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TonyRedmond
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Removing 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/15Views0likes0CommentsSharePoint 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/16Views0likes0CommentsOlder 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-161/25Views0likes0CommentsMicrosoft 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/43Views0likes0CommentsMicrosoft 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-m365/24Views0likes0CommentsTesting 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/23Views0likes0CommentsTeams Messaging Gets Autocorrect
The addition of Autocorrect for messaging is a small but important change for Teams messaging brings Teams up to speed with the other Office applications. It’s taken Teams a little longer than it perhaps should have to support Autocorrect and the implementation is not as functional as it is in Outlook, but that’s not a reason to overlook the update. https://office365itpros.com/2025/12/10/teams-autocorrect-messaging/61Views0likes1CommentChecking Where Tenant Users Go as Guests
After all the fuss about Teams users inviting people to chat via email, tenant administrators realize that knowing where users are active as guest accounts is not as easy as it might seem. Part of the problem is that data about user activity is mostly controlled by host rather than home tenants. However, it’s possible to extract some information from audit sign-in logs to figure out where tenant users go as guests. https://office365itpros.com/2025/12/09/external-guest-activity/16Views0likes0CommentsMicrosoft Increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 License Prices
Customers will see their bills increase from July 1, 2026, when Microsoft 365 pricing increases go into effect, adding up to $3/month for licenses. This is the first increase since March 2022, and it moves the baseline Office 365 E3 license to $26/month and Microsoft 365 E5 to $60/month. Microsoft justifies the increases based on the functionality and apps it delivers. Time for a licensing review... https://office365itpros.com/2025/12/08/microsoft-365-pricing-increase/520Views1like0CommentsMicrosoft Blocks EWS Access for Kiosk Users
A December 2 announcement says that Exchange Online will block access to Exchange Web Services for users with kiosk or frontline worker licenses from March 2026. In fact, the Exchange Online service description has always excluded EWS access for these licenses, but the necessary code to enforce the exclusion was never implemented. It will be in March. Time to check licenses… https://office365itpros.com/2025/12/05/exchange-web-services-kiosk/38Views0likes0CommentsJourney to Passwordless Authentication Might Include Some Bumps
Microsoft recommends passwordless authentication to help secure Microsoft 365 tenants. The latest is synced passkeys, something that apparently leads to “syncability,” whatever that might mean. In any case, after some struggles, I managed to enable synched passkeys for my iPhone and then started to consider how to remediate user accounts that are flagged with a high-risk (compromised) status when they can’t simply update their password. https://office365itpros.com/2025/12/04/passwordless-authentication/Talking Microsoft 365 Compliance at the European SharePoint Conference
Paul Robichaux and I led a session about Microsoft 365 Compliance at the European SharePoint Conference in Dublin on December 2, 2025. During the session, we discussed how intelligent versioning works and its value in saving storage, priority cleanup and its ability to delete files even if the files are under retention hold, and the recent revamp of the Purview eDiscovery solution. We were thrilled at the attendance. Here’s what happened. https://office365itpros.com/2025/12/03/microsoft-365-compliance-espc/18Views0likes0CommentsApp-Only Authentication for SharePoint Online PowerShell
The latest versions of the SharePoint Online PowerShell module support app-only authentication (certificate-based authentication) for the Connect-SPOService cmdlet. In other words, applications can now connect to SharePoint Online to run administrative cmdlets by presenting a registered Entra ID app and an X.509 certificate instead of the credentials for a human SharePoint administrator. It’s a good change, even if I still prefer using the Graph APIs for SharePoint automation. https://office365itpros.com/2025/12/02/app-only-authentication-spo/64Views0likes0CommentsRe: Announcing Office 365 for IT Pros (2026 Edition)
Office 365 for IT Pros December 2025 Update The Office 3675 for IT Pros team is happy to announce that the files for update #126 are available for subscribers to download from Gumroad.com. The paperback edition of the PowerShell book has also been refreshed. Updated PDF and EPUB files are available for the Office 365 for IT Pros and Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell eBooks. Happy reading! https://office365itpros.com/2025/12/01/office-365-for-it-pros-126/57Views0likes0CommentsChecking the Effectiveness of a Transport Rule to Block Spammy Email
Some weeks ago, I wrote about using a transport rule to suppress spammy email by sending the messages to the quarantine. But what’s the best way to check the rule’s effect? One method is to use the transport rule report PowerShell cmdlet to check for the actions you expect the rule to perform. Once information is found, it’s a matter of slicing and dicing the data. https://office365itpros.com/2025/11/26/transport-rule-effectiveness/41Views0likes0CommentsHow to Check if Shared Mailboxes Need MDO Licenses
Shared mailboxes might need Microsoft Defender for Office 365 licenses, but how do you identify how many licenses? We use PowerShell to do the job by analyzing external email sent to shared mailboxes. If a mailbox receives external email, then by definition the mailbox receives benefit from MDO, and that’s the test for requiring a license. https://office365itpros.com/2025/11/25/microsoft-defender-for-office-365-3/39Views0likes0CommentsTeams Messaging Gains New Protections
Teams now includes weaponized file protection and malicious URL protection to make sure that people don’t share bad files or URLs in chats or channel conversations. Given that a user can post a message to up to 50 channels at one time, it obviously makes a heap of sense to check that any files or URLs that people share in chat or channel conversations are safe and not malicious. https://office365itpros.com/2025/11/24/weaponized-file-protection-teams/Re: Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell Second Edition
Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell December 2025 Update The December 2025 update (version 18) of the Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell eBook is now available to download. Current subscribers can fetch the updated EPUB and PDF files from Gumroad.com using the link in their account (or receipt), but we can’t do much for the paperback edition except consider using scissors, paste, and Tippex, just like the old days. https://office365itpros.com/2025/11/21/automating-microsoft-365-18/71Views0likes0CommentsPurview Launches New DLP Policy to Control Copilot Prompts
A new DLP policy for Copilot prompts monitors blocked sensitive information types like credit card numbers to stop their use in Copilot prompts. The new policy can’t be combined with the existing DLP policy for Copilot, which checks for files with specific sensitivity labels to prevent Copilot using their content in its responses. But that’s OK because the two policies do very different work. https://office365itpros.com/2025/11/20/dlp-policy-for-copilot-prompts/106Views0likes0CommentsMicrosoft 365 Announcements at Ignite 2025
The Ignite 2025 keynote was a marathon 150-minute event, but some interesting Microsoft 365 announcements emerged, mostly centered on AI. Microsoft is obviously focused on making AI and agents a very real part of tenant activities, so there’s new agent management and a repository among other things that will roll out in the year ahead. https://office365itpros.com/2025/11/19/ignite-2025-day-1/92Views0likes0Comments
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