Recent Discussions
SMS code is not sent due to blocking
Hi! Sorry, I was using a translator to write this thread. About two weeks ago, I lost access to my Microsoft account. I haven't forgotten my password, and I haven't logged in from a new device—the system simply decided something was wrong and decided to send me an SMS code to verify my identity. I currently live in Russia and have a Russian SIM card. My government has blocked receiving SMS codes from foreign companies (WhatsApp, Telegram, Microsoft, etc.). I enter the last four digits of my phone number and click "Send Code," but then it says "This feature is currently unsupported." I've submitted recovery forms numerous times, but the account is very old and some of the information has simply been lost! I was barely able to contact a live person from Xbox support, and they opened a service request for recovery. The operator handling my issue completely ignores my messages. The only response he gave was that the form I sent him by email couldn't confirm my identity. He didn't even notice that I just needed a security code for the email address I used to REGISTER the account, as I couldn't receive an SMS code due to the political situation in my country. Today, I contacted a real Microsoft employee again, and he told me to write here because engineers often respond to messages and they can send me the code by email. Please help me. This account has no material value other than a copy of Minecraft. This account is precious as a memory and something that helped me through an important period in my life. Thank you for reading this thread.I built a free, open-source M365 security assessment tool - looking for feedback
I work as an IT consultant, and a good chunk of my time is spent assessing Microsoft 365 environments for small and mid-sized businesses. Every engagement started the same way: connect to five different PowerShell modules, run dozens of commands across Entra ID, Exchange Online, Defender, SharePoint, and Teams, manually compare each setting against CIS benchmarks, then spend hours assembling everything into a report the client could actually read. The tools that automate this either cost thousands per year, require standing up Azure infrastructure just to run, or only cover one service area. I wanted something simpler: one command that connects, assesses, and produces a client-ready deliverable. So I built it. What M365 Assess does https://github.com/Daren9m/M365-Assess is a PowerShell-based security assessment tool that runs against a Microsoft 365 tenant and produces a comprehensive set of reports. Here is what you get from a single run: 57 automated security checks aligned to the CIS Microsoft 365 Foundations Benchmark v6.0.1, covering Entra ID, Exchange Online, Defender for Office 365, SharePoint Online, and Teams 12 compliance frameworks mapped simultaneously -- every finding is cross-referenced against NIST 800-53, NIST CSF 2.0, ISO 27001:2022, SOC 2, HIPAA, PCI DSS v4.0.1, CMMC 2.0, CISA SCuBA, and DISA STIG (plus CIS profiles for E3 L1/L2 and E5 L1/L2) 20+ CSV exports covering users, mailboxes, MFA status, admin roles, conditional access policies, mail flow rules, device compliance, and more A self-contained HTML report with an executive summary, severity badges, sortable tables, and a compliance overview dashboard -- no external dependencies, fully base64-encoded, just open it in any browser or email it directly The entire assessment is read-only. It never modifies tenant settings. Only Get-* cmdlets are used. A few things I'm proud of Real-time progress in the console. As the assessment runs, you see each check complete with live status indicators and timing. No staring at a blank terminal wondering if it hung. The HTML report is a single file. Logos, backgrounds, fonts -- everything is embedded. You can email the report as an attachment and it renders perfectly. It supports dark mode (auto-detects system preference), and all tables are sortable by clicking column headers. Compliance framework mapping. This was the feature that took the most work. The compliance overview shows coverage percentages across all 12 frameworks, with drill-down to individual controls. Each finding links back to its CIS control ID and maps to every applicable framework control. Pass/Fail detail tables. Each security check shows the CIS control reference, what was checked, what the expected value is, what the actual value is, and a clear Pass/Fail/Warning status. Findings include remediation descriptions to help prioritize fixes. Quick start If you want to try it out, it takes about 5 minutes to get running: # Install prerequisites (if you don't have them already) Install-Module Microsoft.Graph, ExchangeOnlineManagement -Scope CurrentUser Clone and run git clone https://github.com/Daren9m/M365-Assess.git cd M365-Assess .\Invoke-M365Assessment.ps1 The interactive wizard walks you through selecting assessment sections, entering your tenant ID, and choosing an authentication method (interactive browser login, certificate-based, or pre-existing connections). Results land in a timestamped folder with all CSVs and the HTML report. Requires PowerShell 7.x and runs on Windows (macOS and Linux are experimental -- I would love help testing those platforms). Cloud support M365 Assess works with: Commercial (global) tenants GCC, GCC High, and DoD environments If you work in government cloud, the tool handles the different endpoint URIs automatically. What is next This is actively maintained and I have a roadmap of improvements: More automated checks -- 140 CIS v6.0.1 controls are tracked in the registry, with 57 automated today. Expanding coverage is the top priority. Remediation commands -- PowerShell snippets and portal steps for each finding, so you can fix issues directly from the report. XLSX compliance matrix -- A spreadsheet export for audit teams who need to work in Excel. Standalone report regeneration -- Re-run the report from existing CSV data without re-assessing the tenant. I would love your feedback I have been building this for my own consulting work, but I think it could be useful to the broader community. If you try it, I would genuinely appreciate hearing: What checks should I prioritize next? Which security controls matter most in your environment? What compliance frameworks are most requested by your clients or auditors? How does the report land with non-technical stakeholders? Is the executive summary useful, or does it need work? macOS/Linux users -- does it run? What breaks? I have tested it on macOS, but not extensively. Bug reports, feature requests, and contributions are all welcome on GitHub. Repository: https://github.com/Daren9m/M365-Assess License: MIT (free for commercial and personal use) Runtime: PowerShell 7.x Thanks for reading. Happy to answer any questions in the comments.
