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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
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
Managing Office 365 Quarantine Confusion 22 Comments

Managing Office 365 Quarantine Confusion

The email quarantine process is as old as email itself, and still an essential part of any email service. As far as Office 365 is concerned, Exchange Online is a world-class product and the quarantine mechanism works well, however, the current iteration of the Quarantine portal falls short in user experience and performance.

June 10, 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
Getting Exchange Online Distribution List Membership Counts with PowerShell 15 Comments
Exchange Online Powershell

Getting Exchange Online Distribution List Membership Counts with PowerShell

It's important to know if a tenant has any very large distribution lists as these might be the source of reply-all mail storms. An old article explains how to report the membership counts for distribution lists on an on-premises Exchange server. Life is different in the cloud, and we need to take a different approach. This article explains how to use different calls in a PowerShell script to create a nice report about distribution list memberships.

June 7, 2021
Upgrade Your Exchange Online Scripts to Use the Get-EXOMailbox Cmdlet 6 Comments

Upgrade Your Exchange Online Scripts to Use the Get-EXOMailbox Cmdlet

Many Exchange Online scripts use the old Get-Mailbox cmdlet to fetch mailbox data. It's time to change these calls out and replace them with Get-ExoMailbox. The new cmdlet is faster than the old and more resilient in its ability to handle server glitches. There's no reason to continue using the old Remote PowerShell cmdlets unless you like slowness and errors.

May 26, 2021
Microsoft Updates Outlook to use Advanced Settings for Sensitivity Labels 24 Comments
Sensitivity Labels

Microsoft Updates Outlook to use Advanced Settings for Sensitivity Labels

Updates to Outlook clients (desktop, mobile, and OWA) respect the advanced settings in label policy which previously needed the deployment of the unified labeling client. Many organizations want to use mandatory labeling, but have been frustrated because of the lack of support in the Office applications. Now support is available, so it's time to label that email!

May 19, 2021
“Right to Disconnect” – Implementing a Timed Disclaimer in Exchange Online with Azure Automation 3 Comments
Working from home

“Right to Disconnect” – Implementing a Timed Disclaimer in Exchange Online with Azure Automation

Over the past year, the pandemic has disrupted traditional work patterns. With many working from home, many organizations now focus on how to help employees manage their work/life balance. Platforms like Microsoft Viva Insights can help, but there are many steps admins can take using existing technology to support a wellbeing mindset in their organization. An easy and effective change is to implement a transport rule that reminds people they have the “Right to Disconnect” when an email is received outside work hours. This article walks you through how to implement a timed disclaimer in Exchange Online with Azure Automation.

May 13, 2021
New-DistributionGroup: A PowerShell Cmdlet Which Gets No Respect 9 Comments
Powershell New-DistributionGroup

New-DistributionGroup: A PowerShell Cmdlet Which Gets No Respect

The New-DistributionGroup cmdlet has been in Exchange since 2006. It creates a new distribution list that is easily populated with a few commands. Although Microsoft might like everyone to use the new-fangled Microsoft 365 Groups, the fact remains that distribution lists are very useful. So much so that many millions are still in active use. In this article, we explore how to create new standard and dynamic distribution lists with PowerShell.

May 12, 2021