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New Entra ID group device criteria scoping is missing from Cloud Update

lalanc01 — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 13:45:43 GMT

Hi, the New Entra ID group device criteria scoping is missing from Cloud Update.

Message center says that it should be GA late July, but here we are and it's still not there.

Is there a way to know when should we expect it to rollout for real?

Thks in advance and don't hesitate if you have any questions

Azure Tops $100 Billion As Microsoft Reports FY26 Q4 Results

TonyRedmond — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:42:32 GMT

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 the Microsoft 365 installed base, so there’s lots of room for Copilot to grow. Microsoft didn’t provide a number for Teams monthly active users, which is strange because no new data has appeared for 11 quarters. Among all the numbers, one thing’s for sure. The Microsoft Cloud makes lots of money.

https://office365itpros.com/2026/07/30/fy26-q4-microsoft-results/

Using the FILTER Function

Sue_G — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 16:44:35 GMT

I have a spreadsheet with a long list that I need to search to determine if a specific word or term is included in the list. In some cases, I want to search for part of the word or term, e.g., I may want to search for "Asset" but want to know all the terms where "Asset" is included, e.g., "Asset Management" would show up in my results as "Asset" is included in the term. I don't want to have to use FIND every time I need to search. I tried to set it up using the FILTER function, but I must not understand how it works, as I continue to get errors. Can you please suggest a way to best approach this? Is the FILTER function the best way, or can you suggest another option? Thank you.

Start ingesting Assistant data into Microsoft 365 with supported connectors

JyotsnaPuttaraj — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 16:03:20 GMT

Help employees find the right people faster with Assistant relationship data

Executive assistants in an organization play a critical role in coordinating schedules, communication, and executive operations. However, assistant information is often stored in HR systems or business applications and is not easily discoverable across day-to-day Microsoft 365 experiences.

Organizations can now ingest Assistant relationships from external systems into Microsoft 365. Once ingested, this information becomes part of the organization's people data and can be surfaced across Microsoft 365 experiences and Copilot.

Why This Matters

By bringing assistant relationships into your people data, employees can quickly identify the right contact for executive coordination, navigate organizational support structures more effectively, and gain richer organizational context within their daily workflows across Microsoft 365 and Copilot.

Assistant Information Across Microsoft 365

Copilot

Once Assistant data is ingested into Microsoft 365, Copilot can use this information to answer assistant-related questions and support common coordination workflows. For example, employees can ask:

"Who is X's assistant?"
"Who should I contact to set up time with X?"
"Who supports this executive?"

Image: An illustrative mock-up demonstrating how Assistant information is displayed in Copilot

Profile Cards

Assistant information is displayed on Profile Cards, making it easy for employees to identify and contact a leader's assistant while viewing the leader's profile.

Organization View

Assistant information is surfaced in Organization View, providing better visibility into organizational support structures and helping employees discover the right points of contact across the organization.

Getting Started

IT administrators can ingest Assistant information from external systems into Microsoft 365 using:

Custom people connectors Learn more
SAP SuccessFactors/ Workday connectors available in Organizational Data in Microsoft 365 Learn more.

Other People relationships

Assistant relationships are just one example of how Microsoft 365 is bringing organizational context closer to where people work. As organizations increasingly operate through matrixed teams and cross-functional collaboration, Microsoft 365 can support a rich set of workplace relationships—from reporting structures to dotted-line and custom relationships—helping people better understand how individuals, teams, and leaders are connected. Learn more.

Learn more/ Resources

Complete Microsoft 365 Security Checklist: Protect Your Business from Modern Cyber Threats

JohnNaguib — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 12:49:15 GMT

Microsoft 365 has become the backbone of modern businesses. From emails and file sharing to collaboration and cloud storage, organizations rely on it every day. However, as Microsoft 365 adoption grows, cybercriminals increasingly target it through phishing attacks, credential theft, ransomware, business email compromise (BEC), and data leaks.

https://dellenny.com/complete-microsoft-365-security-checklist-protect-your-business-from-modern-cyber-threats-2026-guide

Add a new Excel function: RANDSUM()

Rakshithc — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 08:41:39 GMT

Function:

=RANDSUM(total, rows, columns, type, integer, [min], [max])

Description:

Generates random numbers whose sum equals a specified total.

