Configuring Microsoft Platform Integrations for Zoom Workplace

Configure the core Microsoft integrations that affect calendar behavior, meeting scheduling, and presence across Zoom and Teams.

These integrations sit at the platform layer. Configure them before Outlook, Teams, conference rooms, or content-level integrations.

Platform-Level Integrations Scenarios

"I want to eliminate calendar syncing issues and join meeting errors that my users are experiencing due to the complexity of integrating Microsoft Outlook to Zoom."

Go here: Calendar Integration and Bi-Directional Sync

"I want to force all of my meetings to use the Zoom platform across the board, not allowing my users to create Microsoft Teams meetings."

Go here: Forcing All Meetings to Be Zoom Meetings

"I want my Microsoft Teams and Zoom users to share accurate presence (Available, Busy, Meeting, etc.) between applications."

Go here: Bi-Directional Presence Sync

Calendar Integration and Bi-Directional Sync

Calendar integration is the single highest-impact configuration in this guide. When it's working well, users see a unified calendar experience across Zoom and Outlook. When it fails, it's often a top driver of support tickets.

This section covers how Zoom's calendaring integration works and how to get it configured.

What it is and why it matters

• Users see a full calendar (including non-Zoom meetings) in their Zoom apps

• Users can schedule and edit meetings from their Zoom apps

• Zoom Rooms screens and scheduling displays show upcoming calendar events

• Standards-based H.323 and SIP endpoints can join Zoom meetings automatically or with one touch through the Enhanced API connector

Bi-Directional Sync is recommended and enabled by default when calendar integration is active. With Bi-Directional Sync, the integration covers both Zoom and non-Zoom calendar events, providing a unified experience for users who rely on Zoom as their central scheduling hub.

Enabling Bi-Directional Calendar Sync ensures any third-party calendar events that are deleted, edited, or abandoned during scheduling are synced with the Zoom Web Calendaring Service automatically

Which calendaring providers are supported?

Zoom customers can integrate contact and calendar data with three providers:

• Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365)

• Microsoft Exchange Server

• Google Workspace

How does the calendaring integration work?

Zoom's calendaring integration follows four stages: authorization, event monitoring, endpoint data retrieval, and Bi-Directional Sync. The first two stages are universal across all endpoints and methods. The third stage differs depending on the endpoint type and the selected authentication method.

1

Authorization and secure credential storage

Zoom administrators — or users, if allowed by the organization — must first authorize access to their calendaring provider through the Zoom Web Portal.

Zoom stores the objects required to access the connected calendar in a persistent, encrypted, and secure location. When using OAuth 2.0, Zoom securely stores access tokens and delegated access refresh tokens in the Zoom Cloud. However, for on-premises Exchange (non-hybrid), which doesn't support OAuth 2.0, Zoom must securely store the username and password in the Zoom Cloud, as this is the only available method to maintain access.

Direct integration to Exchange On-Premises requires Basic authentication.

You can optionally configure calendaring integrations to use Zoom Customer Managed Key (CMK) to encrypt and store credentials, enabling you to protect certain data stored at rest within the Zoom Cloud infrastructure using your own encryption keys. CMK is a paid offering and Zoom's Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) solution. You can read more about Zoom CMK on the Zoom website.

2

Event monitoring and change notification

The Zoom Web Calendaring Service subscribes to a webhook from the calendaring provider for each user after the calendar is connected in the web portal. These webhooks notify the Web Calendaring Service of any calendar changes so it can then notify the appropriate Zoom endpoints that an update is needed.

3

Endpoint data retrieval

How calendar data reaches a Zoom endpoint depends on the endpoint type and the selected authentication method. The following sections describe each model.

Desktop and mobile apps: Delegated access

When using delegated access, the Zoom Web Calendaring Service passes the OAuth access token to the desktop or mobile client at sign-in. The client holds this token temporarily in memory and uses it to connect directly to the calendaring provider to retrieve event data. If the access token is invalid, the Zoom Web Calendaring Service uses the stored refresh token to request a new access token and passes it to the client.

Desktop and mobile apps: Application Permissions (Microsoft Graph API)

When using the Application Permissions method, access tokens remain in the Zoom Cloud and aren't passed to client devices. Instead, all calendar data requests are proxied through the Zoom Web Calendaring Service on behalf of the client. The client doesn't connect directly to the calendaring provider.

Zoom Rooms: Both methods

Regardless of whether Application Permissions or Full Delegate Access is used, Zoom Rooms store tokens both in the Zoom Cloud and locally on the Zoom Room endpoint. Zoom Rooms connect directly to the calendaring provider to retrieve calendar data.

The diagrams on the Provider-Specific Details page illustrate the Delegated and Application-based Microsoft Graph API methods for user desktop and mobile integrations. Zoom Rooms follow a different token storage and retrieval model as described above.

4

Bi-Directional Calendar Sync

With Bi-Directional Calendar Sync enabled, if a user schedules or updates a meeting from a Zoom client or the web, the Web Calendaring Service creates or updates the event on the user's calendar through the calendar service provider's API.

Admins can configure Bi-Directional Sync on an account or user group level.

Bi-Directional Sync supports updates made to the following meeting types:

• An individual meeting

• A series of meetings (recurring)

• A single occurrence of a series of meetings

Setting up calendaring integration, enabling Bi-Directional Sync, and setting the default meeting type

The following instructions will help you connect personal calendars, enable Bi-Directional Sync, and force Zoom Meetings to be the default meeting type.

Connecting Personal Calendars

To configure your account to allow users to integrate their Microsoft 365 calendar with the Zoom Workplace app, perform the following steps:

1. As a Zoom Admin, sign into zoom.us.

2. Click the Account Management drop down and select Account Settings.

3. Navigate to the Mail & Calendar tab.

4. Click the Integrations tab to jump to the appropriate settings.

5. Click the toggle button next to Integrate third-party mail and calendar services then click Enable in the pop-up window.

