Microsoft Outlook
The Outlook connector indexes and searches Microsoft Outlook email and metadata in Glean, and can optionally fetch live data at query time to cover the freshest messages. It uses the Microsoft Graph API and supports Microsoft 365 / Exchange Online only; it doesn't support on-premises or legacy Exchange.
The Microsoft Outlook connector uses its own Azure app registration — it is not part of the Microsoft 365 parent connector suite. Set it up independently from OneDrive and SharePoint.
The Outlook connector indexes email only. It uses Calendars.Read to surface calendar events in the Glean Today card. The Microsoft Teams connector serves calendar search and meeting transcripts.
Connection options
Glean connects to Outlook in two retrieval modes, which can be used independently or together.
Which option do you need?
| What you get | Indexed connector | Real-time access |
|---|---|---|
| Method | Builds a native indexed corpus in Glean | Retrieves live data through the Microsoft Graph API at query time |
| Access scope | Most recent 5,000 messages per user, maintained as new messages arrive | Accesses email outside the indexed window or limits |
| Visibility | Appears in global search and the "All" tab | Typically surfaces when filtering for Outlook (app:Outlook) |
| Authentication | Certificate-based only | Certificate-based, or client ID + secret |
| Best for | Broad, ranked, everyday email search | Fresh or overflow messages not yet in the index |
Set up Outlook
- Indexing connector: Set up certificates for data crawling and indexing — the default retrieval path.
- Real-time access: Set up certificates for real-time email fetching, or use client ID and secret instead.
- Read and write tools: Configured separately — lets Glean agents act in Outlook.
Permissions and security
Each thread belongs to a single mailbox owner from Azure AD, and only that owner sees the indexed email in Glean. Product access group membership and any allowed sender domains further restrict scope. The Graph app uses only read scopes, and Glean never writes or modifies Outlook data.