Blog

  1. Microsoft 365 Uptime for Q1 CY2026. Microsoft 365 Quarterly Uptime Number Sinks to New Low April 22, 2026 7:00 am - According to Microsoft, the Microsoft 365 uptime performance for Q1 CY2026 was 99.526%. That's the lowest uptime figure since we started to record data in 2013. The first thing that people might ask is whether this performance means that Microsoft has to pay out under the terms of its financially backed SLA. The answer is no. All explained in the article.
  2. additionalProperties Property and the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK. The Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK and the additionalProperties Property April 21, 2026 7:00 am - The additionalProperties property is available for many Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK cmdlets. In this article, we explain the function of the additionalProperties property and how it functions in holding output for Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK cmdlets. It’s all because of the lack of strongly typed properties, or so the AutoRest process would have us believe.
  3. Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell version 23. Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell Version 23 April 20, 2026 7:00 am - The May 2026 update for the Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell eBook is available. Current subscribers can download new PDF and EPUB files. The paperback edition of the book (available on demand from Amazon) is also updated. With over 400 pages of content, including twice that number of practical examples of using PowerShell to interact with Microsoft 365, the book is going from strength to strength.
  4. Outlook reactions can be blocked Improving How Outlook Classic Handles Reactions April 17, 2026 7:00 am - A fix due in May 2026 will make sure that the Outlook classic client will handle Outlook reactions properly if the reactions are blocked. Of course, if tenants don’t like responding to email with an emoji, they can create a transport rule to insert the x-ms-reactions header. Detecting the header is an instruction to Outlook clients to suppress reactions that Outlook classic has been ignoring up to now.
  5. DLP Policy for Copilot New Web Search action DLP Extends Its Ability to Control Copilot Processing April 16, 2026 7:00 am - A new action for the DLP Policy for Copilot allows Microsoft 365 tenants to block Copilot from performing (Bing) web searches if a prompt contains sensitive information types. The new action allows Copilot to continue to process prompts using Microsoft 365 content (if the user has a Microsoft 365 Copilot license) while stopping potentially sensitive data being sent to Bing.
  6. Creating a Planner Weekly Notification Email for Incomplete Tasks April 15, 2026 7:00 am - A reader wanted a weekly incomplete task report to send details of Planner tasks to people with outstanding work to do. We used PowerShell to scan for incomplete tasks for people who are members of a group, perform some analysis on the data, and create and send email. Despite some deficiencies in the Planner Graph API, the code is pretty straightforward.
  7. Copilot Retrieval API. Running Copilot Retrieval Searches with the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK April 14, 2026 7:00 am - The Copilot Retrieval API is a Microsoft Graph API that apps can use to search Microsoft 365 locations to find information to ground user prompts. Grounding means that the apps use the information found by Copilot to add context to the queries they submit to a generative AI engine for processing. Although I don’t have an immediate purpose for the API, it provides a nice insight into how grounding works.
  8. Entra ID eventually consistent. Writing PowerShell for the Eventually Consistent Entra ID Database April 13, 2026 7:00 am - Entra ID uses an eventually consistent multi-region database architecture. PowerShell code that fetches and updates Entra ID objects needs to interact with the database in the most efficient manner. This article illustrates some guidance from Microsoft engineering with examples from the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK. I’m sure your scripts already use these techniques, but if not, we have some helpful pointers.
  9. User and group assignments. Leverage User and Group Assignments to Limit User Access to Apps April 10, 2026 7:00 am - User and Group assignments can be added to Entra ID applications. Once assignments exist for an application, only assigned users can access that application. This method is a good way to secure access to applications that have consent to use high-profile permissions like Sites.FullControl.All or Mail.Read. Microsoft 365 tenants should consider how to use assignments to control user access to applications.
  10. Copilot Diagnostic Logs Reveal sensitive information to admins. The Open Nature of Microsoft 365 Copilot Diagnostic Logs April 9, 2026 7:00 am - The Microsoft 365 admin center includes an option for administrators to send Copilot diagnostic logs on behalf of users to Microsoft for investigation. Sounds good, but the diagnostic logs are in plain text (JSON format) and the prompts and responses for Copilot user interactions can be viewed by administrators. That doesn’t seem like a good way to preserve anyone's privacy. Vote for the feedback item to close this loophole.
  11. Microsoft 365 Connector for Claude. Using the Microsoft 365 Connector for Claude April 8, 2026 7:00 am - The Microsoft 365 Connector for Claude allows Claude to access SharePoint and OneDrive files, emails, and Teams chats and meetings. The connector is now available to all users, including the free tier for Claude. Installing the connector creates two Entra ID enterprise apps (MCP server and client) and channels Graph requests to Microsoft 365 to fetch information for processing by Claude. Is that a good thing?
  12. Flex Routing for Copilot Processing. Copilot Compliance Nightmare? Microsoft Suddenly Rolls Out Flex Routing April 7, 2026 7:00 am - Microsoft plans to introduce flex routing to handle situations when demand exceeds capacity for Copilot processing in Europe. This could be an issue for Microsoft 365 tenants in the European Union or European Free Trade Association who want to be sure that their data is processed in Microsoft local datacenters and not sent to the U.S. or Australia when available capacity cannot meet the demand for “large language model inferencing”.
  13. Microsoft 365 Groups Change Report. How to Track Changes in Microsoft 365 Groups April 6, 2026 7:00 am - An old PowerShell script tracked changes to Office 365 Groups. The techniques from 2016 wouldn't be used today because features like the unified audit log didn’t exist then. We show what’s possible now by creating a new version of a Microsoft 365 Groups Change Report script to track additions, deletions, and changes for Microsoft 365 groups in a tenant.