Conditional Formatting Duplicates in Two Columns
Hello, I have a spreadsheet where I track calls my office receives. I have a table that includes the date and name for each call. Sometimes calls are entered in the spreadsheet multiple times. I would like to create a conditional formatting formula that will flag if a name is entered twice in one day. Is there a way to highlight cells that are duplicated in two rows of a table? Thank you!
Technical Question: Is a Range argument passed to SUM as a Reference or an Evaluated Array?
Hi everyone, I have a technical question regarding the internal mechanics of the SUM function's arguments in Excel. Specifically, I’ve noticed that in the ODF (OpenFormula) specification, the argument is defined as a NumberSequenceList. However, I am unsure how Excel’s internal engine implements this. When a formula is written as =SUM(A1:B5), what exactly is passed to the function? I am trying to understand which of the following conceptual models is correct: Reference Passing: A Reference to the range A1:B5 is passed, and the SUM function iterates through the cells internally. Pre-evaluation: The range A1:B5 is Evaluated into a sequence (or array) of numbers before it is passed as an argument to the SUM function. I am authoring a technical manual and want to ensure I describe the relationship between cell references and function arguments accurately. Does Excel follow a similar abstraction to the ODF NumberSequenceList, or is there a different internal logic? Thank you in advance for your insights!
Storage Space for Windows Updates
Windows informs me that although the external USB drive has the capacity, I have insufficient space on my internal C: drive to initiate installing updates. 'Settings-System-Storage' shows 17.4 of 56.4GBs being used are for 'Installed Apps'. Opening 'Installed Apps' in 'Settings' identifies 55 apps and the storage space for most of them. These total under 2GB, which is a lot less than the 17.4 identified in 'Storage'. The apps for which storage space is not shown include Fotor Photo Editor and MS Edge (which I use) together with several MS 365 and OneNote apps (which I do not wish to use). Are these likely to be taking up the missing 15.4GB, or, are there other 'hidden' apps taking up the storage space that I would like to use for updates. If either of these are the case, how can I identify them and their storage capacity?Correlation Study with Filters
Dear Experts , I have a data like below( Attached worksheet) And want study the correlation between SNR[0~3], there will be 6 combinations as below:- I want make like this but with Filters/Slices for the "File.Name" & "SSB or TRS" & "Carrier Index", different colors for different Carrier Index(0 &1) Thanks & Regards Anupam ShrivastavaSharePoint Online Clamps Down on Company-Wide Sharing Links
Company-wide sharing links allow any authenticated user account in a Microsoft 365 tenant to access a shared file or folder. New settings are available to create an expiration policy for company-wide sharing links, with different values supported for SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business. The idea is to stop the potential for abuse of sharing links, including stale links that should not grant access to files and folders. https://office365itpros.com/2026/03/12/company-wide-sharing-links-limits/
Word Writing Problem
Hello, I am experiencing a problem with the web version of Microsoft Word on my Android phone and tablet. For about a week, I have noticed issues when typing in Word. After typing something and pressing the Enter key, the text I wrote sometimes disappears. In some cases, even though I press Enter, the cursor does not move to the next line and the words start overlapping each other. This issue occurs both when I use the on-screen keyboard and when I use a physical keyboard. I have tried several different browsers and devices, but the problem still persists. I also tested it with a different Microsoft account and the same issue occurred. What could be causing this problem, and how can I fix it?Copy and Paste Will Not Using the Destination Formatting
I am writing a book in Wood and will submit it to Amazon KDP, and I have set up the document per KDP guidelines. I am working on an English version and a Spanish version at the same time as two separate documents. The text is justified. Both documents have Normal/Modify settings set up exactly the same. The Fonts and Paragraph settings are exactly the same. I have gone into the Options/Advanced area of Word and played with all of the Cut, Copy, and Paste settings to try to fix my problem. But I can't figure out what is going on. I created the Spanish document by using Google Translate to take English paragraphs, translate them, and pasted them into the Spanish document The Spanish document is completed, and all of the formatting looks fine. So I already have paragraphs that are a certain size in the document, meaning they take up a certain number of lines. I am now editing the book using the English document. Something has changed with the Spanish document! If I make a small edit in an English paragraph, use Google Translate to deal with the edit and do a new translation, and then copy and paste that edited Spanish paragraph from Google Translate back into the same place as the original paragraph in the Spanish document, the words are slightly more compressed together, so the paragraph gets shorter! This happens if I even change just a single word in a paragraph, which has not really changed the length of the translation. The paragraph will become shorte by a half of a line, or a full line on long paragraphs. This is all becasue the words are being spaced slightly closer toegether now, versus when I originally crated the document. Also, when I start to do the paste, from Paste Option only get the option for "Keep Text Only." I don't get the multi-paste option box. Something has changed in my setup of Word from the time I created the original Spanish document, and what is happening now. I can't figure out why the formatting of the destination, or using merge formatting, is not working! It's making up it's own jutification spacing all of a sudden. I can't figure out why now a cut and pasted paragraph from Google Translate is making the spread between the words just slightly tighter. The latest thing I tried was Review/Language and choosing Spanish for the Spanish document, and that did not work. Any ideas? GordonRequest for Best Practices on Using Microsoft Agent 365
