A Method to track current and upcoming changes to M365 Products
Good evening (from Ireland at least), I've spent most of today traipsing down a variety of dead-ends and soon-to-be-discontinued features looking to create a useful location where I can find/send all new updates to products that I can peruse and ultimately highlight ones that may be of particular importance in my organisation. I've had a long chat with Copilot today and while I've made significant progress in some areas (had upwards of 30 great questions according to Copilot! ;P), when it comes to the final product, there's always some missing connector, or some RSS feed that is no longer supported. What I'm looking for here is any input on how you manage to stay ahead of changes and I'll share everything I'm doing and have learned as well, in the hope that the discussion is somewhat mutually beneficial. What I do: Message Centre: Manually check the Message Center (under Service Health in M365 Admin Center). You can sort by product here and by relevance which is quite handy. Link: https://admin.cloud.microsoft/?#/MessageCenter (Access to the M365 Admin Center on your tenant is required for this). Today I found out you can also send emails to yourself (and Teams channels) here so awaiting the next message to see if this has worked. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a way of migrating past messages over so I'll have to go through these myself first. Road Maps: These have been the bane of my day. Currently, I actively check the road maps of the products I manage but going forward, I'd like to be able to track major changes to products used in my organisation so I can give users a heads up. I initially tried Power Automate to send updates to myself, however, it's not a feature widely used in our org yet and isn't well supported, so I wasn't too surprised when my efforts were blocked by existing policy. Not long after, I found RSS feeds, which seemed to be the answer to my problems. I created RSS Feeds for each of the Road Maps that I found useful, assured by Copilot that these would work. The assurance wasn't fell founded however as, true to form, once I showed Copilot by errors, they remembered that they were there all along! :') I'm yet to find a useful solution here beyond my current efforts so any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Community Blogs The final recommendation was these Community Blog posts which, to be fair, I've had immense success with to date. However, there is a slight issue with filtering. While I did finally get the RSS Feed to work on something (the Tech Comm M365 RSS Feed), it did then proceed to send me a mass of emails on every topic under the Sun & Moon. I've decided to return to the drawing board tomorrow with this, but I'm content in knowing that RSS isn't just a myth at least. I think what I'd like here is just to receive notifications when approved Blogs are posted (i.e., Monthly OneDrive Updates and the equivalent for other products). OneDrive Office Hours: This is a fansastic resource I do use every month as it gives you the opportunity to get in contact with the people who know the most about the product and the issues you're facing. I've spent weeks in a ticket before, only to raise it in one of these meetings and get a solution that took half an hour to set up. You'll get a yes or a no, but at least you'll have an answer. Copilot Chat: I don't have the full Copilot license because I haven't had a need for it yet. Everything I've wanted to do, I've been able to do in Copilot Chat. We haven't yet looked too much into Agents, and as a Public body, aren't going to rush into it until we know it's viable and can be supported. In the interim, I'm happy to test the waters with Copilot Chat asking it for Monthly Summaries on a variety of products, time frames, etc. It isn't perfect but it's faster than I am. It can find the sources for me and I can take it from there. As an organisation, we'll be pushing out all users on the most recent version (-1) on the Monthly Enterprise Channel. This means that they'll be supported whilst also being shielded from any brand new features. Our team will be on the most recent version and will be able to note any upcoming changes ahead of time. These are what I'm using so far but would be very grateful for any further input. Thanks in advance, Chris Martin
Migrating from Google Workspace with Multiple Domains
I am interested in switching from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 for Business. For context, I just use this personally, but enjoy the custom email and control over my account. I want to switch over because the only product that I use is Gmail, and pay for an additional Microsoft 365 subscription. While I won't be saving any money, or the savings will be negligible, it would be nice to have everything in one ecosystem. I've looked over how to migrate just one domain, and that seems fairly straight forward. However, I am wondering how feasible it would be to transfer multiple domains, and to switch my primary domain. Below is the structure of my current Google Workspace domains: - domain1.com | This is used as my primary domain that I log into. Also serves as my primary email. - domain2.com | Used as an additional email alias for different purposes. Not used for logging in. - domain3.com | Used as an additional email alias for different purposes. Not used for logging in. If I wanted to keep domain1.com as my primary domain, I assume that I would do the standard migration and then add domain2.com and domain3.com as additional email aliases. However, I want to switch my primary domain in Microsoft 365 to domain2.com. Is there any way to migrate emails from Google Workspace that's on domain1.com --> domain2.com via Microsoft 365 and make domain2.com the primary domain? I know that this is a lot, so please ask for clarification if needed. Thanks!