  14. Viva Engage Communities and Container Management Labels. Viva Engage Communities Gain Support for Sensitivity Labels April 3, 2026 7:00 am - Viva Engage communities now support Purview container management labels (sensitivity labels that manage settings for groups, teams, communities, etc.). The update makes it possible to manage community settings like privacy through labels instead of settings applied to individual communities. Once communities have container management labels, you can manage the labels in the same way as when applied to Teams and Microsoft 365 groups.
  15. Restrict site creation by third-party apps. Restricting App Creation of SharePoint Online Sites April 2, 2026 7:00 am - This article discusses the use of restricted site creation for third-party Entra ID apps. The feature has an allow or deny list to identify apps that can create new SharePoint Online sites. Controlling the set of apps that can create new sites contributes to limiting site sprawl and makes sure that every site has a real function. First-party apps like Teams are unaffected.
  16. Office 365 for IT Pros Monthly Update 130. Office 365 for IT Pros Update for April 2026 April 1, 2026 7:00 am - Fresh from celebrating the 30th anniversary of Exchange Server, the Office 365 for IT Pros team is happy to release the 130th monthly update for the book (plus an update for the Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell eBook). Reflecting on 30 years of writing about the development of Exchange, Office 365, and Microsoft 365 reminds us about just how far we’ve come. It also reminds us that technology keeps on changing. On to update #131!
  17. Entra ID Groups Insights. How to Report Entra ID Group Insights March 31, 2026 7:00 am - Entra ID Group Insights are a new preview feature in the Entra admin center. The lack of documentation is challenging, but it's easy to understand what kind of insights Microsoft wants to deliver. Looking behind the scenes, we find the Graph endpoint for Group insights and can extract the data. That allows us to combine insights with other information to make them more interesting. All done with PowerShell.
  18. Conditional access policies block weekend access. Conditional Access Policies are the Best Way to Block Weekend Access to Microsoft 365 March 30, 2026 7:00 am - Conditional access policies are very powerful. A beta feature appears to support time-limited blocks, but maybe the new feature is not needed because the same effect can be accomplished today through a mixture of conditional access policies, dynamic groups, and Azure Automation runbooks (or scheduled PowerShell scripts). Maybe that’s why Microsoft hasn’t released any documentation for the beta feature!
  19. Retirement of SharePoint Alerts. The Retirement of SharePoint Alerts is a Pain in the Rear March 27, 2026 7:00 am - I've used a SharePoint alert to create an emailed daily digest of changes made to files in a document library for seven years. Microsoft plans to retire SharePoint Alerts in July 2026, and the race is on to find a replacement. Regretfully, neither Power Automate nor SharePoint Rules seem capable of generating an equivalent daily digest, perhaps because these solutions don’t handle the number of file versions created by AutoSave well.
  20. Sensitive message properties access for apps. Microsoft Limits App Access to Sensitive Message Properties March 26, 2026 7:00 am - Microsoft has announced details of a change to app permissions to restrict updates to sensitive message properties (like recipients) without consent for a new advanced mail access permission. If tenants have apps that interact with message properties, including apps developed by third parties, they should check whether the apps are updating sensitive properties. If so, the new permission must be assigned or the apps will stop working.
  21. Defender for Cloud Apps and Entra ID Login Events. New Microsoft Defender Revelation Reopens Troubling Quality Questions March 25, 2026 7:00 am - Microsoft disclosed that Entra ID login events were missing from Microsoft Defender for Cloud Applications for nine months — and waited more than three months after the fix to tell customers. Here's why that matters and what you should do about it.
  22. Enterprise ChatGPT Apps Grab some Work IQ. ChatGPT Enterprise Apps Grab Some Work IQ March 24, 2026 7:00 am - If installed into a MIcrosoft 365 tenant, ChatGPT Enterprise apps can access SharePoint Online files, Exchange Online email and calendar, and Teams chats, messages, and tasks. The Entra ID apps created by ChatGPT have the necessary permissions to access information accessible to the signed-in user. Microsoft 365 Copilot can access more information, but being able to process files, emails, calendar items, and chats and channel conversations delivers access to a lot of Work IQ.
  23. Entra ID Backup and Recovery. Low-Key Debut for Entra ID Backup and Recovery March 23, 2026 1:30 am - Microsoft released the preview of the Entra ID Backup and Recovery solution to tenants on 19 March 2026. Although the software is functional in tenants, Microsoft didn’t make a big announcement. We've spent the last few days testing backup and recovery and put together the major points about the new solution, which is doubtless going to be welcomed by tenants if not by backup ISVs.
  24. Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell Update 22. Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell Update #22 March 20, 2026 7:00 am - The April 2026 update for the Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell eBook is now available for subscribers to download. Refreshed EPUB and PDF files can be downloaded from Gumroad.com. The Kindle and paperback editions are also updated. This month we reflect on V2.36.1 of the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK and why so little has changed in this important component.
  25. Planner agent. Planner Agent Delivers AI Help for Tasks March 19, 2026 7:00 am - The Planner agent is now available to users with Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses and any Planner license. The purpose of the Planner agent is to help people understand the steps necessary to accomplish assigned tasks. Like any AI tool, the quality of the agent’s output depends on the precision and completeness of the instructions given for a task. But if you’re prepared to iterate, the agent might work for you.
