need exchange se for hybrid environment
We have a hybrid Office 365 environment with an Exchange Server 2016 that no longer performs any role. It does not host any mailboxes and is not used as an SMTP relay. We would like to keep an Exchange installation solely for administrative purposes through the GUI. Questions: 1. Can we keep Exchange Server 2016 installed? 2. If we need to install Exchange Server Subscription Edition (SE), do we need licenses for this installation, considering that all our Office 365 licenses are Business licenses? Thank you.SharePoint Reporting using PnP PowerShell through Azure Automation
This article explains how to configure an Azure Automation runbook to execute PnP PowerShell and retrieve SharePoint site collection data across a Microsoft 365 tenant. This method is especially useful for tracking weekly changes within a SharePoint environment, such as during preparation for large initiatives like tenant-to-tenant migrations, and allows administrators to run scripts on a schedule without interactive sign-in. The solution uses Azure Automation, a managed cloud service that runs scripts in a headless environment. Runbooks behave like standard PowerShell scripts but execute non-interactively, meaning without prompts and output is available only after completion through job logs and output streams. 1. Create an Azure Automation Runbook To get started, you’ll need an Azure subscription to create the resources required for Azure Automation. While the Azure Portal interface may change over time, the underlying steps remain the same – follow the steps outlined below. a. Go to the Azure Portal and login with your Azure credentials b. Create a new Azure Automation Account using the Create a resource button and searching for Automation c. Fill out the details for the Azure Automation Account as desired and click Review + Create at the bottom left followed by clicking on Create on the review screen d. Once the resource has been created, click on Go to resource to open the Azure Automation resource 2. Configure the Azure Automation Account Now your Azure Automation Account has been created, proceed with the next paragraphs to configure it for using PnP PowerShell a. Add the PnP PowerShell module to the Azure Automation Account 1. Navigate to Modules which is located on the left side menu of the function app under the Shared Resources header. 2. Click on Add a module at the top of the screen IMPORTANT Currently, the only stable version of PnP PowerShell compatible with Azure Automation 7.2 runbooks is 2.12.0, as newer releases are not yet supported. Since the Browse from Gallery option only allows installation of the latest version, you must use the Upload from File option to upload a supported version instead. 3. Open up a PowerShell 7 console and execute the following command to download PnP PowerShell 2.12.0 Save-Module -Name PnP.PowerShell -RequiredVersion 2.12.0 -Path C:\temp 4. Using Windows File Explorer, go to the folder where you downloaded the PnP PowerShell package. You should see a folder called PnP.PowerShell in there. Right click on it and choose the option Compress to ZIP file. 5. Select Browse for file, Runtime version 7.2 (recommended) and click on the folder icon next to PowerShell module file and select the zipped up PnP.PowerShell.zip file generated in the previous step. 6. Click on Import to start the download and importing process. It could take up to 10 minutes for the import to complete. You can check the import status by changing the Module type filter to Custom. 7. Once it's done, it will show the status Available 3. Using Managed Identity for authentication The recommended approach is to use a managed identity in Azure to allow your Automation runbook to connect to Microsoft Graph and SharePoint Online via PnP PowerShell. This method lets you grant permissions directly to the runbook’s identity, eliminating the need for client secrets or certificates that could otherwise be exposed or misused. a. Enabling managed identity for an Azure Automation Runbook In your Azure Automation account, in the left menu, go to Identity under Account Settings Ensure you are on the System assigned tab and flip the switch for Status to On, if not already done Click the Save button and confirm your action in the dialog box that will be shown A new entry will now automatically be created in Entra ID for this app having the same name as your Automation account. This can be verified by going into Entra ID -> Enterprise Applications (under Manage). You may have to remove the default filters for your app to show. b. Assigning permissions to the managed identity Next, we shall use Graph PowerShell to assign permissions to the managed identity associated with the Automation account. 1. Using a CLI of your choice, run the following command. This will connect your PowerShell session to Microsoft Graph with AppRoleAssignment.ReadWrite.All permissions to read and modify app role assignments across your tenant. Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "AppRoleAssignment.ReadWrite.All" 2. Run the following commands to grant Sites.FullControl to the Graph API $GraphApp = Get-MgServicePrincipal -Filter "AppId eq '00000003-0000-0000-c000-000000000000'" $TargetResoruce = Get-MgServicePrincipal -filter "displayname eq 'pnppowershelldocumentationsample'" $Role = $GraphApp.AppRoles | Where-Object {$_.Value -eq "Sites.FullControl.All"} $AppRoleAssignment = @{} $AppRoleAssignment.Add("PrincipalId",$TargetResoruce.Id) $AppRoleAssignment.Add("ResourceId",$GraphApp.Id) $AppRoleAssignment.Add("AppRoleId",$Role.Id) $RoleAssignment = New-MgServicePrincipalAppRoleAssignment -ServicePrincipalId $TargetResoruce.Id -BodyParameter $AppRoleAssignment Note: AppId 00000003-0000-0000-c000-000000000000 is the standard identifier for the Graph API in Azure 3. Run the following commands to grant Sites.FullControl to the SharePoint Online API $SpApp = Get-MgServicePrincipal -Filter "AppId eq '00000003-0000-0ff1-ce00-000000000000'" $TargetResoruce = Get-MgServicePrincipal -filter "displayname eq 'pnppowershelldocumentationsample'" $Role = $SpApp.AppRoles | Where-Object Value -eq "Sites.FullControl.All" $AppRoleAssignment = @{} $AppRoleAssignment.Add("PrincipalId",$TargetResoruce.Id) $AppRoleAssignment.Add("ResourceId",$SpApp.Id) $AppRoleAssignment.Add("AppRoleId",$Role.Id) $RoleAssignment = New-MgServicePrincipalAppRoleAssignment -ServicePrincipalId $TargetResoruce.Id -BodyParameter $AppRoleAssignment Note: AppId 00000003-0000-0ff1-ce00-000000000000 is the standard identifier for the SharePoint Online API in Azure 4. Once permissions are granted, verify them in Entra ID (Entra ID -> Enterprise Applications (under Manage) -> Look up the app associated with your automation account (you may need to remove filters) -> Permissions (under Security) -> Verify permissions exist (as shown below) IMPORTANT API permission updates may take 10 minutes or more to propagate across Microsoft 365. During this time, scripts executed immediately against SharePoint can fail. If that happens, allow additional time for propagation and then retry the operation. 4. Create a Runbook We're now ready to create a Runbook in which your PnP PowerShell script will run. a. In the Azure Portal, in the left menu, click on Runbooks under Process Automation b. Click on Create a runbook at the top of the screen c. Give the Runbook a name, select the Runbook type PowerShell and for the Runtime version choose 7.2 (recommended) and click on Create at the bottom left. d. On the Edit PowerShell Runbook page, enter your PnP PowerShell code in the large white area, i.e. 5. Connect-PnPOnline 'https://tenant.sharepoint.com' -ManagedIdentity 7. Get-PnPWeb Once done, click on Save at the top of the screen and then on Test pane to test your Runbook. e. Click on Start to start testing the Runbook. It might take a few minutes for the Runbook to start. Once it's done, you will see the output of your PnP PowerShell script in the large black output section. 5. Generate a Tenant-Wide SharePoint Sites Report Next, we will execute a script to collect information for each SharePoint site in your tenant. The data will be exported to a CSV file and then uploaded to a designated folder within a SharePoint document library. This script uses the Get-PnPTenantSite cmdlet to gather the data. a. Open up the Runbook you had created and bring up the edit PowerShell page. Enter the following PnP PowerShell code in the large white area. You will need to update the values specific to your tenant. # Site info $adminUrl = "https://tenant-admin.sharepoint.com" $targetSiteUrl = "https://tenant.sharepoint.com/sites/M365Migration" $LibraryName = "Shared Documents" $TargetFolder = "Exports" # Timestamped file $TimeStamp = Get-Date -Format "yyyyMMdd_HHmm" $FileName = "ActiveSites_$TimeStamp.csv" # Create a safe temp folder in the runbook $TempFolder = $env:TEMP $TempPath = Join-Path -Path $TempFolder -ChildPath $FileName # Make sure the folder exists if (-not (Test-Path $TempFolder)) { New-Item -Path $TempFolder -ItemType Directory | Out-Null } # Connect to SharePoint Connect-PnPOnline $adminUrl -ManagedIdentity Write-Output "Connected to PnP" $sites = Get-PnPTenantSite -Detailed $sites | Select-Object ` Title, Url, Template, StorageUsageCurrent, StorageQuota, Owner, LockState, SharingCapability, TimeCreated, LastContentModifiedDate | Export-Csv -Path $TempPath -NoTypeInformation -Encoding UTF8 Write-Output "CSV created at $TempPath" Connect-PnPOnline $targetSiteUrl -ManagedIdentity # Upload the csv file Add-PnPFile -Path $TempPath -Folder "$LibraryName\$TargetFolder" Write-Output "File uploaded successfully to $LibraryName\$TargetFolder" # Close out Disconnect-PnPOnline Remove-Item $TempPath -Force b. Click on Save at the top of the screen and then on Test pane to test your Runbook c. Click on Start to start testing the Runbook d. After the run completes, check the specified document library for the CSV export and verify that a new report has been created successfully e. Close the code pane and click on Publish to publish this version of your runbook 6. Automate task to run on weekly schedule Next, we will explore how to automate this process to run weekly without requiring any user interaction. a. Create a schedule 