Examples:

=RANDSUM(10000,10,1,"Positive",TRUE)

=RANDSUM(10000,10,1,"Positive",TRUE,500)

=RANDSUM(10000,10,1,"Positive",TRUE,500,2000)

Benefits:

• Budget allocation

• Test data generation

• Sales target distribution

• Financial modeling

• Accounting

• Education

A sample working VBA code is below

Option Explicit Function RANDSUM(total As Double, _ rws As Long, _ cols As Long, _ numType As String, _ isInteger As Boolean, _ Optional minValue As Double = 0, _ Optional maxValue As Double = 0) As Variant Dim result() As Double Dim weights() As Double Dim i As Long, j As Long Dim n As Long Dim remain As Double Dim weightSum As Double Dim diff As Double Dim maxR As Long, maxC As Long Dim maxVal As Double n = rws * cols If n <= 0 Then RANDSUM = CVErr(xlErrValue) Exit Function End If ReDim result(1 To rws, 1 To cols) ReDim weights(1 To rws, 1 To cols) Select Case UCase(numType) '==================================================== ' POSITIVE '==================================================== Case "POSITIVE" If minValue < 0 Then minValue = 0 If maxValue > 0 Then If minValue > maxValue Then RANDSUM = CVErr(xlErrValue) Exit Function End If If total < n * minValue Or total > n * maxValue Then RANDSUM = CVErr(xlErrValue) Exit Function End If Else If total < n * minValue Then RANDSUM = CVErr(xlErrValue) Exit Function End If End If remain = total - n * minValue Randomize weightSum = 0 For i = 1 To rws For j = 1 To cols weights(i, j) = Rnd weightSum = weightSum + weights(i, j) Next j Next i For i = 1 To rws For j = 1 To cols result(i, j) = minValue + remain * weights(i, j) / weightSum Next j Next i '==================================================== ' NEGATIVE '==================================================== Case "NEGATIVE" result = RANDSUM(-total, rws, cols, "Positive", False, minValue, maxValue) If IsError(result) Then RANDSUM = result Exit Function End If For i = 1 To rws For j = 1 To cols result(i, j) = -result(i, j) Next j Next i RANDSUM = result Exit Function '==================================================== ' MIXED '==================================================== Case "MIXED" Randomize weightSum = 0 For i = 1 To rws For j = 1 To cols weights(i, j) = Rnd * 2 - 1 If Abs(weights(i, j)) < 0.000001 Then weights(i, j) = 0.001 End If weightSum = weightSum + weights(i, j) Next j Next i If Abs(weightSum) < 0.000001 Then weightSum = 0.001 For i = 1 To rws For j = 1 To cols result(i, j) = weights(i, j) * total / weightSum Next j Next i Case Else RANDSUM = CVErr(xlErrValue) Exit Function End Select '==================================================== ' Apply Maximum (Positive only) '==================================================== If UCase(numType) = "POSITIVE" Then If maxValue > 0 Then Dim changed As Boolean Dim excess As Double Dim r As Long Dim c As Long Do changed = False For i = 1 To rws For j = 1 To cols If result(i, j) > maxValue Then excess = result(i, j) - maxValue result(i, j) = maxValue weightSum = 0 For r = 1 To rws For c = 1 To cols If result(r, c) < maxValue Then weightSum = weightSum + 1 End If Next c Next r If weightSum = 0 Then Exit Do For r = 1 To rws For c = 1 To cols If result(r, c) < maxValue Then result(r, c) = result(r, c) + excess / weightSum End If Next c Next r changed = True End If Next j Next i Loop While changed End If End If '==================================================== ' Integer Output '==================================================== If isInteger Then diff = total For i = 1 To rws For j = 1 To cols result(i, j) = WorksheetFunction.Round(result(i, j), 0) diff = diff - result(i, j) Next j Next i maxVal = -1E+30 For i = 1 To rws For j = 1 To cols If result(i, j) > maxVal Then maxVal = result(i, j) maxR = i maxC = j End If Next j Next i result(maxR, maxC) = result(maxR, maxC) + diff End If RANDSUM = result End Function

DLP Prevents Microsoft 365 Copilot from Processing External Email

TonyRedmond — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 08:39:25 GMT

A new (preview) DLP capability allows Microsoft 365 tenants to block Microsoft 365 Copilot from processing the content of external email. When set, any message coming from a domain that’s not in a tenant’s accepted domain list is blocked for Copilot for grounding, referencing, or summarization. It’s an effective way of blocking threat like prompt injections transmitted in email too, but some people might not like blocking all their external email.

https://office365itpros.com/2026/07/29/dlp-external-email-copilot/

Extreamly frustrated that I cannot get help for a serious problem

GillRogers — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 08:10:37 GMT

What the devil do I have to do to get help with a serious problem with the cloud for our non-profit business account for our small charity. I have 'lost' sight of a large number of documents from the cloud since we had to start paying for our subscription. After many chats with ai and emails and the problem being escalated I have now been told to go back to where I started at Non-profit support and put a support ticket in. Doesnt matter what machine I use, what browser I use, what network I use, I cannot get past the submit form page and keep getting an error message - this has been going on for weeks now. Ive tried ringing and the call keeps dropping while on hold - no one, no-one will call me about the problem and no one seems interested in dealing with the problem and its not just affecting me on our system either.

