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MSP Unplugged Podcast – Office 365 Tips

February 1, 2021 By Gareth Gudger Leave a Comment

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MSP Unplugged

On January 29th, I had the great pleasure of being a guest on MSP Unplugged. I joined host Jeff Halash to discuss several topics; including:

  • Introductions
  • TechCon Unplugged 2021
  • A brief history of Gareth Gudger
  • Staying on-prem versus going to the cloud
  • Modern security threats leveraging email
  • Benefits of Exchange hybrid for mailbox migrations
  • Question from the audience: OneNote file storage options
  • OneNote: Windows 10 OneNote vs. Office 365 OneNote
  • OneDrive: Syncing and folder redirection
  • Syncing vs. Backups
  • Windows AutoPilot Overview
  • Exchange Server vNext
  • Exchange Server vNext subscription licensing
  • Loss leaders and cash cows
  • MSP Unplugged Patreon and Facebook Group
  • Word: True dark mode in Office beta channel
  • Edge Chromium supports ClickOnce
  • Future of in-person conferences vs. Microsoft’s carbon negative goal
[Read more…] about MSP Unplugged Podcast – Office 365 Tips

Filed Under: Exchange News, Exchange Videos & Podcasts, Office 365 News, Office 365 Videos & Podcasts

How to start meetings late (or end early) in Outlook

January 8, 2021 By Gareth Gudger Leave a Comment

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One of the great new features in Outlook is scheduling meetings or appointments to start late (or end early). The end early feature has been included in Outlook for some time. However, the start late feature was introduced into the Office beta channel in version 2012 (build 13530.20000).

Note: This feature is now available in the Current (Preview) channel as of version 2012 (Build 13530.20218)

The shorten meeting feature allows attendees time between meetings. This is useful for many aspects, such as allowing users time to travel between meeting rooms, grab a coffee, reconcile notes, or decompress.

How to shorten meetings to start late or end early

To access this feature, open Outlook, navigate to the File menu, then select Options. From the Outlook Options dialog, select the Calendar tab.

Under the Calendar Options section, select the Shorten appointments and meetings checkbox. From the drop-down, choose whether to have meetings End early or Start late.

Note: If you select None, the prior checkbox will become deselected.

Start Meetings Late in Microsoft Outlook

These options also allow you to specify how much time to shorten appointments and meetings. By default, any meeting under 1 hour will be shortened by 5 minutes. Any meeting for 1 hour or longer will be shortened by 10 minutes.

If you wish to change these defaults, pick another time from each drop-down. For example, for meetings one hour or greater, you have choices of 0, 5, 10, and 15 minutes. Once you have made your selection click Ok to save and close the Outlook Options dialog.

Shorten appointments and meetings in Microsoft Outlook
[Read more…] about How to start meetings late (or end early) in Outlook

Filed Under: Office 365 Tutorials, Outlook Tutorials

How to switch to the Office (M365 Apps) Beta Channel

January 5, 2021 By Gareth Gudger Leave a Comment

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One of the benefits of being in the Office Beta Channel (formerly known as Insider Fast) is getting to see and test new Office features before they are generally available.

When you install Office, all new installations will default to the Current channel (formerly known as the Monthly channel). However, it is possible to change your update channel. The table below lists all the available update channels and their former names as these were recently changed.

ChannelOld Name
BetaInsider Fast
Current (Preview)Monthly (Targeted)
CurrentMonthly
Monthly EnterpriseMonthly Enterprise
Semi-Annual Enterprise (Preview)Semi-Annual (Targeted)
Semi-Annual EnterpriseSemi-Annual

The Beta Channel typically receives new features 1 month in advance of the Current Channel. For more information on the specifics of each channel, check out this article from Microsoft.

How to determine your Office update channel

To determine your Office update channel, open any Office app. In our example, we will open Microsoft Word.

Once launched, click Account. In the About Word section, you will see both the build number and the current update channel. In the screenshot below, you can see our build is Version 2012, and our update cycle is the Current Channel.

Determine Office update channel

Microsoft Outlook is a little different. To check your Office update channel using Outlook, navigate to the File menu and select Office Account. Like other Office apps, the build and update channel will be listed in the About Outlook section.

Determine Office update channel - Outlook

Tip: The build numbers are formulated from a two-digit year and a two-digit month. For example, the first two digits, “20”, designate the year 2020. The second two digits, “12”, designate December. Microsoft documents all build numbers and release notes here.

