Big protection for small businesses-the latest in Microsoft security innovation

Microsoft continues to develop a comprehensive set of security solutions that are easy to use, cost-effective, and specifically designed for small businesses including Microsoft 365 Business Premium, and Microsoft Defender for Business. Simplified security for iOS and Android without device management or add-ons - in preview. Detect malicious Android apps that could disrupt the device or steal data with App Security. Now with Microsoft Defender for Business, data can be kept secure on desktops, laptops, and mobile devices, no matter where employees are. Adding Mobile security without device management in Defender for Business standalone gives you comprehensive device security for Windows, MacOS, and now iOS and Android devices which goes far beyond the capabilities of traditional antivirus solutions that typically only protect a fraction of your business needs. Better understand status of security and identify areas for improvement across devices. These updates will help you to protect mobile devices from cyber-attacks, gain insights into your investments, and enable IT partners to manage security for customers more efficiently. -------------------- Read more at https://bit.ly/3K3Rrlc Source: Microsoft Tech Community Microsoft 365 Business Blog

The Service That SharePoint Built

Now, in 2023, a new tale emerges - one that is sure to rise to the top of the Tech PDF charts. Imagine, two IT Pros floating in the sky looking down at a Microsoft 365 data center. This is not your typical technical PDF. It is a tech parody intended to bring the giggles while learning a thing or two about the glue that binds - that many Microsoft 365 applications are powered by SharePoint: Loop, OneDrive, Sites, Designer, Syntex, Office, Teams, Viva, Stream, Whiteboard, Search, Yammer, and Lists. Ms/Story/BuiltBySharePoint to experience this wonderful cumulative tale of a service that is both platform and app. That is stored in the service that SharePoint built. That was tagged with the metadata - powered by Syntex. -------------------- Read more at https://bit.ly/3nwVGwH Source: Microsoft Tech Community SharePoint Blog

Celebrating Women's History Month

An image of a collage of women working at Microsoft. In honor of Women's History Month, we decided to interview a few of the women who are a part of our Modern Work Supportability Women's group. A few years later, the Women at Microsoft group in Charlotte was created and I began to attend their events. In March 2020, I attended the annual WAM conference in New York, which was a fun and enriching experience to meet many women in different roles across Microsoft. RossS leads the worldwide Modern Work Supportability team in the Customer Service & Support organization at Microsoft. JessicaDarby is a Supportability Program Manager on the CSS Modern Work Supportability team focused on commercial accounts, billing, purchase, and subscription management with Microsoft 365. The CSS Modern Work Supportability team delivers innovative self-help solutions and diagnostics, in-service enhancements, and support programs to help customers get maximum value from their Microsoft 365 commercial subscriptions and create an easy-to-use, connected support experience. -------------------- Read more at https://bit.ly/3nqB4pO Source: Microsoft Tech Community Microsoft 365 Blog

Microsoft 365 Conference event guide to keynotes, AMA, sessions, and more

The Microsoft 365 Conference returns to Las Vegas, NV, May 2-4, 2023 - with two pre-event and one post-event workshop days. It's a wonderful event dedicated to AI, SharePoint, Teams, Viva, Syntex, Power Platform, and related Microsoft 365 apps and services. Our new AI track will focus on Copilot across Microsoft 365, Power Platform, Dynamics 365, and more. Microsoft keynotes and AMA. Hear from Microsoft leadership revealing the latest innovations shaping the flexible, innovative, and secure business environments of the future. Take a deep dive into technology to help refine your practices and bring learnings back to your team and organization to extend the application and use of your Microsoft 365 investment. All Microsoft 365 Conference workshops either take place pre-event on Sunday or Monday or post-event on Friday. Remember, Microsoft customers can use the discount code MSCUST150 for $150 off your conference registration. -------------------- Read more at https://bit.ly/3FVTdC8 Source: Microsoft Tech Community SharePoint Blog

What's Next for SharePoint Join us at the Microsoft 365 Conference in Las Vegas on May 2-4, 2023