1. In the Azure Portal, navigate to the Azure Automation account 2. Click on Schedules under Shared Resources 3. Click on Add a schedule 4. Enter name, description and start date. Select recurring to specify a schedule for job to run 5. Select week under recurrence and specify day of the week. Set an expiration date. Finally, click on Create. b. Link runbook to schedule 1. Open the runbook that you set up previously for your PnP PowerShell script 2. Click on Link to schedule 3. Select the schedule, parameters and run settings, and then click on OK 4. Verify schedule in the Runbook schedules page COMPLETE The script will now run automatically each week according to the defined schedule. At the specified date and time, a new report will be generated and uploaded to the document library without any manual steps. This means the process of collecting SharePoint site data across your tenant is now fully automated and requires no user interaction.
UltraTax CS Cloud Hosting for Secure and Flexible Tax Operations
Accounting firms are increasingly adopting UltraTax CS Cloud Hosting to improve operational flexibility, simplify collaboration, and securely manage tax preparation workflows. As remote work continues to grow across the accounting industry, cloud-hosted tax environments provide firms with reliable access to applications and client data from virtually any location. One major benefit of UltraTax CS Cloud Hosting is enhanced accessibility. Tax professionals can securely log in to their accounting environment using laptops, tablets, or desktop systems without being restricted to a physical office. This flexibility allows accounting teams to continue working efficiently during busy tax seasons while supporting hybrid and remote work models. Another advantage of hosted UltraTax CS cloud solutions is improved data protection. Cloud environments typically include encrypted access, automated backups, multi-factor authentication, and disaster recovery systems to help protect confidential financial records and client information. Centralized hosting also minimizes the risk of data loss caused by local hardware failures or unexpected disruptions. Performance and collaboration also improve in cloud-hosted tax environments. Multiple users can work on tax files simultaneously, share information securely, and maintain better workflow coordination across departments or office locations. Centralized management additionally reduces the burden of maintaining local servers and handling frequent software updates. Scalability is another important factor for growing accounting firms. Businesses can easily expand storage capacity, add users, and support larger workloads without making major infrastructure investments. Apps4Rent offers reliable hosting solutions designed to support secure tax-preparation environments, remote access, and efficient accounting operations for firms using UltraTax CS. Overall, UltraTax CS hosting services help accounting firms improve productivity, strengthen data security, simplify collaboration, and support more efficient tax preparation operations in modern digital work environments.Seamless Microsoft 365 Migration with Apps4Rent
Migrating to Microsoft 365 can be challenging without proper planning. From mailbox mapping to DNS updates, every step needs precision to avoid data loss or downtime. Partnering with experts like Apps4Rent can make the transition smooth and secure. Their specialists handle email, contacts, and calendar migrations with minimal disruption while ensuring compliance and data integrity. Whether moving from on-premises Exchange, Google Workspace, or another provider, Apps4Rent offers end-to-end migration support, and proven experience as a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider. Businesses of all sizes can benefit from their structured approach, faster cutovers, and post-migration support. For anyone planning a shift to Microsoft 365, Apps4Rent is a trusted partner worth considering.New investments to accelerate your migration to Microsoft 365
Microsoft continues to power the digital transformation of customers with cutting edge, AI-enhanced productivity and collaboration tools. That's why we're excited to announce new investments to make it easier than ever to migrate your data to Microsoft 365 so you can take full advantage of these capabilities. Introducing the Slack to Teams Migration Tool When organizations explore adopting Microsoft 365, one of the first questions they ask is how they can migrate their data from their current platform to Microsoft 365. We have extensive experience and migration tools to support customers who want to move their emails, calendars, and files to Microsoft 365. But in the modern workplace, migrating chats and conversations can be just as important. That’s why we’re introducing the Slack to Teams Migration Tool from Microsoft. This tool is designed to migrate public and private channels from Slack to Teams, where your most critical conversations take place. The tool provides first class integration with Teams so migrated messages appear as if they’ve been posted directly in Teams with the