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Allen

Community Manager

Joined Sep 09, 2016

1741 Posts992 LikesLikes received100 Solutions

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Re: Issue with registering attendance for Tech Community event
Thanks for the suggestion, actually what we want to do is remove the 'organizer' field which has the same net effect. Unfortunately this is a bug that was not detected in QA for the previous release and we plan to have fixed shortly. Thanks for taking the time to share this with us, it helps us validate and make a better community for all!
Apr 10, 2026 Place Tech Community Discussion
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Re: Renaming multiple files at the same time
You can do this natively within windows using Microsoft PowerToys, you can read more about it here: Microsoft PowerToys - Windows Utilities for Power Users | Microsoft Learn. This is a 1st party utility and can be downloaded directly from Microsoft.
Apr 09, 2026 Place Windows 11
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Re: Posts/Answers not appearing- submitted but not visible to me and other users
Hi Marcel_Graewer, Sorry for the inconvenience its likely your posts were just waiting for our team to review them. Glad your sorted now.
Apr 08, 2026 Place Tech Community Discussion
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Re: Windows 7 home premium iso download for 64 bit and 32 bit
We appreciate the helpful contributions shared in this thread. To keep the discussion aligned with our community guidelines, please note that posts linking to third‑party asset hosting of discontinued Windows ISOs will be removed.
Mar 30, 2026 Place Windows Insider Program
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Re: Can we get more guidance and feedback on the moderation being done on the messages
Good afternoon everyone, Firstly, thank you m_tarler it’s clear you invest real time helping others, and it’s completely understandable that it feels discouraging when a reply appears to “vanish” with no explanation. On transparency: we can share the broad shape of how moderation works, but we generally avoid publishing the specific “signals” or thresholds that drive moderation decisions. That’s simply to help protect the community and keep the platform resilient against spam and abuse patterns. (In other words: we want to be transparent without making it easier to game the system.) Thank you Surya_Narayana for the thoughtful response — you covered the key point well: moderation is a combination of automated protections and human review, and certain content can be held briefly in a review queue before it appears. To address Hornblower409 point: the Microsoft Learn Q&A site and the Microsoft Tech Community are separate properties, with different operating models and moderation implementations — so issues seen there don’t always map 1:1 to what’s happening here. Where I completely agree with you all is the lack of feedback/visibility when something is held for review. That gap can create exactly the behaviour you described — duplicate posts, because people reasonably assume the first attempt failed. We take that seriously, and we’re actively looking at how we can improve the user experience and communication around “held for review” states in upcoming sprints. On attachments for newer accounts: this restriction is primarily a security safeguard. File upload is a permissioned capability (for example, “new community member” style restrictions can apply, and capabilities like file/link/video posting are granted via roles/permissions). We also grant file upload automatically to Microsoft employees and to community members once they’ve established some history/rank on the platform. We do keep the balance under review, and your suggestion about file size/type constraints is a reasonable one — but for now, the current approach remains in place because it reduces risk to the broader community. Finally, combating spam and security threats in online communities is a bit like keeping antivirus definitions up to date: it’s continuous, adaptive work. We’re also working on better ways to leverage AI to reduce how often legitimate posts require manual review, so that human reviewers can focus on higher-risk content and (ideally) speed up review times for everyone. Thanks again for raising this and for continuing to contribute your expertise to the Microsoft Tech Community. Allen Smith Administrator
Mar 20, 2026 Place Tech Community Discussion
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Re: MFA reset needed - lost phone and access to account with it
