Microsoft 365 topics

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/

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!

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

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,

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

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/

How Permissions Creep Can Halt the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK

TonyRedmond — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 09:30:44 GMT

The Microsoft Graph PowerShell Command Line tools app is how people run Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK cmdlets. The app can suffer from permissions creep, meaning that over time, the app accrues a set of delegated permissions used by people to access different types of Microsoft 365 and Entra ID information. All is fine until an internal limit is reached, at which point authentication fails and some permissions must be pruned.

https://office365itpros.com/2026/07/23/permissions-creep-sdk/

Purview DLP Blocks Sharing Files with Specific Domains or Users

TonyRedmond — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 08:16:28 GMT

A new DLP rule is available to control sharing of SharePoint and OneDrive files with selected domains and email addresses. The new rule supports an allow list (permit sharing) and can also specify a deny list (block sharing). The user interface takes a little getting used to, but when everything is configured and SharePoint has had a chance to respond to the block, the rule works and any attempt by a blocked user to use a sharing link is refused.

https://office365itpros.com/2026/07/22/block-sharing-dlp-sharepoint/

Has anyone migrated from one Google Workspace to another after a company merger?

KastroMoff — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 12:19:51 GMT

Hi all,

Our company recently went through a merger and we now have two separate Google Workspace accounts that need to be consolidated into one.

I need to move everything across, emails, contacts, calendars and tasks, for all users without anything getting lost in the process.

Honestly not sure where to begin. Google's native tools seem limited for something like this and I don't want to start without a solid plan.

Has anyone gone through a similar consolidation? How did you handle it and is there anything you wish you had known before starting?

Which SharePoint Communication Site layout has worked best in your organization?

chavanshubham — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 11:36:54 GMT

Hi everyone, We're redesigning our SharePoint Online communication site and comparing different homepage layouts for HR, IT, Finance, and Corporate Communications.

I'd like to hear from the community: Which homepage layout has worked best in your organization?

Which web parts do you consider essential?

Have you found any design patterns that significantly improved user adoption?

Looking forward to learning from your experiences and recommendations.

Test discussion

chavanshubham — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 11:32:36 GMT

hello everyone, this is test discussion

Primer: How to Use JSON Batching to Speed up Graph Processing

TonyRedmond — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 09:16:41 GMT

JSON batching is one of the most effective ways to speed up the processing of Graph API requests. Although it might seem complicated, once you understand how batches are put together and submitted to the Graph batch endpoint, it’s not that hard. JSON batching is of particular interest to large Microsoft 365 tenants that might need to process tens of thousands of accounts, mailboxes, groups, and so on. All explained here, along with a PowerShell script to show how it’s done.

https://office365itpros.com/2026/07/21/json-batching-primer/

关于windows白板停止使用造成的问题

FLYPANDA999 — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 16:56:29 GMT

今天我打开Windows白板的时候，出现了提示即将停用，我目前可以导出为pdf或者图片还有压缩包，我想知道有没有办法在其他应用上继续进行编辑，最好可以用手写笔进行编辑

TRANSLATION

When I opened Windows Whiteboard today, a message appeared saying it will be discontinued soon. For now, I can export as PDF, images, or a compressed file. I want to know if there's a way to continue editing in other apps, preferably with a stylus.

Using User Assigned Managed Identities with Microsoft 365 Automation7

TonyRedmond — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 09:56:51 GMT

A user assigned managed identity (UAMI) is a secure method to authenticate with many important endpoints, including the Microsoft Graph. It’s like a system assigned managed identity (SAMI), but the big difference is that a UAMI is an Azure resource that isn’t tied to an automation account. It can be used in multiple areas of Azure and a UAMI might be a better option for large organizations that make extensive use of Azure resources.

https://office365itpros.com/2026/07/20/user-assigned-managed-identity/

What are people using to measure manager effectiveness across the org?

EmmaHastings — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 14:44:05 GMT

Our CHRO wants to start tracking how effective managers are, things like do they hold regular 1:1s, do they give timely feedback, are their team's goals on track. Right now we have zero visibility into any of this. We can pull some data from Teams usage reports but that just tells us who's chatting a lot, not who's actually managing well. Anyone found a tool or approach within the M365 ecosystem that gives you a real picture of manager effectiveness?

