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Configure your Viva Engage tenant

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Configuring the Viva Engage tenant requires Engage administrator privileges. Administrators don't need to be assigned a Viva Engage license to configure Viva Engage core or premium.

As you get started with Viva Engage, review the links in the Viva Engage admin help for other tasks you might want to do, such as reviewing security and compliance settings.

To ensure that your users have a consistent experience, complete these tenant configuration tasks in the Viva Engage admin center before inviting users to Microsoft Viva Engage Enterprise.

To access the Viva Engage tenant settings:

  • In Viva Engage, select the settings icon and go to the admin center.
  • In the admin center, on the Setup and configuration tab, select Tenant settings.

Note

Because Viva Engage is powered by Yammer technology, configuring the tenant through the Yammer admin center publishes changes to both Yammer and Viva Engage. We are working to bring these configuration options to the Viva Engage admin center as part of our admin roadmap.

Set the tenant name

Important

For Microsoft 365 Viva Engage tenants, the name in the Microsoft 365 company profile overrides the tenant name setting in Viva Engage. To change the company profile settings, see Change your organization's address, technical contact, and more

  • On the Tenant settings page, set the tenant name.

Set a usage policy

To ensure that content is office‐appropriate, you may want to create a usage policy for engagement. For instructions and best practices, see set up a usage policy.

As an Engage admin, network admin, or verified admin, you can choose to upload the org’s logo on the Viva Engage tenant. This logo appears on the user’s home feed and leadership corner header.

  • Use the Tenant logo setting to add an image. Only one image can be uploaded at a time.

Choose a language for system messages

The system generates messages in response to user actions. These messages let the user know if the action was successful. Actions that trigger system messages include changes to the network configuration and within the app.

  • From the Language setting, choose a language for system messages. All future system messages appear in the language you choose. Existing system messages appear in the previous language.

Set media configurations through the Engage admin center

To access the Yammer admin center:

  • From the Viva Engage admin center, on the Setup & Configuration tab, select Tenant settings. On the Tenant settings page, under Other, select Manage other tenant configurations through the Yammer admin center.

  • From Viva Engage, select the settings icon, and select Edit Network admin Settings.

Turn private messages on or off

You can control the appearance of private messages on the network by turning off their support at any time. When you turn this feature off, you remove all reference to private messages in the Engage Inbox and on the Share menu for any conversation thread. You can restore the feature at any time.

EDiscovery continues to maintain all private message content. Users can navigate to old messages through notifications and search, but they can't reply to old messages while the feature is off for the network.

  • On the Configuration page, in the Enabled Features section, select whether to disable private messages.

Restrict file upload permissions and GIFs

In Viva Engage, users can attach files, including images and videos, to posts and replies. Files in community posts or replies are stored in the community's SharePoint library, while those in storyline posts or replies are stored in the author's OneDrive. Learn more about file storage for communities. and file storage in Storyline.

If your network is not yet Native Mode, attachments to posts and replies in communities not connected to a Microsoft 365 group are uploaded to Azure Cloud storage. Learn more about file storage for non-native networks and how to identify which communities are backed by Microsoft 365 groups and which are backed by Azure Cloud storage.

Configure the types of files that users can attach and upload in the Conversation settings page of the Admin center.

  1. Sign in to Viva Engage as a network administrator.

  2. Go to the Viva Engage Admin center.

  3. Select Tenant settings, then in the Conversation settings section, select Edit.

  4. In the Conversation settings section, select an option in the File uploads section.

    • Allow all files (default). People can attach and upload files in any format

    • Allow only images and videos. People can attach and upload images and videos, only. File type is determined by the file extension.

    • Disable uploads. Users cannot attach files, including images and videos. Disabling uploads will not affect existing uploaded files.

  5. In the GIFs section you can enable or disable adding GIFs directly within Viva Engage. GIF selection uses Tenor, a third-party service.

Note

Restricting upload permissions only affects user actions for uploading files as part of their Viva Engage posting experience. It does not affect users' ability to upload files in the Viva Engage community's Files tab.

Additional Information

  • Attachments—file uploads—are enabled by default.
  • GIFs are enabled by default.
  • When attachments are enabled, people can attach an unlimited number of files, images or videos, up to 5 GB each, to a message or reply.
  • File types are determined based on the file’s extension. When Allow all files or Allow only images and videos is selected, you can attach pdf files, image files, video files, Microsoft Office files, and more. Each post can have a maximum of 100 files.
  • When file uploads are restricted or disabled, people can continue to share links in their posts. Viva Engage does not support blocking links.
  • For networks in Native Mode [link to article], all files are checked for viruses when uploaded. For more information, see Virus detection in SharePoint Online.
  • If your network is not in native mode, virus checking applies only to
    • Files attached to posts and replies on a storyline.
    • Files attached to posts and replies in a community attached to a Microsoft 365 group.
    • There is no virus check for files uploaded to communities in non-native networks that are not connected to Microsoft 365 groups. Admins can export the files to perform an offline virus scan on them. Custom scripting can automate this process. Learn more about file storage for non-native networks.

Enable or restrict the use of third-party apps

The growing network of partners and developers in Viva Engage continue to build third-party applications using an API. To find the list of current apps, go to the App Directory. There, you can find integrations with Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Flow, Microsoft Dynamics, and many other business applications.

  • On the Configuration page, in the Enabled Features section, specify whether to allow third-party applications.

    Caution

    Clearing this setting prevents users from adding or accessing these applications. Note that all users, including verified admins, will lose access to apps that were added prior to clearing this setting.

    Note

    This setting does not apply to Microsoft 365 connectors that can be added to Microsoft 365 groups. To disable use of these connectors in Viva Engage, use the following PowerShell command:
    Set-OrganizationConfig -ConnectorsEnabledforYammer:$false`

    For more information, see Manage Microsoft 365 Groups with PowerShell.

Allow Tenor GIFs in messages

By default, users can attach GIFs provided by Tenor, a third-party company, to posts.

Note

The GIF search in Viva Engage defaults to Tenor's "young audience" and "strict" filters to keep GIFs appropriate in a school or work setting. If you see inappropriate GIFs in a search, send email to support@tenor.com with a link to the GIF.

You can turn off this feature so that users don't see GIFs from Tenor.

  • From the Configuration page, in the Enabled Features section, turn off Show Tenor GIFs Search.

By default, when you create a message with a URL, Viva Engage fetches content associated with third-party websites, including title, summary, images, and GIFs. Existing URLs are cached and retained until the cache expires.

You can turn off the display of this data for links.

  • On the Configuration page, in the Enabled Features section, enable or disable Fetch URL Content.

Allow message translation

Enable this feature to allow users to translate messages from any language supported by Microsoft Translator into the network's default language. To enable this feature, the network admin must accept a Terms and Services agreement for Microsoft's proprietary translation technology.

When this feature is enabled, users have a Translate option with any message posted in a language different than the language they've selected in Preferences in their Viva Engage settings.

  • On the Configuration page, in the Enabled Features section, select whether to allow Message Translation.

Allow abbreviated mentions

Enable this feature to allow users to @mention other users without their full name. For example, Carole Poland can be mentioned as Carole.

  • On the Configuration page, in the Enabled features section, select @mention custom usernames.