Allow Or Block Apps From Sharing User Activity To Activity Feed Using Intune HTMD Blog

Key Takeaways

This policy determines whether Windows and apps can publish user activities to the Windows Activity Feed.
The default value is 1 (Enabled), allowing the operating system and apps to publish user activities.
Setting the value to 0 (Disabled) prevents apps and the OS from publishing user activities, helping improve user privacy.
Any modification to this policy takes effect immediately after the policy is applied to the device.
Administrators can configure this setting through Microsoft Intune or Group Policy using the PublishUserActivities policy located under System > OS Policies.

Allow or Block Apps from Sharing User Activity to Activity Feed using Intune! The Publish User Activities policy in Intune controls whether Windows and apps can send user activity information to the Windows Activity Feed. User activities may include opening apps, working on documents, or browsing websites. When the policy is enabled, Windows and apps can publish these activities. When it is disabled, they cannot publish user activities.

Table of Content

What are the Advantages of publishing a user activity policy?

Activities can be tracked and stored across multiple devices, ensuring a smooth transition between workstations. Employees can pick up where they left off, reducing disruptions and improving efficiency.

Enable Disable Apps or System to Publish User Activities to Activity Feed Policy using Intune

This policy enables apps to create and publish user activities, which can be resumed later, even on different devices. This feature is useful for maintaining continuity in workflows. According to the organisation’s preferences, you can choose available values.

You can easily create Publish User Activity policy using Intune. The Publish User Activity Policy is a setting that allows Windows to track and store user activities across devices. To start configuring this policy, open Microsoft Intune admin center.

Go to Devices > Windows > Configuration
From Policies, click on the + Create button and select +New Policy

Allow or Block Apps from Sharing User Activity to Activity Feed using Intune - Fig.1 — Allow or Block Apps from Sharing User Activity to Activity Feed using Intune – Fig.1

Then, you can create a profile by selecting Platform and Profile type. Here, I chose Windows 10 and later as the Platform and Profile type as Settings catalog. Then click on the Next button.

Allow or Block Apps from Sharing User Activity to Activity Feed using Intune - Fig.2 — Allow or Block Apps from Sharing User Activity to Activity Feed using Intune – Fig.2

Basic Tab

On the Basic tab, you can add the Name and Description for the policy that you want to create. The Name is the Mandatory file, and you must enter the Name here. The Description is optional, and it is better to give the Description.

Name – Publish User Activity
Description – This policy is created for the Publish User Activity
Click on the Next button

Allow or Block Apps from Sharing User Activity to Activity Feed using Intune - Fig.3 — Allow or Block Apps from Sharing User Activity to Activity Feed using Intune – Fig.3

The Configuration tab is very crucial, as it helps you to select a specific setting. On the Configuration tab, click on the +Add settings hyperlink, and then you will get the Settings Picker. From the Settings Picker, you can choose settings quickly by browsing by category or using the search bar.

Choose the Privacy as category
Select Publish User Activity
Then close the Settings Picker window

Allow or Block Apps from Sharing User Activity to Activity Feed using Intune - Fig.4 — Allow or Block Apps from Sharing User Activity to Activity Feed using Intune – Fig.4

After choosing the policy, the settings will be shown on the Configuration Settings tab. By default, this policy is enabled. If you want to allow these settings, continue with the default value. Then click on the Next button.

Allow or Block Apps from Sharing User Activity to Activity Feed using Intune - Fig.5 — Allow or Block Apps from Sharing User Activity to Activity Feed using Intune – Fig.5

Here, I am going to disable this policy, so I toggle the pane to the left to Disable Publish User Activity. By disabling this policy setting, activities of type User Activity are not allowed to be published. Click on the Next button.

Allow or Block Apps from Sharing User Activity to Activity Feed using Intune - Fig.6 — Allow or Block Apps from Sharing User Activity to Activity Feed using Intune – Fig.6

Scope Tags

On the Scope tags page, you can choose scope tags for the policy. Scope tags help administrators control who can view and manage the policy in the Intune admin center. Click + Select scope tags and choose the required tag, such as London, based on your organisation’s needs. After selecting the appropriate scope tag, click Next to continue with the policy configuration.

