Recent Discussions
Access and SharePoint Integration May Be Broken
I am posting this here in the hopes that a Microsoft MVP or employee may see it, verify the issue, and report it to the right people at Microsoft. We have a fairly significant LOB application with the front-end hosted in Access and the back-end hosted in SharePoint Online lists. This application has been working well for several years. Sometime in the past few weeks (last known good date was June 23), a change in either Access or SharePoint (or maybe the Windows OneDrive sync client) seems to have broken integration between the products. When the modern cache format is enabled (the default), all SharePoint calculated columns unexpectedly show errors, as shown here (in a fresh database where I imported just one list from our site as a test): Naturally, this completely borks the application, with VB code throwing errors at startup. Using the legacy cache format, or disabling caching altogether, seems to restore functionality--(though this would come at a cost to performance): But there is a major caveat to this. Other functionality is apparently broken. We have straightforward update queries, for example, the hang indefinitely in these modes, rendering this an unacceptable work-around. I have been able to replicate this on several different PCs. Also, on several different SharePoint sites in our tenant. Currently, this is blocking work for us, and we are hoping to see it resolved as soon as possible. If anyone with knowledge of the right people at Microsoft to call attention to this, we would be grateful for any help. I am using the Access forum because the last time I tried to get help from SharePoint Online support for an Access-related query issue using SP list data, they had no idea what I was talking about. (Also, for Access database experts: please do not suggest that we avoid using calculated columns in SharePoint lists. This is a hybrid app with most of our users working with data strictly through SharePoint, and SharePoint views do not support the same features as queries do in Access. Making use of these SharePoint features are essential for these users.) Our Access version: Microsoft® Access® for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2607 Build 16.0.20228.20124) 64-bit Thank you in advance for any help.
MS will not properly investigate breaches of security. What can I do?
I cannot accurately describe the innumerable ways in which these breaches of privacy and security have occurred. My account is being administered by an unauthorized third party and Ms will not properly investigate. At present, the font and text size changes erratically as I am typing in Word, without any effort or intention on my part. Countless contacts with customer support and innumerable complaints filed have been ineffective. Cases are closed without review. The problem persists without any accountability. Any changes that I make to settings are then altered. Does anyone have an authentic, legitimate suggestion as to how I might — not merely correct this latest issue— but effectively reach a legitimate agency that will investigate these incursions at the data level?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 MDO Plan 2 licenses if they receive email from external domains. This requirement existed before MDO introduced Prompt Injection Protection, but the advent of the new capability is another reason to check mailbox licensing, especially if your tenant uses Copilot. We have a script to help! https://office365itpros.com/2026/08/04/microsoft-defender-prompt-injection/
Getting error when adding Add-ins in Excel
Hi all, I have trying to install add-ins to microsoft excel using a M365 Personal Account, and i keep getting an error "Add-in Error: We couldn't connect to the '{0}' catalog server for this add-in" screenshot attached below. I have tried on both Excel Web and and on the desktop Excel app and still the same issue, I have already had a session with microsoft support and they were not able to resolve this for me and directed me to this forum, Any help will be appreciated thanks in advance.
Stock symbol SKHY is missing in Excel's Stock data type
I have been frustrated trying to report a stock ticker symbol that is missing from Excel's Stock data type. SKHY is the ticker symbol for SK HYNIX INC ADR on NASDAQ. Excel responds with the following error when attempting to convert this symbol to a Stock data type: Data Type: Stocks No results found for "SKHY". How do I report this issue so that it can be fixed?Planning a Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 Migration? What Should You Consider?
