Community FAQs articles

Aurora Update RSS feed work-around

Dylan_Snodgrass — Thu, 07 Nov 2024 19:09:24 GMT

With the new UI, RSS feeds are not supported. We understand from feedback that many of you use RSS feeds, so we are looking into enabling them in the UI. In the meantime, you can get your RSS feeds working again by editing the URL you are using today.

If you look at the old URL and after the tld: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com

Append /t5/s to the original link, then the old RSS should work for you.

Using the Exchange blog as an example you would change

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/gxcuf89792/rss/board?board.id=exchange

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/s/gxcuf89792/rss/board?board.id=exchange

This should assist for right now while we work on a more permanent solution.

How do I close my Microsoft Tech Community Account?

Allen — Fri, 12 Jan 2024 17:22:23 GMT

To close your Microsoft Tech Community account, you can follow these steps:

Go to the Microsoft Tech Community website and sign in to your account.
Click on your profile picture in the top-right corner of the page.
Select My Settings from the dropdown menu.
Click on the Privacy tab.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the Close Account button.
Follow the instructions to confirm that you want to close your account.

When you close your account all your posts will be anonymized and your profile will be removed from our system. You will be unable to login again with the same account for up to 72 hours.

Note: Once you have requested to close your account it can not usually be stopped and its not possible recover a deleted account. For this reason the steps to close your account require you to confirm this is your intend.

Closing your Microsoft Tech Community Account does not impact your access to other Microsoft Products or Services.

If you have any questions or concerns about this topic please contact our team.

Note: We can not assist you with queries relating to other Microsoft products or Services, please post these questions in the corresponding Community Hub or contact support.

Adding the Microsoft Tech Community to your safe senders list

Allen — Thu, 29 Feb 2024 15:34:45 GMT

Outlook 2016 and later
Outlook.com
Gmail
Yahoo Mail
Apple Mail

Outlook 2016 and later:

Open Outlook and go to the Home tab.
Click on the Junk dropdown menu and select Junk E-mail Options.
Go to the Safe Senders tab.
Click on the Add button.
Type in Notifications@CommunityHub.Microsoft.com and click OK.

Outlook.com:

Open Outlook.com and go to Settings (gear icon).
Select View all Outlook settings.
Go to Junk email > Safe senders and domains.
Type in Notifications@CommunityHub.Microsoft.com and click Add.

Gmail:

Open Gmail and go to Settings (gear icon).
Select See all settings.
Go to the Filters and Blocked Addresses tab.
Click on Create a new filter.
In the From field, type in Notifications@CommunityHub.Microsoft.com.
Click on Create filter.
Check the box next to Never send it to Spam.
Click on Create filter again.

Yahoo Mail:

Open Yahoo Mail and go to Settings (gear icon).
Select More Settings.
Go to Filters.
Click on Add new filters.
In the From field, type in Notifications@CommunityHub.Microsoft.com.
In the To field, type in your email address.
Click on Save

Apple Mail

Open Apple Mail.
Click on Mail in the top menu bar and select Preferences.
Click on the Junk Mail tab.
In the Junk Mail tab, click on the Add button.
Enter the email address Notifications@CommunityHub.Microsoft.com in the Email Address field.
Click on OK.

My name shows up as null null, why is this and how do I fix it?

Allen — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 14:43:54 GMT

Applies To:

All users where their name shows as "null null"

Roles Required:

Any

Occasionally when users register with the Microsoft Tech Community, their First and last names will show up as null null. This typically happens for one of a handful of reasons:

The first and last name fields of the identity provider have not been filled in.
A recently created account in AAD sometimes has not yet fully propagated to the Microsoft Graph API.
An error occurred during registration.

How to fix it?

For issue 1, the fix is to either go to your Microsoft Account page and enter the missing details or contact your Office 365 / Microsoft 365 admin and request they complete these details for you. Which of these options is appropriate for you will depend on if you're using a personal account or an account provided by your employer.

Once these details have been updated then use this login link, it will force the system to try to refresh your profile data from the Microsoft Graph.

For issue 2, the only option is to wait a minimum of 8 hours and then use this link to login.

Finally for issue 3, try using this login link to force a refresh and if it still doesn't work - see below.

