Glossary
Office Cloud Policy
A cloud service that applies Office app policies to users regardless of device, replacing per-device Group Policy.
The Office Cloud Policy Service (managed at config.office.com) applies policies for Microsoft 365 Apps — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook — to users regardless of device, including BYOD, Mac, web, and unmanaged devices. Unlike traditional Group Policy (which targets domain-joined Windows), Cloud Policy follows the user via Entra ID. Setting categories include default save locations, macro behaviour, file-type restrictions, Outlook profile defaults, sensitivity label behaviour, update channel, telemetry levels, and add-in restrictions. Coexists with Group Policy — GP precedence applies where both are set, so existing GP configuration continues to work while Cloud Policy fills gaps for unmanaged devices.