the default appointment duration in new Outlook. They can change it in classic Outlook, but not in new Outlook.
Unfortunately for the user, new Outlook does not support setting a default duration for new appointments but there are workarounds.
If you use the new Event button, the default is 30 min. Rather than use the menu to choose a new time, use one of my favorite shortcuts: type the time in 10a (or 2p) format then tab out. For time not at the top of the hour, use a dot (period) instead of a colon when typing the time: 2.15p then tab out. (This works in classic Outlook too.)
You have two options if you are creating the appointments by clicking in a time period in the calendar:
1. Select one or more slots and the pop up will use the selection for the start and end times.
2. Change the time scale to one hour in View tab > View settings > Calendar. Then click in the slot – the appointment will be on hour long. Or right click on the slot and choose New Event to open a full size appointment form.
In either case, use the double arrow icon in the pop up (just above Discard) to open the form in a larger window.
Enable Forwarding in Exchange Online
An administrator wanted to redirect an email from a Microsoft 365 mailbox to a mailbox outside of the domain, but when they tried enabling forwarding on the mailbox, they received an error: “Remote server returned '550 5.7.520 Access denied, Your organization does not allow external forwarding. Please contact your administrator for further assistance."
That error message means automatic forwarding is disabled on the server. This is a default security setting to prevent hackers from setting up rules to forward mail (as they often do in Outlook.com accounts).
To enable forwarding to outside domains, open Microsoft 365 Defender. Edit the Protection settings to allow forwarding. This will allow all users to automatically forward mail.
If you want to allow forwarding for specific users, you’ll need to create a new Outbound anti-spam policy for those users. Click Create policy > Outbound (it’s above the list of Anti-spam policies). Enter a name for the policy and click Next, then enter the users or groups the policy will apply to and choose "On – Forwarding is enabled" then save the rule.
Automatic forwarding can also be enabled (or blocked) in the Exchange portal, under Mail flow > Remote domain. If you want to allow (or block) forwarding to specific domains, create a remote domain. Step through the wizard and under Email reply types, check (or uncheck) Allow automatic forwarding. Note: if automatic forwarding is blocked in Defender, enabling it in Remote domains will not override Defender. If forwarding is disabled for the Default or a specific domain in Remote domains, the messages will not be forwarded, even if enabled in Defender.
Note: This does not block manually forwarding messages (select a message, click Forward button), only forwarding using a rule or by setting the mailbox option to forward all mail.
Prevent Users from Forwarding Mail to Internet Addresses
Blackmail Emails
A reminder: if you receive a message threatening to send your contacts information about naughty sites you visited unless you pay up with bitcoin, it’s a scam. They did not hack your computer and did not record your screen.
Do not pay (even if you visited naughty sites).
Do not email the hacker. Just delete the message and move on.
New & Updated Microsoft 365 & Exchange Server Support Articles
New & Updated Outlook Support Articles
Classic Outlook and Microsoft 365 applications crashing on Windows Server 2016
Classic Outlook crashes on reply and forward
Classic Outlook hangs when using the Copy shortcut
Classic Outlook jumps in the message list when clicking an email or scrolling
Outlook 2016 MSI is not showing sender in search results
Page Title is blank when you send a meeting from classic Outlook to OneNote
Unable to add a Gmail account to classic Outlook
Other Resources
Insert Word Document into Email using VBA
How to use a macro to reply to senders by inserting the text from a Word document as the message text. There is also a macro to send a new message with the contents of a Word document inserted.