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Understanding Information Rights Management in Outlook Web App

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Applies to: Exchange Server 2010

Information workers increasingly use e-mail to exchange sensitive information. To help secure this information, organizations can use Information Rights Management (IRM) to apply persistent protection to messaging content. Prior to Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, effective use of IRM protection was limited to Outlook clients. In Exchange Server 2007, Microsoft Outlook Web Access users were required to download the Rights Management add-in for Microsoft Internet Explorer so they could access IRM-protected content.

In Exchange 2010, IRM in Outlook Web App allows your users to access the rich IRM functionality offered by Exchange to apply persistent IRM-protection to messaging content.

The following IRM functionality is available in Outlook Web App:

  • Send IRM-protected messages   As shown in the following figure, Outlook Web App users can use the permissions drop-down list and select a rights policy template to apply to the message. This allows users to send IRM-protected messages from within Outlook Web App. Messages are IRM-protected by Client Access servers.
    Sending an IRM-protected message from OWA

  • IRM-protected attachments   When users send an IRM-protected message from Outlook Web App, any files attached to the message also receive the same IRM protection and are protected by using the same rights policy template as the message. In Exchange 2010, IRM protection is applied to files associated with Microsoft Office Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, as well as .xps files and e-mail messages. IRM protection is applied to an attachment only if it's not already IRM-protected. To learn more about Active Directory Rights Management Services (AD RMS) rights policy templates, see Understanding Information Rights Management.

    Note

    IRM in Outlook Web App protects only the supported file attachments mentioned in this section. Attachments that use unsupported file formats aren't protected. When Outlook Web App users protect a message and attach a file of an unsupported type, a notification is displayed informing the users that only supported file types are protected.

    Important

    IRM protection can't be applied to a message that's already signed or encrypted by using S/MIME. To apply IRM protection, S/MIME signature and encryption must be removed from the message. The same applies for IRM-protected messages; users can't sign or encrypt them by using S/MIME.

  • Read IRM-protected messages   Messages protected by senders using your organization's AD RMS cluster are rendered in the preview pane in Outlook Web App. No add-ins need to be installed, and the computer doesn't need to be enrolled in the AD RMS deployment. When a user opens a message or views it in the preview pane, the message is decrypted by using the use license added by the Pre-licensing agent. After decryption, the message is displayed in the preview pane. If a pre-license isn't available, Outlook Web App requests one from the AD RMS server and then renders the message. When reading IRM-protected attachments in Outlook Web App, Web-Ready Document Viewing isn't available.

    Note

    IRM in Outlook Web App can't prevent users from taking screen captures by using Print Screen functionality in the way Outlook and other Office applications do. This impacts the EXTRACT right, which prevents message content from being copied, if specified in the AD RMS rights policy template.

  • Cross-browser, multiple platform IRM support   IRM in Outlook Web App offers cross-browser, multiple platform IRM support. IRM in Outlook Web App is supported in all browsers supported by Exchange 2010, including on Apple Macintosh and Linux operating systems. To learn more about supported browsers and operating systems, see Outlook Web App Supported Browsers.

Looking for management tasks related to managing IRM? See Managing Information Rights Management.

Enabling IRM in Outlook Web App

To enable IRM in Outlook Web App, you must add the Federated Delivery mailbox, a system mailbox created by Exchange 2010 Setup, to the super users group in AD RMS. This allows Exchange 2010 servers to access IRM-protected messages. You must also enable IRM in Outlook Web App by using the Set-IRMConfiguration cmdlet in the Exchange Management Shell. This enables IRM in Outlook Web App for your Exchange 2010 organization. You can disable or enable IRM in Outlook Web App for an Outlook Web App virtual directory. You can also control IRM in Outlook Web App at the following levels of granularity:

  • Per-Outlook Web App virtual directory   To enable or disable IRM in Outlook Web App for an Outlook Web App virtual directory, use the Set-OWAVirtualDirectory cmdlet and set the IRMEnabled parameter to $false or $true (default). This allows you to disable IRM in Outlook Web App for one virtual directory on an Exchange 2010 Client Access server, while keeping it enabled on another virtual directory on a different Client Access server.
  • Per-Outlook Web App mailbox policy   To enable or disable IRM in Outlook Web App for an Outlook Web App mailbox policy, use the Set-OWAMailboxPolicy cmdlet and set the IRMEnabled parameter to $false or $true (default). This allows you to enable IRM in Outlook Web App for one set of users and disable it for another set of users by assigning them a different Outlook Web App mailbox policy.

For more information, see Enable or Disable Information Rights Management in Outlook Web App.