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TonyRedmond
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Entra ID Rationalizes Session Revocation for User Accounts
Microsoft is rationalizing the options to revoke sessions for a user account in the Entra admin center by removing an old revoke MFA sessions button. That seems like a perfectly reasonable thing to do. When administrators want to revoke sessions for an account, the best way is to create a PowerShell script to perform the necessary steps. That way you don’t need to worry about buttons. https://office365itpros.com/2026/01/09/revoke-sessions-button/14Views0likes0CommentsPriority Cleanup for SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business Is Generally Available
Priority cleanup is a Microsoft Purview solution that allows tenants to remove items even when the items are subject to retention hold. That sounds like Priority cleanup goes against the nature of data governance, but sometimes it's more important to remove items than to keep them for their full retention period. This article explains how Priority Cleanup works and some of the important concepts that you need to master before removing anything. https://practical365.com/priority-cleanup-for-sharepoint/26Views0likes0CommentsMicrosoft Cancels Exchange Mailbox External Recipient Rate Limit
After considering customer feedback, Microsoft cancelled the mailbox external recipient rate limit for Exchange Online. The idea behind the new limit was simple – it makes life more difficult for spammers to use Exchange Online as a platform. Unhappily, customers didn’t like losing the ability to send relatively small amounts of external email for different reasons, and Microsoft didn't have a cost-free alternative to offer. C’est la vie. https://office365itpros.com/2026/01/08/mailbox-external-recipient-rate/31Views0likes0CommentsTeams Delivers a Slack Migration Tool
Microsoft announced the availability of a Slack to Teams migration tool in the Microsoft 365 admin center. The new tool exists to assist the 79 million monthly active users of Slack who might want to move to Teams and don’t know how to get there. ISVs have been helping people move off Slack to Teams for years, so other migration options exist. https://office365itpros.com/2026/01/07/slack-to-teams-migration/A Quick Look at Purview Data Security Investigations
During the quiet holiday period, I tested the new Purview Data Security Investigations (DSI) solution, which seems to be put together from bits of Microsoft 365 together with Security Copilot and some generative AI. Assembling new solutions from existing components makes sense because it reduces engineering effort. Without real data, it's hard to know how effective DSI is, but the cost of an investigation came as a real surprise. https://office365itpros.com/2026/01/06/data-security-investigation/38Views0likes1CommentSharePoint Online Dumps Legacy Compliance Features
MC1211579 (3 January 2026) announces the retirement of four legacy SharePoint compliance features in favor of Purview Data Lifecycle management and Records management. It’s always unsurprising when Microsoft chooses to remove old features developed for on-premises and replaces them with better online options, which is exactly what’s happening here. Some tenants might face additional licensing requirements for Purview. https://office365itpros.com/2026/01/05/sharepoint-compliance-legacy/127Views0likes0CommentsTeams Admin Center Simplifies External Collaboration
Microsoft is rolling out a UX update for the Teams admin center to make it easier to manage external collaboration settings. The new UX doesn’t introduce any new features. Instead, its goal is to hide some of the policies and settings complexity that sometimes afflicts the Teams application. It’s a good change, even if it probably won’t make much difference. https://office365itpros.com/2026/01/02/external-collaboration-tac/52Views1like0CommentsRe: Announcing Office 365 for IT Pros (2026 Edition)
January 2026 Update for Office 365 for IT Pros Monthly Update #127 for the Office 365 for IT Pros eBook (2026 edition) is now available for current subscribers to download from Gumroad.com. In this note, we explore some of the options the writing team is considering for the next edition of the book. Microsoft 365 doesn’t stop changing, so it makes sense for the best Microsoft 365 book available today to change to reflect new developments. https://office365itpros.com/2026/01/01/office-365-for-it-pros-127/32Views0likes0CommentsTraining People to Use Microsoft 365 Copilot Effectively
A LinkedIn post explained how the UK Revenue and Customs authority train 30,000 people to use Microsoft 365 Copilot effectively. It’s a reminder that introducing complex software to a user community takes careful planning and support, including the provision of well-planned training to help people exploit the new software as quickly as possible. Otherwise some of those expensive licenses might be wasted. https://office365itpros.com/2025/12/31/microsoft-365-copilot-training/39Views0likes0CommentsThe Exchange EnforcedTimestamps Mailbox Property
While examining mailbox properties, I noticed that the EnforcedTimeStamps property held some information that I just couldn’t explain. Google search was no help, but Microsoft Copilot told me that the information related to the management of compliance holds. Basically, the data are guardrails to help the Managed Folder Assistant do the right thing, which is nice, even if no documentation exists. https://office365itpros.com/2025/12/30/enforcedtimestamps/41Views0likes0CommentsHow to Report DLP Alerts