Please will someone tell me how to get to a human for support without using an AI help system,

Is there any solution to getting question names yet for a form submission in Power Automate?

Daniel_Lee1 — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 03:39:00 GMT

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.

Hacked please help

Hamza298 — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 01:05:13 GMT

My Microsoft account was hacked today. The attacker changed my sign-in alias to a random Outlook address, removed my phone number, added their own Authenticator app, and changed the recovery email. My original email now says the Microsoft account doesn’t exist. I have the Microsoft security emails proving the changes. I also have other forms of proof. If there is any moderator or anyone who can help me recover my account I had some important stuff on there I would like to get back. It wasn't this email but another one I made this so I can ask for help. When I tried to recover the email they changed it as provided in the screenshots down below. I tried to call support and fill out recovery stuff but since they changed the email for the account there is not much I can do.

Microsoft Forms Ownership Transfer Redirects to DesignPagev2.aspx Instead of Loading Delegate Page

Anjo — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 23:32:46 GMT

I am attempting to transfer ownership of Microsoft Forms belonging to a former employee, but the transfer process is not working as expected.

The user account still exists in Microsoft Entra ID.

The account is disabled in Entra ID.

Sign-in is disabled in Microsoft 365 Admin Center.

The account is not hard deleted.

I am a Global Administrator.

I have a valid Microsoft 365 E5 license that includes Microsoft Forms.

When accessing the documented Forms transfer URLs using both the user's UPN and Object ID:

forms.office.com/Pages/delegatepage.aspx?originalowner=<UPN>

forms.office.com/Pages/delegatepage.aspx?originalowner=<ObjectID>

the request immediately returns an HTTP 301/302 redirect to:

forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/DesignPagev2.aspx

instead of displaying the Forms ownership transfer interface.

Could you please confirm:

What is the currently supported method for transferring Microsoft Forms owned by a disabled user account?

Is the legacydelegatepage.aspxownership transfer mechanism still supported, or has it been retired/replaced?

Is the automatic redirect toDesignPagev2.aspxexpected behavior in our tenant?

Are there any tenant-level settings, licensing requirements, administrator roles, or backend restrictions preventing the transfer interface from loading?

Can Microsoft verify whether the disabled user's forms are still available and eligible for ownership transfer?

How to add an "Average" line in a simple line chart

DRTE — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 19:37:43 GMT

I have a simple line chart showing monthly data for one year.

I want to show the annual average as a straight line from Jan through Dec.

How do I do That?

What's New in Excel (July 2026)

msexcel — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 17:50:50 GMT

Welcome to the July 2026 update. New this month for Copilot in Excel: inline citations, synced connectors, Power BI grounding, brand and theme design skills, and support for workbooks with AutoSave turned off.

Also new this month, two frontier models are now available in Copilot in Excel: OpenAI's GPT-5.6 and Anthropic's Claude Opus 5. Optimized for knowledge work and stronger multi-step reasoning, GPT-5.6 helps Copilot work through more complex analysis and get from task to outcome with less manual assembly. Opus 5 helps work through complex analysis with higher-quality modeling and more polished workbooks. You can choose the model that best fits your work right from Copilot in Excel.

Excel for Windows, Mac, and web:
- Copilot in Excel: inline citations
- Copilot in Excel: synced connectors
- Copilot in Excel: Power BI grounding
- Copilot in Excel: brand kit skill
- Copilot in Excel: theme design skill
- Copilot in Excel support articles

Excel for Windows and Mac:
- Copilot in Excel support for AutoSave-off workbooks

Excel for Windows, Mac, and web

Copilot in Excel: inline citations

Citations in are getting smarter and more actionable. Users can now easily validate Copilot responses through richer citation experiences, including deeper links to the exact content behind a response, improved source attribution, and ongoing work to unify citation experiences across work, web, and data sources from Copilot connectors. This helps you verify information and gain trust in Copilot-generated insights.