Allow or Block Apps from Sharing User Activity to Activity Feed using Intune - Fig.7 — Allow or Block Apps from Sharing User Activity to Activity Feed using Intune – Fig.7

Assignments

The Assignment tab is a very important section that determines which groups can be chosen to assign the Internet Sharing Policy. Click on the +Add groups option under Included groups. Select the group from the list of groups and click on the Select button. Then the selected group is shown on the Assignment tab.

Click on the Next button

Allow or Block Apps from Sharing User Activity to Activity Feed using Intune - Fig.8 — Allow or Block Apps from Sharing User Activity to Activity Feed using Intune – Fig.8

Review + Create

The Review + Create tab is the final step to complete the policy creation. On this tab, you can verify the details and continue. If you want to make any changes, click on the previous button. Otherwise, click on the Create button. Then you will get the success notification.

Allow or Block Apps from Sharing User Activity to Activity Feed using Intune - Fig.9 — Allow or Block Apps from Sharing User Activity to Activity Feed using Intune – Fig.9

Monitoring Status

After the policy is created successfully, you can sync the device on the Company portal for faster deployment. After syncing is completed, you can check the status on the Intune Portal. Go to Devices > Configuration and search for the policy.

Allow or Block Apps from Sharing User Activity to Activity Feed using Intune - Fig.10 — Allow or Block Apps from Sharing User Activity to Activity Feed using Intune – Fig.10

Client Side Verification – Event Viewer

To check the Client Side verification, you can access the Event Viewer. Open the Event Viewer on the assigned device. Go to Applications and Services Logs > Microsoft > Windows > Devicemanagement-Enterprise-Diagnostics-Provider > Admin to open it. Here you can see the success event ID in 813.

MDM PolicyManager: Set policy int, Policy: (PublishUserActivities), Area: (Privacy), EnrollmentID
requesting merge: (EB427D85-802F-46D9-A3E2-D5B414587F63), Current User: (Device), Int: (0x0),
Enrollment Type: (0x6), Scope: (0x0).

Allow or Block Apps from Sharing User Activity to Activity Feed using Intune - Fig.11 — Allow or Block Apps from Sharing User Activity to Activity Feed using Intune – Fig.11

Remove Publish User Activity Policy

If you want to remove Publish User Activity from the Intune portal, it is very easy. To do this, open the policy from the Configuration tab., and click on the Edit button on the Assignment tab. Click on the Remove button in this section to remove the policy.

Allow or Block Apps from Sharing User Activity to Activity Feed using Intune - Fig.12 — Allow or Block Apps from Sharing User Activity to Activity Feed using Intune – Fig.12

Delete Publish User Activity Policy

If your organisation face any security issues due to configuring this policy, you can easily delete this policy from Intune. To search for this policy on the Intune admin center. Click on the 3-dot option and then click on the Delete button.

For detailed information, you can refer to our previous post – How to Delete Allow Clipboard History Policy in Intune Step by Step Guide.

Allow or Block Apps from Sharing User Activity to Activity Feed using Intune - Fig.13 — Allow or Block Apps from Sharing User Activity to Activity Feed using Intune – Fig.13

Windows CSP Details

Using this policy, you can determine whether a user’s activity is published or not. By checking the CSP details, you can successfully configure the policy on applicable devices. You can check the screenshot to know the Applicable OS, scope, and editions.

Framework Properties

The table below shows the technical attributes and behaviour of the Publish User Activity. It includes Property Name and Property Value.

Property Name	Property Value
Format	int
Access Type	Add, Delete, Get, Replace
Default Value	1

Allow or Block Apps from Sharing User Activity to Activity Feed using Intune – Table 1

Allowed Values

These values help organisations determine which value is suitable for each device. You can refer to the following table to understand the values.

Name	Value
0	Disabled. Apps/OS can’t publish the user activities.
1 (Default)	Enabled. Apps/OS can publish the user activities.

Allow or Block Apps from Sharing User Activity to Activity Feed using Intune – Table 2

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Author

Anoop C Nair is a Workplace Technology solution architect with 25+ years of experience. Microsoft Certified Trainer. Microsoft MVP from 2015 onwards for consecutive 11+ years! He is a blogger, Speaker, and Founder of HTMD Community and HTMD Conference. His main focus is on Device Management technologies like Intune, Windows, and Cloud PC. He writes about technologies like Intune, SCCM, Windows, Cloud PC, Entra, and Microsoft Security.

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