Microsoft 365 topics

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.

Microsoft to Stop Providing Telephony-Based Authentication Methods for MFA in February 2027

TonyRedmond — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 09:08:14 GMT

In an important announcement for all tenants, Microsoft revealed that Entra ID will no longer provide SMS one-time codes or voice calls for MFA challenges after February 1, 2027. Tenants can continue to use telephony-based authentication methods after that date, but only by purchasing a service from a telecom provider. This is arguably the biggest change in Entra ID authentication since mandatory MFA for administrative interfaces – and we have a PowerShell script to help identify the affected accounts.

https://office365itpros.com/2026/07/14/entra-sms-one-time-code/

SharePoint 2013 to 2026: Why Legacy Migrations Are Still the Backbone of IT

JohnNaguib — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 14:39:11 GMT

Technology moves fast, but enterprise systems rarely do. While organizations eagerly adopt cloud platforms, AI-powered tools, and modern collaboration solutions, many still rely on legacy systems that have quietly supported business operations for years. One of the most common examples is SharePoint 2013.

https://dellenny.com/sharepoint-2013-to-2026-why-legacy-migrations-are-still-the-backbone-of-it/

How to Identify Obsolete SharePoint Online Sites with PowerShell

TonyRedmond — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 10:08:11 GMT

Microsoft 365 has been around for many years, and it’s likely that a tenant has some obsolete SharePoint Online sites. The LastModifiedDateTime property is an unreliable basis to make the decision because background processing can update the property. This article explains how to identify obsolete sites based on usage data extracted from the Microsoft Graph. Combining the usage data with basic site properties taken from SharePoint creates a report that should help administrators to figure out what sites they should consider removing.

https://office365itpros.com/2026/07/13/find-obsolete-sites/

User agent : ODMTADemand-Transform_Zip

pro_takingnotes — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 08:31:13 GMT

Hello guys,

I’m investigating a SharePoint/OneDrive alert and noticed the following user agent:

"""ODMTADemand-Transform_Zip"""

I found information about OneDriveMpc-Transform_Zip/1.0 being related to ZIP downloads from SharePoint/OneDrive, but I can’t find anything specific about ODMTADemand-Transform_Zip.

Does anyone know what this user agent is used for? Is it a legitimate Microsoft backend process, and is it related to ZIP generation/download operations in SharePoint or OneDrive?

Google Workspace sender stuck at SCL=5 to all Microsoft-hosted recipients

2fast2legal — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:19:09 GMT

Sending email from a new domain via Google Workspace. All mail to Microsoft-hosted recipients (both Outlook.com consumer accounts and Microsoft 365 Exchange Online tenants) is being routed to junk. Authentication passes perfectly on every message. This appears to be a domain reputation cold-start issue and I am looking for guidance on how to resolve it without waiting 2-4 weeks. Affected recipients are all Microsoft-hosted recipients tested (Outlook.com consumer + Microsoft 365 Exchange Online tenants). Please help me!!!

Confirmed via X-MS-Exchange-Organization-SCL: 5 and delivery header dest:J;OFR:SpamFilterAuthJ;RF:JunkEmail on all test emails including ones with normal subject lines and body text. Content makes zero difference to the score.

What has already been done:

SPF hardened from ~all to -all
DMARC upgraded from p=none to p=quarantine
IP confirmed not listed on Microsoft's delist portal (sender.office.com)
Domain confirmed not listed on Spamhaus DBL or SURBL
Domain registered with Google Postmaster Tools
JMRP enrollment attempted — not available to Google Workspace senders as SNDS requires IP ownership
Outlook.com Postmaster support request submitted

Power Apps + Excel Online: RFC 3339 Date/DateTime Format Error When Patching to Excel Date Columns

Rr__ — Sat, 04 Jul 2026 12:25:06 GMT

Hi everyone,

I need help with a Power Apps canvas app connected to an Excel workbook stored in SharePoint/OneDrive. The app is a warehouse inventory system using Excel tables as the data source.

The app has these Excel tables:

tblSKU

tblLocation

tblInventory

tblTransactions

The main issue is with date fields when using Patch() from Power Apps to Excel.

