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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
Talking Teams with Rish Tandon
Microsoft Teams

Talking Teams with Rish Tandon

Tony Redmond sat down (virtually) with Rish Tandon, Corporate VP for Microsoft Teams Development, to discuss how Teams has evolved over the last few years. The conversation was wide-ranging and covered many topics, including the operationalization of Teams to create a service capable of running at massive scale, client performance, compliance, backups, people, the effect of Teams on other Microsoft 365 workloads, and more.

May 24, 2021
Prepopulating Outlook Contacts with the Graph API 55 Comments
Microsoft Graph

Prepopulating Outlook Contacts with the Graph API

When contacts are added to an organizations Global Address List (GAL), they do not always populate in the users personal device contacts depending on what app, device, etc. is being used. This becomes problematic when users working from outside the office are unable to contact the IT Service Desk, HR, or other internal services. To solve the problem, this article introduces a PowerShell script that will read a set of standard contacts from a CSV file and write them as personal contacts to user mailboxes. Mobile devices can then synchronize these contacts along with others created by the user.

May 20, 2021

Microsoft Extends Teams Retention Policies to All Licensed Office 365 Accounts

Microsoft announced a bunch of changes for Microsoft 365 records management on May 19. The most interesting changes are allowing all licenses Office 365 accounts to use Teams retention policies and the advent of adaptive scopes for retention policies, both of which should be useful for many tenants. The announcement also covers multi-stage disposition reviews. If you know what that means, you'll be excited. If not, you won't.

May 20, 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

How Advanced eDiscovery Finds and Displays Microsoft Teams Conversations

When it comes to eDiscovery and which solution is right for your organization, “you get what you pay for.” Microsoft 365 services are no different – you’re either willing to pay for them or you aren’t. Some organizations will not need or want to pay for Advanced eDiscovery, while others will find it an essential purchase. Regardless of which camp your organization resides in, Microsoft provides customers with the flexibility to choose between two eDiscovery tools best suited for your needs.

May 18, 2021
Modern Compliance for SharePoint Site and Information Architecture
SharePoint

Modern Compliance for SharePoint Site and Information Architecture

SharePoint site and information architecture has been around long enough to be an established practice and area of expertise in the SharePoint world. What’s new about it, however, is its elevated role in Microsoft 365 compliance. Architectural decisions made in a tenant can have lasting, follow-on effects which information architects need to be aware of. This post highlights some key points about how these decisions can affect managing compliance at scale by providing structure and governance to SharePoint.

May 17, 2021

Microsoft Updates Viva Insights App with Wellbeing Features

A new version of the Microsoft Viva Insights app for Teams includes some of the promised wellbeing functionality designed to help stressed users get through the work day more easily. You can praise co-workers, learn to breathe and relax, note your current state of wellness, and take a virtual commute to wrap up the working day. Some people will love the app, others will wonder what the fuss is all about. It's a very personal thing, which I guess is the nature of Viva Insights.

May 14, 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