By Richard Speed
Publication Date: 2025-12-03 16:35:00
Microsoft is getting serious about the end of Exchange Web Services (EWS) and has announced that, starting in March 2026, it will begin blocking EWS access to mailboxes without license rights.
EWS is an API that allows applications to access mailboxes and data stores in Exchange Online and Exchange Server. From March, users with only Microsoft 365 or Office 365 F1 or F3 licenses for frontline workers, or with Exchange Online Kiosk licenses, will be blocked from using EWS.
The workaround? Change to an Exchange Online Plan 1 or 2 license, or a Microsoft 365 or Office 365 E3 or E5 license. Microsoft said that the licenses had never actually permitted access to mailboxes via EWS, but the company had never enforced the restrictions.
“This is another step in our ongoing commitment to enhance the security and control mechanisms of EWS,” Redmond said in a statement.
