User Profile
TonyRedmond
MVP
Joined Jun 23, 2016
User Widgets
Recent Discussions
New Outlook Gets Smarter DLP
The news that the new Outlook client will support custom oversharing dialogs for DLP policies might not seem very interesting, but it provoked me into looking more closely into how to build and deploy custom oversharing dialogs. All it takes is some well-structured JSON and an update to DLP rules, and the classic and Monarch Outlook clients should display custom tenant instructions to anyone who violates DLP rules. https://office365itpros.com/2026/02/12/custom-oversharing-dialog-dlp/17Views0likes0CommentsHow to Deactivate an Entra ID Application
This article explores how to deactivate applications (aka disable apps) in Entra ID. Everything is done through PowerShell and the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK because the feature isn’t currently available in the Entra admin center. We’ve even included a fully functional example script to show you how the process works. Feel free to fix or enhance our code in GitHub! https://office365itpros.com/2026/02/11/deactivate-application-entra/14Views0likes0CommentsMaester and UTCM Are Complementary Tools for Microsoft 365 Tenant Management
Since the release of the preview version of the UTCM solution, some have asked if UTCM will replace the Maester tool. The answer is no. The tools are complementary and both are very useful to Microsoft 365 tenant management. Maester is a community-driven reporting tool that highlights inconsistencies between external and Microsoft baselines. UTCM focuses on setting drift that can occur in workload configurations. Both have their own niche. https://office365itpros.com/2026/02/10/maester-and-utcm/38Views0likes0CommentsHow to Report Adaptive Scope Membership
The Get-AdaptiveScopeMembers cmdlet reveals details of adaptive scope membership to make it possible to report this information programmatically. The task is not as simple as you might imagine. Summary records must be separated from member records, which can reflect add or remove operations. And there’s the question of pagination for large adaptive scope. All explained here with a PowerShell script to help. https://office365itpros.com/2026/02/09/adaptive-scope-membership/13Views0likes0CommentsThe Final Countdown to Remove EWS from Exchange Online Begins
Microsoft announced the dates leading to the final retirement of Exchange Web Services from Exchange Online. If all goes well, the EWS retirement in the cloud will happen by May 2027. Challenges still exist. Microsoft must remove EWS from its own apps, including Outlook, and help tenants and ISVs make the leap to Graph APIs. Plans are in place and progress is being made, but will everyone be ready when Microsoft starts to remove EWS permanently from Exchange Online in April 2027? https://office365itpros.com/2026/02/06/ews-retirement-may-2027/68Views0likes0CommentsMicrosoft Previews userConfiguration Graph API
A new userConfiguration API is available to retrieve data from Folder Associated Items (FAIs) in Exchange mailboxes. The new Graph API is part of the EWS migration project and is intended to allow application developers to migrate EWS code that updates FAIs with Graph equivalents. Most Microsoft 365 tenants will never use this API, but it’s nice to know how things work. https://office365itpros.com/2026/02/05/userconfiguration-api-beta/27Views0likes0CommentsPAYG Services Like Purview DSI Can Rack Up Large Charges
Microsoft offers several PAYG services to Microsoft 365 tenants. Data Security Investigations (DSI) is the newest. These services can rack up compute charges to perform processing (in the case of DSI, AI processing of items found in Microsoft 365 sources). If tenants don’t take care, they might end up with big Azure bills. Be aware, prepare, measure, and minimize processing to avoid large charges. https://office365itpros.com/2026/02/04/dsi-costs-compute/13Views0likes0CommentsMicrosoft Unified Tenant Configuration Management
Unified Tenant Configuration Management (UTCM) is a new tenant configuration management solution that can monitor changes to over 300 resource types found within Microsoft 365 tenants. Currently accessible via Microsoft Graph beta APIs to all tenants, UTCM offers an alternative to Microsoft DSC and third-party configuration management products. No details are available yet about an admin UX, licensing, or availability. https://office365itpros.com/2026/02/03/utcm-beta/427Views0likes1CommentRe: Announcing Office 365 for IT Pros (2026 Edition)
February 2026 Update for Office 365 for IT Pros The February 2026 (update #128) files for the Office 365 for IT Pros (2026 edition) eBook are available for current subscribers to download from Gumroad.com. The Automating Microsoft 365 for PowerShell eBook has also been updated. Like any month, the updates applied to Office 365 for IT Pros make sure that the book stays refreshed and up-to-date with the changing world of Microsoft 365. https://office365itpros.com/2026/02/02/office-365-for-it-pros-128/51Views0likes0CommentsMicrosoft 365 Exceeds 450 Million Commercial Paid Seats
Microsoft FY26 Q2 results included a new figure for Microsoft 365 commercial paid seats: “over 450 million.” Seats are growing at a consistent 6% year-over-year rate, and the June 2026 increases could mean an extra $10 billion or so revenue. In other news, we learned that Microsoft 365 Copilot has 15 million paid seats, or roughly 3.33% of the Microsoft 365 installed base. https://office365itpros.com/2026/01/30/microsoft-fy26-q2-results/162Views2likes0CommentsMicrosoft Delays Retirement of Basic Authentication for SMTP AUTH
