Office 365 for IT Pros, 3rd Edition is continually updated with new information, changes and corrections. The current eBook files are dated 2 August 2016. Customers who bought the book from ExchangeServerPro.com can download the updated files from their purchase history. Updates applied to the Amazon Kindle version are available through your Kindle library after they are approved by Amazon.
It’s hard to keep track of what happens in an ecosystem that is so wide and broad as Office 365. We monitor what’s happening through a variety of sources and update the book to keep it accurate and relevant. Here’s a snapshot of the major events that occurred in July 2016 that have been incorporated into the book.
The release of the Microsoft Stream video sharing service came as a surprise to those who use Office 365 Video. The new service is not based on SharePoint Online but shares many components with Office 365 Video. The two will come together in the future.
Microsoft announced their Q4 results for the financial year, which included the news that the annualized revenue run rate for commercial cloud products (including Azure and Office 365) has reached $12.1 billion, moving Microsoft past the halfway mark on their quest to reach a $20 billion run rate by June 2018. Some next text in Chapter 1 describes the continuing business success of Office 365.
A new Minimal Hybrid Configuration option was released for Exchange and is now available in the Hybrid Configuration Wizard. Customers who only need the most basic hybrid functionality for a migration to Exchange Online can choose the simpler, minimal configuration option that gives them the benefits of hybrid mailbox moves, without all the complexity of setting up a full hybrid configuration. Michael updated chapter 6 to provide more information about the pros and cons of each hybrid approach.
The development of Office 365 Groups continues, with Groups now manageable via the Exchange Admin Center. We added some extra guidance about how to use the Microsoft scripts to convert classic distribution groups to Office 365 Groups (or how to use the New-UnifiedGroup cmdlet to do the job). Managing the lifecycle of Groups is still a DIY task, so to provide more help in that area Tony updated chapter 9 with a sample script and a walk through of how to check both SharePoint and email activity to identify potentially obsolete Groups.
New security and compliance features include the preview release of Azure Information Protection, which builds on the existing rights management features by incorporating classification of Office documents and email messages into the document creation and editing workflow. Tony also added new information for managing in-place holds for eDiscovery cases that are re-opened, and the new “search everywhere” option in the Security & Compliance Center.
Some minor changes were made to the Message Center in the Office 365 Admin Center, with new service icons appearing next to messages. The Office 365 admin apps for mobile devices continued to be updated to tweak the design to make the best use of screen space on different sized devices and bring the most important information to your attention.
Among the other updates made to chapters in Office 365 for IT Pros in July are:
- New UPN synchronization behaviour for licensed Office 365 accounts
- Delve Analytics has an updated Outlook add-in that is automatically deployed when accounts are enabled for Delve Analytics
- The Search-UnifiedAuditLog cmdlet has new parameters that remove the need to convert JSON data into a readable format
- Microsoft has announced that Clutter is being deprecated, and will be replaced by a new Focused Inbox feature
- Content searches now have a “Search Everywhere” option
- OneDrive for Business mobile apps can now display DLP policy tips
Learn more about Office 365 for IT Pros.
