Set signature verification level

UserNeeds changes for IntuneL_SetSignatureVerificationLevel

Supported on SUPPORTED_Windows7 (defined in the Windows templates)

5568.1000

What it does

This policy setting allows you to set the verification level used by Office 2016 applications when validating a digital signature. Note: Enabling this policy setting is not recommended for subscription versions of Office, such as Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise, because it will use the legacy registry based rules settings (described below) instead of basing the verification level on the Office version that signed the file. If you enable this policy setting, you can set the verification level to any of the following: - No rules: Office 2016 digital signature rules are disabled. - Office 2007 rules: Office 2016 uses the Office 2007 digital signature rules. - Office 2010 rules: Office 2016 uses the Office 2010 digital signature rules. - Office 2013 rules: Office 2016 uses the Office 2013 digital signature rules. If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, subscription versions of Office 2016 use the rules of the Office version that was used to sign the document to validate the digital signature.

What it writes

Hive: HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Registry key: software\policies\microsoft\office\16.0\common\signatures

Why it needs changes for Intune

Policy references a Windows supportedOn definition.
ADMX-INTUNE-WINDOWS-SUPPORTEDON-REFERENCE

Options

Option	Type	Registry value	Allowed values
L_SetSignatureVerificationLevelDropIDDefault: Office 2007 rules	Drop-down list	`verifyversion`	No rules`0` Office 2007 rules`1` Office 2010 rules`2` Office 2013 rules`3`

Configure and deploy

Choose a state and the option values; the output below is generated from the template for exactly that.

Enabled · User · template defaults

Registry file (.reg)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\policies\microsoft\office\16.0\common\signatures]
"verifyversion"=dword:00000001

PowerShell

$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'

function Set-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $PropertyType,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][object] $Value
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        New-Item -Path $Path -Force | Out-Null
    }

    New-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -PropertyType $PropertyType -Value $Value -Force | Out-Null
}

function Remove-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name
    )

    if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

function Clear-RegistryKeyValues {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return
    }

    foreach ($propertyName in (Get-Item -LiteralPath $Path).Property) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $propertyName -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

# Policy: Set signature verification level
# Name: L_SetSignatureVerificationLevel
# Scope: User
# State: Enabled
# Source: office16.admx

Set-RegistryValue -Path 'Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\policies\microsoft\office\16.0\common\signatures' -Name 'verifyversion' -PropertyType 'DWord' -Value 1

The OMA-URI is an inferred ADMX-backed Policy CSP candidate derived from the source ADMX file name and policy name.
Some Microsoft policies use built-in Policy CSP pages whose area names don't match the ADMX file name, so verify the candidate against Microsoft Learn before deployment.

ADMX profile candidate (OMA-URI)

./User/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_office16/L_SetSignatureVerificationLevel

ADMX SyncML candidate

<SyncML xmlns="SYNCML:SYNCML1.2">
  <SyncBody>
    <Replace>
      <CmdID>1</CmdID>
      <Item>
        <Meta>
          <Format>chr</Format>
          <Type>text/plain</Type>
        </Meta>
        <Target>
          <LocURI>./User/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_office16/L_SetSignatureVerificationLevel</LocURI>
        </Target>
        <Data>&lt;enabled/&gt;
&lt;data id="L_SetSignatureVerificationLevelDropID" value="1"/&gt;</Data>
      </Item>
    </Replace>
    <Final/>
  </SyncBody>
</SyncML>

Intune remediation scripts

Detection

$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'
$reasons = [System.Collections.Generic.List[string]]::new()

function Test-RegistryValueExists {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return $false
    }

    return $null -ne (Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)
}

function Test-RegistryValueEquals {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Kind,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][object] $Expected
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return $false
    }

    $valueObject = Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    if ($null -eq $valueObject) {
        return $false
    }

    $actual = $valueObject.$Name
    switch ($Kind) {
        'String' { return [string]$actual -ceq [string]$Expected }
        'ExpandString' { return [string]$actual -ceq [string]$Expected }
        'DWord' { return [uint32]$actual -eq [uint32]$Expected }
        'QWord' { return [uint64]$actual -eq [uint64]$Expected }
        'MultiString' {
            $actualArray = @($actual)
            $expectedArray = @($Expected)
            if ($actualArray.Count -ne $expectedArray.Count) { return $false }
            for ($index = 0; $index -lt $actualArray.Count; $index++) {
                if ([string]$actualArray[$index] -cne [string]$expectedArray[$index]) { return $false }
            }
            return $true
        }
        'Binary' {
            $actualArray = [byte[]]$actual
            $expectedArray = [byte[]]$Expected
            if ($actualArray.Length -ne $expectedArray.Length) { return $false }
            for ($index = 0; $index -lt $actualArray.Length; $index++) {
                if ($actualArray[$index] -ne $expectedArray[$index]) { return $false }
            }
            return $true
        }
        default { return [string]$actual -ceq [string]$Expected }
    }
}

