Troubleshooting Inbound Connector Creation in Exchange Online

Resolution:

Due to a recent policy update by Microsoft, it is no longer possible to create inbound connectors for certain Microsoft 365 plans and tenants. This issue is not related to Sigsync software.

To prevent mail flow disruption, it is critical to promptly disable the Sigsync Exchange transport rule and contact Microsoft for assistance in enabling the Sigsync Inbound Connector. Below are the necessary steps to take:

• Step 1: Disable Sigsync Exchange transport rule

  To ensure that your mail flow is not disrupted, you must disable the Sigsync Exchange transport rule in the Exchange admin center. This will stop routing emails through the Sigsync Azure email service.

  To disable the Sigsync Exchange transport rule, follow the below steps:

  1. Login to the Exchange admin center.
  2. Navigate to ‘Mail flow’ > ‘Rules’

     

  3. Select ‘Sigsync-Routing-Rules…’

     

  4. To disable the rule, toggle the switch to ‘Disabled’ in the newly opened pane.

     

  5. Once the changes have been made, it can take up to 15 minutes for them to propagate throughout your Microsoft 365 account. For larger organizations, it may take longer. After this time, your emails will no longer be routed through the Sigsync services.
• Step 2: Request Microsoft to enable the Sigsync Inbound Connector

  To enable the Sigsync Inbound Connector, you'll need to reach out to Microsoft support and provide a compelling reason for the request.

• Step 3: Reactivate the Sigsync Exchange Transport rule

  Before proceeding, ensure that Microsoft has enabled the CodeTwo Inbound Connector in your Microsoft 365 tenant. You can verify this by checking the status of the inbound connector in the Exchange admin center by navigating to 'Mail flow’ > 'Connectors’ as shown in the screenshot below.

  

  If you want to start using the Sigsync email service again, you'll need to go to the rule settings pane as described in Step 1. Once there, toggle the switch to Enabled and wait for the changes to take effect.

Additional details regarding the issue of disabled inbound connectors

The issue discussed in this article has been identified as incident EX505293 and has been reported through Service Health in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. This issue can affect tenants that use Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Microsoft 365 Business Basic, and Exchange Online Essentials subscription plans and are created in 2023.

Initially, tenants were unable to create inbound connectors. Microsoft has since implemented a fix that allows some affected tenants to create inbound connectors, but only in a disabled state, which renders them non-functional. When customers try to create connectors automatically or manually in EAC, they receive an error message:

‘Inbound connector for this service offering is created in a disabled state and to contact support to enable it’.

According to the Microsoft announcement, to activate the inbound connector, Microsoft 365 users need to get in touch with Microsoft support and provide a valid reason for the activation.

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