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, the difference between Bi-Directional Sync 1.0 and 2.0, 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 2.0, the integration is expanded to cover 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

What reliability improvements were made between Bi-Directional Sync 1.0 and Bi-Directional Sync 2.0?

Bi-Directional Sync 2.0 also introduces significant reliability improvements. In the previous version, calendar updates required a trigger event in Outlook and Google Calendar, such as creating or modifying a meeting, before changes would propagate to Zoom. With 2.0, synchronization happens automatically, without the need for Outlook trigger actions.

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?

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

2. 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 refresh tokens in the Zoom Cloud. However, for on-premises Exchange (non-hybrid), which does not 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.

   1. Alternatively, you can 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.

Direct integration to Exchange On-Premises requires Basic authentication.

1. When Zoom endpoints like desktop or mobile apps and Zoom Rooms log in, the Zoom Web Calendaring Service passes the required access token or user credential to the client.

2. The Zoom Web Calendaring Service subscribes to webhook events from the calendaring provider to listen for event updates.

3. The Zoom Web Calendaring Service notifies the Zoom endpoints of any webhook events that require the client to refresh its calendaring data.

4. The client connects directly to the calendaring provider using the token or credentials it holds in memory.

The Microsoft Graph API method of calendar integration stores access tokens for user calendars on the web, rather than locally on a client. All calendar events are proxied through our Zoom Web Calendaring Service to prevent passing any Application Permission tokens to your users’ local devices.

1. With Bi-Directional Calendar Sync enabled, if a user schedules or updates a meeting from the Zoom Workplace app or Zoom Web App, 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.

Requesting Bi-Directional Sync 2.0 Enrollment

To request enablement of Bi-Directional Sync 2.0 for your organization, submit a support ticket to Zoom Support. Include your customer name and account ID in the request. Bi-Directional Sync 2.0 is currently available to select customers only.

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’s in-app integration for Microsoft Teams provides a unified access point for Zoom Meetings, Zoom Phone, and Zoom Whiteboard within the Teams client. The integration allows users to manage common Zoom processes—such as scheduling meetings, reviewing upcoming meetings, accessing phone history, and sharing Whiteboards—directly from Teams, while easily handing off to the Zoom Workplace app or a web browser when required to complete specific actions. This approach minimizes context switching for day-to-day tasks while preserving Zoom’s native application experience where technical limitations or feature requirements apply.

From an architectural perspective, Microsoft Entra ID provides the identity and authorization layer for the integration. When users interact with Zoom from within Microsoft Teams, Entra ID verifies the user’s identity and permits the Zoom app to access specific Microsoft 365 context—such as calendar data, chat participants, and contacts—on the user’s behalf. These permissions allow Zoom to surface relevant information and actions inside Teams without duplicating identity or directory services.

Microsoft Teams functions as the primary interface where users initiate Zoom-related workflows, while Zoom services are accessed through secure API calls. Zoom continues to operate as the system of record for meetings, telephony, Whiteboards, and all associated policies, security controls, and reporting. This separation allows Zoom activity to be launched and managed from Teams, while ownership, enforcement, and data handling remain within the Zoom platform.

Refer to the Technical Library, Zoom’s Support Center, and the Microsoft Marketplace Store for more information about Zoom’s in-app integration for Microsoft Teams.

Zoom’s in-app integration for Microsoft Teams includes but is not limited to the following features:

Meetings View upcoming Zoom meetings Schedule Zoom meetings Start ad-hoc Zoom meetings Launch Zoom meetings from Teams Share Zoom meetings in Teams chats Display Zoom meetings on Teams and Outlook calendars Utilize AI Companion meeting summary for both Zoom and Teams Meetings Zoom Whiteboard Start, Create, and Share Zoom Whiteboards in Teams

Zoom Phone Make and receive Zoom Phone calls Access Zoom Phone call history Send and receive Zoom Phone SMS Access voicemail and voicemail transcripts Access recorded calls and call transcripts AI Companion Call Summaries, Tasks, and Voicemail Chat and Notifications Schedule meetings via Teams chatbot Receive Zoom chatbot notifications in Teams Use Continuous Meeting chat between Teams and Zoom Share presence status between platforms

Setting up Bi-Directional Presence Sync

For configuration steps, see the Zoom Support article Using Zoom for Microsoft Teams.