Why is Office trying to connect to messaging.office.com

Question

_{Wednesday, June 17, 2015 7:03 PM}

This has just started to occur this week. We have been using Windows 7 with the Volume License version of Office 2013 for about a year.

When launching an Office application such as Word or Excel, the end user is prompted to logon to the proxy to access messaging.office.com.

What feature is attempting to use messaging.office.com and how do you turn it off.

Please note that we do have Group Policy in place that has been recommended by others...

User Configuration- Administrative Templates- Microsoft Office 2013- Tools | Options | General | Service Options...- Online Content

Online Content Options = Enabled

Online content options = Do not allow Office to connect to the Internet

This policy has been in place since Office was 1st implemented and has worked well until recently. I did confirm that no changes had been made to Group Policy and that the policy is being applied propelry to the clients.

We do have some stand alone "click-to-install" versions of Office 2013 but I have not had reports of this behavior on any of those systems yet.

I thought that maybe this issue was caused by a recent Office Update but the issue seemed to show up before I approved the latest bunch of Office updates on our WSUS server. I could be mistaken... I did notice a One Drive update, we don't use this feature, I am thinking of trying to remove that update but like I said, according to end-user reports, the issue started a couple days prior to this update.

After trying to make a proxy exclusion for a quick work-around, one user (so far) reported a dialogue for "Connecting to messaging.office.com" as opposed to the original message - "Connecting to proxy Server for messaging.office.com". As if it is trying to logon to the messaging.office.com domain itself. I verified this message on her system.

I also had a report of the proxy message attempting to connect to office15Client.microsoft.com.

Again, we have been using Office 2013 for over a year with the current Group Policy & configuration and never had received any proxy log on prompts. Any help would be appreciated.

All replies (10)

_{Thursday, June 18, 2015 8:21 AM ✅Answered | 1 vote}

Hi ROHMtech,

Based on your description, you want to disable the verification of Proxy server. This is an annoying issue in Office 2013, and several users have this issue. For solving this issue you can try these methods.

Method 1:

Disable "Allow Office to connect to the internet" option

File>Options>Trust Centre>Privacy Options> "Allow Office to connect to the Internet"

Method 2:

Add the following sites as the exceptions of proxy server in IE

officeimg.vo.msecnd.net

office.microsoft.com

odc.officeapps.live.com

Method 3:

Change the DWORD value to set the user's preference, please follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following subkey:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\Internet\

Note: If you cannot find the

Internet

subkey, you must create it. To create the

Internet

subkey, click New on the Edit menu, click Key, and then type Internet.

1. Locate and then click the following value:

UseOnlineContent

Note: If you cannot find the UseOnlineContent value, you must create it. To create the UseOnlineContent value, click New on the Edit menu, click DWORD Value, and then type UseOnlineContent.

1. Double-click the

UseOnlineContent

value.

1. In the Value data box, type the appropriate value. The following list contains the possible values:
   • 0 - Never show Office Online content or entry points
   • 1 - Use only offline content whenever available, for example, .chm Help files
   • 2 - Use Office Online content whenever available
2. Click OK, and then quit Registry Editor.

To get more information, please read this article:

http://blogs.prodata.ie/post/Annoying-Proxy-Prompts-in-office-2013-on-start-up.aspx

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.

Hope it’s helpful.

Regards,

George Zhao
TechNet Community Support

It's recommended to download and install Configuration Analyzer Tool (OffCAT), which is developed by Microsoft Support teams. Once the tool is installed, you can run it at any time to scan for hundreds of known issues in Office programs.

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help, and unmark the answers if they provide no help. If you have feedback for TechNet Support, contact [email protected].

_{Wednesday, July 15, 2015 9:45 AM ✅Answered | 2 votes}

Hi all,

we also ran into the situation at a customer (Proxy with authentication and Messaging.office.com window when opening PowerPoint, Excel, Word).

What we´ve found is, that an Office update from June is causing this issue. As a workaround we uninstalled it and now the message doesn´t occur anymore. The update is the KB3054853 from 9th of June. Microsoft has also relased a new Version of this update in July (14th) which brings the message back - it´s KB3054925.