This event defined the product visuals we know today as modern SharePoint, introduced the SharePoint Framework as a durable way of extending SharePoint and Microsoft 365 UX, integrated SharePoint and the Power Platform, and ushered in multiple years of product delivery and community-fueled inspiration as SharePoint matured and new products like Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Search, Microsoft Viva, and Microsoft Syntex emerged - all powered by the flexible SharePoint platform. The SharePoint product team catching up with the community at The Future of SharePoint event in 2016. Our ambitions for the next era of SharePoint are as bold as they were in 2016. Every new employee on the SharePoint product team learns about the power of our community. It gives us purpose when we enable the success of so many who bet their careers on SharePoint and Microsoft 365. We can't wait for you to join us! We'll be there May 2-4 in Las Vegas for the Microsoft 365 Conference - you'll learn best practices you can apply to your current projects, get a peek at the future of SharePoint at a critical moment in its product history, and make connections with the best community in tech. SharePoint can't wait to see you in Las Vegas and to share the news. -------------------- Read more at https://bit.ly/3nkRjVa Source: Microsoft Tech Community SharePoint Blog

Big protection for small businesses-the latest in Microsoft security innovation

Microsoft continues to develop a comprehensive set of security solutions that are easy to use, cost-effective, and specifically designed for small businesses including Microsoft 365 Business Premium, and Microsoft Defender for Business. Simplified security for iOS and Android without device management or add-ons - in preview. Detect malicious Android apps that could disrupt the device or steal data with App Security. Now with Microsoft Defender for Business, data can be kept secure on desktops, laptops, and mobile devices, no matter where employees are. Adding Mobile security without device management in Defender for Business standalone gives you comprehensive device security for Windows, MacOS, and now iOS and Android devices which goes far beyond the capabilities of traditional antivirus solutions that typically only protect a fraction of your business needs. Better understand status of security and identify areas for improvement across devices. These updates will help you to protect mobile devices from cyber-attacks, gain insights into your investments, and enable IT partners to manage security for customers more efficiently. -------------------- Read more at https://bit.ly/3K3Rrlc Source: Microsoft Tech Community Microsoft 365 Business Blog

Learn how to enable the Microsoft Loop app, now in Public Preview

An image of the Microsoft Loop app on a desktop device. We are excited to announce that Microsoft Loop is now in Public Preview! The Loop app is opt-in during our Public Preview, so as an IT Admin, you need to follow the steps below for your users to experience it, otherwise it is disabled. With Loop, you can create and share Loop components-portable pieces of content that sync across all the places they have been shared including, Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Word for the web, Whiteboard, and the Loop app. Learn more about the end-user value of the Loop app here in our announcement blog. Create a security group that will contain all the users in your organization who you want to grant access to the Loop app during Public Preview. Create a Cloud Policy, scoped to the security group you created above, to enable the Loop app. In the image example below, we used the previously created Loop app Security Group. -------------------- Read more at https://bit.ly/3LHy2aE Source: Microsoft Tech Community Microsoft 365 Blog

Reinventing collaboration with AI in Microsoft Loop

An image of the Experiments tab within the Loop app settings providing toggles to enable or disable Copilot and Jumpstart Workspace. Participants in our initial feedback sessions love that they can continue to work with Copilot even after it generates initial text - and we think you will too. While we guide you towards writing requests with our examples, these should not limit how you use Copilot in Loop. Spin up new content and tweak it - Copilot can help you draft a newsletter or come up with a list of ideas to get the ball rolling. If you need to explore some options before getting more eyes on a draft - just use Copilot to sample different tones and help you rephrase content based on your intent. Copilot in Loop builds on our existing commitments to data security and privacy in the enterprise. Copilot automatically inherits your organization's security, compliance, and privacy policies for Microsoft 365. -------------------- Read more at https://bit.ly/42oyn8a Source: Microsoft Tech Community Microsoft 365 Blog

The SharePoint storage platform supports the Loop app

Today marks the start of the Microsoft Loop app journey. The Loop app is now available in public preview! Loop is about people - people who want to create together with ease, no matter where they are or what tools they use. SharePoint provides the underlying storage and collaboration technology for Loop. Enabling products like Loop to build and innovate quickly on the SharePoint platform requires significant planning and work. Leveraging B-Tree graph nodes allows us to unlock powerful collaboration capabilities and unmatched flexibility in a data structure that works for existing file types but also natively supports Fluid Framework, the underlying tech for Microsoft Loop. Security and Compliance - By building on the core SharePoint platform, Loop components, pages, and workspaces inherit all of SharePoint's industry-leading work on compliance and security. Congratulations and thank you to our Loop colleagues! We love being in the Loop. -------------------- Read more at https://bit.ly/42AHbI7 Source: Microsoft Tech Community SharePoint Blog

