Office 365 Mailbox Export to PST - Third Party Tools: What’s Your Experience?
Exporting Office 365 mailboxes to PST is still a common requirement in many Microsoft 365 environments, especially for backup, compliance, and migration scenarios. While Microsoft offers native options like Purview eDiscovery and Outlook export, many administrators also consider third-party tools when dealing with large mailboxes or bulk export requirements. In real-world scenarios, factors like speed, ease of use, permission handling, and consistency of exported data often influence the choice of tool. Some teams prefer native methods for compliance control, while others explore third-party solutions to simplify large-scale or repeated export tasks. For those working with Microsoft 365, what has your experience been with third-party PST export tools? Have they helped in your environment, or do you still rely mainly on Microsoft’s native options?
Is Office 365 E3 Developer free
Hi, My tenant had a license named "Office 365 E3 Developer" which allowed us to use Outlook / Exchange (among other Microsoft Office products). This license isn't from the Microsoft 365 Developer Program, which come with free licenses. This license costed CA$11.60 a month per user when we initially purchased it. On May 2, 2026 it still costs $11.60, but when I received my monthly invoice for this tenant, this license was free. I searched around to see whether this license became free recently, but I couldn't find any info on this. The links I found all say it's a paid license. I was wondering if there's any info on this to see why it became free? Or is it a mistake and Microsoft'll be charging us the next billing cycle? Jason
Taken over MS365 tenant, failed payment stuck
Hi all, I have taken over an MS365 tenant for a customer that took over another company. This was a tenant managed by an MSP, but they canceled the relationship. So I tried to purchase a Business Premium subscription for one month and couple it to my admin account, so that I can decoupled some devices from Intune, and also reinstate 1 or 2 accounts for the time being. I added a new billing profile (I could not add a billing account) while ordering from Microsoft directly. However the payment failed, there were 3 attempts in very quick succession. Probably because my card setting were too strict. So I switched the payment method to another card after this. However since then I have one product under "Your products" with the label "failed", the errors it gives: "We weren't able to create a subscription for one of your products. Update the selected filters and choose subscription status Failed to view the product in the list below." Clicking the product just shows "subscription failed". It does show renews on 1-7-2026. So it is expiring? How can I retry the payment? Unfortunately all support options keep pointing to the previous tenant owner so I'm posting here. So I'm trying here. I've been at this for way too long already.Microsoft Cans Power BI App for Reporting Microsoft 365 Usage
Microsoft has announced that the Microsoft 365 Usage Analytics Power BI app will retire on August 1, 2026. The alternative is the usage reports in the Microsoft 365 admin center or to develop a custom Power BI dashboard based on data imported through the Graph usage reports API. The decision isn’t surprising, but I’m sure that some will mourn the passing of Microsoft’s first tool to report usage information. https://office365itpros.com/2026/05/29/microsoft-365-usage-analytics/
Can't access Microsoft Authenticator for business accounts
Hello. I am the tech support for a small church, where I am the admin for our MS 365 accounts, which are set up as "business accounts". I have been using Microsoft Authenticator for MFA for years. Recently I switched to a new phone and installed Microsoft Authenticator. All of my personal Authenticator accounts transferred over just fine, but all of the church's business accounts say "Scan the QR Code provided by your organization to finish recovering this account". The thing is, I am the "organization" and I don't know how to generate any QR code to recover the accounts. It was suggested that I could do something about this by logging into my Microsoft 365 administrator account, but when I try to log into my admin account, the only MFA option is "enter the code from Microsoft Authenticator". It's not offering a text or alternate email, only Microsoft Authenticator, which is what I'm locked out of. So I'm stuck in a loop. I opened a ticket with Microsoft Support nine days ago. I have received one phone call since then. The support person insisted that they needed to talk to the account's "alternate administrator", which I set up as my pastor, who is pretty computer savvy but not a deep IT person. They tried to call him one time, but he was not available to answer right then. There has been no communication since then. I'm hoping someone in this group can help me figure this out.Inherited group-based license service plan checkboxes are now editable but fail on save