  26. The sad state of the Microsoft Graph. The Sad State of Microsoft Graph and Other APIs March 18, 2026 7:00 am - Some Microsoft MVPs have expressed a strong opinion that Microsoft isn't doing enough to develop and enhance the Microsoft Graph APIs across Microsoft 365. Problems include inconsistency in implementation, undocumented APIs, assembly clashes, missing coverage, and APIs that never come out of beta. It seems like Microsoft doesn’t dedicate sufficient attention to this important topic. What do you think?
  27. The Microsoft 365 E7 Debate. Is the New Agent 365 Worth $99? March 17, 2026 7:00 am - Microsoft 365 E7 bundles Microsoft 365 E5, Microsoft 365 Copilot, the Entra Suite, and the new Agent 365 into a $99/user/month SKU. The big question is whether investing in Microsoft 365 E7 licenses make sense for tenants? Buying a big batch of licenses will simply throw money away unless those licenses can be used. Paul Robichaux debates the issues and suggests some advice about how to assess the need for E7.
  28. Teams to Block Third-Party Recording Bots. Teams Meetings to Block Third-Party Recording Bots March 16, 2026 7:00 am - Teams will soon block third-party recording bots from being able to create transcripts and generate AI-based summaries for Teams meetings. The problem is that these bots must export information for processing outside of a tenant, which creates all sorts of compliance issues. The new feature is part of base Teams and will be enabled in all tenants. You can disable it and allow bots if you want.
  29. Teams Blocks Copilot from responding to sentiment-related prompts. Teams Suppresses Sentiments in Meeting Chats March 13, 2026 7:00 am - In December 2024, Microsoft introduced a control to block responses to sentiment-related prompts in Teams meeting chat. Now that block extends to every Teams user following a consolidation of the Teams meeting implementation of chat with Microsoft 365 Copilot. Basically, the block stops Copilot responding to prompts that look for opinions about emotions, judgement, or evaluations of other meeting participants. It’s a good thing.
  30. Company-wide sharing policy expiration policy. SharePoint Online Clamps Down on Company-Wide Sharing Links March 12, 2026 7:00 am - Company-wide sharing links allow any authenticated user account in a Microsoft 365 tenant to access a shared file or folder. New settings are available to create an expiration policy for company-wide sharing links, with different values supported for SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business. The idea is to stop the potential for abuse of sharing links, including stale links that should not grant access to files and folders.
  31. Microsoft 365 Backup File and Folder Restore. Microsoft 365 Backup Launches File-Level Restore March 11, 2026 7:00 am - The Microsoft 365 Backup solution will soon be able to restore individual files and folders instead of complete sites. That’s a welcome upgrade to restore capabilities to cover situations like the inadvertent deletion of a file. It’s a wonder why Microsoft didn’t make more about this capability when they celebrated SharePoint’s 25th anniversary last week when they discussed departmental billing for Microsoft 365 Backup.
  32. Remove Sensitivity Labels from SharePoint Online files at scale. How to Remove Sensitivity Labels from SharePoint Files at Scale March 10, 2026 7:00 am - It's easy to remove sensitivity labels from SharePoint Online files when only a few files are involved. Doing the same task at scale requires automation. In this article, we explain how to use the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK to find and remove sensitivity labels from files stored in SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business.
  33. HVE Goes GA. Microsoft Rushes High-Volume Email to General Availability March 9, 2026 7:00 am - Almost two years after it first previewed, Microsoft is making the High-Volume Email (HVE) solution generally available in March 2026. HVE runs on a pay-as-you-go basis, but Microsoft won’t start charging tenants for sending email until May 2026. Two months should be enough for people to decide if they want to use HVE for internal communications as it has no ability to send external email.
  34. SharePoint Online Dumps OTP for Guest Accounts. SharePoint Online Drops One Time Passcodes for External Access March 6, 2026 7:59 am - From July 2026. SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business will use Entra B2B Collaboration (guest accounts) to control external access to shared files. This change has been coming since 2021, but it takes time for organizations to get their heads around changing the way to grant external access. It’s time to embrace guest accounts, and that means doing some work to manage guest accounts on an ongoing basis.
  35. Shared mailboxes and KPIs. Measuring KPIs like Response Times for Shared Mailboxes March 5, 2026 7:00 am - Shared mailboxes are not CRM systems. However, many Microsoft 365 tenants use shared mailboxes to handle customer queries and then want to measure KPIs such as agent responsiveness to customer queries or the number of queries handled per agent in a month. As explored in this article, it’s possible to use the Microsoft Graph to extract some KPI-like data from shared mailboxes.
  36. DLP Sensitive Information Types Test. How to Test a File Against DLP Sensitive Information Types March 4, 2026 7:00 am - Sensitive Information types (SITs) are definitions of data like credit card numbers used by DLP rules to detect potential external sharing violations. Knowing what SIT to use in a DLP rule is often difficult, which is why the Purview developers have added a test option to allow tenants to test files against individual SITs or all SITs to see what happens.
  37. AI in SharePoint. Microsoft Celebrates SharePoint 25th Anniversary with Announcements March 3, 2026 7:00 am - Microsoft celebrated the 25th anniversary of SharePoint with a batch of announcements, including AI in SharePoint, intended to help administrators to manage all aspects of SharePoint Online through natural language. Other interesting announcements included department-level payments for Microsoft 365 Backup and the renaming of the Connections app in Teams as the SharePoint app. Well, the last wasn't that interesting...
  38. Office 365 for IT Pros Monthly Update 129. March 2026 Update for Office 365 for IT Pros March 2, 2026 7:00 am - We've released monthly update #129 for the Office 365 for IT Pros eBook. Current subscribers can download the EPUB and PDF files from gumroad.com. This month we reflect on the 25th anniversary of the release of SharePoint Portal Server 2001 and the 30th anniversary of Exchange Server V4.0. Both servers have experienced great success online and on-premises. Long may they continue!