Microsoft has delayed the retirement of basic authentication for the SMTP AUTH client submissions protocol to 2027 or beyond. New tenants will be the first to be blocked and Microsoft will disable basic authentication for SMTP AUTH in a way that existing tenants can reenable the protocol. Eventually, we’ll get a date for final retirement sometime in 2027. These things take time! https://office365itpros.com/2026/01/29/smtp-auth-basic-retirement/218Views0likes1CommentScheduling Channel Meetings with the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK
Channel meetings are a type of meeting specifically intended for channel members to attend. Creating normal meetings is easy, but can you create channel meetings with the Graph API? As it turns out, you currently cannot. The suggested workaround is to create a normal (private) meeting and then post the details of that meeting in the channel for channel members to see. That doesn't make the meeting show up in the channel calendar, but at least you can meet. https://practical365.com/channel-meeting-powershell/34Views0likes0CommentsHow to Control Access to Entra Multi-Tenant Apps
Entra multi-tenant applications can be used by any tenant – unless you restrict sign-in audiences to permit only specific tenants to use the application. In this article, we explain the preview feature and use the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK to restrict sign-in audiences by defining a list of permitted tenant identifiers in the properties of multi-tenant applications. https://office365itpros.com/2026/01/28/restrict-sign-in-audience/26Views0likes0CommentsUsing the Exchange Online Message Trace API
January 22 saw the announcement of the beta version of an Exchange Online Graph-based message trace API. The API can retrieve message trace records and their details and offers equivalent functionality to the message trace cmdlets in the Exchange Online management PowerShell module. However, sometimes applications simply want to access data without going through a module, and that’s what this API delivers. The article includes a complete PowerShell script to demonstrate how to use the API. https://office365itpros.com/2026/01/27/message-trace-api/59Views0likes0CommentsTeams Revamps Premium Licensing
Microsoft announced a set of Teams licensing changes to take effect in April 2026. The changes affect devices, Microsoft Places, and Teams events. Webinars and Teams town halls will be easier to manage without Teams Premium licenses, and organizations will be able to buy capacity packs to host events for up to 100,000 participants. The changes will leave some Microsoft 365 tenants cold while others will be delighted. https://office365itpros.com/2026/01/26/teams-licensing-changes-0426/188Views0likes0CommentsTeams Integrates Viva Engage Communities
A new integration with Viva Engage is available for Teams. The integration adds communities to the Teams navigation bar. It’s kind of odd when a separate highly functional Communities app exists. It’s unclear who is demanding another point of integration between Viva Engage and Teams. The suspicion is that this work is due to internal politics rather than to facilitate better collaboration. https://office365itpros.com/2026/01/23/viva-engage-teams-integration/97Views1like0CommentsRe: Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell Second Edition
Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell Update 20 Monthly update #20 for the Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell eBook is now available for subscribers to download the updated EPUB and PDF files. Like any monthly update, #20 includes a mixture of new information, revisions, and even some bug fixes (changes to text or examples). Meantime, assembly clashes continue to be a bugbear for Microsoft 365 PowerShell modules. Microsoft should fix this problem! https://office365itpros.com/2026/01/22/automating-microsoft-365-20/46Views0likes0CommentsGenerate a Weekly Report of Role Assignments
This article explores how to use Entra ID audit records to create a weekly report about role assignment additions and deletions. After deciphering the information contained in the audit records, it’s easy to generate a report showing who made the assignments and if any critical role assignments are in the mix. We can then email the report to interested parties, all with some relatively simple PowerShell. https://office365itpros.com/2026/01/21/role-assignment-weekly-report/47Views0likes0CommentsPractical Graph: Find Large Mailbox Items with the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK
Server-side filtering is always best when PowerShell retrieves items from the server. In this article, we explore how to construct a server-side filter to find large mailbox items over a certain threshold. The answer lies in filtering against an old Outlook property. The Graph represents the property through the single value extended property resource. But how do you filter against such a thing? https://practical365.com/find-large-mailbox-items/20Views0likes0CommentsSynchronizing Security and Microsoft 365 Group Memberships
An article from 2018 uses the AzureAD and Exchange PowerShell modules to synchronize membership between a security and a Microsoft 365 group. The idea is to enable collaboration for the members of the security group. This version does the work with the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK. The code is better and it will work as an Azure Automation runbook, which is always nice. https://office365itpros.com/2026/01/20/group-membership-synchronization/25Views0likes0Comments
Recent Blog Articles
No content to show