Hello, We are observing a possible UI regression in the Microsoft 365 admin center related to group-based licensing. Environment / scenario: - Microsoft 365 admin center - User-level “Licenses and apps” screen - The user receives the Microsoft 365 license through group-based licensing - The source group is a Microsoft Entra dynamic security group - The license and service plan settings are intended to be controlled at the group-based license assignment level We understand that when a license is inherited from a group-based license assignment, the apps/services for that inherited license should not normally be changed directly at the individual user level. The service plan configuration should be managed at the group/license assignment level. However, the current UI behaviour is confusing. Observed behaviour: 1. Open a user in the Microsoft 365 admin center. 2. Go to the user’s “Licenses and apps” screen. 3. The user has a Microsoft 365 license inherited from a group-based license assignment. 4. Some app/service checkboxes appear to be enabled and editable. 5. An administrator can actually clear/uncheck those checkboxes. 6. However, when clicking OK/Save, the operation fails with an error. In other words, the UI allows an administrator to make a change that cannot actually be committed. The reason this looks like a regression is that the previous UI behaviour was different. Previously, when a user’s Microsoft 365 license was inherited from a group-based license assignment, the relevant app/service checkboxes on the user-level “Licenses and apps” screen were greyed out or effectively read-only. Administrators could visually understand that those service plan settings could not be changed directly at the individual user level. Recently, those same checkboxes appear to be active and editable. The administrator can uncheck them, but the change fails only after clicking OK/Save. From an administrator UX perspective, this is confusing because the UI appears to allow an unsupported operation and only rejects it at save time. Expected behaviour: If service plan settings for an inherited group-based license cannot be changed at the individual user level, we would expect one of the following behaviours: - The checkboxes should remain disabled/read-only from the beginning. - The UI should clearly state that these apps/services are inherited from a group-based license assignment. - The Save/OK button should be disabled for changes that cannot be applied. - The UI should provide a link or guidance to manage the setting at the group-based license assignment level. Questions: 1. Has anyone else observed this recent change in behaviour? 2. Was this UI change intentional? 3. Is this a known issue or known UX regression in the Microsoft 365 admin center? 4. Is there any scenario where these checkboxes are intentionally editable for a user who receives the license only through group-based licensing? 5. Does this behaviour differ depending on whether the source group is an assigned security group or a dynamic security group? 6. Is there any recommended administrator workflow when troubleshooting service plan settings for a user whose license is inherited from a group-based license assignment? To clarify, this is not a question about how group-based licensing works. The concern is specifically about the UI behaviour where inherited license service plan checkboxes were previously greyed out, but now appear editable even though the change fails on save. If this is not intentional, it would be helpful if the Microsoft 365 admin center could restore the previous read-only/greyed-out behaviour, or clearly explain in the UI why the change cannot be saved. Thank you.Planner Synchronization of Microsoft 365 Message Center Notifications Improves
Microsoft published the very good news that the Planner synchronization with the Microsoft 365 message center will support HTML formatted text when it creates or updates tasks. This might seem like a small change, but if you use Planner to track the progress of anything, like we do for the Office 365 for IT Pros eBook, it’s sometimes the little changes that make the biggest impact. https://office365itpros.com/2026/05/15/planner-synchronization/Best way to enforce manager check-ins across the org using M365 tools?
Our CHRO wants every manager to have at least bi-weekly check-ins with directs and wants visibility into whether its actually happening. Right now theres zero tracking. Some managers do it, some dont, and leadership has no idea. I looked at Viva Insights but it only shows meeting frequency, not whether there was an actual structured conversation. Is there a way to get reporting on this through admin center or do we need something separate?Lost Access to Microsoft Authenticator
Hello team, I reimage my phone, unfortunately lost Microsoft Authenticator, I dont have cloud backup enabled in my Authenticator, I try login account in Microsoft Authenticator, but still ask me Authenticator verification, and no other option (like email, SMS, or backup codes) shown, I'm register Microsoft 365 developer account, i'm only admin, could you please let me know the exact steps I need to take or if there is a support escalation route I should follow, thanks for advance.