Error Message

I keep encountering this error:

Expected value "" to be valid RFC 3339 'date-time' format. Allowed ISO 8601 format(s): 'YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ssZ', 'YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss+hh:mm', 'YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss'.

This happens during receiving / issuing / stock count transactions when patching to Excel.

Date Columns Involved

In tblTransactions, I have:

DateTime

TransDate

ProductionDate

ExpiryDate

In tblInventory, I have:

ProductionDate

ExpiryDate

LastUpdated

These columns are formatted in Excel as Date or Date/Time.

Current Patch Logic

I already changed my formulas to stop saving formatted text like this:

DateTime: Text(Now(), "dd mmm yyyy")

TransDate: Text(Today(), "dd mmm yyyy")

ProductionDate: Text(dpProductionDate.SelectedDate, "yyyy-mm-dd")

ExpiryDate: ""

Now I am trying to patch real date values instead:

DateTime: Now(),

TransDate: Today(),

ProductionDate: If( IsBlank(dpProductionDate.SelectedDate), Blank(), dpProductionDate.SelectedDate ),

ExpiryDate: If( IsBlank(varExpiryDate), Blank(), varExpiryDate ), LastUpdated: Now()

However, I still sometimes get the RFC 3339 error.

Sample Receiving Patch

Here is the relevant part of my receiving button:

Patch( tblTransactions, Defaults(tblTransactions), { TransID: Text(GUID()), DateTime: Now(), TransDate: Today(), Type: "RECEIVE", SKU: varSKU.SKU, Barcode: varBarcode, Description: varSKU.Description, Category: varSKU.Category, UOM: varSKU.UOM, LotNo: Upper(txtLot.Text), ProductionDate: If( IsBlank(dpProductionDate.SelectedDate), Blank(), dpProductionDate.SelectedDate ), ExpiryDate: If( IsBlank(varExpiryDate), Blank(), varExpiryDate ), Location: drpLocation.Selected.LocationCode, Qty: Text(Value(txtQty.Text)), User: User().FullName, Status: "POSTED", Remarks: "" } )

Expiry Date Calculation

The expiry date is calculated based on SKU shelf life:

Set( varShelfLifeDays, IfError( Value(varSKU.ShelfLifeDays), 0 ) ); Set( varExpiryDate, If( varShelfLifeDays > 0, DateAdd( dpProductionDate.SelectedDate, varShelfLifeDays, TimeUnit.Days ), Blank() ) );

Related Issue

In galleries and labels, Excel sometimes returns date values as serial numbers, for example:

46192

So I had to use formulas like:

Text( DateAdd( Date(1899,12,30), Value(Text(ThisItem.ExpiryDate)), TimeUnit.Days ), "dd mmm yy" )

This works for display, but I am still unsure about the correct way to patch date/date-time values back to Excel.

Any guidance would be very much appreciated.

Thank you.

Word for iPad cannot edit documents marked as “Recommended Reading” in Windows

FerVF — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 12:02:59 GMT

I have a Word document created in Windows that was saved with the “Recommended Reading” option. When I open it in Word for iPad, the file is locked in reading mode and there is no option to switch to editing mode.

Word Online can edit the document without any issues, so it seems that the limitation affects only the Word app for iPad.

This appears to be a recent limitation, since the document could be edited without any issues a couple of months ago.

Is this a known limitation in Word for iPad? Is there any way to remove this flag from the iPad or force editing mode without having to return to Windows?

Thank you.

Getting Azure Blob Storage icon in Visio

DataQue — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 08:34:39 GMT

Hi,

Is there a way to get Azure Blob Storage icon in Visio? It is strange that there's Block Blob, but not Blob storage.

Thanks,

Cheryl

Best way to run pulse surveys inside Teams?

NorahFromHR — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 05:07:41 GMT

I’m looking for a lightweight way to run recurring pulse surveys directly in Teams. Forms works fine for basic questions, but follow-up, reminders, anonymity, and reporting become manual pretty quickly. Curious what others are using for short employee check-ins or sentiment surveys inside the Microsoft ecosystem. Or am I not using Forms to its full potential?