Hi everyone, Has anyone recently migrated from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365? I’m interested in knowing what challenges you faced during the migration, especially around mailbox data, calendars, contacts, user mapping, or the final cutover process. For those planning the migration, what are the key things you recommend preparing before getting started? Would like to hear your experiences and suggestions.Need to Restore PST Files to Office 365 Mailboxes - What's the Best Approach
Hey everyone, I have a task coming up where I need to restore several PST files back into Office 365 mailboxes. Haven't done this before at this scale and honestly not sure where to begin. I've looked at Microsoft's native import service through Purview but I have a few concerns: Some of the PST files are quite large — not sure how well it handles that I need to restore only specific folders for some users, not the entire PST I'm worried about data consistency after the restore Would prefer something that doesn't require too many admin roles or complex setup For those who have done PST to Office 365 restores — what approach worked best for you? Any tools, tips, or things to watch out for that you wish you knew before starting?
Strange redirect when signing in - phishing?
I just restarted my Business Standard 365 license today and this afternoon got an email from email address removed for privacy reasons with the following content: But when I clicked on the 'Verify payment information' button I am redirected to a page with the following URL: https://admin.cloud.microsoft/Error/UnAuth?errorCode=100014 looking like this: This looks highly suspicious (Times New Roman font, URL with no top-level extension such as .com, unusual graphics). Is this legitimate or a phishing attempt? Now, when I try to login to admin.microsoft.com to check my account the same suspicious "Sign out and login with a different account" page pops up repeatedly.
Is there any solution to getting question names yet for a form submission in Power Automate?
It's been about 10 years now. Surely there is a solution to dynamically retrieve question names without needing a janky britttle workaround that may or may not work, not just IDs (get form response etc), without having to rely on a hard coded list of questions with answers inserted in against them.
How to move a cell value using an RTD formula (pulling in live updating data) when it changes?
Hi, I am using Interactive Brokers TWS trading platform and they supply a demo excel file that has RTD formulas to pull in a list of available live data trading prices such as Bid, Ask, Last, etc. The RTD connection does not allow you to pull in historical data for the trading prices mentioned above. What I am want to do is the following, if possible: The Last price traded for the MES Futures contract is pulled into cell F3 by using the following formula: I am currently connected to the TWS trading platform and the value in cell F3 is 4761.25 As soon as the markets reopen this value will change continuously. I want to be able to capture the price of 4671.25 that is pulled into cell F3 and move it down by one cell as it changes - for whatever number of cells I decide to capture. For example, if I decide to capture the Last 20 prices, then I want to populate the range F3 to F22. Once I can move the changing values into the cells below, I can then use conditional formatting to change the cell colors based on the criteria I use, which is my objective of the exercise. Thank You.Add-ins not working
Hi team, I am unable to use Add-ins. I have used two AI chatbots to troubleshoot and understand the issue, and I spoke to two Microsoft support people, the second of whom advised me to raise the issue here. I believe it to be a server-side issue as I tried to use https://marketplace.microsoft.com/en-gb/ to re-install the add-in that I need, and the first few times I tried I got a 502 bad gateway error. However, I now don't get this error but the problem still isn't solved as I can't use add-ins. I tried using my PC-installed copies of Word and Excel to use add-ins, and the online Word platform, and I get the same error every time - "We couldn't connect to the '{0}' catalog server". For a while I thought the issue might be because my country was incorrectly set to the US but I eventually managed to change it to the UK and the problem is not solved. I have troubleshot a range of solutions including to do with my internet connection and VPN - these don't seem to be the problem. Please help. Best wishes.
Tracking whether managers actually complete their review cycles on time
Every quarter our HR team has to chase managers who havent finished their performance reviews. Right now they literally track it in an Excel spreadsheet and send reminder emails manually. Its embarrassing honestly. We're an M365 shop and I feel like there should be a way to automate this or at least get some visibility into completion rates without it being a manual process. Whats everyone else doing?