MC1169572 announces that administrators can add classifications to DLP alerts to help with reporting. But how do you report DLP alerts? As it turns out, it’s relatively easy to retrieve DLP alerts via the Microsoft Graph Security API, and using the Get-MgSecurityAlertV2 cmdlet from the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK makes it even easier to find and report the data. https://office365itpros.com/2025/12/29/dlp-alerts-report/18Views0likes0CommentsMicrosoft Graph PowerShell SDK V2.34 Makes WAM the Default
The Web Account Manager (WAM) authentication broker becomes the default method for handling interactive Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK connections from V2.34 onwards. The rapid release of a new version (V2.33 appeared 12 days beforehand) is usually a sign of a big problem, but in this case the reason is more likely to be a security vulnerability that’s just come to light. We’ll find out after the holidays. We've released V19.1 of the Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell eBook (the advantage of ePublishing) to keep track with developments. https://office365itpros.com/2025/12/23/web-account-manager-graph-sdk/156Views0likes0CommentsRe: Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell Second Edition
Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell Update 19 Update #19 of the Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell eBook is now available. Subscribers can download the updated PDF and EPUB files from Gumroad.com. A paperback version is also available, but we can’t update the print characters. In any case, a new SharePoint create Site API is in beta, and a new version of the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK is available. Both have their moments, as we discuss here. https://office365itpros.com/2025/12/22/automating-microsoft-365-19/41Views0likes0CommentsMicrosoft Tenant-to-Tenant Migration Orchestrator
Microsoft has launched a tenant-to-tenant migration orchestrator solution in public preview to migrate mailboxes, OneDrive accounts, and Teams chat between tenants. ISVs have been active in the T2T space for a long time. They probably won’t welcome the new Microsoft offering, but at least the migration orchestrator legitimizes the concept of tenant-to-tenant migration. https://office365itpros.com/2025/12/19/tenant-to-tenant-orchestrator/54Views0likes0CommentsRemoving Retention Holds from Exchange Mailboxes
A new Exchange Online feature allows administrators to remove multiple types of holds from mailboxes (usually inactive mailboxes). It’s a great way to release holds that might be keeping inactive mailboxes lingering in a tenant. The feature doesn’t remove holds used to retain items required for eDiscovery or other compliance purposes. Even so, this is definitely a feature that needs to be carefully tested. https://office365itpros.com/2025/12/18/remove-retention-holds/SharePoint Online Expands Version Expiration for Audio and Video Files
Microsoft is launching version expiration policies in SharePoint Online for audio and video files. The approach is the same as used for intelligent versioning of Office files stored in SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business and can be configured at the tenant, site, and document library level. If your tenant uses Clipchamp, this could be a way to save expensive SharePoint storage. https://office365itpros.com/2025/12/17/version-expiration-policy/83Views0likes0CommentsOlder Versions of Exchange ActiveSync Clients Get the Bullet
Exchange Online will require email clients to use Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) V16.1 to connect from March 1, 2026. Email clients that use older versions of EAS won’t be able to synchronize with Exchange Online to upload outbound messages or download messages, attachments, and calendar items. There should be relatively few clients using an old version of EAS, but it’s wise to check. https://office365itpros.com/2025/12/16/exchange-activesync-161/48Views0likes0CommentsMicrosoft Baseline Security Mode Rolls Out
Microsoft has released a set of security benchmark recommendations for Microsoft 365 tenants that it calls baseline security mode. The recommendations cover authentication, file access, and Teams and the idea is that these are settings that Microsoft believes have proven their value over the years. The only criticism that you might have is about the potential clash for conditional access policies, but that’s not too serious. https://office365itpros.com/2025/12/15/baseline-security-mode/121Views0likes0CommentsMicrosoft to Enable Anthrophic Models by Default
After the fuss around the initial introduction of the Anthrophic models into Microsoft 365 in September, we learn that Microsoft will enable access for all in January 2026. It would have been so much better had Microsoft said that they were working on the data protection arrangements with Anthrophic, but that didn’t happen. Is all well now? We’ll see in January… https://office365itpros.com/2025/12/12/anthrophic-models-m365/33Views0likes0CommentsTesting the MCP Server for Enterprise
The MCP Server for Enterprise is one of a set of preview servers released by Microsoft to show how MCP servers can help Microsoft 365 tenants get real work done. I’m sure things will improve, but the current state of the preview is that it can do a splendid job to answer simple questions, but once things get more complex, don’t depend on any of the PowerShell code the server generates. https://office365itpros.com/2025/12/11/mcp-server-for-enterprise/34Views0likes0Comments
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