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Tony Redmond

@office365itpros.com
1.5K followers 27 following 801 posts

Commentator and writer about #Microsoft365. Always looking for insight about how things work... Articles posted at office365itpros.com and practical365.com. And the Office 365 for IT Pros eBook at gum.co/O365IT

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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 10h
A Graph API exists for #Outlook Groups, the email-enabled collaboration first implemented for #Microsoft365 Groups. Not sure if anyone would want to use it, but here's how to access conversations and threads just in case you do: office365itpros.com/2026/09/30/o...
office365itpros.com
Outlook Groups, Conversations, Topics, and Posts
Outlook groups started off as an email-based collaboration platform. Now called Microsoft 365 Groups, Outlook groups have a distinctive Graph API
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 29/09/2026
Microsoft is dropping most Azure Communication services, including Email, in Sept 2028. This creates a gap in their coverage for bulk email services. Maybe a new HVE-based PAYG service would fill the hole? Who knows... office365itpros.com/2026/09/29/a... #Microsoft365
office365itpros.com
Microsoft Retires Most ACS Services in September 2028
In an odd announcement, Microsoft shared their intention to retire most of the Azure Communication Services (ACS) from September 2028.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 28/09/2026
Microsoft plans to stop community contributions/updates to product documentation via GitHub. Sounds like a retrograde step, but I am sure that AI will fill the gap (won't it?) office365itpros.com/2026/09/28/m...
office365itpros.com
Microsoft Learn Stops External Contributions by End 2026
On September 23, Microsoft Learn announced that many of its public GitHub repositories for documentation would become private. This is a bad idea!
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 25/09/2026
Microsoft has retired the #Microsoft365 companion apps, setting a new record for the shortest app lifetime in the suite. I'm not upset at all because I thought the apps served no purpose. But admins might have some work to clean up the app mess: office365itpros.com/2026/09/25/c...
office365itpros.com
Microsoft 365 Companion Apps Cancelled
Microsoft launched the Microsoft 365 companion apps in November 2025 and now they have cancelled the apps. No purpose and customer confusion is a fatal mix.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 24/09/2026
Using the heavily permissioned Graph SDK default enterprise app isn't a great way to allow users to run Graph interactive sessions. It's much better to give them their own apps with restricted permissions. office365itpros.com/2026/09/24/i... #Microsoft365
office365itpros.com
Interactive Graph Sessions with Custom Entra ID Apps
Administrators know how to use the default Microsoft Graph Command Line Tools app for delegated interactive Graph sessions. Here we look at using custom apps.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 23/09/2026
Microsoft is clamping down on tenants that used the process to expand their #OneDrive storage to 25 TB. At the same time, they've launched a PAYG option for #Microsoft365 tenants to buy additional OneDrive storage. The two actions don't go well together: office365itpros.com/2026/09/23/o...
office365itpros.com
Microsoft Draws Hard Line for OneDrive Storage Quotas
After promising essentially unlimited OneDrive storage some years ago, Microsoft is now putting a hard 5 TB limit on what a user can have.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 22/09/2026
What would happen if a #Microsoft365 tenant was subject to a catastrophic attack that removed lots of data and configuration data. Chaos, I think, because current backup products are focused on single workloads. AI could help to stitch things together. Thoughts? office365itpros.com/2026/09/22/b...