Error message to say can't install add-ins (where ones I have stop appearing on toolbar)
Hi, I have an accountancy add-in for Excel which normally appears on my toolbar when I load Excel up. For some reason it wasn't there all of a sudden so tried to load it again as an add-in but just get an error message at the bottom of the screen to say that it can't be loaded and to try again later. Tried chatting with Microsoft Support who were no help at all and tried to blame it on the third party software not Excel until I tried loading other add-ins (including Microsoft ones) and get exactly the same message. Tried logging in and out of my account and shutting down and re-starting but to no avail. Any ideas/solutions would be most welcome! Thanks, DavidEntra ID Enables Blocking for Nested Security Groups
A new Entra ID feature enables the ability to block nesting for security groups. In other words, you can’t include other groups as members of a group. That might not sound important, but it is to those who manage permissions, especially when the time comes to figure out who exactly has access to something confidential. The new feature isn’t fully implemented yet, but it should be very valuable when it’s fully deployed to tenants. https://office365itpros.com/2026/08/03/blocking-for-nested-security-groups/Word add-in error
Hello, I am unable to open Word add-ins. The add-ins catalog opens normally, but when I try to add or launch an add-in, I receive this message: “We couldn't connect to the '{0}' catalog server for this add-in.” The issue affects more than one add-in, including Mendeley Cite, and I have also tested it with more than one Microsoft account. Connected Experiences are enabled, and I have already cleared the Office add-in cache. Is this a known Office Add-ins or AppSource connectivity issue? I would appreciate guidance on the next troubleshooting or escalation step. Thank you.PowerPoint NEW Image Editing Tools Explained — Remove Background, Upscale & Edit Images Instantly!
🚀 PowerPoint just received one of its most powerful updates ever! Microsoft has introduced a brand‑new built‑in image editing experience, allowing you to enhance visuals without leaving PowerPoint. In my latest YouTube video, I walk through all the new capabilities now rolling out in Microsoft 365, including: ✨ Remove background 🧽 Erase unwanted objects 🔄 Move elements inside an image 🔍 Upscale low‑resolution pictures ⚡ Auto‑enhance lighting & contrast 📝 Add or edit text directly on images All of this happens directly inside PowerPoint, making slide creation faster and more intuitive than ever. These features are now available on: 💻 Windows 🍎 Mac 🌐 PowerPoint for the Web If you work with presentations daily, this update is a real productivity boost. 📹 Watch the full breakdown and demo here ➡️ https://youtu.be/OZzfFi2qpAk Let me know what feature you find the most useful! 👇 #Microsoft365 #PowerPoint #Productivity #AI #Presentations #Microsoft365Insider #CreatorsUltraTax CS Cloud Hosting for Secure and Flexible Tax Operations
Accounting firms are increasingly adopting UltraTax CS Cloud Hosting to improve operational flexibility, simplify collaboration, and securely manage tax preparation workflows. As remote work continues to grow across the accounting industry, cloud-hosted tax environments provide firms with reliable access to applications and client data from virtually any location. One major benefit of UltraTax CS Cloud Hosting is enhanced accessibility. Tax professionals can securely log in to their accounting environment using laptops, tablets, or desktop systems without being restricted to a physical office. This flexibility allows accounting teams to continue working efficiently during busy tax seasons while supporting hybrid and remote work models. Another advantage of hosted UltraTax CS cloud solutions is improved data protection. Cloud environments typically include encrypted access, automated backups, multi-factor authentication, and disaster recovery systems to help protect confidential financial records and client information. Centralized hosting also minimizes the risk of data loss caused by local hardware failures or unexpected disruptions. Performance and collaboration also improve in cloud-hosted tax environments. Multiple users can work on tax files simultaneously, share information securely, and maintain better workflow coordination across departments or office locations. Centralized management additionally reduces the burden of maintaining local servers and handling frequent software updates. Scalability is another important factor for growing accounting firms. Businesses can easily expand storage capacity, add users, and support larger workloads without making major infrastructure investments. Apps4Rent offers reliable hosting solutions designed to support secure tax-preparation environments, remote access, and efficient accounting operations for firms using UltraTax CS. Overall, UltraTax CS hosting services help accounting firms improve productivity, strengthen data security, simplify collaboration, and support more efficient tax preparation operations in modern digital work environments.
Recent Blogs
- Help employees find the right people faster with Assistant relationship dataJul 29, 2026
- 4 MIN READWelcome to the July 2026 edition of What's New in Excel!Jul 28, 2026