[Read more…] about How to switch to the Office (M365 Apps) Beta Channel

Filed Under: Office 365 Tutorials, Outlook Tutorials

Exchange Online Updates (December 2020)

December 23, 2020 By Gareth Gudger Leave a Comment

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Plus Addressing in Exchange Online

During Ignite 2020, Microsoft announced that plus addressing was coming to Exchange Online. Plus addressing allows users to create their own unique email addresses by leveraging a plus sign in their email address—for example, john.smith+newsletter@contoso.com. Anything after the plus sign is completely at the discretion of the user.

This becomes particularly useful when you want to target newsletters to a unique email address, especially when configuring inbox rules. It is also useful to determine who might have sold or leaked your email address.

To leverage this feature, an administrator must enable it globally (by default, it is disabled). To do this, log onto Exchange Online PowerShell. First, let’s verify if plus addressing is disabled. We do this with the following command.

 C:\> Get-OrganizationConfig | FL AllowPlusAddressInRecipients

AllowPlusAddressInRecipients : False

From our output, we can see that plus addressing is disabled in our tenant. To enable, run the following command.

 C:\> Set-OrganizationConfig -AllowPlusAddressInRecipients $true

To confirm the setting has taken effect, rerun Get-OrganizationConfig.

Users can then start leveraging plus addresses. Emails addressed to a plus address will appear in the user’s inbox without any further user intervention. From there, the user can build inbox rules for the plus addresses if they desire.

Plus Addressing in Exchange Online
[Read more…] about Exchange Online Updates (December 2020)

Filed Under: Exchange News, Office 365 News

Exchange Server Cumulative Updates (December 2020)

December 22, 2020 By Gareth Gudger Leave a Comment

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Exchange 2019 Cumulative Update 8

Last week was a big week for Exchange. Microsoft released its eighth cumulative update for Exchange 2019 as well as a cumulative update for Exchange 2016. Security updates have been released for Exchange 2010 and 2013.

As always, test these updates in a lab first! I recommend checking out this 7-part guide on configuring Exchange in your lab. It doesn’t take much to get one going.

The updates are as follows:

Exchange Logo Mini

Exchange 2019 Cumulative Update 8| KB4588885

Exchange 2013 Cumulative Update 9

Exchange 2016 Cumulative Update 19 | KB4588884 | UM Language Pack

Exchange 2013 Cumulative Update 9

Exchange 2013 December Security Patch | KB4593466

Exchange 2010 Mini

Exchange 2010 SP3 Rollup 31 | KB4593467

Exchange 2016 entered extended support on October 14th

Back in October, Exchange 2016 entered extended support. The March 2021 cumulative update (CU20) is the last planned feature update for Exchange 2016. Any cumulative update after 20 is at Microsoft’s discretion.

Security patches will continue to be available in extended support until October 14th, 2025, delivered primarily through the Security Update Guide.

[Read more…] about Exchange Server Cumulative Updates (December 2020)

Filed Under: Exchange News

Microsoft Word editor goes full dark mode

November 30, 2020 By Gareth Gudger 7 Comments

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If you are part of the Office Beta Channel (formerly known as the Office Insiders Program), then a new full dark mode has made its way to Microsoft Word.

Previously selecting Black under File > Account > Office Theme would change the ribbon, background, and status bars to black while leaving the editor itself a bright white.

Original Dark Mode in Microsoft Word

The new Black theme now switches the editor to a true dark mode. From the screenshot below, you can see the background and text have been inverted.

Dark Mode in Microsoft Word Build 2012
[Read more…] about Microsoft Word editor goes full dark mode

Filed Under: Office 365 Tutorials, Outlook Tutorials

RunAs Radio #745 – Exchange Server vNext announced

November 25, 2020 By Gareth Gudger Leave a Comment

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On September 14th, I had the great pleasure of being a guest on RunAs Radio. I joined host Richard Campbell to discuss several hot topics for Exchange and Office 365; including:

  • Introductions
  • Staying on-prem versus going to the cloud
  • Importance of email availability
  • Monitoring in the new Exchange Admin Center
  • Exchange Server vNext
  • Extended deadline for basic authentication deprecation
  • Migrating away from basic authentication
  • Exchange Server vNext in-place upgrade scenarios
  • Exchange Server vNext licensing model
  • Certificate-based authentication for unattended Exchange Online scripts
  • Eliminating the last Exchange Server on-prem
  • Keeping Exchange Server on-prem for SMTP relay
  • DANE for SMTP (DNS Authentication of Named Entities)
  • Plus Addressing in Exchange Online
  • Tenant-to-tenant mailbox migrations in public preview
  • SMTP domain sharing preview in development
Gareth on RunAs Radio Episode 745 Exchange vNext
[Read more…] about RunAs Radio #745 – Exchange Server vNext announced

Filed Under: Exchange News, Exchange Videos & Podcasts, Office 365 News, Office 365 Videos & Podcasts

15 Ignite sessions every Exchange admin should see (2020 Edition)

October 27, 2020 By Gareth Gudger 4 Comments

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Microsoft hosted its annual conference this September. However, unlike prior Ignite conferences, this one was impacted by COVID-19. As a result, Microsoft took its massive conference, typically attended by tens of thousands of individuals, and converted it into a digital online experience.

This digital Ignite was by no means a shadow of its former self. With 812 scheduled sessions and another 410 on-demand sessions via the Video Hub, this digital experience was massive.

At 1,222 sessions, here are the top 15 sessions I think every Exchange admin should watch.

Tip: I have included extensive notes for each session and the time each topic starts. You can expand the session notes under each video by clicking “Show more session notes.”

