Author: Tony Redmond

Latest Articles

Microsoft Is Moving the Office 365 Service Communications API to the Graph 9 Comments

Microsoft Is Moving the Office 365 Service Communications API to the Graph

Microsoft is moving the Office 365 Service Communications API to the Microsoft Graph. The new API is in public preview. Converting PowerShell scripts from the old API to the new isn't particularly difficult if you have ever worked with the Graph before. As always, the devil is in the detail, but persistence and some mild swearing should be enough to get scripts over the line. This article explores how to use the new API to fetch and report details of service incidents.

July 15, 2021
Upgrading PowerShell Scripts with Azure AD Cmdlets to Use Graph API Calls
PowerShell Microsoft Graph

Upgrading PowerShell Scripts with Azure AD Cmdlets to Use Graph API Calls

Microsoft has announced that they won't support the Azure AD Graph after June 30, 2022. This means that the Azure AD PowerShell module won't be supported either. With that in mind, it's probably a good idea to think about how to upgrade scripts to use Graph API calls instead of Azure AD cmdlets. In this article, we take a script created to count members in distribution lists and convert it to use the Graph. As it turns out, the Graph bit is easy. It's all the housekeeping beforehand that takes the time.

July 7, 2021
Office 365 Ten Years On

Office 365 Ten Years On

Launched on June 28, 2011, Office 365 is ten years old. The effect of Microsoft's cloud office system has been profound on corporate IT. In this article, we reflect on some of the major developments relating to Office 365 since 2011.

June 28, 2021
Using Filters with the Get-ExoMailbox Cmdlet 17 Comments

Using Filters with the Get-ExoMailbox Cmdlet

It's a good idea to replace older calls to the Get-Mailbox cmdlet with Get-ExoMailbox. However, it's not just a matter of cut and paste updates. In some cases, the nature of the new REST-based cmdlets mean that some additional care is necessary to ensure that the updated code works as expected. As we examine in this article, filters are just one example where some attention to detail is needed to make sure Exchange Online delivers the right set of mailbox data.

June 21, 2021
Scheduler for Microsoft 365 Debuts 2 Comments
Using Cortana and Scheduler for Microsoft 365 AI voice command

Scheduler for Microsoft 365 Debuts

Scheduler for Microsoft 365 is a new meeting scheduling service launched with a $10/month price tag (per user). Scheduler and Cortana work together to find the most suitable meeting times for participants to get together. Scheduler works for any kind of attendees (as long as they can receive email) and the big pay-out is that you can ask Cortana to set things up and leave the meeting for artificial intelligence to sort out. Sometimes things don't work out and humans need to get involved, and that's when privacy concerns come into play. If you can cope with the issues and have a lot of meetings to organize, Scheduler for Microsoft 365 might do a job for you.

June 17, 2021
Creating Personal Contacts in User Mailboxes with PowerShell and the Graph 43 Comments

Creating Personal Contacts in User Mailboxes with PowerShell and the Graph

An earlier article explained how to create organizational contacts in user mailboxes with Graph API calls. This article builds on that idea with three improvements. First, we select target mailboxes for update by looking for those added in the last month. Second, we allow any mail-enabled recipient to be added as an organizational contact. Third, we incorporate some code to check if a contact already exists in a mailbox. Like anything with PowerShell, this code can be improved..

June 15, 2021
Microsoft Delays June 2021 Cumulative Update for Exchange Server One comment

Microsoft Delays June 2021 Cumulative Update for Exchange Server

Microsoft has delayed the release of the June 2021 cumulative updates for Exchange Server for two weeks to integrate the Windows Antimalware Scan interface (AMSI). The change will allow Exchange 2016 and Exchange 2019 servers running on Windows Server 2016 or later to integrate antimalware engines to check HTTP requests for potential problems. If ever there was good reason to delay an update, this is it.

June 12, 2021
How Outlook’s Room Finder Uses Metadata from the Places Service 66 Comments
Microsoft Teams Rooms

How Outlook’s Room Finder Uses Metadata from the Places Service

The Outlook Places service uses metadata stored for conference rooms and room lists to help users find suitable meeting places. The metadata surfaces in Outlook's Room Finder component (shared between OWA and Outlook desktop). Obviously, the better populated the room metadata is, the more useful it will be, once we all start meeting in conference rooms again!

June 9, 2021
Moving on from Send-MailMessage: Sending Email from PowerShell using the Graph API 36 Comments
PowerShell Microsoft Graph

Moving on from Send-MailMessage: Sending Email from PowerShell using the Graph API

Many PowerShell scripts use the Send-MailMessage cmdlet to send mail. That's fine, but if you want to remove basic authentication to improve tenant security, you need to stop using Send-MailMessage. One solution is to move to use the Graph API SendMail call. This works fine, but it creates some new security issues that need to be thought through. In this article, we explain how to use the Graph to send email and some of those security considerations to ponder.

June 8, 2021