Further help

Ok, so you have tried all of the above and it is still not working? then you can email the Microsoft Tech Community Team and we will usually get back to you with in 1 business day*.

When you do contact us please provide the following information:

Name:

e-mail address you are trying to register with:

Link to your profile:

Any additional details or comments:

*The Microsoft Tech Community Team are not available during US Holidays.

I have received an email from the Microsoft Tech Community, is it legitimate?

Allen — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 17:09:03 GMT

Updated: September 20th, 2024

Applies To:

Community Notificiations

All email notifications from the Microsoft Tech Community are delivered from the email address Notifications@CommunityHub.Microsoft.com.

We will never ask for personal information, or to confirm your account or password via email. Also, although links from the Microsoft Tech Community will always point to websites owned by Microsoft, as a community forum where users can post content, we would encourage you to treat any emails with links with caution.

If you are unsure, feel free to send your email to the Microsoft Tech Community Team and we will be happy to validate it.

Please note, our team can only help with issues you maybe having with the Microsoft Tech Community itself. If you have a product support question please either post in the correct forum or contact https://support.microsoft.com

Why should I join the Microsoft Tech Community?

Christine Karambelas — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 21:03:38 GMT

Question

Why join the Microsoft Tech Community?

Answer

The Microsoft Tech Community is a public community where Microsoft employees, product superfans, MVPs, IT Pros, and tech enthusiasts share tips & best practices about Azure, Microsoft 365 and more. The Microsoft Tech Community provides cutting edge product news, an opportunity to share feedback on Microsoft products, invitations to events, how-to guidance, and a platform for collaborating with other technologists.

Become a member of the Microsoft Tech Community to discover and discuss technology solutions with Microsoft engineers, acquire new skills, learn from innovative product use cases, give and receive technical guidance, and enjoy support and encouragement from other technologists.

Browse a Community Hub – We have over 80 Community Hubs, focused on Microsoft Products and Special Topics.
- Collaborate with peers, Microsoft MVPs and Microsoft Professionals in a discussion space.
- Get help and responses to questions and feedback from Microsoft Product teams and MVPs.
- Join AMA (Ask Microsoft Anything) events to ask questions and provide feedback directly to Microsoft product teams. Our AMAs are one-hour online forums. See upcoming AMAs on our home page.
- See the latest news, product feature updates, and how-to guidance in blog posts.
- Share product improvement ideas in an idea space.
Get product training and certifications with Microsoft Learn. Check out the Microsoft Learn tab on our home page. Share your learning experiences and get the latest updates in the Microsoft Learn Community.
Find more information and resources about the Microsoft Tech Community in the Community Lounge.

Tagging users - etiquette

EricStarker — Tue, 27 Apr 2021 16:51:36 GMT

So, there’s been some discussion and confusion about tagging other users in forum posts. While we do not have any absolute rules about this, I’d like to clarify a few things about when and when it is not appropriate to tag a user.

If you respond to a post, you will automatically tag the original poster. While you can remove this tag, it’s not the same as intentionally adding a tag and doesn’t really apply to this etiquette document.
When you do decide to tag a user, think about why you are doing so. Here are a few tips along those lines:

If you are responding to a thread that already includes that user, they will see the response regardless of a tag.
If you are in a space managed by Microsoft employees, such as Edge Insiders, no need to tag them as they are already monitoring that space, and probably your post.
If you need to reach members of our Tech Community team, it’s much more efficient to email us at techcommunity@microsoft.com which is our official support mechanism, than to tag us in posts.
If the product has a support channel located elsewhere, better to reach out to that support channel as tagging a Microsoft employee will not guarantee you a timely answer.
If a user indicates they would rather not be tagged, please respect their decision and don’t tag them in the future.

We do not have a rule against tagging other users but we recommend doing so with caution, Give users the chance to respond, as a tag can come across as “poke, are you still there?” Think of tagging as a last resort or emergency mechanism if you have an inquiry without a response for a long period of time (over a week) or a time-sensitive emergency.

If you have any questions or concerns about these guidelines, feel free to reach out to our team at techcommunity@microsoft.com.

I'm having trouble with Microsoft Tech Community. What's the best way to reach out?

EricStarker — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 17:43:45 GMT

While our aim is to provide you with a perfect, trouble-free, smooth experience in the Microsoft Tech Community, realistically, we know that's not always possible. So what's the best way to reach out?