office365itpros.com
Restore a Microsoft 365 Tenant After a Catastrophic Attack
Backup vendors sell on their ability to restore data. Usually, recovery covers one or two workloads and ignores configuration data.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 21/09/2026
Microsoft has a new Graph control for app access to Teams meeting transcripts. It seems like it's there to stop agents and apps getting at some really sensitive content without administrator oversight: office365itpros.com/2026/09/21/t... #Microsoft365
office365itpros.com
Teams Meeting Transcripts Get New Control for Graph API Apps
Microsoft has introduced a new control to stop Graph API-powered apps and agents from having access to Teams meetings transcripts.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 18/09/2026
In a Friday musing, I discuss the experience of replacing an old #MicrosoftTeams #Office365 connector with a Power Platform workflow and its effect on #PowerShell scripts that post to Teams channels: office365itpros.com/2026/09/18/t... #Microsoft365
office365itpros.com
Use Teams Workflows to Replace Office 365 Connectors
Microsoft retired Office 365 Connectors in May 2026. You might not have noticed that some Teams channels no longer receive updates via adaptive cards.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 17/09/2026
Microsoft will retire Windows PowerShell support in the Microsoft Graph #PowerShell SDK in 12 months' time. Also, a new SDK version (V3) will come in Q4 CY2026. More upgrade work for scripts might be needed by #Microsoft365 tenants. Full details here: office365itpros.com/2026/09/17/m...
office365itpros.com
Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK Dumps PowerShell V5.1
On September 16, 2026, Microsoft announced a 12-month retirement period for support of PowerShell V5.1 by the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 16/09/2026
#MicrosoftTeams introduces reminders ("remind me") for chats and channel conversations. The implementation works well, and includes a new reminders views to manage reminders. Works for both tenant members and guests. More at office365itpros.com/2026/09/16/r... #Microsoft365
office365itpros.com
Teams Remind Me Feature for Lightweight Reminders
The Teams Remind Me feature is a new action available to allow users to create reminders for chat and channel messages in the future.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 15/09/2026
The New #Outlook might not be to everyone's taste. The client doesn't help itself when it introduces #Copilot-powered morning and evening summaries without the ability to disable the feature (either for users or a #Microsoft365 tenant): office365itpros.com/2026/09/15/n...
office365itpros.com
New Outlook’s Copilot-Driven Summaries
New Outlook is an acceptable email client. Some dislike its lack of support for different features, like COM add-ins. Then Copilot gets involved...
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 14/09/2026
Playing around (as you do) with disabling accounts, I ran into some situations where Entra said that the accountEnabled property is invalid. That's clearly not true, but it's because rules exist to stop administrators disabling their own account: office365itpros.com/2026/09/14/s... #Microsoft365
office365itpros.com
Strange accountEnabled Error When Disabling User Accounts
When attempting to disable a user account in an interactive Graph session, I was told that the command failed because the accountEnabled property was invalid.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 11/09/2026
Some Purview DLP policies need several days to become operational. It's part of a change in DLP where policies can have retrospective effect rather than simply dealing with new items: office365itpros.com/2026/09/11/d... #Microsoft365
office365itpros.com
Why Some DLP Policies Need Days to Start Working
While testing the new DLP capabilities to block sharing to users and domains and stop Copilot from using external email, policies took a long time to work.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 10/09/2026
In an unexpected twist, a #Microsoft365 roadmap item says that the expandable archive will go past 1.5TB for "eligible E5 licenses." I guess some need such a monster archive... but how many? office365itpros.com/2026/09/10/a...
office365itpros.com
Microsoft Bumps Auto-Expanding Archive Limit Past 1.5 TB
First revealed in 2015, the history of auto-expanding archives in Exchange Online has been spotty with several false starts. Now the limit will go past 1.5 TB,
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 09/09/2026
Kind of an esoteric topic, but of interest to some. The Graph mailbox API doesn't support group mailboxes... investigated here: office365itpros.com/2026/09/09/g... #Microsoft365
office365itpros.com
No Group Mailbox Support in Graph API
A reader asked why the Outlook Mail Graph API doesn't support access to group mailboxes. The basic reason is that a group mailbox doesn't have an account.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 08/09/2026
On the surface, #EntraID's CAE feature is very valuable for #Microsoft365 tenants. However, a German researcher raised some interesting questions about just how comprehensive CAE coverage is when you lookn at server and client support: office365itpros.com/2026/09/08/c...