Hi Straume I’m really sorry you’re experiencing this. I understand how disruptive and stressful this situation has been, especially given this is your sole Microsoft 365 business account and is critical to keeping your business running. Unfortunately, issues related to account access, multi‑factor authentication (MFA), and tenant ownership verification can’t be resolved through the Microsoft Tech Community forums. Community members and moderators don’t have access to customer accounts and aren’t able to reset authentication methods, validate ownership, or intervene in sign‑in or security‑related scenarios. In cases like the one you’ve described — where access to a Microsoft 365 Business tenant is blocked due to lost Microsoft Authenticator access, and there are no other administrators available — the only supported recovery path is through Microsoft’s official support channels. What to do next (official Microsoft support) Contact Microsoft Support directly using the Microsoft 365 support experience: Start here: https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/admin/get-help-support Or use regional phone numbers listed here: https://support.microsoft.com/topic/customer-service-phone-numbers-c0389ade-5640-e588-8b0e-28de8afeb3f2 When contacting support, clearly state that this is: A Microsoft 365 Business / work account A tenant administrator sign‑in issue A multi‑factor authentication lockout And that you are the only Global Administrator for the tenant Microsoft Support will guide you through their secure recovery process, which may include validating domain ownership and billing information before access can be restored. For security and privacy reasons, this process can only be handled by Microsoft directly. I know this isn’t the outcome you were hoping for here, but I don’t want to send you down a path that can’t actually restore access. The forums simply don’t have the ability to help with account recovery scenarios like this. I genuinely hope you’re able to get this resolved as quickly as possible through Microsoft Support. Also a word of caution, if you get any one on the community via a post or a DM requesting you send documentation or any form of payment please immediately report it. Allen Smith
Mar 17, 2026 Place Tech Community Discussion
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Re: Outlook Templates Using Content Controls
Sue_G Thanks for posting, unfortunately the community lounge is for questions about the Microsoft Tech Community. I will move your post to the Outlook Community, hopefully someone there will be able to assist you with your query. You could also post in the Microsoft outlook support community, which maybe better suited to help.
Mar 17, 2026 Place Outlook
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Re: How to open a formal engineering-grade problem report?
lou1234 There are a few ways to report bugs with Access: 1. Use the in app product feedback function Assuming you can open the app then do so and click the feedback button under the file menu or the person with a speech bubble at the top right next to your profile picture 2. Provide feedback via a post in the Feedback Portal Go here: Microsoft Access · Community and post your feedback (login requird). 3. go to https://m365.cloud.microsoft and click the three dots in the top right and click send feedback. You can also reach out to support via https://support.microsoft.com but it sounds like you have already been this route.
Mar 14, 2026 Place Tech Community Discussion
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Before you post - No Product Support Questions Please
The community lounge is a place for you to you provide feedback about the Microsoft Tech Community (https://techcommunity.microsoft.com). Please use the community directory to find the correct place to post about Microsoft Products / Services. Off topic posts may not be answered and maybe removed.
Mar 12, 2026 Place Tech Community Discussion
community
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Re: Getting to the right page to "Start a discussion"
This is a great question Hornblower409 and one I am happy to answer for you. The first link: Community Lounge | Microsoft Community Hub This is the category for the Community Lounge, it contains not only discussions, blogs, Events and KBs. We call this the community hub. Its essentially a page which provides an overview of all that is happening in that space. The second link: Tech Community Discussion | Microsoft Community Hub This is the link to the discussion board, or forum if you will. This is where normal community members can post and ask questions about the Community. That said, we hear you that its not always easy to figure out how or where to post and so we will shortly be introducing a Start a discussion button on the homepage and every category page which will help you choose where to post. Eventually we plan to augment this with AI to both help answer basic questions already answered and to help community members find the best spot to post.
Mar 12, 2026 Place Tech Community Discussion
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Re: Email hacked - I lost total access
fiandrade , Unfortunately account hacking or take overs can only be handled by the Microsoft Support Team, you would that that journey here: How to recover a hacked or compromised Microsoft account - Microsoft Support The problem maybe is its going to push you to the form, it sounds like, you have already filled in. There is an option on that link near the bottom to speak to a support agent. You may want to try that. Hope your able to get it sorted
Mar 12, 2026 Place Tech Community Discussion
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Re: How to open a formal engineering-grade problem report?
lou1234 , Thank you for posting, unfortunately who ever advised you this was incorrect. The Microsoft Tech Community is not a bug reporting or support platform. Which product are you trying to report a bug in and I will try to see if I can suggest some next steps for you that isn't simply "Contact Support". Allen
Mar 12, 2026 Place Tech Community Discussion
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Re: Can not use URL https://support.microsoft.com ?