Inline citations in Copilot in Excel

Copilot in Excel: synced connectors

Synced Copilot connectors are now generally available in Excel. Bring your organization’s connected content - work items, tickets, database rows, CRM records, and docs - straight into the grid, then put Excel’s full analytical engine to work on it in natural language. We previously brought Federated Copilot connectors to Excel, pulling live data from providers like LSEG and Moody’s into the grid - and are expanding Copilot's abilities to search and ground your work data. Connect once, and it’s available everywhere across Microsoft 365, including right inside your workbook. Read more here >

Copilot in Excel: Power BI grounding
Copilot in Excel can now ground analysis in governed Power BI data, bringing trusted business metrics directly into the Excel grid. Users can attach a Power BI report from the work content selector, then ask Copilot to analyze performance, identify trends, and build summaries or supporting calculations in Excel. Copilot works with the underlying report data while respecting existing row-level security, eliminating the need to export data, manually copy and reconcile figures, or switch between Power BI and Excel. This feature is currently rolling out to production for Windows, Mac, and web. Read more here >

Copilot in Excel: brand kit skill
The brand kit skill enables Copilot in Excel to format your workbook with your organization's brand kit from the Microsoft 365 Brand Center, automatically applying your approved colors, fonts, and logo to tables and charts so every report follows your company's branding guidelines. Just use the "@brand-kit" skill and ask Copilot to brand your sheet and get a polished, on-brand, presentation-ready report, without manual formatting. Read more here >

Example of Zava brand kit skill applied to worksheet formatting.

Copilot in Excel: theme design skill
With the theme design skill users can now apply a coordinated design theme to their data, choosing a harmonized color palette, styling charts, and structuring the layout so your key insights stand out. Use the @theme-design skill and ask Copilot to design or polish your sheet and it delivers; ready formatting with clear visual hierarchy, turning raw data into a clean, readable report and saving you the manual styling work. Read more here >

Copilot in Excel support articles
With significant investment in Copilot in Excel in the last few months, we refreshed all our Copilot in Excel support articles to reflect the new state of the feature. The support articles showcase new additions, like personalization, rules, skills, and formula suggestion management. They also highlight the many ways you can use Copilot in Excel in your daily work, such as visualizing your data or using data from your SharePoint or OneDrive. Read more here >

Excel for Windows and Mac

Copilot in Excel support for AutoSave-off workbooks
Copilot in Excel is now available in more cloud-saved workbooks, including files where AutoSave is turned off on Windows and Mac. Previously, Copilot required AutoSave to be on, which meant some users could not use Copilot in otherwise supported workbooks. When AutoSave is off and the workbook has unsaved changes, Excel reminds users to turn on AutoSave before Copilot starts making changes, helping protect unsaved work. Users can still choose to continue with Copilot without turning on AutoSave. This feature is currently rolling out to production for Windows and Mac users.

Check if a specific feature is in your version of Excel

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Many of these features are the result of your feedback. THANK YOU! Your continued Feedback in Action (#FIA) helps improve Excel for everyone. Please let us know how you like a particular feature and what we can improve upon—"Give a compliment" or "Make a suggestion".  You can also submit new ideas or vote for other ideas via Microsoft Feedback.

Subscribe to our Excel Blog and the Insiders Blog to get the latest updates. Stay connected with us and other Excel fans around the world – join our Excel Community and follow us on X, formerly Twitter.

Special thanks to our Excel MVPs David Benaim, Bill Jelen, Alan Murray, and John Michaloudis for their contribution to this month's What's New in Excel article. David publishes weekly YouTube videos and regular LinkedIn posts about the latest innovations in Excel and more. Bill is the founder and host of MrExcel.com and the author of several books about Excel. Alan is an Excel trainer, author and speaker, best known for his blog computergaga.com and YouTube channel with the same name. John is the Founder & Chief Inspirational Officer at MyExcelOnline.com where he passionately teaches thousands of professionals how to use Excel to stand out from the crowd.

How to share calendar from Shared mailbox to mobile app

Luca_lrn — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 11:27:02 GMT

Hi,

In our organization, we have the following requirement: to create three calendars within a shared mailbox and make them visible to members on both PC and the mobile app.

On the PC, they are visible, but not on the Outlook app. On the app, we can only see the main shared mailbox calendar, not the three additional ones.

The goal is to visually distinguish the three types of appointments on the app. We tried using categories (tags), but the colors have to be reset for each member.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Displaying Time in hours

Lynda53 — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 10:55:40 GMT

I have a spread sheet where I record my work hours. Eg: 0700 (A2) - 1530 (A3) which equals 8 1/2 hours, then I take 30 minutes off for a lunch break, which leaves me with 8 hours. My formula is A3-A2-30 which brings up the result as 800.00. I have tried all different methods and formulas but I can't get the hours to show as 8.00. I then use the 8.00 hours in another formula to work out my pay for the day. Please help.