office365itpros.com
Entra ID Continuous Access Evaluation and Microsoft 365
Continuous Access Evaluation is supported by core Microsoft 365 workloads like Exchange, SharePoint, and Teams, but it's not by other workloads.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 07/09/2026
The New #Outlook has a style (UI skin) that makes it look like Outlook classic. Whether or not cloaking new Outlook in the old Outlook's clothes is sufficient to make people want to switch remains to be seen, but I quite like it: office365itpros.com/2026/09/07/c... #Microsoft365
office365itpros.com
Classic Outlook Style Available for the New Outlook and OWA
In an attempt to ease the transition to the new Outlook, Microsoft has introduced the classic Outlook style for the new Outlook and OWA.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 04/09/2026
Forty months ago, #Microsoft365 #Copilot burst into our awareness. There were no guardrails and AI had a great time finding stuff to process. Guardrails are available now. Here's a checklist for what to do to prepare a tenant for Copilot in late 2026: office365itpros.com/2026/09/04/m...
office365itpros.com
Microsoft Copilot Implementation To Dos in Late 2026
42 months ago, Microsoft Copilot launched. Looking back, the lack of guardrails at the time was staggering, and AI had a great time wandering across SharePoint.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 03/09/2026
A recent technical community post discussed revoking access for risky service principals through continuous access evaluation (CAE). One well-known SP is the Microsoft Graph Command Line Tools app. I checked if the SP is CAE-enabled: office365itpros.com/2026/09/03/c... #EntraID #Microsoft365
office365itpros.com
How CAE Works for Entra ID Service Principals
A Technical Community post discusses the topic of using CAE to revoke access for service principals when apps become risky or potentially compromised.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 02/09/2026
#MicrosoftTeams is clamping down on MOERA-only #Microsoft365 tenants. Why any tenant would run without a proper domain setup is beyond me, but there you are... office365itpros.com/2026/09/02/m...
office365itpros.com
MOERA-Only Tenants To Face Restricted Federated Chat
The latest restriction on tenants using MOERA (service domain) addresses in production is that Teams will restrict external collaboration from September 2026.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 01/09/2026
The September 2026 update for the four books in the Microsoft 365 for IT Pros (2027 edition) package are available for subscribers to download. EPUB and PDF files can be downloaded. The paperback edition of the PowerShell eBook has also been updated. office365itpros.com/2026/09/01/m...
office365itpros.com
Microsoft 365 for IT Pros September 2026 Release
The September 2026 update for the four books in the Microsoft 365 for IT Pros (2027 edition) package are available for subscribers to download.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 31/08/2026
Last week I posed the question about how best to discover new Graph permissions ina #Microsoft365 tenant. Here's how I find that info with #PowerShell and Azure Automation to have email delivered with the info every week: office365itpros.com/2026/08/31/n...
office365itpros.com
Find New Graph Permissions with PowerShell
After Microsoft released some new Graph permissions, thoughts turned to how to discover new permissions as they are released. Code is the best way.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 28/08/2026
If you use the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK for #Microsoft365 automation, be aware that plans are to make WAM the default for all interactive sessions using the default app. This might affect some operational processes. More at office365itpros.com/2026/08/28/i...
office365itpros.com
Interactive Graph Sessions with Default App to use WAM
In a GitHub post, Microsoft says that interactive Graph sessions using the default Microsoft Graph Command Line Tools app will use WAM in the future.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 27/08/2026
I use a Loop page in a workspace to record details of articles I publish. When checking #SharePoint Embedded containers, I found that the container for the workspace was about 88 GB. Which seems a lot for simple text... office365itpros.com/2026/08/27/l... #Microsoft365
office365itpros.com
The Case of the Massive Loop Workspace Container
Why would a seemingly simple Loop workspace develop into a monster SharePoint Embedded container? That's the question discussed here.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 26/08/2026
The Microsoft Graph has some new finer-grained permissions. This creates a question for #Microsoft365 tenants: should we review existing code to replace permissions currently in use? And how do we learn about new permissions anyway? office365itpros.com/2026/08/26/g...