  39. Planner new UX redesign. Planner’s Newly Redesigned Interface February 27, 2026 7:00 am - Microsoft has launched a redesigned user interface for the Planner app. The big news is the inclusion of task chat. Goals are also available, but only to people with a Microsoft 365 Copilot or Planner Premium licenses. Task Chat is a nice feature, and I am sure that it will be popular. UX redesigns often disappoint. At least this one offers new features.
  40. Sensitivity Labels with UDP to Extend Protection for downloaded files. Extending Protection for Confidential SharePoint Online Files February 26, 2026 7:00 am - Sensitivity labels offer great protection against unauthorized access, but sometimes files that aren't encrypted escape from a document library. SharePoint Online can now use sensitivity labels configured with user defined permissions (UDP) to extend protection to downloaded files. The magic works by configuring permissions on download based on the membership of the user who downloads a file.
  41. Scoped Graph Permissions for SharePoint Online lists. How to Use Scoped Graph Permissions with SharePoint Lists February 25, 2026 7:00 am - This article explains how to use scoped Graph permissions to restrict app access to lists and list items in SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business sites. It's a follow-up to other articles covering how to restrict app access to SharePoint Online sites and files. Scoping app access to specific objects is important because otherwise apps can access everything in SharePoint Online, and that isn't good.
  42. DLP Policy for Copilot Extends to all storage locations. Microsoft Extends DLP Policy for Copilot Protection to All Storage Locations February 24, 2026 7:00 am - Microsoft has enhanced the DLP policy for Copilot to cover Office files held in any storage location instead of only Microsoft 365 locations like SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business. The change is made in the Office augmentation loop, a little-known internal component that coordinates use of connected experiences by apps. Extending the DLP policy to cover all locations makes perfect sense.
  43. Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell Update #2 (March 2026). Update #21 for Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell February 23, 2026 7:00 am - Update #21 for the Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell eBook is now available for current subscribers to download from Gumroad.com. Refreshed PDF and EPUB files are available and the paperback version available from Amazon.com is also updated. Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell is packed with practical ready-to-use examples of working with apps, sites, mailboxes, teams, plans, and other data. Every Microsoft 365 administrator should have this book!
  44. Copilot and ChatGPT Enterprise. Microsoft Takes Aim at ChatGPT February 20, 2026 7:00 am - Microsoft would very much like Microsoft 365 tenants to use Copilot instead of ChatGPT. A recent comparison between Copilot and ChatGPT outlines some areas that Microsoft thinks are important when deciding which AI tool to use. Microsoft has a point because Copilot is embedded into Microsoft 365 whereas ChatGPT is more of an add-on. The competition for hearts and minds is very intense in the AI space.
  45. Dev Proxy and the Graph PowerShell SDK. Using Dev Proxy with the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK February 19, 2026 7:00 am - Dev Proxy is a Microsoft tool built to help developers figure out the most effective way of using Microsoft Graph API requests. On the surface, Dev Proxy doesn’t seem like a tool that would interest people who use the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK to write scripts for Microsoft 365. But all tools have some use, and Dev Proxy can help.
  46. Restrict app access to files and files in SharePoint Online How to Use Scoped Graph Permissions to Access SharePoint Files February 18, 2026 7:00 am - Scoped permissions grant apps granular access to files and folders in SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business sites using the Files.SelectedOperations.Selected Graph permission. The permission allows apps to access specific files or all the files in a folder. It’s a great way to make sure that apps don’t have unfettered access to confidential documents. Not that any app would try to have that kind of access…
  47. Don't overuse the Mail.Send permission. Primer: Use RBAC for Applications to Control App Use of the Mail.Send Permission February 17, 2026 7:00 am - The temptation to use the Mail.Send application permission in scripts can lead PowerShell developers into trouble because the permission allows access to all mailboxes, including sensitive executive and financial mailboxes. Fortunately, RBAC for Applications allows tenants to control the access that apps have to mailboxes and other Exchange content. All explained here with an example script to test RBAC of Applications.
  48. Exchange Online PowerShell and the Credental Parameter. Exchange Online PowerShell Dumps the Credential Parameter February 16, 2026 7:00 am - On February 12, Microsoft announced the deprecation of the Credential parameter for the Connect-ExchangeOnline cmdlet in the Exchange Online PowerShell module. The deprecation won’t affect interactive sessions (which should all be protected by MFA), but it might stop some background jobs running when Microsoft retires the server components that currently support the ROPC authentication flow. Time to check scripts!
  49. DLP Policy for Copilot bug. Code Error Allowed Copilot Chat to Expose Confidential Information February 13, 2026 7:00 am - A code error allowed Copilot Chat to expose confidential email. Microsoft is fixing the problem, but it’s a reminder of how AI can expose information of Microsoft 365 tenants don’t use available features to restrict AI access. Those features need to be configured and deployed, but that doesn’t take much effort. It’s better than users complaining when Copilot exposes their most secret thoughts.
  50. Create Custom oversharing dialogs for DLP New Outlook Gets Smarter DLP February 12, 2026 7:00 am - The news that the new Outlook client will support custom oversharing dialogs for DLP policies might not seem very interesting, but it provoked me to look more closely into how to build and deploy custom oversharing dialogs. All it takes is some well-structured JSON and an update to DLP rules, and the classic and Monarch Outlook clients should display custom tenant instructions to anyone who violates DLP rules.
