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Microsoft Exchange Online with Flexopus: Seamlessly synchronize room bookings
Flexopus connects directly to Microsoft Exchange Online and synchronizes meeting room bookings in real time. This gives teams a complete overview, whether they book via Outlook or Flexopus.
What is Microsoft Exchange Online synchronization?
The integration between Flexopus and Microsoft Exchange Online is based on the Microsoft Graph API. This interface connects your meeting room resource calendars with Flexopus. Synchronization is bidirectional and occurs in real time:
- Bookings created in Microsoft Outlook appear automatically in Flexopus.
- Bookings made in Flexopus are transferred directly to the Exchange resource calendar.
Flexopus reads the relevant appointment data: appointment name, time frame, attendees, description, location, and any online meeting link. The integration is available exclusively for the cloud version of Microsoft Exchange (Exchange Online).
What is the purpose of the integration?
The integration expands room management in your organization without changing the familiar booking process in Outlook. Employees can continue to book meeting rooms via Outlook while seeing these bookings in the Flexopus live plan. Additionally, the integration opens up new possibilities:
- Read-only synchronization: Employees continue to book in Outlook but can see who has booked which room and when in the Flexopus live plan—information that Outlook does not always display.
- Ad-hoc bookings via display: With a meeting room display, employees can book an available room directly on-site with just a few clicks.
- Bookings by external users: People without a Microsoft 365 account can reserve rooms via Flexopus without requiring an O365 license.
- Catering & Services: Bookings can be linked directly to catering or facility requests—even via the Outlook add-in.
- Analyze room utilization: Flexopus provides usage statistics and heatmaps to evaluate meeting room occupancy.
How easy is the integration?
Setting up the Microsoft Exchange Online integration is done directly in the Flexopus admin panel and requires no complex technical configuration. As an administrator, you connect Flexopus to your Microsoft account with one click and grant the necessary permissions via the Microsoft authorization page.
In the next step, you link the desired meeting rooms in Flexopus with the corresponding Exchange resource mailboxes. The synchronization then starts automatically.
Optionally, you can restrict access to specific mailboxes using an application access policy—for example, if the integration should only apply to a part of your organization.
Ready to get started? You can find a complete step-by-step guide for setup in our Help Center.
What are the benefits of the integration?
- Bidirectional real-time synchronization: Bookings from Outlook and Flexopus are reconciled immediately—double bookings are excluded because Microsoft Exchange serves as the central source.
- No change to existing processes: Employees can continue to book via Outlook as usual. Flexopus complements the process without replacing it.
- Advanced features for room management: Flexopus offers additional options such as a live plan, room search with floor plans, digital signage, and catering service.
- Transparency for everyone: In the live plan, employees can see at a glance who booked which room and when—even if the booking was made via Outlook.
- Support for external users: People without a Microsoft 365 license can also book rooms via Flexopus.
- Data minimization: Flexopus only accesses the calendars of the linked meeting rooms and—for bookings made via Flexopus—the personal calendars of the booking users. Access can be further restricted by policy.
- Included in the scope of services: The integration is part of Flexopus and incurs no additional license costs.
Further integrations
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Questions and answers
What data does Flexopus access from Microsoft Exchange?
Flexopus reads the following appointment data from the meeting room resource calendars: appointment name, start and end time, attendees, description, location, and any online meeting link. For bookings initiated via Flexopus, the integration also requires access to the booking user's personal calendar. Access can optionally be restricted to specific mailboxes via an application access policy.
What happens if a booking is deleted or changed in Outlook?
Changes and cancellations in Outlook are transmitted to Flexopus in real time. Whether an appointment is moved, a different room is selected, or the room is removed from the invitation—all scenarios are supported and updated immediately in Flexopus. Recurring appointments are also synchronized correctly.
Can users without a Microsoft 365 account also book rooms?
Yes. External users without a Microsoft 365 license can book rooms via Flexopus or a meeting room display. In this case, Flexopus books the resource calendar directly without creating an entry in the user's personal Outlook calendar. To allow external users to delete their bookings as well, the "Resource booking rejection" option can be enabled in the integration settings.
Are double bookings possible?
No. Microsoft Exchange Online acts as the central data source. Every booking initiated via Flexopus is first checked and confirmed by Microsoft Exchange. If a room is already occupied, the booking is rejected. This technically prevents double bookings.
Does the integration also work with Microsoft Exchange On-Premise?
The integration described here uses the Microsoft Graph API and is therefore exclusively compatible with the cloud version (Exchange Online). For on-premise environments, Flexopus offers a separate integration that functions via a different technical method.