office365itpros.com
Granular Graph Permissions Pose Questions for M365 Tenants
Microsoft issues new granular Graph permissions on an ongoing basis. That's good, but only if tenants use the permissions to replace wider permissions in apps.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 25/08/2026
Microsoft released a #PowerShell cmdlet to transfer the ownership of a meeting to another user. The cmdlet is flawed because it leaves a #MicrosoftTeams online event to be fixed up. Here's how I built a prototype of a script to fix the problem: office365itpros.com/2026/08/25/t... #Microsoft365
office365itpros.com
Update Teams Meeting Settings After Owner Transfer
In the article about transferring ownership of Exchange calendar events, we pointed out the Teams meeting problem. A PowerShell script helps...
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 24/08/2026
The new setting in the #MicrosoftTeams meeting policy to control how recording bots join Teams meetings is rolling out. The interesting thing is the new program to allow bot makers to identify their products. More here: office365itpros.com/2026/08/24/t... #Microsoft365
office365itpros.com
Notetaking Bots Controlled by New Teams Meeting Policy
Microsoft recognized the problem posed when users attempt to join recording or notetaking bots to Teams meetings in early 2026. Now smarter detection is here.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 21/08/2026
Microsoft is adding 50GB quota to mailboxes in #Microsoft365 business tenants. That's nice, but it's also an invitation to accumulate even more digital debris in mailboxes. Maybe enabling archiving for all business tenants would have been better? office365itpros.com/2026/08/21/1...
office365itpros.com
100 GB Mailbox Quotas for Microsoft 365 Business Tenants
Microsoft announced details about how they will deploy the 100 GB mailbox quota to Microsoft 365 Business tenants/ A new service plan does the job.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 20/08/2026
In a welcome update, Purview allows #Microsoft365 tenants to archive #SharePoint and #OneDrive files as an interim step in retention policies and labels. Archiving frees up expensive storage and makes the archived files unavailable to #Copilot. office365itpros.com/2026/08/20/m...
office365itpros.com
New Microsoft 365 Archive Option for Purview Retention
Tenants with Microsoft 365 Archive configured can incorporate an archiving step in how Purview retention policies and labels deal with SharePoint files.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 19/08/2026
If you use a Planner plan for several years, it's likely that the plan contains some obsolete tasks. Planner has no way to automatically clean out old tasks, but we can do it with #PowerShell. Here's how: office365itpros.com/2026/08/19/c... #Microsoft365
office365itpros.com
How to Clean Up Old Planner Tasks with PowerShell
Microsoft Purview supports retention policies for Planner tasks and that's the supported way to remove old tasks from plans. But you can do it with PowerShell.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 18/08/2026
Following the licensing notices for CA policies in the #Entra admin center, here's some #PowerShell to interpret who's covered by CA policies (users, groups, & roles) and compare the data against who's licensed to give a picture of licensing needs office365itpros.com/2026/08/18/f... #Micosoft365
office365itpros.com
Find Entra P1 Accounts to License for Conditional Access
After the discussion about the licensing gap prompts shown in the Entra admin center, here's some code to find accounts that should have Entra P1 licenses.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 17/08/2026
In my quest to find a substitute for the Search-Mailbox cmdlet's ability to remove mail items, I come to using JSON batching with the Graph mailbox API to permanently delete messages in a most gratifying manner... office365itpros.com/2026/08/17/j... #PowerShell #Microsoft365
office365itpros.com
How to Use JSON Batching to Remove Mailbox Items
Following up on the primer explaining how to use JSON batching, this article goes a step further and explains how to permanently remove batches of mailbox items
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 14/08/2026
I know this is a little esoteric, but if you have a #Microsoft365 tenant that uses Google workspace and/or Box as well, DLP and Information Protection can now extend to those platforms through Cloud App Connectors. More at office365itpros.com/2026/08/14/e...