How do you roll up individual goals into department or company goals in M365?

ClaireB — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 05:05:06 GMT

We’re trying to manage goals across teams using Microsoft 365, but the structure gets messy fast. Individual goals live in different places, and it’s hard to see how they connect to department or company-level objectives. With Viva Goals out of the picture, has anyone built a clean way to roll up goals in M365, or is this something better handled with a dedicated OKR/performance tool? (I honestly wouldnt want to use something third party and much rather keep things in MS 365)

Multi-day all-day event in Bookings calendar does not block staff availability (single-day works)

nutrilemobs — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 17:50:03 GMT

I've found a reproducible issue with Microsoft Bookings staff availability blocking.

Scenario: One of my staff members went on vacation. To block her availability without removing her hours, I created an all-day event directly in the Bookings calendar covering her entire vacation week.

Problem:

- When I create a single-day all-day event → her time slots are correctly removed from the booking page.

- When I create a multi-day all-day event (covering the full week) → her time slots still appear as available on the booking page.

Expected behavior: A multi-day all-day event should block availability the same way a single-day event does.

Is this a known bug? Is there a fix or ETA?

Does CSPP Support Microsoft Copilot

Jordan3 — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 14:21:02 GMT

We are working on an integration with Microsoft's Cloud Storage Partner Program and already started getting questions on Copilot support. Does CSPP support using copilot in the Microsoft for the web editors? I wasn't able to find anything mentioning it in the documentation for CSPP or CSPP+.

Cant start microsoft word

wordproblem — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 13:05:34 GMT

Hello,

I am having problems with microsoft word. When I open the software then it says word couldnt start last time. Safe mode could help you troubleshoot the problem, but some features might not be available in this mode. Do you want to start in safe mode?

I tried to press both buttons but after that I only get the starting icon of word and then nothing happens. I tried to reinstall microsoft 365 and I tried to repair it but it did not help. I also tried the changing temple the normal.dotm file but it did not help. Now i deleted the file and I dont have it anymore. I also tried a few things on the registry side where you made changes to the word registy but like removing addins and options and adding the shellchanching thing to registery but it did not help. I tried to do some system scan on cmd and it did some repairs but in the end it did not help. Is there anything else that I can try. I feel like I have tried everything possible way that I have found on internet. Is my only option to just reinstall my windows and then start from beginning. Will reinstalling windows even work? I need word for my work and I cant realy wait for too long. I am using windows 11 and I am pretty sure my word version is 16. I also tried to use some other microsoft softwares and excel has the same problem. It first did open but after few seconds it closed and then I got the same message. Microsoft acces seems to work fine. Everything else works in my computer.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/word/how-to-troubleshoot-problems-that-occur-when-you-start-or-use-word

I did try these methods and it did not work.

Any help?

Cost Savings In Microsoft 365

John Gruber — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 11:51:48 GMT

Long story short, I had a client say, "We have more M365 licensed users than employees. Please help us find them."

It took me about a week to find all the waste (first time always takes forever). Now I've run the same steps for a dozen other clients (takes less than an hour now). On average, I've been able to save clients 22% of their budget.

Thought I'd share exactly how I do it.

There are 5 areas of waste in Microsoft 365:

Remove licenses from disabled users.
Remove licenses from inactive users.
Downgrade licenses on over-licensed users.
Stop paying for unassigned licenses.
Redefine the license terms.

NOTE: I have the steps using the admin center, PowerShell, and a third-party app, but it's too long to re-post in Reddit. Go to Microsoft 365 License Audit to see all the steps.

Find Disabled Users

Log in to the Microsoft 365 admin center.
Users > Active Users > Export > Continue.
Open the spreadsheet.
In the Home Ribbon, click Sort & Filter > Filter
Click the dropdown in the Licensed column > uncheck Unlicensed > click OK
Click the dropdown in the Block credential column > uncheck FALSE > click OK.