# Policy: Set signature verification level
# Name: L_SetSignatureVerificationLevel
# Scope: User
# State: Enabled
# Source: office16.admx

$isMatch = Test-RegistryValueEquals -Path 'Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\policies\microsoft\office\16.0\common\signatures' -Name 'verifyversion' -Kind 'DWord' -Expected 1
if (-not $isMatch) {
    $reasons.Add('Value mismatch: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\policies\microsoft\office\16.0\common\signatures\verifyversion') | Out-Null
}

if ($reasons.Count -eq 0) {
    Write-Output 'Compliant'
    exit 0
}

$reasons | ForEach-Object { Write-Output $_ }
exit 1

Remediation

$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'

function Set-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $PropertyType,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][object] $Value
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        New-Item -Path $Path -Force | Out-Null
    }

    New-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -PropertyType $PropertyType -Value $Value -Force | Out-Null
}

function Remove-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name
    )

    if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

function Clear-RegistryKeyValues {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return
    }

    foreach ($propertyName in (Get-Item -LiteralPath $Path).Property) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $propertyName -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

# Policy: Set signature verification level
# Name: L_SetSignatureVerificationLevel
# Scope: User
# State: Enabled
# Source: office16.admx

Set-RegistryValue -Path 'Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\policies\microsoft\office\16.0\common\signatures' -Name 'verifyversion' -PropertyType 'DWord' -Value 1

History 1 retained release

5568.100010 Aug 2026
- Already present in the first release ChangeIntel keeps.

Template

Internal name: L_SetSignatureVerificationLevel
Namespace: office16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows
Template file: office16.admx
Release: Microsoft 365 Apps 5568.1000 · file set 8be05d876aae137d…

Definition, editor controls and support

Definition

<policy class="User" displayName="$(string.L_SetSignatureVerificationLevel)" explainText="$(string.L_SetSignatureVerificationLevelExplain)" key="software\policies\microsoft\office\16.0\common\signatures" name="L_SetSignatureVerificationLevel" presentation="$(presentation.L_SetSignatureVerificationLevel)" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="office16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows:L_DigSig" />
      <supportedOn ref="Microsoft.Policies.Windows:SUPPORTED_Windows7" />
      <elements>
        <enum id="L_SetSignatureVerificationLevelDropID" valueName="verifyversion">
          <item displayName="$(string.L_SetSignatureVerificationLevelStr1)">
            <value>
              <decimal value="0" />
            </value>
          </item>
          <item displayName="$(string.L_SetSignatureVerificationLevelStr2)">
            <value>
              <decimal value="1" />
            </value>
          </item>
          <item displayName="$(string.L_SetSignatureVerificationLevelStr3)">
            <value>
              <decimal value="2" />
            </value>
          </item>
          <item displayName="$(string.L_SetSignatureVerificationLevelStr4)">
            <value>
              <decimal value="3" />
            </value>
          </item>
        </enum>
      </elements>
    </policy>

Editor controls

<presentation id="L_SetSignatureVerificationLevel" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
        <dropdownList defaultItem="1" noSort="true" refId="L_SetSignatureVerificationLevelDropID">
        </dropdownList>
      </presentation>

Supported platforms and category

office16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows:category:L_DigSig
<category displayName="$(string.L_DigSig)" name="L_DigSig" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="office16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows:L_SecuritySettings" />
    </category>
office16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows:category:L_MicrosoftOfficeSystem
<category displayName="$(string.L_MicrosoftOfficeSystem)" name="L_MicrosoftOfficeSystem" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions" />
office16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows:category:L_SecuritySettings
<category displayName="$(string.L_SecuritySettings)" name="L_SecuritySettings" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="office16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows:L_MicrosoftOfficeSystem" />
    </category>
office16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows:unresolved:Microsoft.Policies.Windows:SUPPORTED_Windows7
<unresolved reference="Microsoft.Policies.Windows:SUPPORTED_Windows7" />
office16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows:category:L_DigSig
<category displayName="$(string.L_DigSig)" name="L_DigSig" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="office16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows:L_SecuritySettings" />
    </category>
<strings><string id="office16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows:L_DigSig">Digital Signatures</string></strings>
office16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows:category:L_MicrosoftOfficeSystem
<category displayName="$(string.L_MicrosoftOfficeSystem)" name="L_MicrosoftOfficeSystem" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions" />
<strings><string id="office16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows:L_MicrosoftOfficeSystem">Microsoft Office 2016</string></strings>
office16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows:category:L_SecuritySettings
<category displayName="$(string.L_SecuritySettings)" name="L_SecuritySettings" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="office16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows:L_MicrosoftOfficeSystem" />
    </category>
<strings><string id="office16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows:L_SecuritySettings">Security Settings</string></strings>