  51. Deactivate applications in Entra ID. Deactivating an Entra ID Application February 11, 2026 7:00 am - This article explores how to deactivate applications (aka disable apps) in Entra ID. Everything is done through PowerShell and the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK because the feature isn’t currently available in the Entra admin center. We’ve even included a fully functional example script to show you how the process works. Feel free to fix or enhance our code in GitHub!
  52. Maester and UTCM work together for Microsoft 365 tenants. Maester and UTCM Are Complementary Tools for Microsoft 365 Tenant Management February 10, 2026 7:00 am - Since the release of the preview version of the UTCM solution, some have asked if UTCM will replace the Maester tool. The answer is no. The tools are complementary and both are very useful to Microsoft 365 tenant management. Maester is a community-driven reporting tool that highlights inconsistencies between external and Microsoft baselines. UTCM focuses on setting drift that can occur in workload configurations. Both have their own niche.
  53. Report Adaptive Scope Membership. How to Report Adaptive Scope Membership February 9, 2026 7:00 am - The Get-AdaptiveScopeMembers cmdlet reveals details of adaptive scope membership to make it possible to report this information programmatically. The task is not as simple as you might imagine. Summary records must be separated from member records, which can reflect add or remove operations. And there’s the question of pagination for large adaptive scope. All explained here with a PowerShell script to help.
  54. EWS Retirement in April 2027. The Final Countdown to Remove EWS from Exchange Online Begins February 6, 2026 7:00 am - Microsoft announced the dates leading to the final retirement of Exchange Web Services from Exchange Online. If all goes well, the EWS retirement in the cloud will happen by May 2027. Challenges still exist. Microsoft must remove EWS from its own apps, including Outlook, and help tenants and ISVs make the leap to Graph APIs. Plans are in place and progress is being made, but will everyone be ready when Microsoft removes EWS permanently from Exchange Online in April 2027?
  55. UserConfiguration API for EWS Migrations Microsoft Previews userConfiguration Graph API February 5, 2026 7:00 am - A new userConfiguration API is available to retrieve data from Folder Associated Items (FAIs) in Exchange mailboxes. The new Graph API is part of the EWS migration project and is intended to allow application developers to migrate EWS code that updates FAIs with Graph equivalents. Most Microsoft 365 tenants will never use this API, but it's nice to know how things work.
  56. DSI Compute Costs. PAYG Services Like Purview DSI Can Rack Up Large Charges February 4, 2026 7:00 am - Microsoft offers several PAYG services to Microsoft 365 tenants. Data Security Investigations (DSI) is the newest. These services can rack up compute charges to perform processing (in the case of DSI, AI processing of items found in Microsoft 365 sources). If tenants don’t take care, they might end up with big Azure bills. Be aware, prepare, measure, and minimize processing to avoid large charges.
  57. UTCM Unified Tenant Configuration Management. Microsoft Unified Tenant Configuration Management February 3, 2026 7:00 am - Unified Tenant Configuration Management (UTCM) is a new tenant configuration management solution that can monitor changes to over 300 resource types found within Microsoft 365 tenants. Currently accessible via Microsoft Graph beta APIs to all tenants, UTCM offers an alternative to Microsoft DSC and third-party configuration management products. No details are available yet about an admin UX, licensing, or availability.
  58. Office 365 for IT Pros Update 128. February 2026 Update for Office 365 for IT Pros February 2, 2026 7:00 am - The February 2026 (update #128) files for the Office 365 for IT Pros (2026 edition) eBook are available for current subscribers to download from Gumroad.com. The Automating Microsoft 365 for PowerShell eBook has also been updated. Like any month, the updates applied to Office 365 for IT Pros make sure that the book stays refreshed and up-to-date with the changing world of Microsoft 365.
  59. Microsoft FY26 Q2 Results with over 450 million paid Microsoft 365 seats. Microsoft 365 Exceeds 450 Million Commercial Paid Seats January 30, 2026 7:00 am - Microsoft FY26 Q2 results included a new figure for Microsoft 365 commercial paid seats: "over 450 million." Seats are growing at a consistent 6% year-over-year rate, and the June 2026 increases will mean an extra $10 billion or so revenue. In other news, we learned that Microsoft 365 Copilot has 15 million paid seats, or roughly 3.33% of the Microsoft 365 installed base.
  60. Retirement of basic authentication for SMTP AUTH client submission delayed. Microsoft Delays Retirement of Basic Authentication for SMTP AUTH January 29, 2026 7:00 am - Microsoft has delayed the retirement of basic authentication for the SMTP AUTH client submissions protocol to 2027 or beyond. New tenants will be the first to be blocked and Microsoft will disable basic authentication for SMTP AUTH in a way that existing tenants can reenable the protocol. Eventually, we’ll get a date for final retirement sometime in 2027. These things take time!
  61. Restrict Sign-in Audience for Entra multi-tenant apps. How to Control Access to Entra Multi-Tenant Apps January 28, 2026 7:00 am - Entra multi-tenant applications can be used by any tenant - unless you restrict sign-in audiences to permit only specific tenants to use the application. In this article, we explain the preview feature and use the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK to restrict sign-in audiences by defining a list of permitted tenant identifiers in the properties of multi-tenant applications.
  62. Message Trace API. Exchange Online delivers Graph-based API for message tracing. Using the Exchange Online Message Trace API January 27, 2026 7:00 am - January 22 saw the announcement of the beta version of an Exchange Online Graph-based message trace API. The API can retrieve message trace records and their details and offers equivalent functionality to the message trace cmdlets in the Exchange Online management PowerShell module. However, sometimes applications simply want to access data without going through a module, and that’s what this API delivers.