Find Inactive Users

NOTE: You need to either have a Microsoft Entra P1 license or use a third-party app to get this data.

Open Microsoft Entra Admin Center
Users > Manage view > Edit columns.
Remove, replace, or add so the only columns you can see are: Display name, User principal name, User type, Identities, Assign licenses, and Last interactive sign-in time. Click Save.
Click Download users > Start bulk operation
Wait for the success pop-up message to appear, then click the notification bell at the top of the page. Under the notifications menu, click Success!, and then select the [report name].
Open the downloaded spreadsheet.
Click Sort & Filter > Filter to enable the column filters.
Click the drop-down in the assignedLicenses column. Uncheck any empty options, i.e., []. Click OK.
Click the drop-down in the signInActivity column. Click Sort A to Z.
Any users who have an empty signInActivity or a sign-in that was over 30 days ago can be safely disabled, and the license removed after the data is properly secured.

Find Downgradable Users

Review the report located on the website, then click Export.
Open the CSV in Excel.
Next, download the Microsoft 365 apps spreadsheet by going back to Reports > Usage and clicking View More located under “Active users - Microsoft 365 Apps”
Review the report and click Export.
You can start by deleting everyone that you’ve already determined hasn’t logged on or is currently disabled.
Add the filter by clicking Sort & Filter in the home ribbon > Filter.
Add a column for Current Licenses.
Copy the licenses from the How To Use The Admin Center To Find Inactive Users spreadsheet you downloaded earlier into the new column. Be sure to align the user names in both spreadsheets.
Add a column for Microsoft 365 Apps.
Copy the Last Activity Date column from the Pro Plus Usage report you downloaded above in step 7 into the Office 365 app usage spreadsheet you’ve been using. Be sure to align the new data with the appropriate users in the Office 365 app usage report.
For each of the following columns, click the drop-down next to the column name and filter out any logins that have happened in the last month.
OneDrive Last Activity Date
SharePoint Last Activity Date
Skype For Business Last Activity Date
Yammer Last Activity Date
Team’s Last Activity Date
Microsoft 365 Apps
The users who have not been filtered out are excellent candidates for Exchange Online-only licenses. You may want to double-check their usage of other apps before making any license changes on their accounts.

Find Unassigned Licenses

Open the Microsoft 365 admin center.
Click Show All > Billing > Licenses.
On that webpage, you’ll see a list of all your licenses in your organization, along with a column labeled “Available Licenses”.
Any number above 0 in the Available Licenses column is typically safe to remove from your organization with two caveats. Some licenses aren’t assigned to users through the Microsoft 365 admin center.

NOTE: Some licenses are consumed as they are used. For example, additional storage licenses for SharePoint Online may show as available, but removing them will decrease the amount of free space available in SharePoint Online and possibly cause a disruption to SharePoint Online usage.

Redefine The License Terms

Microsoft adjusted its pricing model, charging different rates for the same license based on commitment terms, billing frequency, or sector-specific eligibility.

The subscription length
Billing Frequency

Go to the Microsoft 365 admin center
Click Billing > Licenses > Select the license you want to review.
Click ellipsis (…) next to the subscription > Manage subscription settings.
You can view the billing settings right on this page.

Techcommunity Follow email notification no longer working

JelleSmeets — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 11:32:32 GMT

Hello,

Not sure if this is the right place to post this issue but I could not find another method to report this issue..

As an Exchange Admin in our invironment it's very usefull to stay up to date on the latest new posted in a variety of blogs on this website (Exchange Blog, M365 Blog, ...)

This all went well until a few months ago where I started noticing I didn't receive any weekly updates anymore regarding new blogposts & tried to manually go check periodically, thinking it would be a temporary system.

After investigation i've noticed that i'm not the only admin in our company that no longer receives these emails from email address removed for privacy reasons.
So I wonder if something bigger is up or if it's only my company being affected, not receiving these follow notifications anymore?

Is there any other way that I should report this issue, to those managing this website so it can be investigated in detail if it's only us?

Already tried to unfollow/delete follows in my profile - save - follow again, same on the respective blog pages, but this does not seem to change anything.