August 2022 Update Available for Office 365 for IT Pros

Subscribers Can Download Files for Update 86

The Office 365 for IT Pros eBook team is delighted to announce the release of the August 2022 update (monthly update number 86 in the series) for Office 365 for IT Pros (2023 edition). Subscribers of the EPUB/PDF version can download the updated files using the link in the receipt they received via email for their book or through their Gumroad account. We’ve also updated the Amazon Kindle version, but buyers of that version must contact Amazon support to get the updates.

For more information about downloading book updates, please see our FAQ.

First Update Covers Many Bases

This is the first update for the 2023 edition. Authors updated 21 of the 23 content chapters to cover anything from information given by Microsoft about Office 365 usage at their FY22 Q4 results to details of how to manage SharePoint Online tenant settings using Graph API requests. Some work items that we couldn’t complete for the original publication of the 2023 edition, like an overhaul of the section dealing with Exchange Online inactive mailboxes, writing up some additional examples of using Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK cmdlets, and rewrites of sections of the Teams Calling and Devices chapter, are now in the book. Elsewhere, we’ve done some tweaking to clarify and expand coverage of different topics.

All in all, update 86 is typical of the effort necessary to keep abreast of what’s happening inside Office 365 and the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, but as any tenant administrator knows, it’s important to keep on top of what’s happening inside Microsoft’s cloud office services, which is perhaps why Mary-Jo Foley said that “If you’re an [Office 365] admin, you basically need and want this book.“ when covering Office 365 for IT Pros during episode 784 of the Windows Weekly podcast on 6 July.

More details of the changes in each chapter are available in our change log.

Changes in August

More change is coming in August. Microsoft is scheduled to move Microsoft 365 to a new licensing platform on August 26, an action that will stop the licensing cmdlets in the MSOL and Azure AD modules working. We’re fully prepared for the changeover as the book includes lots of information and example commands to deal with licensing for Azure AD accounts through the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK. I suspect that Microsoft will push the August 26 date out a little because of customer pushback, but the change will happen soon.

We’ll also get to test the cmdlets Microsoft released in V4.6 of the Microsoft Teams PowerShell module to help manage shared channels. The updated module appeared on July 29, which was a little tight for us to get the information into the August update.

Final Countdown for Basic Authentication

October 1 marks the date for the final transition away from basic authentication for Exchange Online. Apple iOS 15.6 updates are rolling out to customers. This is an important upgrade because it contains the code necessary to allow iOS mail app profiles to switch automatically from basic to modern authentication. That is, if tenant administrators have done the work to make this possible. If you haven’t already, it’s time to prepare your tenant for the iOS mail app profile upgrade, and while you’re at it, check that ActiveSync clients from other vendors support modern authentication.

Remember that the deprecation of basic authentication affects seven email connectivity protocols. Check any IMAP4 and POP3 clients and apps in use to make sure that they can cope with the new regime after October 1. Finally, make sure that all your PowerShell scripts will work after Microsoft turns basic authentication off. Note that Microsoft will deprecate connecting to Exchange Online with PowerShell using “the old New-PSSession method” on October 1. The Exchange Online management module fully supports modern authentication along with access to all the older non-REST-based cmdlets.

We have lots of work to do as we work on future updates for Office 365 for IT Pros.