Trapped in an Authenticator Loop
Dear Community, please help! I am trapped in an Authenticator Loop. I've got a microsoft workplace account, but if I want to log in, I have to type in a code from the microsoft authenticator app. I downloaded the app, but in order to use it, I have to log into my account and in order to do so, I also have to type in a code from the authenticator app, which I don't get, because to get the code I would have to log into the authenticator app, what I would need a code for... No matter which link I click, I can't open anything before I enter the code, which I can't get. I am using teams on mac, either on a firefox browser or on the desktop app and the authenticator on an Iphone. Please don't just tell me "don't use teams on a mac", this wasn't my choice. Unfortunately, my emplyer's IT support also is chronically unavailable. So is here anyone who could help me? I've already gone through the usual deleting the app, using another browser etc. options. Best LukasWhat are people using to measure manager effectiveness across the org?
Our CHRO wants to start tracking how effective managers are, things like do they hold regular 1:1s, do they give timely feedback, are their team's goals on track. Right now we have zero visibility into any of this. We can pull some data from Teams usage reports but that just tells us who's chatting a lot, not who's actually managing well. Anyone found a tool or approach within the M365 ecosystem that gives you a real picture of manager effectiveness?
How do you roll up individual goals into department or company goals in M365?
We’re trying to manage goals across teams using Microsoft 365, but the structure gets messy fast. Individual goals live in different places, and it’s hard to see how they connect to department or company-level objectives. With Viva Goals out of the picture, has anyone built a clean way to roll up goals in M365, or is this something better handled with a dedicated OKR/performance tool? (I honestly wouldnt want to use something third party and much rather keep things in MS 365)
The latest mobile apps killed mobile first when working with files
Hi, I really enjoyed working only with mobile devices when we started with M365. On iOS the OneDrive app was paramount when organising files in SharePoint/Teams Sites. Easy up- and downloads, drag‘n drop. Move and copy all was there to manage a companies files on mobile devices even when only on mobile network connections. But the upgrades that happened over the last 1-2 years completely break this kind of workflows. There is no really mobile-first paradigm visible anymore. The OneDrive app was worst. All the pretty well integration file management stuff is gone. No drag‘n drop. No useful integration into iOS Files app. Copying between OneDrive and SharePoint got a pain. Bulk operation just silently fail. Files get renamed without any warning (numbers get added to the name or are just increased so no one will ever find the file again). So just two simple usability examples that are a mess: to select multiple files in a folder you have to press the word ‚Select‘ that is not a button or something. This shows up like a column heading in the file view. Right beside ‚Name‘ and ‚Date Modified‘. Why are active user elements placed in table headings? If you browse into some SharePoint folders and quickly want to go back to your OneDrive files you either have to press the back button over and over again until your back to the top level view or you can press-hold the back button and then select ‚Files‘. Butthe latter brings you to the top level Library view and you still have to manually go to ‚Files‘. The old app design just had a top menu bar where views could easily be switched. Am I the only one who wants to work on mobile devices? Does Microsoft still expect everyone to use a laptop and run desktop apps? Annoying.
Best way to run pulse surveys inside Teams?
I’m looking for a lightweight way to run recurring pulse surveys directly in Teams. Forms works fine for basic questions, but follow-up, reminders, anonymity, and reporting become manual pretty quickly. Curious what others are using for short employee check-ins or sentiment surveys inside the Microsoft ecosystem. Or am I not using Forms to its full potential?
Need to Restore PST Files to Office 365 Mailboxes - What's the Best Approach
Hey everyone, I have a task coming up where I need to restore several PST files back into Office 365 mailboxes. Haven't done this before at this scale and honestly not sure where to begin. I've looked at Microsoft's native import service through Purview but I have a few concerns: Some of the PST files are quite large — not sure how well it handles that I need to restore only specific folders for some users, not the entire PST I'm worried about data consistency after the restore Would prefer something that doesn't require too many admin roles or complex setup For those who have done PST to Office 365 restores — what approach worked best for you? Any tools, tips, or things to watch out for that you wish you knew before starting?I built a free, open-source M365 security assessment tool - looking for feedback
I work as an IT consultant, and a good chunk of my time is spent assessing Microsoft 365 environments for small and mid-sized businesses. Every engagement started the same way: connect to five different PowerShell modules, run dozens of commands across Entra ID, Exchange Online, Defender, SharePoint, and Teams, manually compare each setting against CIS benchmarks, then spend hours assembling everything into a report the client could actually read. The tools that automate this either cost thousands per year, require standing up Azure infrastructure just to run, or only cover one service area. I wanted something simpler: one command that connects, assesses, and produces a client-ready deliverable. So I built it. What M365 Assess does https://github.com/Daren9m/M365-Assess is a PowerShell-based security assessment tool that runs against a Microsoft 365 tenant and produces a comprehensive set of reports. Here is what you get from a single run: 57 automated security checks aligned to the CIS Microsoft 365 Foundations Benchmark v6.0.1, covering Entra ID, Exchange Online, Defender for Office 365, SharePoint Online, and Teams 12 compliance frameworks mapped simultaneously -- every finding is cross-referenced against NIST 800-53, NIST CSF 2.0, ISO 27001:2022, SOC 2, HIPAA, PCI DSS v4.0.1, CMMC 2.0, CISA SCuBA, and DISA STIG (plus CIS