Connected experiences must be disabled.

Severity	Group ID	Group Title	Version	Rule ID	Date	STIG Version
medium	V-278359	SRG-APP-000141	O365-CO-000032	SV-278359r1130633_rule	2025-11-12	3

Description
These are experiences that use Office content to provide design recommendations, editing suggestions, data insights, and similar features. Examples include PowerPoint Designer and Translator.

ℹ️ Check
Verify the policy value for User Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Microsoft Office 2016 >> Privacy >> Trust Center >> "Allow the use of connected experiences in Office" is set to "Disabled". Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKCU\software\policies\Microsoft\office\16.0\common\privacy\ If the value "DisconnectedState" is "REG_DWORD = 2", this is not a finding. If the registry key does not exist or is not configured properly, this is a finding.

ℹ️ Check

Verify the policy value for User Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Microsoft Office 2016 >> Privacy >> Trust Center >> "Allow the use of connected experiences in Office" is set to "Disabled". Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKCU\software\policies\Microsoft\office\16.0\common\privacy\ If the value "DisconnectedState" is "REG_DWORD = 2", this is not a finding. If the registry key does not exist or is not configured properly, this is a finding.

✔️ Fix
Set the policy value for User Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Microsoft Office 2016 >> Privacy >> Trust Center >> "Allow the use of connected experiences in Office" to "Disabled".