  63. Teams Licensing Changes in April 2026. Teams Revamps Premium Licensing January 26, 2026 7:00 am - Microsoft announced a set of Teams licensing changes to take effect in April 2026. The changes affect devices, Microsoft Places, and Teams events. Webinars and Teams town halls will be easier to manage without Teams Premium licenses, and organizations will be able to buy capacity packs to host events for up to 100,000 participants. The changes will leave some Microsoft 365 tenants cold while others will be delighted.
  64. Viva Engage Integration with Teams. Teams Integrates Viva Engage Communities January 23, 2026 7:00 am - A new integration with Viva Engage is available for Teams. The integration adds communities to the Teams navigation bar. It’s kind of odd when a separate highly functional Communities app exists. It’s unclear who is demanding another point of integration between Viva Engage and Teams. The suspicion is that this work is due to internal politics rather than to facilitate better collaboration.
  65. Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell Monthly Update #20. Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell Update 20 January 22, 2026 7:00 am - Monthly update #20 for the Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell eBook is now available for subscribers to download the updated EPUB and PDF files. Like any monthly update, #20 includes a mixture of new information, revisions, and even some bug fixes (changes to text or examples). Meantime, assembly clashes continue to be a bugbear for Microsoft 365 PowerShell modules. Microsoft should fix this problem!
  66. Weekly Role Assignment Report. Generate a Weekly Report of Role Assignments January 21, 2026 7:00 am - This article explores how to use Entra ID audit records to create a weekly report about role assignment additions and deletions. After deciphering the information contained in the audit records, it’s easy to generate a report showing who made the assignments and if any critical role assignments are in the mix. We can then email the report to interested parties, all with some relatively simple PowerShell.
  67. Group membership synchronization. Synchronizing Security and Microsoft 365 Group Memberships January 20, 2026 7:00 am - An article from 2018 uses the AzureAD and Exchange PowerShell modules to synchronize membership between a security and a Microsoft 365 group. The idea is to enable collaboration for the members of the security group. This version does the work with the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK. The code is better and it will work as an Azure Automation runbook, which is always nice.
  68. SharePoint create site API. How to Create SharePoint Sites with the Graph API January 19, 2026 7:00 am - Microsoft released the beta version of the SharePoint Online create Site API for the Microsoft Graph in late November 2025. Since then, Microsoft has dropped one of the three site templates. Playing with the API, we’ve discovered that the API can certainly create sites but that the SharePoint Graph API misses a heap of features, like adding members to the new site. Oh well, one step forward…
  69. Restore deleted user accounts with Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK. Some Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK Cmdlets Lose Body Parameters January 16, 2026 7:00 am - A change made for some Directory Graph APIs has flowed through to the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK and affected how the associated cmdlets work, including the beta cmdlet to restore a deleted user account and while replacing the user principal name. Fortunately, the workaround is easy, but it is upsetting when something that worked suddenly doesn’t, even if it is a beta cmdlet.
  70. Purview Limits Content Search Functionality. Purview eDiscovery Simplifies Content Searches in February 2026 January 15, 2026 7:00 am - As part of the modernization of the Purview eDiscovery solution, Microsoft will simplify the content searches UX in February 2026 to remove features that are inappropriate for the way that content searches are intended to be used. The change is logical and reasonable because you should use a full eDiscovery case to access all the eDiscovery functionality.
  71. Teams External Collaboration Administrator Entra ID role. Teams External Collaboration Administrator Role Arrives January 14, 2026 7:00 am - A new Entra ID role is coming. The Teams External Collaboration administrator role allows users to manage external collaboration settings. Quite how often Microsoft 365 tenants need to manage these settings is unknown, but it’s a useful prompt to review the current set of roles used and users who are members of those roles. Time for an annual clean-up.
  72. Restricted Content Discovery (RCD). SharePoint Online Site Administrators Can Now Control Restricted Content Discovery January 13, 2026 7:02 am - Restricted Content Discovery (RCD) is a feature that blocks access by Microsoft 365 Copilot and agents to the files stored in a SharePoint Online site. Instead of relying on tenant administrators, site administrators can now enable or disable RCD. It’s a natural evolution of what is an essential feature to keep sensitive and confidential information being leaked inadvertently by AI.
  73. Teams channel agent. The Channel Agent Brings AI Interactions to Teams Channels January 12, 2026 7:00 am - Chat and meetings have their agents, and now the Teams channel agent is available to help members understand what happens inside channels. Like any AI agent given limited sets of data to reason over, the channel agent does a good job of finding nuggets hidden in conversations. The issue is that the channel agent doesn’t currently work for channels that have external members, like guest accounts. That’s a big downside.
  74. Entra Revoke Sessions. Entra ID Rationalizes Session Revocation for User Accounts January 9, 2026 7:00 am - Microsoft is rationalizing the options to revoke sessions for a user account in the Entra admin center by removing an old revoke MFA sessions button. That seems like a perfectly reasonable thing to do. When administrators want to revoke sessions for an account, the best way is to create a PowerShell script to perform the necessary steps. That way you don’t need to worry about buttons.
  75. Exchange Mailbox External Recipient Rate Limit Canned. Microsoft Cancels Exchange Mailbox External Recipient Rate Limit January 8, 2026 7:00 am - After considering customer feedback, Microsoft cancelled the mailbox external recipient rate limit for Exchange Online. The idea behind the new limit was simple – it makes life more difficult for spammers to use Exchange Online as a platform. Unhappily, customers didn’t like losing the ability to send relatively small amounts of external email for different reasons. C'est la vie.