Edit/Mass Edit Powerpoint linked file addresses

captainbladej52 — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 05:03:29 GMT

As the title suggests I'm looking for a way to manually edit or ideally mass edit the address to linked files in powerpoint. For context I play several games where I need to keep track of what builds I have on which character, and sometimes their in-game inventory. Unfortunately the games don't really have the greatest inventory management for the in-game item side of things. In addition the only way sometimes to remember a character's build is to log onto that character and pull up their build page. With enough characters it can be pain remember what I have where even though I enjoy the games themselves. To get around some of the flaws I have powerpoints I use to keep track of certain things like inventory and build. One ppt may have photos of all the current builds for each character, another may have photos of their inventory and so forth. Certainly not ideal but once the initial setup was done, it's been fairly easy to maintain and I only have to update an odd photo here or there if something changes. Which brings me to my potential issue here. I've been keeping the ppts on a thumb drive along with the photos so I can have everything in one place. Recently the drive decided it was done and checked into that silicone repository in the sky and no longer works. Fortunately however I was able to move everything over to a newer drive before the old one finally checked out. While I was able to save my data, I also introduced 2 side effects I wasn't thinking of at the time in my haste to avoid losing everything.

When moving everything over I moved things over in batches to avoid taxing the failing drive too hard and placed each batch in its own folder to avoid copying the same thing more than once. So think something like Folder 1, Folder 2, Folder 3, and so on. To conserve on file size of the ppt itself I always chose the option of "Link to File" when inserting the photos to the slides instead of the basic "Insert" or "Insert and Link" options. This means 2 things, the drive location is no longer correct, and the folder location is no longer correct in the links. While I could in theory just change the drive letter and make the folder structure the same again, moving it in batches actually let me organize the raw photos better, but means I now need to correct the addresses for the ppts themselves since the old links no longer work. In the program I know we can go to Info, then press the Edit Links To Files button, and try to change stuff there. The problem is that I can only change one thing at the time there. On top of that if I press the Change Source button, it wants me to find the photo individually vs just chanting the text address of the photo. These wouldn't be issues if it was just a few photos we're talking about as I could just go in, relink by hunting each one and roll. However there are around 250 photos that I would have to do this for, and it would be very tedious. Plus the fact the previews don't work anymore either. (yes i'm one of those kinds of gamers)

So what I'm hoping you folks can help me with is a way to edit the text addresses manually for the links. Ideally in mass groups, but I can do it one at the time if I have to. For example let's say I have photo one and it's address looks like "D:\Game1\Character Group1\CharacterA\Build1\Photo1" on the old drive. What I want is a way to change it to say "E:\Game1\Batch1\Character Group1\CharacterA\Build1\Photo1" type of thing. Ideally I'm hoping for a way to change those addresses in mass. If I have to text edit them all one by one, that's still alot faster than having to hunt and relink each photo individually. Thanks in advance for any advice.

How to Create an Approval Workflow in SharePoint Online (Microsoft 365)

JohnNaguib — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 14:43:39 GMT

Managing approvals efficiently is one of the biggest challenges for organizations. Whether you’re approving invoices, purchase requests, leave applications, contracts, or company policies, relying on emails and manual follow-ups often leads to delays, confusion, and missed deadlines.

https://dellenny.com/how-to-create-an-approval-workflow-in-sharepoint-online-microsoft-365/

Activation failed

JonHunt — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 15:01:12 GMT

I have been running MS 365 on my Mac laptop for years with no issue. Suddenly I cannot save an Excel file. I saw the activation button, but activation failed with the code OxO....unknown cause. I cannot find any way to contact MS for support or chat. I checked on my desktop and I do have an active subscription. I am running Tahoe 26.5.2. Excel is 16.7.1. Any suggesstions.

Microsoft Word - Footnote remains on the original page after moving the original reference up

amsb — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 17:51:05 GMT

Issue

I encountered an issue in Microsoft Word where moving the original footnote reference to an earlier location in the document did not move the footnote itself. The footnote remained on its original page even though the reference had been moved.

This was particularly problematic because the same footnote was referenced multiple times throughout the document using cross-references.

Cause

The footnote is anchored to the original footnote reference in the main text.

In my case, Word had somehow lost track of that original anchor, so the footnote stayed on its original page while all cross-references continued to point to it.

Solution

Hold Ctrl and click the misplaced footnote reference. Word jumps to the original footnote reference in the main text.
Cut the original footnote reference (Ctrl+X).
Paste it in the correct location using Keep Source Formatting.
Press Ctrl+A, then F9 to update all fields.
Verify that:
1. the footnote has moved to the correct page,
2. the numbering has updated correctly,
3. all cross-references still work.

In my document, one footnote had previously lost its connection to the original reference, so its numbering did not update automatically. That one had to be repaired manually.

Important

Do not create a new footnote or copy the footnote text itself.

Move the original footnote reference in the main text. This preserves the existing footnote, its numbering, and every cross-reference that points to it.

I hope this helps someone else. It took me quite a while to figure out what was happening.