Exchange Web Services is being switched off

Exchange Web Services (EWS) is an older way for an app to read and send mail in an Exchange Online mailbox. Some CRMs still offer it beside a newer Microsoft Graph option, and call it "Exchange", "Microsoft Exchange" or "EWS". Microsoft is switching it off. An app that connects to your mailboxes with EWS can stop sending, and so stop being signed by Footer365, without any change on your side.

What Microsoft says

Microsoft's timeline for Exchange Web Services in Exchange Online reads:

• "October 2026: EWS starts to be disabled globally for all organizations."
• "April 2027: EWS is fully disabled."

Microsoft tells administrators: "Work with your vendors to prioritize their migration from EWS." Microsoft: deprecation of Exchange Web Services in Exchange Online

Microsoft's Message Center post MC1227454, published on 5 February 2026, gives the detail:

• "Phased EWS disablement begins: October 1, 2026"
• "Beginning October 1, 2026, EWS will be blocked unless the tenant configures an AppID AllowList and sets EWSEnabled=True."
• "Without admin action, Microsoft will set EWSEnabled=False and EWS apps will stop working."
• "After April 1, 2027, EWS access will be permanently removed with no re-enablement."

Microsoft message MC1227454

What it means for an app that sends mail

An app that sends through your mailboxes with EWS stops working in your organisation once EWS is blocked for it, unless you have configured the allow list Microsoft describes. From April 2027 nothing can bring it back. The fix is on the app's side: connect the mailbox again with the app's Microsoft Graph or "Office 365 (OAuth)" option, or with a Microsoft sign-in that does not use EWS.

Several of the apps in this group still offer an EWS option, and the guide for each says which option to pick:

• Freshsales says an "EWS connection for Microsoft emails is available only from the Pro plan", beside its default Microsoft Graph connection.
• Pipedrive lists "Microsoft Exchange (EWS)" among its providers, beside "Office 365 / Outlook".
• Dynamics 365 Sales says its cross-tenant email sync is moving from EWS to Graph by April 2027.

Find the apps that use EWS

Microsoft says to start with its EWS usage reports. In its words: "Review EWS usage in the Microsoft 365 admin center or using published scripts to identify dependent applications." Microsoft's page links the reports and a tool for finding applications that use EWS. Microsoft: EWS Usage Reports

What to do

1. List the apps that send or read mail from your mailboxes.
2. Open each app's guide in this group, or its vendor's page, and note whether it connects with Microsoft Graph, OAuth or EWS.
3. Where the app offers a Microsoft Graph or OAuth option, switch to it and reconnect each mailbox.
4. Where it only offers EWS, ask the vendor when it is moving, as Microsoft advises.
5. Send a test message from each app and check it is still signed.

Sources

Read on 23 October 2026:

• Microsoft: deprecation of Exchange Web Services in Exchange Online, dated 1 April 2025 and updated 4 September 2026.
• Microsoft message MC1227454, published 5 February 2026, read through a third-party mirror of the Message Center because the Message Center needs a sign-in. Microsoft's own blog post on the process could not be read by an automated reader, so how the allow list is configured is not described here.