Carousel Cloud and Microsoft Exchange

Carousel Cloud can dynamically integrate with Microsoft Exchange (using Microsoft Graph’s API) to display Exchange calendar events on your digital signage.

How it Works

Configuration in Microsoft

1. Complete the steps under the specific following article heading to Register an application with Microsoft Entra ID and create a service principal

   1. A Redirect URI is not required during the app registration process

   2. Since 1 app registration can serve both Microsoft 365 files and Exchange calendars, you do not need a separate Carousel Cloud app registration just for Exchange.

2. Record the Application (client) ID and Directory (tenant) ID.

   

3. Certificates & secrets: create a client secret (record the value immediately) — or if preferred, a certificate using the following PowerShell:

   openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout carousel-graph.key -out carousel-graph.crt -days 730 -nodes -subj "/CN=Carousel Graph Access"

   1. If using the certificate method, in Entra, upload the carousel-graph.crt under Certificates

      

   2. Carousel Cloud automatically detects secret vs certificate by content and stores either encrypted at rest.

4. In the new app registration you just created, click on:

   1. API permissions

   2. Add a permission

   3. Microsoft Graph

   4. Application permissions

   5. Under Calendars, add the Calendars.Read permission

      

   6. Grant admin consent for…

      1. Note that the API permissions > Status column must show a green checkmark for the Calendars.Read permission you’ve added

5. Decide which mailbox owns the signage calendars

   1. The Calendars.Read permission covers every mailbox in your tenant

   2. It is not possible to grant per-calendar permissions

   3. If you want to narrow the scope, add this app registration to specific mailboxes with an Exchange Online application access policy, so Calendars.Read can't read anyone else's calendar:

      Connect-ExchangeOnline
      New-ApplicationAccessPolicy -AppId "<client-id>" -PolicyScopeGroupId signage-mailboxes@TENANT.com -AccessRight RestrictAccess -Description "Carousel: signage mailboxes only"
      Test-ApplicationAccessPolicy -AppId "<client-id>" -Identity signage@TENANT.com

      (PolicyScopeGroupId is a mail-enabled security group containing the allowed mailboxes; Test-ApplicationAccessPolicy confirms Granted/Denied per mailbox)

Create an Organization Connected Account in Carousel Cloud

1. Navigate to Configure > System > Org Accounts and choose Microsoft Graph from the drop-down menu

   

2. From Entra ID, copy the Tenant ID, Client ID, and Client Secret or PEM Certificate data into these fields

   1. If using the certificate method, in Carousel Cloud, copy and paste both the carousel-graph.crt and carousel-graph.key concatenated (both PEM blocks in
      one paste)

      

3. Set the User Email to the mailbox from step 5 in the previous section

   1. The mailbox must be a licensed Exchange Online mailbox in the app's own tenant

   2. Leave the SharePoint Sites field blank/empty if this connection will only be used for Exchange calendar data

      

4. Click Save

   1. Validation actually lists the selected mailbox's calendars, so a wrong-tenant, unlicensed, or on-prem mailbox fails the Save

Create the Event Bulletin in Carousel Cloud

1. Log in to Carousel Cloud and navigate to the zone in which you would like to display the Microsoft Exchange events

2. Select New Bulletin, then select Dynamic as the bulletin category

3. Depending on how you want to organize the events from the Microsoft Exchange calendar, choose one of the 3 types of highlighted event bulletins

4. Verify Microsoft Graph is the Schedule Source

   

5. Select the desired Connected Account and Exchange Calendar from the dropdown

   1. Any calendar owned by that mailbox can be used. This includes the default calendar or those created in Outlook as that user

6. Since the source Microsoft Exchange calendar most likely contains multiple items or entries, you will need to choose how to display the items or entries in the event bulletin. As shown in the screenshots below, the options for managing the event bulletin settings can be made from the orange Dynamic and Content tabs at the top of the bulletin editor window.

   1. More information regarding bulletin layout and formatting is explained in this support article

Dynamic Tab

Content Tab

After configuring the event bulletin, you can simply hit the orange Publish button in the upper-right corner of the events bulletin screen. The event bulletin creation process is complete!

Migrating from EWS to Microsoft Graph

1. In Carousel Cloud, create a Microsoft Graph Org Account (just do this once) for the same organization that houses the legacy EWS account

2. Set the User Email in the new Microsoft Graph connection to be whatever is currently used for Exchange User Impersonation field from the existing Microsoft Exchange connection, or to whatever user has access to the desired calendar

3. In Entra ID, make sure the Carousel Cloud App Registration has Calendars.Read access under API Permissions

4. The following must be completed for every event bulletin using the Microsoft Exchange (legacy)/EWS account:

   1. Edit the event bulletin

   2. Remember the currently chosen calendar

   3. Switch the Schedule Source from the EWS-connected account to the new Microsoft Graph-connected account

   4. Choose the same calendar that was used before

      1. If you don’t see the same calendar as before, make sure the User Email was set correctly, as shown in step 2

   5. Publish the bulletin to make the changes take effect