Data Lifecycle Management Adds Support for Planner Retention Policies

TonyRedmond — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 08:33:46 GMT

From August 2026, Microsoft 365 tenants can apply retention policies to Planner Tasks. We began our preparation to create a retention policy for Planner tasks by writing some PowerShell to test the likely effect of retention. The code scans Microsoft 365 Groups for groups with plans and checks each plan for tasks that would be removed by a retention policy. It’s amazing what some PowerShell can do…

https://office365itpros.com/2026/07/28/planner-tasks-retention/

Excel Print to .PDF Not Formatting as it Used To

EvaM — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 05:11:39 GMT

We use Excel for our PO forms. We have been using it for 20+ years. We have the Acrobat add-in in Excel, we then select as many sheets as we have pages to convert. Once in Acrobat, we bring in the background PO form and we have a digital PO.

Suddenly one of our computers had misalignment problems. The top part of the printed form looked great, but at about the 1/3 mark on the page it started to push down the words, pushing them out of the boxes that once worked perfectly.

This started with 1 computer - now we have 4 out of the 5 computers doing this.

This happened before the Windows 11 upgrades. The 1 computer that still works is on Windows 11, so we can't trace it back to that.

I have tested old Excel files that once worked - they no longer work on these 4 computers.

I have tried everything I know - resetting default fonts back to Calibri instead of Aptos - nothing seems to work.

This is a huge problem for us since it is the key to our work flow as a purchasing company.

We can't reformat the form because the 1 computer still works and for now - we need that computer otherwise, we would not be able to release any PO's.

I have been all over the internet trying to find a resolution - I even posted a question probably a year ago about this and never received an answer that worked.

We have had an IT specialist take a look at this. He believes it's Excel's problem because the MS .pdf printer shows the same problem.

We really need a resolution - this happened for what appears to us to be no logical reason.

Thanks.

Access Query Problem

JasonCanady — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 21:49:27 GMT

Good afternoon. I have been trying to track down a very strange error that my database has thrown for the first time ever... the query performs a complex math equation based on temperature, chlorine residual and pH time to compute the amount of time required to meet disinfection. This month the temerpature of the water has been historically high and the time required historically low. See the screenshot below.

The math is evaluating the time required is greater than the time achieved (which it is not). The query is pasted below. I have recreated the math in excel and cannot duplicate this error. It seems exclusive to Access.

When the formula evaluates as 10.0 the results are “YES” if the formula evaluates as 9.9 the result becomes “NO” but should be yes… Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Also, this post keeps getting flagged as SPAM... This is attempt number 5.. Fingers crossed.

PowerPoint 2021 crashes when saving .ppsm files containing ActiveX controls

Tzipirigu — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 18:39:21 GMT

Hello,

I believe I found a regression in recent Office 2021 builds.

PowerPoint crashes every time I try to save a macro-enabled presentation as PowerPoint Show (*.ppsm) if the presentation contains Microsoft Forms (ActiveX) controls, such as:

TextBox
ComboBox
CheckBox
etc.

Troubleshooting performed

Microsoft Support already assisted me through two remote sessions.

We tested:

Office license validation
Online Office Repair
New Windows user account
Registry checks
Windows services

None of these resolved the issue.

Reproduction

Create a new PowerPoint presentation.
Insert an ActiveX TextBox or ComboBox from Developer → TextBox.
Choose Save As → PowerPoint Show (*.ppsm).

Result: PowerPoint crashes.

Tested Office versions

Office 2602 (19725.20172) — Windows 11 21H2 — ✅ Works
Office 2606 (20131.20154) — Windows 11 25H2 — ❌ Crash
Office 2607 (20228.20110) — Windows 11 21H2 — ❌ Crash
Office 2607 (20228.20110) — Windows 11 23H2 — ❌ Crash

I reproduced the issue on three different computers.

The last known working build is 2602 (19725.20172).

The first confirmed failing build is 2606 (20131.20154).

Saving as .pptm works correctly. Previously created .ppsm files also open and save correctly. Only creating or converting a presentation to .ppsm triggers the crash. If needed, I can also provide a minimal sample presentation that reproduces the issue.

Thank you!

Problème de connexion

Leroilouis9 — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 18:24:18 GMT

J'ai utilisé Word Microsoft 365 durant des années, mais soudain j'ai un problème : après la création d'une nouvelle page, aucun texte ne peut être écrit. Mon clavier fonctionne bien. Quelqu'un sait comment faire?