Hello Community, I am seeking guidance on best practices for effectively using Microsoft Agent 365. Specifically, I am interested in recommendations related to governance, security and access control, agent monitoring, and integration with Microsoft 365 services. If you have practical experience or proven approaches in these areas, your insights would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Mohammad Shohal BhuiyanAllow removal of "Copilot Suggestions" from right-click menu
I have been using Excel for decades and CONSTANTLY use the right-click menu for quick access to basic functions (e.g., "Insert"). Ever since "Copilot Suggestions" was added to the drop-down list, it always throws me off due to its placement. I have Microsoft 365 on Windows 11 Pro. I have searched for ways to remove this from appearing there and the result said "go to File > Options > Copilot and uncheck the 'Enable Copilot' box". However, when I attempt to do that, there is NO "Copilot" option available! PLEASE allow removal of "Copilot Suggestions" from the right-click menu OR at least the option to move it to the bottom (so it isn't in the way of things used ALL the time). I realize that Copilot is a great resource for many users, but I am confident in my Excel skills and in my ability to research/learn new skills the "old school" way, so I have little use for this feature now and would prefer to hide it.
Excel workbooks keep breaking
Hi All, Sorry if this is not the right place to ask, I'm new here. Since a couple of days, my Excel workbooks keep breaking. When opening specific files, Excel states the file needs to be repaired. Everytime certain formulas are being deleted and the values are just pasted as is. I haven't had any issues with these files in the past. Previously I used a license which I bought online via a third party. It seems the issues started after an update. I switched to a license which I bought directly from Microsoft. I did a clean installation, removed all the previous versions files but the issue still exists. For a couple of days I can open the files without problems. And then yesterday excel showed an update was available and excel had to be reopened. After doing so, the issues came up again. I have a Office Home 2024 License, Excel version 16.106.1, on macOS Tahoe 26.2. T.I.A
unpivot data and handle merged cells without using Power Query (Unpivot_Toolkit)
Hey, guys!! I’ve been working on a set of functional Excel Lambdas to solve a common headache: transforming "Wide" human-readable data into "Long" database formats without having to open Power Query every time. =UNPIVOT_PLUS(table, [no_of_cols], [no_of_headers], [attribute_names], [value_name], [remove_errors], [remove_blanks],[pad_blanks_with],[pad_errors_with]) Don’t worry about the full list, most use cases only require 5 arguments. I've included a table of default values at the end. Merged Cell Support: Automatically handles fill-down/fill-right logic for merged headers/columns. Bonus Helper: SPLIT_INJECT =SPLIT_INJECT(array, target_indices, delimiter, [ignore_empty], [match_mode], [pad_with]) It targets specific columns, splits them by a delimiter (like TEXTSPLIT), and expands the entire table horizontally while keeping all other columns perfectly stable. Optional arguments match TEXTSPLIT defaults. Feel free to tear this apart or adapt it for your own edge cases. I’d love to hear how you end up using it! You can grab both functions from my GitHub Gist https://gist.github.com/Medohh2120/f8553c149684e39bb499249e39f01017. Argument Description Default Behavior table The array or range of data to unpivot. Required argument (no default) [no_of_cols] Fixed left columns to keep as identifiers. 1 [no_of_headers] Top rows used as headers, handling merged cells. 1 [attribute_names] Header name for the unpivoted attributes . "Attribute" [value_name] Header name for the unpivoted values. "Value" [remove_errors] Excludes grid rows with formula errors. FALSE [remove_blanks] Removes grid empty cells and empty strings. TRUE [pad_blanks_with] Value to substitute for empty cells. Leaves cell blank [pad_errors_with] Value to substitute for errors. Leaves error as-is
3044 error in Access
I have two computers networked Windows 10 together and have moved to two new computers windows 11. I have also moved from Microsoft 365 to 2024 office professional plus. Everything seems to work on the new computers except one Access database. That file has a front and back built in. I get a 3044 run error and the data base will not open. The error says it can not find the data base. I think in the transfer the old computer may have a different name than the new, It appears that is the problem. In the network I can see both new computers, it seems they are set up correctly but that could be a problem as well. I simply do not know how to fix it. I hope someone here may have a solution.
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