Last updated: April 18, 2018
For Microsoft 365 groups created in Outlook, the default privacy setting is Private. This means only approved members in your organization can see what's inside the group. Anyone else in your organization who is not approved cannot see what's in the group.
Important: Currently this change applies only to groups created in Outlook on the web. In coming months, it will apply to groups created in all Outlook apps. We will update this article to let you know each time the default privacy setting has been changed in another Outlook app (Outlook 2016 for PC and Mac, Outlook mobile).
How to change the default setting of Microsoft 365 Groups for Outlook to Public or Private
If your organization wants Microsoft 365 Groups for Outlook to be created as Public by default (or Private), use this PowerShell cmdlet syntax:
Set-OrganizationConfig -DefaultGroupAccessType Public
To set to Private:
Set-OrganizationConfig -DefaultGroupAccessType Private
To verify the setting:
Get-OrganizationConfig | ft DefaultGroupAccessType
To learn more, see Set-OrganizationConfig and Get-OrganizationConfig.
How users set the privacy value of a group in Outlook on the web
For instructions for your user to set the privacy value of a group in Outlook on the web, point them to this article: Make Office 365 groups public or private.
Default privacy settings for groups created in Microsoft 365 services
The following table shows the current default privacy values for each service when someone uses it to create an Microsoft 365 Group, as of April, 2018:
Service |
Default privacy value |
Outlook on the web |
Private |
Outlook apps |
Public |
Planner |
Public |
SharePoint |
Private |
Stream |
Private |
Teams |
Private |
Yammer |
Public |