Removing OneDrive and SharePoint save locations

Question

_{Tuesday, June 30, 2020 1:11 PM}

Hi,

Is there a way to hide or disable saving to OneDrive or SharePoint from Word or Excel 2016? We have recently migrated users to O365 and once the user authenticates Outlook with their Windows login these options now appear.  (We're using Office 2016 Professional at the moment)

This article here seems to suggest there is a way, but only for Microsoft 365 Apps

/en-us/office365/troubleshoot/group-policy/block-onedrive-use-from-office

Or is there a way for the user to be signed into Outlook without being signed into Word/Excel? We're just concerned that users can save their documents into one of these locations and we're not ready to start using these products just yet. 

Many thanks,

All replies (1)

_{Wednesday, July 1, 2020 2:44 AM}

Hi,

As far as I know, the article you found How to block OneDrive use from within Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise and Office 2016 applications applies to Office 2016 as well.

There is an options via modifying the registry:

Browse to the following registry key:

HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Internet

Modify the DWORD value "OnlineStorage". Set it to 3 so that all Microsoft Online Locations including OneDrive and SharePoint will be hidden.

In addition, you can use the Office 2016 Administrative Templates to configure Group Policy settings.

Under User configuration > Administrative Templates > Microsoft Office 2016 > Miscellaneous, configure Hide file locations when opening or saving files as **Hide OneDrive Personal, SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business **

This policy setting allows you to hide specific file locations when the user opens or saves a file. This helps prevent users from using either the local PC, SharePoint Server, or Microsoft Office 365 cloud-based file locations such as OneDrive or SharePoint Online, to open, save, or share files.

Note: This policy setting only applies to Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.

If you enable this policy setting, you can specify which file locations are hidden when the user opens or saves a file.

If you disable or don't configure this policy setting, users can use the local PC, SharePoint Server or any configured Microsoft cloud-based file location to open, save, and share files.

For your Reference: Group Policy Home - the Office 2016 Administrative Templates for Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus, Office 2019, Office 2016.

Please Note: Since the web site is not hosted by Microsoft, the link may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this information.

Best Regards,

Herb

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they helped. If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact [email protected].

Click here to learn more. Visit the dedicated forum to share, explore and talk to experts about Microsoft Office 2019.