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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 5 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
Exchange Online Launches Expiring Domain Insight (and Causes a Little Confusion) 7 Comments

Exchange Online Launches Expiring Domain Insight (and Causes a Little Confusion)

Exchange Online has a new domain expiring soon alert, which means that a mail flow insight checks for soon-to-expire domains in the set of accepted domains for a tenant. When the insight detects a domain due to expire within 90, 60, and 30-day windows, it sends a high-severity alert to the tenant administrators to tell them that they should renew the domain(s).

April 14, 2021
Why you need to rethink how you approach Exchange Hybrid migrations
Exchange hybrid migrations

Why you need to rethink how you approach Exchange Hybrid migrations

Hybrid hasn't changed much - but everything around it has. Over the last few years small changes to the way people deploy Microsoft 365 along with bigger shifts in the way your secure Microsoft 365 mean your old assumptions about Exchange Online migrations have to change. Has SharePoint become the go-to technology in Microsoft 365? Has HAFNIUM made publishing Exchange for Hybrid migrations more difficult? And how can MFA impact your once seamless migrations?

April 13, 2021
Attack on Exchange Servers Gives Impetus to Move Email to the Cloud 31 Comments

Attack on Exchange Servers Gives Impetus to Move Email to the Cloud

The Hafnium attack on thousands of on-premises Exchange servers is a wake-up call for their administrators and the organizations using the email service. Ten years ago, it was a reasonable decision to stay on-premises. Five years ago, you could argue the same case and companies with bad network connectivity to the internet or specific security requirements were happy to stay on-premises. Now? In a world of increasing threat, staying on-premises looks a lot more risky. For most, it's time to move to the cloud.

March 8, 2021