  76. Slack to Teams Migration Solution. Teams Delivers a Slack Migration Tool January 7, 2026 7:00 am - Microsoft announced the availability of a Slack to Teams migration tool in the Microsoft 365 admin center. The new tool exists to assist the 79 million monthly active users of Slack who might want to move to Teams and don’t know how to get there. ISVs have been helping people move from Slack to Teams for years, so other migration options exist.
  77. Purview Data Security Investigations. A Quick Look at Purview Data Security Investigations January 6, 2026 7:00 am - During the quiet holiday period, I tested the new Purview Data Security Investigations (DSI) solution, which seems to be put together from bits of Microsoft 365 together with Security Copilot and some generative AI. Assembling new solutions from existing components makes sense because it reduces engineering effort. Without real data, it's hard to know how effective DSI is, but the cost of an investigation came as a real surprise.
  78. SharePoint Compliance Legacy Features Dropped. SharePoint Online Dumps Legacy Compliance Features January 5, 2026 7:00 am - MC1211579 (3 January 2026) announces the retirement of four legacy SharePoint compliance features in favor of Purview Data Lifecycle management and Records management. It’s always unsurprising when Microsoft chooses to remove old features developed for on-premises and replaces them with better online options, which is exactly what’s happening here. Some tenants might face additional licensing requirements for Purview.
  79. Teams External Collaboration. Teams Admin Center Simplifies External Collaboration January 2, 2026 7:00 am - Microsoft is rolling out a UX update for the Teams admin center to make it easier to manage external collaboration settings. The new UX doesn’t introduce any new features. Instead, its goal is to hide some of the policies and settings complexity that sometimes afflicts the Teams application. It’s a good change, even if it probably won’t make much difference.
  80. Office 365 for IT Pros January 2026 Update. January 2026 Update for Office 365 for IT Pros January 1, 2026 7:00 am - Monthly Update #127 for the Office 365 for IT Pros eBook (2026 edition) is now available for current subscribers to download from Gumroad.com. In this note, we explore some of the options the writing team is considering for the next edition of the book. Microsoft 365 doesn’t stop changing, so it makes sense for the best Microsoft 365 book available today to change to reflect new developments.
  81. Microsoft 365 Copilot User Training. Training People to Use Microsoft 365 Copilot Effectively December 31, 2025 7:00 am - A LinkedIn post explained how the UK Revenue and Customs authority train 30,000 people to use Microsoft 365 Copilot effectively. It’s a reminder that introducing complex software to a user community takes careful planning and support, including the provision of well-planned training to help people exploit the new software as quickly as possible. Otherwise, some of those expensive licenses might be wasted.
  82. EnforcedTimeStamps Hero The Exchange EnforcedTimestamps Mailbox Property December 30, 2025 7:00 am - While examining mailbox properties, I noticed that the EnforcedTimeStamps property held some information that I just couldn't explain. Google search was no help, but Microsoft Copilot told me that the information related to the management of compliance holds. Basically, the data are guardrails to help the Managed Folder Assistant do the right thing, which is nice, even if no documentation exists.
  83. Report DLP Alerts How to Report DLP Alerts December 29, 2025 7:00 am - MC1169572 announces that administrators can add classifications to DLP alerts to help with reporting. But how do you report DLP alerts? As it turns out, it’s relatively easy to retrieve DLP alerts via the Microsoft Graph Security API. Using the Get-MgSecurityAlertV2 cmdlet from the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK makes it even easier to find and report the data.
  84. Web Account Manager and the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK V2.34. Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK V2.34 Makes WAM the Default December 23, 2025 7:00 am - The Web Account Manager (WAM) authentication broker becomes the default method for handling interactive Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK connections from V2.34 onwards. The rapid release of a new version (V2.33 appeared 12 days beforehand) is usually a sign of a big problem, but in this case the reason is more likely to be a security vulnerability that’s just come to light. We’ll find out after the holidays.
  85. Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell 19. Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell Update 19 December 22, 2025 7:00 am - Update #19 of the Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell eBook is now available. Subscribers can download the updated PDF and EPUB files from Gumroad.com. A paperback version is also available, but we can’t update the print characters. In any case, a new SharePoint create Site API is in beta, and a new version of the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK is available. Both have their moments, as we discuss here.
  86. Tenant-to-tenant migration with Microsoft Orchestrator. Microsoft Tenant-to-Tenant Migration Orchestrator December 19, 2025 7:00 am - Microsoft has launched a tenant-to-tenant migration orchestrator solution in public preview to migrate mailboxes, OneDrive accounts, and Teams chat between tenants. ISVs have been active in the T2T space for a long time. They probably won’t welcome the new Microsoft offering, but at least the migration orchestrator legitimizes the concept of tenant-to-tenant migration.
  87. Retention Holds and ExcludeFromAllHolds. Removing Retention Holds from Exchange Mailboxes December 18, 2025 7:00 am - A new Exchange Online feature allows administrators to remove multiple types of holds from mailboxes (usually inactive mailboxes). It’s a great way to release holds that might be keeping inactive mailboxes lingering in a tenant. The feature doesn’t remove holds used to retain items required for eDiscovery or other compliance purposes. Even so, this is definitely a feature that needs to be carefully tested.
  88. Version expiration policies for audio and video files in SharePoint Online. SharePoint Online Expands Version Expiration for Audio and Video Files December 17, 2025 7:00 am - Microsoft is launching version expiration policies in SharePoint Online for audio and video files. The approach is the same as used for intelligent versioning of Office files stored in SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business and can be configured at the tenant, site, and document library level. If your tenant uses Clipchamp, this could be a way to save expensive SharePoint storage.
