M365 Weekly Newsletter
Issue #204
☁️Productivity & Modern Workplace
5 POWERFUL Outlook Tips & Tricks to Finally Tame Your Inbox. Take charge of your Outlook inbox by implementing strategies that help you stay organized and focused. With the right habits and tools, you can reduce clutter, manage tasks effectively, and improve your overall email workflow for a more productive day. VIDEO
Word Docs Saved to Cloud: A Controversial Change. Microsoft is shifting Word 365’s default save location to OneDrive or SharePoint, with AutoSave enabled. Local saving is still possible, but now requires extra steps. AutoSave remains exclusive to cloud files, reflecting Microsoft’s push toward cloud reliance. This change affects Word 365 users and won’t apply to Office 2021 or 2024.
☁️Copilot & AI
Discover the COPILOT Function in Excel. Excel’s new COPILOT( ) function brings AI directly into your spreadsheets, allowing natural-language prompts to generate responses. It supports brainstorming, data summarization, and creating structured outputs. While powerful, it’s prone to inaccuracies and limited to 100 calls per 10 minutes. Best use cases involve linking prompts to cells for dynamic updates.
Summarize Email Thread Feature Coming to Outlook. Microsoft is introducing email thread summarization in Outlook to users without a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. This strategic move ensures key AI functionalities remain within Microsoft’s ecosystem, reducing reliance on third-party add-ons like ChatGPT integrations.
How to Use Microsoft 365 Copilot for Data Analysis in Minutes! You can extract trends, generate formulas, and create visualizations with straightforward prompts. Whether you’re working directly in Excel or using natural language queries, Copilot makes it easier to turn raw data into actionable insights, helping you handle complex tasks efficiently. VIDEO
☁️Sysadmin Stuff
Why You Need to Stop Using onmicrosoft.com for Emails in Microsoft 365. Microsoft is phasing out reliance on onmicrosoft.com addresses for outbound email. Starting October 2025, external mail from these addresses will be capped at 100 recipients per tenant per day. This change impacts deliverability, security, and professional branding.
The last Exchange server in the organization. Managing mailboxes in hybrid setups just got easier. Microsoft’s new “Cloud-managed remote mailboxes” feature allows you to manage Exchange Online mailboxes directly in the cloud, eliminating the need for an on-premises Exchange server. While the feature is currently in Public Preview and has some limitations, it simplifies administration for organizations relying on hybrid environments.
Upgrade Entra Connect Sync to Entra Cloud Sync. Microsoft Entra Cloud Sync replaces the traditional Entra Connect server, offering a lightweight, Azure-powered solution for syncing identities between Active Directory and Entra ID. It requires minimal on-prem infrastructure and supports advanced filtering and custom rules.
☁️Security & Data Governance
Learning from Microsoft’s Secure Future Initiative. Microsoft’s Secure Future Initiative highlights phishing-resistant MFA, reducing privileged accounts, and faster vulnerability fixes. For your organization, focus on replacing outdated systems, securing high-value accounts, and improving patching speed to enhance security, even with limited resources.
New Features in Microsoft Purview eDiscovery. Microsoft retiried the classic eDiscovery (Premium) interface just a few days ago, transitioning its functionality to Microsoft Purview eDiscovery. The modern platform improves workflows with features like automatic indexing, case-focused management, enhanced reporting, and direct holds from searches.
Security Info Registration. Entra ID’s rabbit hole. Navigating authentication methods in Entra ID can be complex for both admins and end-users, especially with features like Conditional Access Authentication Strengths and the transition from legacy MFA settings. From onboarding challenges to specific caveats like SSPR incompatibilities and guest user MFA trust, understanding these nuances is essential for ensuring a smooth and secure user experience.
☁️Noteworthy (long)reads
With new in-house models, Microsoft lays the groundwork for independence from OpenAI. Microsoft is advancing its AI strategy with two new in-house models: MAI-Voice-1 for natural, expressive speech generation and MAI-1-preview, a large language model tailored for Copilot. These models signal a shift toward developing specialized AI tools and reducing reliance on OpenAI. While still in testing, they aim to enhance user experiences with more focused, consumer-friendly AI capabilities.
Is the AI bubble about to pop? Sam Altman is prepared either way. Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, warns of overexcited AI investors, likening the frenzy to the dot-com bubble while predicting trillion-dollar spending on data centers and billions of daily ChatGPT users. Despite high valuations and enterprise AI struggles, tech giants like Microsoft and Google can absorb losses, suggesting a slower deflation of any bubble.
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☁️On a Less Serious Note
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