[m365weekly] #197

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Issue #197

☁️Productivity & Modern Workplace

Productivity Tip: Converting PPT into Video. Turn your PowerPoint slides into an MP4 video to make your content easier to share and engage with. Whether it’s for social platforms, internal portals, or outreach, this simple export method breathes new life into your presentations, offering timed playback, narration options, and broader reach. Perfect for training, updates, sales pitches, or webinar follow-ups.

Apply a watermark to PDFs in SharePoint and OneDrive. By mid-2025, you’ll be able to add text or image watermarks to PDFs stored in SharePoint and OneDrive. You can customize transparency, size, rotation, color, and positioning. Watermarks will be embedded in the PDF content, visible across tools but not removable outside OneDrive or SharePoint. Editing or removing watermarks is possible only within Microsoft’s environment.

Outlook (new) lets you move emails between mailboxes. Outlook for Windows now lets you move emails between mailboxes, a long-awaited feature. You can use drag-and-drop, cut-and-paste, or right-click to move messages. However, enterprise users face restrictions, as the feature is disabled by default and requires admin intervention using PowerShell to enable.

[FEATURED STORY] End of an era for an on-premises Exchange server

Source: Exchange Server Subscription Edition (SE) is now available

The big picture. Microsoft has launched Exchange Server Subscription Edition (SE), marking a major shift for on-premises enterprise email. Exchange SE is now the only on-premises version that will be supported after October 2025, as support for Exchange 2016 and 2019 ends. Unlike previous versions, Exchange SE follows the Modern Lifecycle Policy, meaning it will be continuously updated as an evergreen product with no fixed end-of-support date, provided customers keep their systems current. The initial release is nearly identical to Exchange 2019 CU15, making in-place upgrades straightforward and low risk for existing customers.

Why is it important? Organizations that require on-premises or hybrid email solutions can now rely on a continuously supported platform, without worrying about major version upgrades or looming end-of-support deadlines. The transition from Exchange 2019 CU14 or CU15 to SE is designed to be seamless, with no feature removals, schema changes, or new license keys required.

While Exchange SE starts out identical to Exchange 2019 CU15, future updates will introduce new features and requirements, ensuring the platform evolves alongside Microsoft’s cloud offerings. With support for older versions ending soon, organizations must plan to upgrade to Exchange SE to maintain support, security, and compliance.

☁️Copilot & AI

 Microsoft 365 Copilot Notebooks Explained: A Complete Guide. The new Notebooks feature in Copilot, available in the M365 dashboard, acts as a container for organizing references like files, chats, and OneNote pages. You can add prompts, collaborate on pages using Loop components, and even generate audio summaries. It’s a practical tool for managing research, brainstorming, and team projects.

Prompt Engineering Guide – From Beginner to Advanced. Prompt engineering is the art of crafting well-structured inputs for large language models (LLMs) to generate accurate and meaningful outputs. Strategies include techniques like zero-shot, few-shot, chain of thought, role prompting, and self-consistency, among others. Adjusting settings like temperature and token limits further refines responses, while tools like React enable task-specific actions using external resources.

☁️Sysadmin Stuff

Federating Identities between two MS365 Tenants for Collaboration. To securely collaborate between two Microsoft 365 tenants, establish a cross-tenant trust using Microsoft Entra ID. Define collaboration scope, configure permissions, enforce MFA, and utilize conditional access policies. Disable general external sharing, manage guest access, and set up secure SharePoint and OneDrive sharing. Regularly audit, train users, and review settings to maintain security while enabling seamless document co-authoring and controlled access.

12 New Identity Secure Score Recommendations In MS Entra. Microsoft Entra now includes 12 new Identity Secure Score recommendations, currently in public preview, aimed at enhancing your organization’s security posture. These recommendations cover areas like certificate templates, Entra Connect accounts, and password management, providing actionable insights to address identity-based risks. Access them via the Entra portal to strengthen your tenant and align security and identity efforts seamlessly.

How to Configure Group Writeback in Microsoft Entra Cloud Sync. Group writeback in Microsoft Entra Cloud Sync lets you synchronize cloud security groups from Microsoft Entra ID to your on-premises Active Directory. It involves creating OUs, installing and configuring the Provisioning Agent, setting up synchronization, and verifying the sync status. This approach replaces the deprecated writeback via Microsoft Entra Connect, ensuring seamless integration for managing security groups across environments.

☁️Security & Data Governance

Data Loss Prevention (DLP) in M365 Business Premium – Comprehensive Guide. Data Loss Prevention (DLP) in Microsoft 365 Business Premium helps you safeguard sensitive data by monitoring and controlling its sharing across emails, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams. You can implement pre-built or custom policies to detect patterns like credit card numbers or personal identifiers and take actions like blocking, notifying, or encrypting based on your organization’s needs.

Comparing upgrade bundles: E5 Security vs. EM+S E5. Microsoft 365 E5 Security and EM+S E5 cater to different IT strategies. E5 Security emphasizes consolidation under a unified Microsoft umbrella, ideal for insourcing security management. EM+S E5 offers advanced features like auto-labeling for sensitive data and broader compliance tools, making it appealing for MSPs prioritizing external partnerships or complex security frameworks. Your choice depends on your business model and service focus.

Microsoft Defender for Business Endpoint Protection – Capabilities and Comparison. Microsoft Defender for Business offers small to medium businesses advanced endpoint protection, including antivirus, EDR, automated remediation, and vulnerability management, across multiple platforms. It bridges enterprise-grade capabilities with simplified management, integrates seamlessly with Intune for compliance and Conditional Access, and supports proactive threat prevention and response, making it ideal for businesses with up to 300 users.

☁️Noteworthy (long)reads

85% of Fortune 500 companies have made their choice – have you? Nearly 85% of Fortune 500 companies now rely on Microsoft for their digital transformation, with tools like Microsoft 365 Copilot enhancing productivity by up to 40%. The UK cloud market is expanding rapidly, fueled by integrated platforms like Azure AI Foundry, which drive measurable efficiency and cost savings. Unified ecosystems are proving essential for scaling innovation, security, and operational impact.

DATES TO KEEP IN MIND

October 14, 2025 – Windows 10 (Home, Pro, Enterprise, Education, IoT Enterprise) end of support – source

October 14, 2025 – Office 2016, Office 2019, Exchange Server 2016, Exchange Server 2019 end of support – source

October 2026 – Retirement of Microsoft Publisher app which has been a part of Office Suite for years.

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☁️On a Less Serious Note

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