Google enabled Tracking Protection for 1% of all Chrome Stable users as part of the company's greater plan to drop third-party cookies support. Microsoft has now confirmed that the 1% may run into issues when using Chrome and Microsoft 365.

A new Microsoft 365 Alert confirms the issue. Microsoft explains that affected Chrome users may run into issues when using Microsoft 365 in Google Chrome. While most of the service and its tools work without issues, some do not according to Microsoft.

Company engineers have confirmed that the following services and functions are affected:

SharePoint Online

• Unable to create sites from SharePoint or the admin center
• Unable to access Viva Engage or connector webparts

OneDrive for Business

• Unable to access recent documents via the Microsoft 365 app launcher

Microsoft Teams

• Unable to access OneDrive from the app tray
• Unable to access the Files tab within a Teams channel
• Unable to access Viva connections

Engineers validate other services and investigate potential issues not confirmed at this point. Once confirmed, new issues will be added to the alert.

Microsoft suggests that affected users start using Microsoft Edge, if possible, to avoid these issues. Chrome administrators may also set the Tracking Protection flag to Disabled to exit the experiment. This is a temporary measure only, as Google plans to disable third-party cookies in Chrome for all users.

Here are the required steps:

1. Load chrome://flags/#tracking-protection-3pcd in the browser's address bar.
2. Set the flag that appears -- Tracking Protection for 3PCD -- to Disabled.
3. Restart Google Chrome.

Tip: administrators may use the flag to set the feature to Enabled. This enables Tracking Protection in Chrome and allows them to test services and products prior to the main rollout to all Chrome users.

Microsoft 365 developers are also "developing and deploying changes to restore functionality when accessing via the affected web browser" according to Microsoft.

Google announced the end of third-party cookies last year. It will be interesting to see if other online services are affected by the company's decision.

Estimates suggests that more than 30 million Chrome users make up 1% of the browser's total share of users. Not all of these use Microsoft 365, but since other services may also be impacted, it is likely that additional notices will be published in the coming days and weeks.