OWA policies are created quite easily in the Exchange Management Console under the Organization Configuration node through the Client Access settings. It's a GUI interface for configuration and doesn't take much to have new policies for different users or groups of users within your organization.

Where it gets tricky is the application side. If you want to apply an OWA policy to a single user, the GUI is your best bet. Open the Recipients Configuration node, select Mailbox, find the mailbox you need and go into the Properties. From the Mailbox Features tab you can select Outlook Web App and click Properties to enable the use of a policy and then select the policy you need. Not too difficult.

If you have a few users in mind, you can do the same thing. Select them all in the GUI and set the policy for all at once. If you have filter settings that you can use to narrow your list of mailboxes down to just want you need, you can do that as well.

But in some cases it may be more work than necessary to use the GUI. If, for example, you have created a policy that is focused on users in a specific location, and let's say those users are all in a single OU, the shell is the better, faster approach. And it isn't as painful as you might think.

Using Exchange Management Shell to Apply OWA Policy

Open the Exchange Management Shell and type the following:

Get-CASMailbox –OrganizationalUnit  | Set-CASMailbox –OWAMailboxPolicy "Name of OWA Policy"

So, for example, let's say you have created an OWA policy for all your users in Dallas (and they are all located in the Dallas OU). Dallas has a slower connection and so you decide to turn off the Premium Client for those users and have them only use OWA lite. You create the policy and call it "Dallas OWA Policy." To apply it quickly and easily through the EMS you open a command prompt and type:

Get-CASMailbox –OrganizationalUnit "Dallas" | Set-CASMailbox –OWAMailboxPolicy "Dallas OWA Policy"

That's it! Go back to your EMC and check out a mailbox to see that the policy has indeed applied.

Remember, the shell is there to make your life easier. Knowing when to use it and how to use it is the key.

And that's one to grow on!