  89. Exchange ActiveSync Old Client Support Stops March 1 2026. Old Versions of Exchange ActiveSync Clients Get the Bullet December 16, 2025 7:00 am - Exchange Online will require email clients to use Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) V16.1 to connect from March 1, 2026. Email clients that use older versions of EAS won’t be able to synchronize with Exchange Online to upload outbound messages or download messages, attachments, and calendar items. There should be relatively few clients using an old version of EAS, but it’s wise to check.
  90. Baseline security mode for Microsoft 365. Microsoft Baseline Security Mode Rolls Out December 15, 2025 7:00 am - Microsoft has released a set of security benchmark recommendations for Microsoft 365 tenants that it calls baseline security mode. The recommendations cover authentication, file access, and Teams and the idea is that these are settings that Microsoft believes have proven their value over the years. The only criticism that you might have is about the potential clash for conditional access policies, but that’s not serious.
  91. Anthrophic Models in Microsoft 365. Microsoft to Enable Anthrophic Models by Default December 12, 2025 7:00 am - After the fuss around the initial introduction of the Anthrophic models into Microsoft 365 in September, we learn that Microsoft will enable access for all in January 2026. It would have been so much better had Microsoft said that they were working on the data protection arrangements with Anthrophic, but that didn’t happen. Is all well now? We’ll see in January…
  92. Testing the MCP Server for Enterprise December 11, 2025 7:00 am - The MCP Server for Enterprise is one of a set of preview servers released by Microsoft to show how MCP servers can help Microsoft 365 tenants get real work done. I’m sure things will improve, but the current state of the preview is that it can do a splendid job to answer simple questions, but once things get more complex, don’t depend on any of the PowerShell code the server generates.
  93. Autocorrect for Teams. Teams Messaging Gets Autocorrect December 10, 2025 7:00 am - The addition of Autocorrect for messaging is a small but important change for Teams messaging brings Teams up to speed with the other Office applications. It’s taken Teams a little longer than it perhaps should have to support Autocorrect and the implementation is not as functional as it is in Outlook, but that’s not a reason to overlook the update.
  94. External guest activity. Checking Where Tenant Users Go as Guests December 9, 2025 7:00 am - After all the fuss about Teams users inviting people to chat via email, tenant administrators realize that knowing where users are active as guest accounts is not as easy as it might seem. Part of the problem is that data about user activity is mostly controlled by host rather than home tenants. However, it’s possible to extract some information from audit sign-in logs to figure out where tenant users go as guests.
  95. Microsoft 365 Pricing July 2026. Microsoft Increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 License Prices December 8, 2025 7:00 am - Customers will see their bills increase from July 1, 2026, when Microsoft 365 pricing increases go into effect, adding up to $3/month for licenses. This is the first increase since March 2022, and it moves the baseline Office 365 E3 license to $26/month and Microsoft 365 E5 to $60/month. Microsoft justifies the increases based on the functionality and apps it delivers. Time for a licensing review!
  96. Exchange Web Services Block for Frontline Accounts and Kiosk Users Microsoft Blocks EWS Access for Kiosk Users December 5, 2025 7:00 am - A December 2 announcement says that Exchange Online will block access to Exchange Web Services for users with kiosk or frontline worker licenses from June 2026. In fact, the Exchange Online service description has always excluded EWS access for these licenses, but the necessary code to enforce the exclusion was never implemented. It will be in March. Time to check licenses...
  97. passwordless authentication with passkeys. Journey to Passwordless Authentication Might Include Some Bumps December 4, 2025 7:00 am - Microsoft recommends passwordless authentication to help secure Microsoft 365 tenants. The latest is synced passkeys, something that apparently leads to “syncability,” whatever that might mean. In any case, after some struggles, I managed to enable synched passkeys for my iPhone and then started to consider how to remediate user accounts that are flagged with a high-risk (compromised) status when they can’t simply update their password.
  98. Microsoft 365 Compliance at the European SharePoint Conference (ESPC) in Dublin. Talking Microsoft 365 Compliance at the European SharePoint Conference December 3, 2025 7:00 am - Paul Robichaux and I led a session about Microsoft 365 Compliance at the European SharePoint Conference in Dublin on December 2, 2025. During the session, we discussed how intelligent versioning works and its value in saving storage, priority cleanup and its ability to delete files even if the files are under retention hold, and the recent revamp of the Purview eDiscovery solution. We were thrilled at the attendance. Here’s what happened.
  99. App-only authentication for SharePoint Online. App-Only Authentication for SharePoint Online PowerShell December 2, 2025 7:00 am - The latest versions of the SharePoint Online PowerShell module support app-only authentication (certificate-based authentication) for the Connect-SPOService cmdlet. In other words, applications can now connect to SharePoint Online to run administrative cmdlets by presenting a registered Entra ID app and an X.509 certificate instead of the credentials for a human SharePoint administrator. It’s a good change, even if I still prefer using the Graph APIs for SharePoint automation.
  100. Office 365 for IT Pros Update 126 Office 365 for IT Pros December 2025 Update December 1, 2025 7:00 am - The Office 3675 for IT Pros team is happy to announce that the files for update #126 are available for subscribers to download from Gumroad.com. The paperback edition of the PowerShell book has also been refreshed. Updated PDF and EPUB files are available for the Office 365 for IT Pros and Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell eBooks. Happy reading!

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