Upcoming March 2023 Microsoft 365 Champion Community Call

Join us for a special topic in our next community call on March 28! Based on feedback from our last call, we will be starting at 5 minutes past the hour instead. We apologize for the disjointed experience last time and are always trying to improve. The meeting will still end at 9:00 AM and 6:00 PM PT, respectively. -------------------- Read more at https://bit.ly/3LC5Ypj Source: Microsoft Tech Community Driving Adoption Blog

Update your policy configurations to target different groups

Over the next few days, we will be rolling out an update to the Cloud Policy service for Microsoft 365 that allows administrators to change the group that a policy configuration is targeted to. No more cloning needed, just click on the policy configuration you want to change, navigate to the Scope page and you will be able to remove the group and replace it with a different group. In the future we plan to make additional enhancements to group support such as targeting multiple groups and targeting all users on the tenant so stay tuned. Continue the conversation by joining us in the Microsoft 365 Tech Community! Whether you have product questions or just want to stay informed with the latest updates on new releases, tools, and blogs, Microsoft 365 Tech Community is your go-to resource to stay connected! -------------------- Read more at https://bit.ly/3yVZsCe Source: Microsoft Tech Community Microsoft 365 Blog

Microsoft Viva Topics is Viva Engaged The Intrazone Microsoft podcast

Viva Topics in Engage doubles the impact and access of your knowledge at your fingertips - and how you pay it forward to others. On today's episode, we hear from Raj Jain about all things topical about Viva Topics, specifically - the role of Viva Topics within your Viva Engage community discussions, questions, and announcements posts. The real value gives you a built-in knowledge management system that balances and refines the length of your internal communications without sacrificing the depth you pay forward to each person that reads your comm. Thanks for listening! If you like what you hear, we'd love for you to Subscribe, Rate and Review on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. Be sure to visit our show page to hear all episodes, access the show notes, and get bonus content. Stay connected to the SharePoint community blog where we'll share more information per episode, guest insights, and take any questions or suggestions from our listeners and SharePoint users. The Intrazone, a show about the Microsoft 365 intelligent intranet. -------------------- Read more at https://bit.ly/3JxVSmM Source: Microsoft Tech Community SharePoint Blog

Play My Emails in Outlook now available in more languages

Hourra! ¡Estamos entusiasmados! We're excited! Play My Emails is now available in French and Spanish. To use Play My Emails, you must be running Outlook for iOS or Android. You'll need an Office 365 work account, an Outlook account, or a Gmail account signed in to Outlook mobile. An animated image demonstrating Play My Emails in Outlook in French on a mobile device. An animated image demonstrating Play Conversation in Outlook in French on a mobile device. An animated image demonstrating Play My Emails in Outlook in Spanish on a mobile device. An animated image demonstrating Play Conversation in Outlook in Spanish on a mobile device. -------------------- Read more at https://bit.ly/3FBq678 Source: Microsoft Tech Community Microsoft 365 Blog

Administration of Microsoft 365 in the new era of AI

Today we introduced Microsoft 365 Copilot, which combines the power of large language models with your data in Microsoft Graph and Microsoft 365 apps to turn words into the most powerful productivity tool on the planet. Copilot is integrated into Microsoft 365 and automatically inherits all your company's valuable security, compliance, and privacy policies and processes. Whether you are working with our AI solutions in Azure, Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, the Power Platform, or other Microsoft cloud services, we have designed these experiences with compliance, privacy, and security at the core. Be sure to stay connected in the Microsoft 365 community for future updates. Copilot presents only data that each individual can access using the same underlying controls for data access used in other Microsoft 365 services. Microsoft has been on a Responsible AI journey since 2017, when we defined our principles and approach to ensuring this technology is used in a way that is driven by ethical principles that put people first. You can also check the Microsoft 365 Roadmap for the latest information. -------------------- Read more at https://bit.ly/42g573r Source: Microsoft Tech Community Microsoft 365 Blog