office365itpros.com
Control External Services Data with Purview
Microsoft Purview is expanding its ability to process data from external services through DLP policies and Information Protection auto-labeling.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 13/08/2026
The #EntraID admin center is flagging potential conditional access licensing issues. #Microsoft365 tenants should check their CA licensing entitlements against Microsoft's data and make any necessary adjustments. Just in case! office365itpros.com/2026/08/13/l...
office365itpros.com
Licensing Gaps for Conditional Access Need Investigation
The Entra admin center has started to flag licensing gaps for conditional access. This is an informational message, not the beginning of new automated billing.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 12/08/2026
#SharePoint Online supports the assignment of sensitivity labels to video (MP4) and OneNote (sections). Support is important, because it opens access to a bunch of Purview solutions. More at office365itpros.com/2026/08/12/s... #Microsoft365
office365itpros.com
Sensitivity Label SharePoint Support for OneNote and MP4
Microsoft has updated SharePoint Online to provide full support for sensitivity labels assigned to OneNote and MP4 files.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 10/08/2026
Last week, I discussed how the Invoke-ChangeMeetingOrganizer cmdlet works to transfer meetings. Here's a #PowerShell script to do a bulk transfer of all future meetings from one mailbox to another. office365itpros.com/2026/08/10/i... #Microsoft365
office365itpros.com
Bulk Transfer with the Invoke-ChangeMeetingOrganizer Cmdlet
The Invoke-ChangeMeetingOrganizer cmdlet can transfer meeting ownership from one user to another. Here we show how to transfer meetings in bulk.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 07/08/2026
#EntraID will retire the MemberOf rule operator from Nov 2026. The operator is used in dynamic groups and dynamic admin units to include members of groups... no immediate replacement is available. Read more here: office365itpros.com/2026/08/07/m... #Microsoft365
office365itpros.com
MemberOf Rule Operator Retired from Entra ID in Nov 2026
MC1448379 announces the retirement of the MemberOf rule operator from Entra ID in early November 2026. This might affect dynamic groups and admin units.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 06/08/2026
After some delays, the Invoke-ChangeMeetingOrganizer cmdlet is available in most #Microsoft365 tenants and can be used to transfer meetings to another mailbox. Some practical issues exist with the cmdlet, like an inability to update Teams meetings. See office365itpros.com/2026/08/06/i... for more.
office365itpros.com
How the Invoke-ChangeMeetingOrganizer Cmdlet Works
The Invoke-ChangeMeetingOrganizer cmdlet transfers meetings from one organizer to another and makes sure that all calendar settings are preserved.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 05/08/2026
Restricted Content Discovery (RCD) is an important guardrail for all Copilot implementations. RCD has received a makeover to ensure that #Copilot can't use documents in certain edge cases. More information at office365itpros.com/2026/08/05/r... #Microsoft365
office365itpros.com
Restricted Content Discovery Gets a Makeover
The Restricted Content Discovery (RCD) feature is an important part of Microsoft 365 Copilot deployments. Microsoft is giving RCD a makeover.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 04/08/2026
A new feature in Microsoft Defender for #Office365 blocks attempts to introduce prompt injections via email. It's included in MDO Plan 2. Because #Copilot can access shared mailboxes, these objects need protection too... office365itpros.com/2026/08/04/m... #Microsoft365
office365itpros.com
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Blocks Prompt Injections
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 (MDO) can detect and quarantine email containing prompt injections. Shared mailboxes might need licenses for the protection.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 03/08/2026
#EntraID has a new method of stopping nested security groups. For now, everything is done through #PowerShell or another Graph interface. Some will love this feature, others will hate it. I think it's good. More at office365itpros.com/2026/08/03/b... #Microsoft365
office365itpros.com
Entra ID Enables Blocking for Nested Security Groups
A new Entra ID feature enables the ability to block nesting for security groups. That might not sound important, but it is to those who manage permissions.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 01/08/2026
The August 2026 update for the #Microsoft365 for IT Pros eBook (well, 4 eBooks in one package) is available for subscribers to download. See office365itpros.com/2026/08/01/m... for more information.