profiles for E3 L1/L2 and E5 L1/L2) 20+ CSV exports covering users, mailboxes, MFA status, admin roles, conditional access policies, mail flow rules, device compliance, and more A self-contained HTML report with an executive summary, severity badges, sortable tables, and a compliance overview dashboard -- no external dependencies, fully base64-encoded, just open it in any browser or email it directly The entire assessment is read-only. It never modifies tenant settings. Only Get-* cmdlets are used. A few things I'm proud of Real-time progress in the console. As the assessment runs, you see each check complete with live status indicators and timing. No staring at a blank terminal wondering if it hung. The HTML report is a single file. Logos, backgrounds, fonts -- everything is embedded. You can email the report as an attachment and it renders perfectly. It supports dark mode (auto-detects system preference), and all tables are sortable by clicking column headers. Compliance framework mapping. This was the feature that took the most work. The compliance overview shows coverage percentages across all 12 frameworks, with drill-down to individual controls. Each finding links back to its CIS control ID and maps to every applicable framework control. Pass/Fail detail tables. Each security check shows the CIS control reference, what was checked, what the expected value is, what the actual value is, and a clear Pass/Fail/Warning status. Findings include remediation descriptions to help prioritize fixes. Quick start If you want to try it out, it takes about 5 minutes to get running: # Install prerequisites (if you don't have them already) Install-Module Microsoft.Graph, ExchangeOnlineManagement -Scope CurrentUser Clone and run git clone https://github.com/Daren9m/M365-Assess.git cd M365-Assess .\Invoke-M365Assessment.ps1 The interactive wizard walks you through selecting assessment sections, entering your tenant ID, and choosing an authentication method (interactive browser login, certificate-based, or pre-existing connections). Results land in a timestamped folder with all CSVs and the HTML report. Requires PowerShell 7.x and runs on Windows (macOS and Linux are experimental -- I would love help testing those platforms). Cloud support M365 Assess works with: Commercial (global) tenants GCC, GCC High, and DoD environments If you work in government cloud, the tool handles the different endpoint URIs automatically. What is next This is actively maintained and I have a roadmap of improvements: More automated checks -- 140 CIS v6.0.1 controls are tracked in the registry, with 57 automated today. Expanding coverage is the top priority. Remediation commands -- PowerShell snippets and portal steps for each finding, so you can fix issues directly from the report. XLSX compliance matrix -- A spreadsheet export for audit teams who need to work in Excel. Standalone report regeneration -- Re-run the report from existing CSV data without re-assessing the tenant. I would love your feedback I have been building this for my own consulting work, but I think it could be useful to the broader community. If you try it, I would genuinely appreciate hearing: What checks should I prioritize next? Which security controls matter most in your environment? What compliance frameworks are most requested by your clients or auditors? How does the report land with non-technical stakeholders? Is the executive summary useful, or does it need work? macOS/Linux users -- does it run? What breaks? I have tested it on macOS, but not extensively. Bug reports, feature requests, and contributions are all welcome on GitHub. Repository: https://github.com/Daren9m/M365-Assess License: MIT (free for commercial and personal use) Runtime: PowerShell 7.x Thanks for reading. Happy to answer any questions in the comments.Why is Microsoft 365 setup (Groups + SharePoint + Domains) still so complex?
Microsoft 365 Setup Feedback Summary Summary of Experience: Setting up two small business workspaces (Cork & Clarity and Stone Clarity Consulting) in Microsoft 365 required navigating multiple disconnected systems including the Admin Center, Outlook, SharePoint, and an external DNS provider. The process was significantly more complex than expected and not intuitive for a non-technical user. Key Issues Encountered: 1. Identity and Account Confusion - Unclear whether to create separate users or use one account with aliases - Creating multiple users caused login confusion, broken permissions, and access issues 2. Domain and DNS Setup Complexity - Required switching between Microsoft and external DNS (Looka) - Instructions were unclear and required manual troubleshooting - No clear distinction between required and optional DNS records 3. Default Domain Confusion - New groups defaulted to the wrong domain - No visible option to change domain during group creation - Required changing global default domain (non-intuitive) 4. Inconsistent Group Behavior - Outlook groups and Teams-backed groups behave differently - No indication of differences or consequences - Groups appeared in some places but not others 5. Membership and Ownership Issues - Group creator was not consistently added as member - Ownership did not always persist after changes - Groups existed but were inaccessible or invisible 6. Outlook UI Limitations - Groups not visible despite existing and being correctly configured - No clear instructions on how to 'activate' or 'follow' groups 7. SharePoint Site Not Created Automatically - SharePoint sites were not created when groups were created - Required hidden steps: Outlook → Files → Open in SharePoint - No indication that the site did not exist yet 8. SharePoint Discovery Issues - Sites do not appear until manually accessed or followed - No onboarding or guidance for discovering sites 9. Ghost/Deleted Items Still Visible - Deleted group (Cork & Clarity Hub) remained visible - No clear distinction between deleted vs followed sites 10. Fragmented User Experience - Required switching between multiple platforms - No single place to manage or understand setup status - High cognitive load for basic configuration Conclusion: While Microsoft 365 is a powerful platform, the initial setup experience is overly complex and fragmented, especially for small businesses. Simplifying group creation, making SharePoint provisioning automatic and visible, and improving UI consistency across apps would significantly improve usability and adoption.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