For now we declined both updates on our WSUS Server and will investigate future Office updates more in depth!

I know it´s not a solution, but as a workaround it´s good for us at the moment and I thought to share it. Maybe this workaround helps someone other.

Regards,

Mario

_{Monday, June 29, 2015 8:53 PM}

I have the same problem. After apply the registry key, Word, Excel and PowerPoint still prompt for the "Connecting proxy: Messaging.Office.COM". Any help would be appreciated.

_{Tuesday, June 30, 2015 2:09 PM}

Thank you for the response but I feel you may be responding to the subject line (somewhat) and haven't read my post.

I have already indicated that we have done what you suggested through Group Policy.

"Please note that we do have Group Policy in place that has been recommended by others...

User Configuration- Administrative Templates- Microsoft Office 2013- Tools | Options | General | Service Options...- Online Content

Online Content Options = Enabled

Online content options = Do not allow Office to connect to the Internet

This policy has been in place since Office was 1st implemented and has worked well until recently. I did confirm that no changes had been made to Group Policy and that the policy is being applied propelry to the clients. "

I have already indicated that I excluded these addresses from the proxy server through Group Policy. (officeimg.vo.msecnd.net;office.microsoft.com;odc.officeapps.live.com;office15client.microsoft.com;messaging.office.com) However, the error I reported after making the exceptions to the proxy server seem to be erroneous. Maybe a timing issue with Group Policy application...

So, the proxy exclusions did stop the proxy authorization pop-ups..

My question still is not answered. Why specifically is Office trying to connect to message.office.com? If I knew why perhaps I could stop it. It makes no sense that my group policy, one that has worked for years, suddenly is not preventing Office from connecting to the internet. I would rather find a way to continue to prevent Office from attempting to connect then to make proxy exclusions and allow it to connect.

So, the goal is to prevent Office from trying to connect to the internet and not to just remove the proxy authorization pop-ups. I apologize if I was not clear in my original post.

Thank you again for your response.

_{Wednesday, July 8, 2015 12:35 PM}

Hi

I have also noticed the same issue when office - WORd or EXCEL starts. It wants to connect to "messaging.office.com". I use a proxy server with WIN7 and office 2013.

I posted a separate issue but only one response suggesting the same solution of disabling the internet access via security option. THIS DOES NOT RESOLVE THE ISSUE.

I tried to report this to MS but unless I part with my credit card details, they are not interested in looking into this problem.

I have strong doubts about this being related to SKYPE and LYNC server which is trying to enable instant messaging.

Can you post any solution to this issue here - please? 

Let us hope and wait for an answer as all users are getting bugged by this triple message every time any office application is started.

Strange - but as soon you mention DOMAIN to MS, they do not wan to know !!!!

Perhaps MS do not want business customers!

Anyone out there able to solve this !!

_{Thursday, July 16, 2015 8:47 AM}

Hi

Apparently setting the registry setting "UseOnlineContent" to 3 makes the popups go away :)....

"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\Internet\

Regards

JP

_{Thursday, July 16, 2015 1:56 PM}

Thanks, Mario! This is exactly the information I was looking for!

_{Thursday, July 16, 2015 1:58 PM}

We are modifying this registry key via Group Policy and it does not work in this instance. It had worked up to mid June. The updates mentioned by Mario above seem to make certain Office features ignore that setting.

Thank you for your reply.

_{Monday, August 3, 2015 2:10 PM}

This does not work for this case "messaging.office.com"

In my case we are in the last clicktorun version "15.xx.1003" is there any way to disable this or do I have in fact to create an exception in the proxy?

NB. We have the GPO to block access office2013 to internet.

_{Wednesday, November 4, 2015 7:48 AM | 1 vote}

This worked for me:

File>Options>Trust Centre>Privacy Options> uncheck "Allow Office to connect to the Internet"

Then click the "translation option" button and uncheck "use online dictionary"

:)