Group policy / registry setting for tracking option in outlook

Question

We are trying to get the option in outlook that states

Automatically process meeting requests and responses to meeting requests and polls

To be unchecked via group policy or registry. I asked my network admin to add this to group policy but he states that when he does that it disables all the other checkboxes and options under tracking.

I don't know if there is a way to only affect this one checkbox? Can anyone provide any insight on this?

Answer 1

Simplest solution

Reapply Group Policy Settings for that value and deal with the other settings being locked (greyed out).

Secondary solution

Close Outlook and modify the following setting.

Filename:
C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\RoamCache\Stream_Calendar_2_*.dat

Line:
<e k="18-piAutoProcess" v="3-True"/>

Value:
v="3-True" or v="3-False"

Note: The <USER> represents a username and the * in the filename represents the unique hex string for each user. Outlook modifies this file when you change the value of that checkbox.

To deploy remotely:

1. Ensure Outlook is closed (maybe reboot prior)

2. Write a script to check under all user profiles C:\Users\<USER> in the RoamCache folder for a file matching that pattern Stream_Calendar_2_*.dat. Open the file, replace the value, save the file.

When Office is deployed by using the Office Customization Tool (OCT), an administrator can decide to configure initial settings.

Possible solution 3

Consider redeploying Microsoft Office to those machines via the Office Customization Tool.

When Office is deployed by using the Office Customization Tool (OCT), an administrator can decide to configure initial settings.

Source

Your Outlook settings may unexpectedly change after your administrator removes Group Policy settings that control some Outlook features | Microsoft Support

After your administrator removes Group Policy settings that control some Microsoft Outlook 2013, Microsoft Outlook 2010 or Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 features, your Outlook settings may unexpectedly change. The affected Outlook settings include the following. However, the affected settings are not limited to these settings.

• Number of months of free/busy information that is published
• Interval for publishing free/busy information
• Deletion of blank voting and meeting responses after they are processed
• Automatic processing of receipts
• Default reminder time
• Definition of your working hours and work week

...

Outlook uses the following order of preference when it reads the settings that are described in the "Symptoms" section:

1. Group Policy
2. Roaming settings
3. User registry values

I discovered the "Roaming settings" to be in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Outlook\RoamCache.

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Previous Answer:

The value of the setting "Automatically process meeting requests and responses to meeting recipients and polls" is stored in the registry value below. As expected checked is 1 and unchecked is 0:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\options\General]
"AutoProcReq"=dword:00000001

Group Policy: Your network admin can use the Group Policy Management Editor to apply a New Registry Item with this value. For more details: Configure a Registry Item - Microsoft TechNet