Here are a few scenarios and the best way to handle each one.

Someone posted a spam message.

On the right side of the message, there's a drop-down arrow with options. Click "Report Inappropriate Content," and offer the context (indicating it's spam). Our team reviews these posts on a daily basis and will consider and remove any messages we confirm to be spam.

Someone is being abusive or rude.

Similarly as per above, "Report Inappropriate Content" is your best bet in this scenario. Please note we have a Code of Conduct if you have any doubt about whether content is appropriate.

I'm having technical issues with the community.

Reach out to techcommunity@microsoft.com and we'll be able to help you.

I have general questions about Tech Community.

If you have questions about the Tech Community or elements of it, we recommend posting in our Community Discussion space.

I have some ideas on how to improve Tech Community.

We have a Community Ideas board where we track suggestions and feedback. This is the best place to submit it as we'll take into consideration suggestions based on amount of upvotes and interest.

What not to do:

Please don't escalate any conflict. If someone is being abusive or rude, please report it and let us handle it.

Please do not tag individual Microsoft employees in posts or comments. If a Tech Community thread has gone dormant for a significant period of time unanswered (a thread which requires one), feel free to reach out to techcommunity@microsoft.com and we can do our best to reach out to the appropriate team.

Thanks! Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

How to change my community identity? (username & full name)

EricStarker — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 14:56:57 GMT

Changing Your Username

You can update your username at any time by selecting your avatar in the top-right corner of the Microsoft Tech Community and navigating to My Settings.

Alternatively, you may use the direct link below:

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/mysettings/personal

Usernames must meet the following requirements:

Between 4 and 40 characters in length
May include letters (a–z, A–Z), numbers (0–9), underscores (_), or hyphens (-)
Must be unique across the community

Note: Usernames containing spaces or periods (.) are no longer supported.

Changing Your Full Name

Your full name is automatically synced from your Microsoft account and cannot be edited directly through the Microsoft Tech Community website.

If you use a personal Microsoft account

Update your name using the following link:

https://account.microsoft.com/profile/edit-name

After updating your name, sign back into the community using this link:

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/plugins/common/feature/oauth2sso/sso_login_redirect

If you use a work or school (Azure AD) account

Your name is managed by your organization. Please contact your IT administrator and ask them to update your name in the Microsoft 365 User Admin center.

Once your organization updates your details, sign back into the community using the link below to refresh your profile:

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/plugins/common/feature/oauth2sso/sso_login_redirect

Can I merge or transfer the account I use to login to the Microsoft Tech Community

EricStarker — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 16:20:52 GMT

I am using my employer's credentials to login to the Microsoft Tech Community but I am moving employers. Can I take my account with me?

Unfortunately, that's not possible. We're unable to change the email address on your account since your work owns the original email address.

I'd like to change my email address on my account from one personal account to another (Outlook.com, etc.)

This is possible. You'll need to create a second account with the new email address, which will allow us to capture some login information to apply to the first account.

Once you've done this, email our team at via the page and we can sort it for you.

Contact Us

Allen — Thu, 20 Feb 2025 17:21:37 GMT

We only can assist with the Microsoft Tech Community here, not any other communities.

If your question is about the Dynamics community, please go to this page: https://aka.ms/D365CommunitySupport. For the Microsoft Support Community, please contact Microsoft Support.

Please note we cannot help you with product specific questions. Please post your query in the relevant community or contact Microsoft Support.

Have feedback or ideas for the Microsoft Tech Community community experience? Let us know in the Community Discussion space!

You can contact us via email or via our X channel here.
We will reply to all queries relating to the Microsoft Tech Community within 2 business days.

Queries related to Microsoft products, services, accounts or other communities may not be answered and you should direct your query to one of the channels above

What is my User ID?

Allen — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 16:31:10 GMT

From time to time you maybe asked to join closed communities, to help us add you quickly you will be asked to provide your Microsoft Tech Community User ID.

To find your Microsoft Tech Community User ID follow these steps:

Login to the Microsoft Tech Community
click your profile image in the top right (inside yellow box in image below)
Next click My Profile (inside the green box on the image above)

Your User ID is the number at the end of the URL you have now landed on.

(Example: my profile is: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/10784 and so my User ID is 10784)

Yours should take the same format.