How to use Alteryx Email tool with MS ExchangeOnline and Azure Active Directory

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Alteryx 2022.3 release introduced Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) authentication support, Single Sign-On (SSO), for Microsoft ExchangeOnline. This update allows users to authenticate to ExchangeOnline with Azure AD accounts. Alteryx Designer 2022.3 release enables users leverage two types of Azure AD application configurations to access your ExchangeOnline account: single-tenant and multi-tenant application. This post covers multi-tenant application configuration.

To access your ExchangeOnline service with Azure AD accounts, users are required to have the following configuration in place:

• Azure Active Directory account linked with Microsoft ExchangeOnline service;

• Obtain authentication details required to setup a new connection between Alteryx Designer and ExchangeOnline.

Multi-tenant application setup

In this post we will cover how to:

• Obtain required details of your ExchangeOnline;

• Setup a connection with Azure AD account from Alteryx Designer.

Please note, the following example is intended for demonstration purposes only. We recommend engaging your systems team to help you with the configuration. This example covers multi-tenant OAuth implementation.

Step 1: Obtain details of your ExchangeOnline service

To allow users access their ExchangeOnline service using Azure Active Directory identities organisations first need to make sure that users exist and are identified by the same user principal names (UPNs).

In order to access your ExchangeOnline service, you need to obtain the following inputs from your account administrator:

• SMTP server address;

• Port;

Additionally, we recommend validating with your account administrator that your Microsoft ExchangeOnline service has SMTP authentication enabled. Please refer to this page for details.

Step 2: Connect to ExchangeOnline with Azure AD Account

You can access your ExchangeOnline service from Alteryx Designer using your Azure AD account. Add Email tool to your workflow, check “Use Data Connection Manager (DCM)” box and set up a connection. Next, provide your ExchangeOnline service details, specifying server, port and encryption, where applicable.

Next, create new credential and select Azure AD authentication method:

After filling out above details and clicking connect, you will be redirected to the Azure AD login page. You will be prompted to login with your Azure AD account and grant this application required permissions.

Common issues

Depending on your Azure AD configuration, individual users might not be able to grant required consent to Azure AD application. In this case you might be presented with one of the following cases:

1. Approval request submitted to account admin. You are presented with the following prompt asking you to submit approval request to your account admin who would need to approve and grant required access to this application.

Upon submitting request, your account admin receives a notification and needs to approve your request. Once approval is granted, you can reset the connection and be able to access your ExchangeOnline account.

2. Need admin approval. This screen appears when your Azure AD settings don’t allow individual users grant consent to applications. In this specific case, accounts setting doesn’t allow users to submit approval requests to your directory admin. To resolve this problem, you should ask your account admin to use his/her credentials when first setting up connection from Alteryx Designer and provide consent to this app on behalf of the organisation. Upon completing these steps, all further Azure AD tenant users will be able to grant consent without further approvals. Alternatively, you might want to ask your Azure AD admin to update your tenant consent policy to allow users submit approval requests to account admin.