6. For the Choose default calendar and contact services for users setting, select Office 365 and for the Authorize with: setting, select Graph API.

The option for “Exchange Web Services(EWS)” is not recommended. Microsoft has begun phasing out the EWS methods, which were previously available to connect Microsoft 365 data with Zoom services. Zoom considers these EWS methods to be unsupported legacy options.

1. Under the Who can set up the integration: setting, choose from the following options:

   1. Users can set up the integration by using OAuth

   2. Office 365 admin can set up the integration by using Application Permissions which will take you to your Microsoft 365 environment for further configuration.

Deciding whether OAuth or Application Permissions is best will vary based on your company’s goals and preferences.

The OAuth method, also called Delegated Permissions, offers flexibility in the permissions it grants, reflecting the selected permission scopes above the setting within the Zoom web portal. However, this setting can lead to un-synced calendar events, as the integration will expire and require re-authentication if the token is revoked or the user’s password changes.

Alternatively, the Application Permissions method does not require periodic re-authentication from users, but may not support the same levels of functionality. It also grants Zoom Workplace an initially greater level of access to your Microsoft 365 environment. By default, these scope permissions cannot be restricted upon approving the app; however, administrators can retroactively adjust the permissions scope of this app within Entra ID by following the steps in Revoking Entra ID Permissions section of this guide. If you want Zoom Workplace to retain access to calendar events but not mailboxes, you can revoke all permissions except Calendar.ReadWrite. For a complete list of permissions required, refer to the Validate the MGAPI Application Permissions method Application IDs and Scopes section.

Enabling Bi-Directional Sync

For step-by-step instructions on enabling Bi-Directional Calendar Sync, refer to the Zoom Support article Enabling or disabling bidirectional calendar sync.

Forcing All Meetings to Be Zoom Meetings

To configure Microsoft Outlook to default to Zoom Meetings for all online meetings, you'll need to adjust settings within Outlook itself. Microsoft provides detailed instructions for this configuration in their support documentation.

For step-by-step guidance on how to make every meeting an online meeting and set Zoom as the default provider, refer to Microsoft's support article Make every meeting online.

To disable users' ability to create Teams meetings, you can also see Microsoft's support article Manage who can start instant meetings and schedule meetings.

Additional References

	Service	Auth Method	Zoom Calendaring Service Stores	Endpoint Receives at Sign-In	Endpoint Retrieves Calendar From
User Calendars	Microsoft 365	OAuth	Access and refresh token for each user account.	Access token from Zoom Calendaring Service.	Microsoft 365
Exchange Server	Basic	Username and password for each user account.	Username and password from Zoom Calendaring Service.	Exchange Server
Google Workspace	OAuth	Access and refresh token for each user account.	Access token from Zoom Calendaring Service.	Google Workspace
Zoom Rooms	Microsoft 365	OAuth	Access and refresh token for the Zoom Rooms service account.	Access token for Zoom Rooms service account from Zoom Calendaring Service.	Microsoft 365
Exchange Server	Basic	Username and password for the Zoom Rooms service account.	Username and password for the Zoom Rooms service account from Zoom Calendaring Service.	Exchange Server
Google Workspace	OAuth	Access and refresh token for the Zoom Rooms service account.	Access token for Zoom Rooms service account from Zoom Calendaring Service.	Google Workspace
Enhanced API Connector (EAC)	Microsoft 365	OAuth	Access and refresh token for the EAC service account.	Calendaring data	Enhanced API Connector*
Exchange Server	Basic	Username and password for the EAC service account.	Calendaring data	Enhanced API Connector*
Google Workspace	OAuth	Access and refresh token for the EAC service account.	Calendaring data	Enhanced API Connector*

*EAC endpoints retrieve their calendaring data from the EAC, which in turn retrieves its calendaring data from the Zoom Calendaring Service. In other words, the EAC service and its associated endpoints do not connect to Microsoft 365, Exchange, or Google Workspace.

Bi-Directional Presence Sync

Bi-directional presence sync lets users see availability status across Zoom Workplace and Teams. When a user is in a Zoom meeting, their Microsoft Teams status reflects that. For organizations running both platforms side by side, this reduces the availability guessing game when viewing colleagues' online statuses.

What it is and why it matters

Zoom Presence Interoperability keeps your Zoom and Microsoft Teams presence statuses up-to-date in real time. It uses Microsoft Delegated Permissions for real‑time status synchronization for both applications. It can operate independently or with other application permissions your organization has. For information on how Zoom processes your data, please refer to the Zoom Privacy Statement.

• Authentication and Authorization: Users must authorize this integration through Zoom's Web Portal with their Microsoft account to enable this feature. This ensures that the presence status is directly tied to the user's authenticated identity. The type of access depends on what the organization has configured with Microsoft. Users can revoke this authentication at any time by disabling presence interoperability at the user level, which will discontinue the synchronization of presence between Zoom and Microsoft.

• Seamless Integration: Once authenticated, users can set their presence state in Zoom, and it will synchronize with Microsoft Teams. If users use Delegated Permissions (recommended), it will sync bidirectionally (Zoom to Microsoft Teams and vice versa). If users use the Bundled Permissions (Legacy, coupled with calendar and contacts), it only pushes the user's Zoom presence to Microsoft Teams and does not read any presence or data from Microsoft.

• Hybrid: This feature is particularly beneficial for users who utilize both Zoom and Microsoft Teams.

Setting up Bi-Directional Presence Sync

For configuration steps, see the Zoom Support articles:

• Enabling or disabling presence interoperability between Zoom and Microsoft for administrators.

• Configuring Zoom and Microsoft presence synchronization for users.