Exchange – Here, There and Everywhere (watch video)
Exchange – Here, There and Everywhere
In this session, Greg Taylor discusses the roadmap for Exchange on-prem and Exchange Online. Topics include:
  • Exchange Calculator will now be a separate download, outside of the ISO (0:30 mins)
  • Exchange 2016/2019 will support multiple tenants with the HCW (2:15 mins)
    • Up to 5 tenants at GA
    • Have to rerun the HCW against each tenant
    • HMA will be restricted to only 1 of those 5 tenants
    • It won’t configure free/busy between the tenants
  • New Exchange Admin Center will be GA Q1 2021 (4:40 mins)
  • New Exchange Admin Center Home (6:25 mins)
  • New Exchange Admin Center Reports (7:25 mins)
    • Auto-Forwarded Message Report
    • Outbound Message Report
  • Exchange PowerShell Module v2 (8:40 mins)
    • General availability of certificate-based authentication for unattended scripts
    • PowerShell Core support in preview
    • Linux PowerShell support in preview
  • Plus, Addressing in Exchange Online is GA (11:15 mins)
    • Full rollout expected by October
    • Administrators need to enable it at the tenant-level
  • A new version of on-premises Exchange Server (13:40 mins)
    • Released H2 2021
    • Only available via subscription purchase
    • SharePoint and Skype for Business will follow suit
    • Can install into an existing org with Exchange 2013, Exchange 2016, and Exchange 2019
    • One more backward-compatible version than normal
    • Exchange 2019 users can do an in-place upgrade to vNext (like applying a CU)
    • Only for 2 years after vNext release
    • Exchange 2019 and vNext can be in the same DAG and load balancer VIP
    • No more major Exchange upgrades
  • Exchange 2016 end of mainstream support – October 14th (20:00 mins)
    • If using the free hybrid key, keep using it during extended support
    • If you have on-prem mailboxes, migrate to Exchange 2019
  • Removing the last Exchange server (22:30 mins)
    • Nothing to announce, but work is still in progress
  • Basic Authentication still being retired (23:30 mins)
    • Deadline extended to H2 2021
    • Easy on/off controls in M365 Admin Center
    • OAuth support added for POP, IMAP, and SMTP AUTH
    • PowerShell Module v2 uses modern auth
    • Outlook 2013 and newer uses modern auth
    • Use the Azure AD Sign-Ins report
    • Basic auth will be turned off in new tenants by default with security defaults
    • Basic auth will be turned off in tenants not using it
  • Additional Exchange Online training resources
  •  (26:55 mins)
Show more session notes
Show less session notes
Exchange Online Transport - New Email Management, Optics and End-user experiences (watch video)
Exchange Online Transport – New Email Management, Optics and End-user experiences
In this session, Kevin Shaughnessy discusses all the advancements coming to Exchange transport. Topics include:
  • Support for Plus Addresses (4:55 mins)
    • E.g., amypond+newsletter@supertekboy.com
    • Now rolling out
    • Great way to see who may have sold/leaked your data
    • Can target inbox roles to use the new plus address (move to a folder, etc.)
    • Could use it to track marketing/sales campaigns you initiate
  • Block users from blind carbon copying (BCC) a group (9:00 mins)
    • Problem: Inbox rules were ignoring a group added to the BCC line in an email
    • Solution: Generate an NDR if a group is added to the BCC line in an email. It can be enabled per group by either the group owner or administrator.
    • Rolling out Q4 2020
  • New Exchange Admin Center (12:53 mins)
    • All mail flow items and insights (e.g., message trace and mail flow reports) are moving from the Security & Compliance Center to the new Exchange Admin Center
    • New Exchange Admin Center is an opt-in experience
  • DEMO: New Exchange Center mail flow group (14:15 mins)
  • New Mail Flow Insights, Notifications, and Reports (16:10 mins)
    • Expired / soon to expire certificates report (Q4 2020)
    • Expired / soon to expire domains report (Q4 2020)
    • Misconfigured connectors report (TBD)
    • New Settings
      • Message expiration for email delivery issues (Q4 2020)
        • Default is 24 hours to generate NDR
        • Will be able to configure expiration and NDR value of 8-24 hours
      • Expiration for queued due to TLS failures (TBD)
        • Default is 24 hours to generate NDR
        • Under consideration
  • Reply-All Storm Protection (21:20 mins)
    • V1 is currently deployed
      • 10 reply-all to emails with 5,000 recipients within 1 hour
      • Blocks replies with an NDR for up to 4 hours
    • V2 planned
      • Customize the number of recipients on the email (new default will be 2,500)
      • Customize the number of reply-all messages detected in 1 hour (default will still be 10)
      • Customize block replies (default will still be 4 hours)
      • Reply-All Storm insights/reports coming to EAC
  • Message Recall for Exchange Online (26:15 mins)
    • Previously message recall is client-based and only works when the client is Outlook (not web or mobile)
    • New message recall is client agnostic and will remove the message from the mailbox
    • User will see a report of message recall success/failure
    • Available by Q4 2020
Show more session notes
Show less session notes
Exchange Online Transport – Email Security Updates (watch video)
Exchange Online Transport – Email Security Updates
In this session, Sean Stevenson discusses new security features coming to Exchange transport. Topics include:
  • Existing mail flow scenarios and susceptibility for attack (3:04 mins)
  • TLS 1.0 deprecation underway (6:55 mins)
    • TLS 1.0 already disabled for DoD/GCC High tenants
    • 2% of all mail to/from Office 365 with other mail exchangers using TLS 1.0
    • Even with TLS 1.0 disabled man-in-the-middle attacks are still a problem
  • DEMO: New Exchange Admin Center insights and reports identify mail sending with TLS 1.0 to/from your tenant (10:30 mins)
  • New cipher requirements to send/receive mail to Exchange Online (11:40 mins)
  • SMTP MTA Strict Transport Security support (RFC 8461) (12:55 mins)
    • Office 365 outbound now supports MTA-STS
    • DNS TXT record added to external DNS which identify location (and presence) of an MTA-STS policy (TEXT file hosted on a web server)
  • DEMO: Example of an MTA-STS policy (TEXT file) (17:50 mins)
  • Support for DANE / DNSSEC (18:25 mins)
    • DANE for SMTP identifies what TLS protocols the recipient domain supports prior to handshake/TLS negotiation
    • Protects against man-in-the-middle or downgrade attacks
    • DANE TSLA records protected with DNSSEC to prevent tampering with the DANE records
    • Outbound protection will be added before inbound protection
  • SMTP Auth Clients (20:52 mins)
    • Deprecation of TLS 1.0 for SMTP Auth Clients is still coming
    • If your SMTP Auth Clients can’t be easily upgraded to use TLS 1.2, leverage Exchange on-premises for mail relay.
  • DEMO: SMTP Auth Client report (23:00 mins)
  • SMTP Auth Clients (24:10 mins)
    • No plans to deprecate basic authentication for SMTP Auth Clients at this time.
    • Modern Auth (OAuth) is available for SMTP Auth Clients (recommended)
    • Recommended: Disable SMTP Auth for any mailbox that does not require it
    • SMTP Auth being globally disabled on all new tenants (can be re-enabled by the admin)
Show more session notes
Show less session notes
[Read more…] about 15 Ignite sessions every Exchange admin should see (2020 Edition)

Filed Under: Exchange News, Office 365 News

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