original author and creation timestamp preserved. It also maintains the rich message content you’d expect, including message formatting, links and images, @-mentions, standard emojis, threaded replies, and more. File attachments are no problem as those are migrated too. And channel ownership and membership are preserved so that after the migration, participants can pick up right where they left off. The Slack to Teams Migration Tool from Microsoft has no licensing cost. Customers simply need to provide an Azure Blob Storage subscription and container to temporarily store their Slack export files while the migration is taking place. (Azure Blob Storage subscriptions have their own cost.) Once the migration is complete, the Azure Blob Storage subscription is no longer needed. This migration tool is a great option for customers interested in performing Slack migrations on their own, or as another tool for migration partners to help customers successfully transition to Microsoft 365. It's available now to all standard commercial customers worldwide. To learn more, see Introduction to the Slack to Teams Migration Tool. Future investments in the Slack to Teams Migration Tool These investments are an exciting start for this migration tool, but we’re not done yet. Over the coming year we plan to add even more features to the tool. Some of those features include: The ability to migrate group chats from Slack to Teams The ability to migrate direct messages (1-on-1 chats) from Slack to Teams The ability to migrate Slack canvas content into Microsoft Loop tabs in Teams The ability to provide an experience in Teams that will be familiar to users migrating from Slack The migration team would love to hear your feedback about any additional scenarios that are important to you. We operate preview programs for customers that want to engage closely with us to help shape the future investments in our migration tools. If you're interested in participating, please nominate yourself using this form: Microsoft 365 Migration Preview Registration New Microsoft 365 migration documentation center Migration can be an intimidating project for some, especially if you have limited experience performing migrations. Having comprehensive yet easy-to-follow documentation at your fingertips to plan and execute your migration can be the key to a smooth experience. That’s why we’ve just launched our new Microsoft 365 Migration documentation center. Here you’ll find consolidated documentation about all M365 migration scenarios. Whether it’s migration from external platforms to M365 or migrating from one M365 tenant to another, you’ll find the right documentation here. This documentation center covers the full set of features and workloads in M365, from emails, contacts, and calendars, to files, to chats and conversations. Please check out our new migration documentation center at https://aka.ms/m365migrationdocs. As you read through the articles, let us know if they were helpful to you by giving them a thumbs up or thumbs down reaction. We take your feedback seriously and will use it to make sure our documentation meets your needs. Summary We're proud to add the Slack to Teams Migration Tool alongside our other migration tools, giving customers more options to accelerate their migration to Microsoft 365. And with our new migration documentation center guiding you along the way, you'll find the migration process much less intimidating than you may have expected. Let's get migrating! Troy Starr Principal Product Manager Microsoft 365 Migration Team
Disable incessant nagware popups
I don't know about everyone else, but I am sick and tired of the nagware pop ups in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc. Every single product harasses me with pop ups trying to tell me "hey, did you know this feature was here?", "you can do this if you click that", "let me hold your hand through using products you've used for decades even though you don't want daddy Microslop to do that". This is a prime example. I keep getting the same ones again and again and again and everything I've read indicates they should only appear once. But they don't. They keep coming back like a psychotic stalker ex who wants alimony even though you were never married. How do I get this nagware to stop?!
Migrating from Outlook.com to Microsoft 365 Business Basic
I am currently testing Microsoft 365 Business Basic. My users mail boxes are all on Outlook.com. I need those mailboxes migrated to Microsoft 365 Business Basic. This seems impossible as PST files are not supported by that subscription and IMAP is not supportes either. What are the right way to migrate users mail boxes from Outlook.com to Microsoft 365 Business Basic?Moving from Office 2016/2019 to Microsoft 365: What Changes?
Microsoft’s cloud-era strategy has made Microsoft 365 more than just “Office in the cloud” — it introduces a shift in licensing, update cadence, collaborative features, and more. Below are the key differences you’ll notice, the benefits, and also possible trade-offs to consider. https://dellenny.com/moving-from-office-2016-2019-to-microsoft-365-what-changes/
