M365 Weekly Newsletter
Issue #183
☁️Productivity & Modern Workplace
Want to Send Emails from Excel? Here’s How! You can quickly send personalized, dynamic emails from Excel using the HYPERLINK function, without VBA macros or Power Automate. Organize your data in columns (e.g., names, emails, invoice amounts) and use formulas to dynamically create email bodies and subjects. The HYPERLINK function helps generate clickable links to send emails through your default email client like Outlook, making the process efficient and straightforward.
How to use Tags in OneNote 2025. Tags in OneNote help you organize, categorize, and quickly locate important notes. You can use built-in tags or create custom ones for specific needs. Tags make information more searchable and enhance your workflow. You can also integrate tags with Outlook for managing tasks. For a creative touch, use emojis as tags and leverage OneNote’s search function for easy access.
10 Tips to Make Your Excel Spreadsheets Look Professional & Functional. Make your Excel spreadsheets look polished and professional with these tips: use templates for inspiration, choose clear fonts, structure with purpose, align text strategically, … more in the article.
6 Apps & flows that run our business – Power Automate & Power Apps Examples. You can streamline your business processes with Power Apps and Power Automate. Six practical examples include an applicant tracking system that automates candidate management via SharePoint, a weekly meeting tool that simplifies scheduling for training sessions, and a contact form flow that efficiently handles customer inquiries. These solutions enhance communication and save time, making operations smoother.
☁️Copilot & AI
Build Your Own AI Agents with Microsoft 365 Copilot. With Microsoft 365 Co-pilot’s Agent Builder, creating customized AI agents is now accessible for all users, regardless of technical skills. This tool empowers you to tailor agents for specific business processes, enhancing workflow automation. You can choose from pre-built agents or build from scratch, integrating documents and information from SharePoint to create focused, task-specific agents.
Content Creation in the Era of AI. AI is revolutionizing content creation, with tools like Microsoft Copilot enhancing productivity by supporting ideation and workflow optimization. To maintain content authenticity, combine AI-generated ideas with personal insights. A robust content strategy, including audience understanding and SEO, is vital.
☁️Sysadmin Stuff
How to Use Sign-in Diagnostic in Microsoft Entra ID. The Microsoft Entra sign-in diagnostic tool streamlines troubleshooting for user sign-in issues, enhancing productivity. It offers an intuitive interface to identify and resolve authentication problems efficiently. You can access it through various methods, including the Diagnose and Solve Problems section or sign-in logs, allowing quick diagnostics and insights on flagged events, error codes, and potential solutions for common sign-in scenarios.
10 Most Popular PowerShell Tips and Tricks of 2024. PowerShell remains a powerful tool for IT professionals, offering various automation and scripting solutions. This collection of tutorials covers essential techniques, including creating PDFs, solving GUI challenges, and converting scripts to executables. You’ll also find guidance on error handling, Active Directory automation, and parameter validation, all aimed at enhancing your PowerShell skills effectively.
☁️Security & Data Governance
Restrict admin access to specific privileged workstations. In a Microsoft Entra ID environment, protecting privileged users from cyber threats is crucial. Implement conditional access policies to enhance security by requiring multi-factor authentication (MFA) and compliant devices. Consider using privileged access workstations to safeguard admin activities further. Ensure you have break glass accounts to prevent lockout and use extension attributes to manage access effectively.
How to set up multifactor authentication in Microsoft 365. Multifactor authentication (MFA) in Microsoft 365 adds a vital layer of security, significantly reducing the risk of compromised accounts. All Microsoft 365 plans offer MFA, with customizable features in higher-tier plans.
☁️Noteworthy (long)reads
What Is Patch Tuesday? Microsoft’s Monthly Update Explained. Patch Tuesday is your monthly opportunity to keep Windows devices secure and efficient. Every second Tuesday, Microsoft rolls out updates, consolidating various non-urgent fixes and crucial security patches. You can access these updates via tools like Windows Update and Microsoft Intune. To ensure smooth implementation, test patches in a controlled environment and have a rollback plan ready.
Upgrading to Windows Server 2025: A Step-by-Step Guide. Windows Server 2025 introduces enhanced security features, like improved Active Directory protocols and automated password management. It boasts performance upgrades with Accelerated Networking and faster storage options. Hybrid cloud integration is seamless, leveraging Azure Arc for hotpatching. New Active Directory installations support a 32k page database format, though upgrades maintain an 8k format, requiring new installations for full capability.
☁️Classifieds
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☁️On a Less Serious Note
☁️ Last but not least …
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