office365itpros.com
Microsoft 365 for IT Pros August 2026 Update
The August 2026 monthly update for the Microsoft 365 for IT Pros eBook is now available for subscribers to download. All four books are updated.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 31/07/2026
Has #Microsoft365 become too complex for mere humans to understand how the ecosystem fits together? Who knows Entra ID, SharePoint, Exchange, Teams, OneDrive, Planner, and Purview (a special challenge) to the level required? It's quite a challenge. office365itpros.com/2026/07/31/m...
office365itpros.com
Microsoft 365 - Too Complex for Humans to Understand?
A recent Reddit thread asked the very good question whether Microsoft 365 is now so complex that no single person can understand the ecosystem.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 30/07/2026
Microsoft's FY26 Q4 results show that the Microsoft Cloud continues to be very profitable. In other news, #Microsoft365 #Copilot has 30 million paid seats. Sounds good, and progress is being made, but it's still less than 7% of the M365 installed base office365itpros.com/2026/07/30/f...
office365itpros.com
FY26 Q4 Microsoft Results Sees Azure Top $100 Billion
On July 29, Microsoft released their FY26 Q4 results. We learned that Microsoft 365 Copilot has 30 million paid seats, but that's still less than 7% of M365.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 29/07/2026
A new DLP capability can block #Microsoft365 #Copilot from processing external email. This can block prompt injections, but lots of useful info arrives by email, so it's an interesting call to make. More here: office365itpros.com/2026/07/29/d...
office365itpros.com
New DLP Rule to Block Copilot from Processing External Email
A new (preview) DLP capability allows Microsoft 365 tenants to block Microsoft 365 Copilot from processing the content of external email.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 28/07/2026
#Planner supports #Microsoft365 retention policies from next month. The app has been around for years and I was curious about the potential effect on plans when retention is applied. So I wrote a #PowerShell script to report what might happen... office365itpros.com/2026/07/28/p...
office365itpros.com
Planner Tasks Gain Support for Retention Policies
FromAugust 2026, Microsoft 365 tenants can apply retention policies to Planner Tasks. We prepared by writing some PowerShell to test the effect of retention.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 27/07/2026
#Exchange Online has updated its #PowerShell module to fix a problem with certificate-based authentication (CBA). It's recommended that you upgrade to the new version of the module. More at: office365itpros.com/2026/07/27/e... #Microsoft365
office365itpros.com
Exchange Online Management PowerShell 3.10.1 Fixes CBA Issue
Microsoft rushed out version 3.10.1 of the Exchange Online management PowerShell module to fix a problem with certificate-based authentication.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 24/07/2026
#MicrosoftTeams has a new #PowerShell module, which is nice, and the new module supports controls for federated chat, which is even better... but the #Microsoft365 modules are in a state of meltdown as they stubbornly refuse to work alongside each other. office365itpros.com/2026/07/24/f...
office365itpros.com
Federated Chat Controls in New Teams PowerShell Module
Teams released a new version of their PowerShell module on July 19. The new module contains WAM support and cmdlets to control federated chat.
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Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com · 23/07/2026
If you use the Graph #PowerShell SDK, you know that its service principal accumulates delegated permissions over time. Accumulation can reach a point where authentication isn't possible. Maybe #Microsoft365 tenants should prune the permission set? office365itpros.com/2026/07/23/p...
office365itpros.com
Permissions Creep Halts Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK
The Microsoft Graph PowerShell Command Line tools app is how people run Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK cmdlets. The app can suffer from permissions creep.
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