No labs for MB-500 in skillable and xtreme labs (for all MB series)
Hi, From past few months, we are unable to find the labs for MB-500. It's causing us trouble to do the trainings. Skillable and Xtreme labs providers are saying there is a problem from Microsoft end only. Kindly advise us when can we get the labs available.
What is the best way to collaborate between two organizations with Teams?
Hello, I have a Microsoft 365 Business Standard account, and I am the administrator (currently, my Microsoft 365 organization only has one account, mine). I want to configure my Teams account to collaborate with members of another organization who also use Microsoft 365 Business. I have tried several solutions, without success. My goal is to be able to chat online, schedule and organize virtual meetings, and share documents online with members of the other organization via Teams. What is the best way to set up simple and intuitive collaboration between two organizations using Microsoft 365 Business? Thank you in advance for your help.Microsoft 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/Third-party access via Organisational Link
Hi, Previously when logging into my personal account on a Web Browser, it flashed up with what is the typically an organisational message about an IT administrator. After being ping-ponged back and forth from the Microsoft Support teams, it's been suggested there is an organisational link with my personal email account, which absolutely should NOT be the case. My concern is if someone has linked my email with an organisational account, then they are privy to a lot sensitive information from personal finances to healthcare (this has also correlated with some odd behaviour on certain devices). The agents that I have spoke to have not yet provided me with a viable solution to removing any links to an organisational account, nor getting a list of any organisations or entities that have been linked to my personal account. Does anyone have any ideas as to a way around this? Many thanks.Replying to emails from M365 Outlook group
A problem I am stumped with, so I am reaching out for some help/guidance. One group wants to not have the emails going into their own inbox but manage and reply only from the group inbox itself (so they know the email has been processed by deleting it once replied). It worked OK to begin with and then some users couldn't reply, then more. Some still can. I have tried reindexing local copy, using browser instead of app & changing the send on behalf of permissions. Owner or member of group doesn't seem to make a difference. Error messages include "This message can't be sent because it no longer exists. It can only be discarded. Make sure you copy the contents of the message before you discard if you want to use them later." and "Couldn't send this message". Please see screenshots attached. My questions: 1: Is Outlook on M365 designed to allow users to reply from the group either as the "group" or as themselves? Information I found isn't clear. 2: If it is / can be - what can I do to make it work for all users? Thanks!
Office 365 Problems
Hello everyone, I have been experiencing the following problem since today: As soon as I try to open Excel, Word, Outlook, etc., they close again immediately. Online repair and reinstallation did not improve the situation. Some of my colleagues are experiencing the same problem. Background: We roll out updates at intervals. The users who were in the first interval are experiencing these problems. The update interval has been stopped, but unfortunately I can no longer undo the update. The following version is displayed: Version 2509 Build 16.0.19231.20138. The computers are running Windows 11 with the 24H2 update. Does anyone have the same problem or know a solution? Thanks in advance.
Sharing a Planner Plan 1 plan with a guest user
Hi there, Looking for advice on what settings may be required to ensure that a guest user from another tenant can access a Planner Plan 1 plan which has been shared via a user in my tenant. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated! Guest user error message: "You do not have access to this plan. Ask any member to add you to the plan." Microsoft Planner Plan 1 user cannot share plan with guest user from another tenant Both users have Planner Plan 1 license assigned, the guest user has it assigned to their guest account on my tenant The Plan is shared in a Microsoft Team, of which both users are members The guest user has been added to the Plan The guest user has also tried opening the Plan directly via the Plan URL which was shared by the creator The guest user gets error message: You do not have access to this plan. Ask any member to add you to the plan." Other non-guest users from my tenant are able to access the Plan without any issues The guest user has selected their guest account from my tenant within their Teams app from their own laptop, and upon signing into the guest account, no Planner tab is listed for the user, and there is no ability to add it