It has been flagged for moderator review, which we are running a little behind with today. I have approved your post
Feb 25, 2026 Place Tech Community Discussion
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Re: Can not use URL https://support.microsoft.com ?
Hornblower409 , I edited your original post but will investigate this next week.
Feb 14, 2026 Place Tech Community Discussion
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Re: Entra ID hacked
junaiditd , Thank you for posting, unfortunately this is not the correct route to raise this request. The Microsoft Tech Community is not an official support channel for Microsoft and we are not equipped to be able to handle the kind of private data exchange you would need to get into this. Please follow the steps here: Find help and get support for Microsoft Entra - Microsoft Entra | Microsoft Learn and if your still stuck please make a post on Microsoft Q&A. Thanks
Feb 12, 2026 Place Tech Community Discussion
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Re: Why do you allow simple user questions in TechCommunity that should be in Q&A?
Thanks for raising this — it’s a fair question and one we do look at regularly. Microsoft Tech Community and Microsoft Q&A serve different but overlapping purposes, and that overlap is where some of this confusion comes from. Why user questions appear in Tech Community Tech Community is primarily intended for discussion, announcements, best practices, and peer‑to‑peer conversation around Microsoft products. However, it is also an open community platform, and many users arrive via search engines or product links without understanding the distinction between Tech Community and Microsoft Q&A. As a result: Some users post support‑style questions in Tech Community because that’s where they landed first. Some topics (like Outlook behaviour, UI changes, or configuration quirks) sit in a grey area between discussion and support. We deliberately avoid over‑restricting posting, as that tends to block genuine community engagement and first‑time contributors. Where appropriate, posts may be guided, moved, or redirected to a more suitable forum, but this is done selectively rather than automatically. On Q&A Assist and subject‑matter moderation You’re correct that Microsoft Q&A has: Dedicated subject‑matter moderators Q&A Assist and tooling that is optimised for troubleshooting and definitive answers For clearly support‑focused questions, Q&A is often the better place to get a fast, authoritative response. That said: Tech Community relies on community expertise and visibility, and many questions do get answered quickly by knowledgeable members. Not all product‑related questions are purely “support” issues — some benefit from broader discussion or shared experiences rather than a single accepted answer. We actively encourage users (and moderators) to redirect posts to Q&A when that will lead to a better outcome. What we aim to balance Our goal is to balance: Keeping Tech Community focused on discussion and knowledge sharing Ensuring users are not blocked or discouraged from asking questions Helping questions land in the best place to get answered, rather than simply closing or deleting them We appreciate feedback like this, and it helps inform how we continue to improve guidance, routing, and education for users across both platforms. If you spot posts that would clearly be better suited for Microsoft Q&A, flagging them or suggesting the alternative forum in a reply is genuinely helpful — both to the user and to the community overall.
Feb 11, 2026 Place Tech Community Discussion
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Re: Power Automate question - help needed.
DJBoyTino , Thank you for your post, unfortunately this area of the community is for asking questions about the Microsoft Tech Community, not about Microsoft's Product's and Services, further we don't have any community hubs for power automate as they have their own community. You would be better to post your questions here: https://community.powerplatform.com/ Thanks
Feb 09, 2026 Place Tech Community Discussion
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Re: Before you post - No Product Support Questions Please
Thanks for the report, as you can see by the fact there is no pull down next to your reply it means there are no replies to show, thus the Show More button shouldn't be there. I have added this to our bug backlog for further investigation. Thanks for posting
Feb 03, 2026 Place Tech Community Discussion
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Re: Before you post - No Product Support Questions Please
in the Excel discussion board
Feb 02, 2026 Place Tech Community Discussion
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Re: How can we automate a process to insert the Purview links in Dedicated SQL pool tables
MallikarjunAppani , Thanks for posting in the Microsoft Tech Community Lounge, this is a space to ask questions about the Microsoft Tech Community and we are unable to assist you with product questions here. I am happy to move this to which ever community is the most suitable, I am unsure though if its a question for the Purview Team or, perhaps more likely, one of the SQL Communities. As your an MCT its also possible you were asking other MCTs and thus it should be in the MCT Lounge. Let me know and I will move it accordingly.
Jan 30, 2026 Place Microsoft Purview
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