What's new for SharePoint Server Subscription Edition

When we launched SharePoint Server Subscription Edition in November 2021, we shared our vision of a server built for continuous innovation, which emphasized the specific needs of our on-premises customers including new features to help simplify management, improve your security posture, and streamline your upgrade from earlier versions of SharePoint Server. In keeping with our commitment to make SharePoint Server Subscription Edition the foundation for our evolution of SharePoint Server, today we're delighted to share the next step on this journey: the new 23H1 feature update for SharePoint, built on these same principles as the 22H2 feature update. To simplify the process for updating your SharePoint Server Subscription Edition environments, we're introducing a single update each month for SharePoint Server Subscription Edition, starting with the March 2023 public update. To expand the customization scenarios that SharePoint Server Subscription Edition supports, the 23H1 feature update adds support for SharePoint Framework version 1.5.1. As the long-term foundation for SharePoint Server, we continue to invest in keeping SharePoint Server Subscription Edition updated with modern technologies. SharePoint Server Subscription Edition introduced a new certificate management feature that allows SharePoint farm administrators to directly manage the deployment and lifecycle of SSL/TLS certificates in their SharePoint Server farms. As SharePoint Server Subscription Edition evolves with the new continuous release model, our product servicing policy also evolves with it. -------------------- Read more at https://bit.ly/42fzXsR Source: Microsoft Tech Community SharePoint Blog

The Retro Terminal - Looking good in 8-Bit | Part 3

Since my last two articles, PowerShell, as well as the terminal itself, has evolved. It is therefore time to bring Retro PowerShell up to date. Where the first two parts cover Windows PowerShell, this article is an update for PowerShell Core and Windows Terminal and will show you how to let your Terminal look like a Commodore 64.

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The Future of customer support: Empathy and compassion. An interview with ChatGPT

A series of discussions with Ross Smith and OpenAI's ChatGPT about the future of customer support. At the same time, it will be important for companies to invest in training and development programs that help support agents cultivate empathy and compassion, as these traits will continue to be critical to providing high-quality customer support. ChatGPT: AI can help improve customer empathy by providing support agents with more information and insights about customers, allowing them to better understand their needs and emotions. Predictive insights: AI can analyze customer behavior and data to provide support agents with predictive insights about what a customer is likely to need or want. By providing support agents with more information and tools, AI can help improve customer empathy and enhance the overall customer experience. It's important to note that AI cannot replace the human touch and that support agents will continue to play a critical role in providing empathetic and compassionate customer support. ChatGPT: It's difficult to determine which of the 10 ways AI and human customer support agents can work together will have the most impact on the customer experience, as it will depend on the specific needs and preferences of each customer. -------------------- Read more at https://bit.ly/41MASB7 Source: Microsoft Tech Community Microsoft 365 Blog

Microsoft Visio Viewer app for iOS will be retired from the App Store

Since the introduction of Visio for the web more than six years ago, we've continuously improved the viewing and file sharing experience for Visio drawings stored in OneDrive and SharePoint. On August 14, 2023, the Microsoft Visio Viewer app will be retired and removed from the Apple App Store, so that our team can focus our energy on making Visio for the web even better. If you are an admin and received a notification in the Microsoft 365 Message center, it means one or more people in your organization are using the Visio Viewer app for iOS. This blog post aims to provide guidance on how current users of the Visio Viewer app for iOS can access, view, and share Visio files moving forward. Users with a Microsoft 365 subscription can access and view Visio files through a web browser by signing in to visio. Transitioning from the Visio Viewer app on iOS to Visio for the web is easy. To learn more about which browsers work with Visio for the web, or how to view and comment on diagrams created with a Visio Plan 1 or Visio Plan 2 subscription, visit our Visio for the web FAQ. Thank you to those who used the Visio Viewer app for iOS and provided reviews over the years. Your feedback has helped to shape the Visio viewing and file sharing experience on iOS devices and has helped us to understand areas where we can improve the experience across Visio. -------------------- Read more at https://bit.ly/3IW2Y3V Source: Microsoft Tech Community Microsoft 365 Blog

Enabling partners to scale across their SMB customers with Microsoft 365 Lighthouse

Microsoft 365 Lighthouse is a first party multi-tenant solution targeting manage service providers who are looking for a secure solution that helps them streamline and automate the management of their Microsoft 365 customers at scale. It helps partners operationalize and scale their SMB security practices by applying consistent policies and settings targeted at SMB; quickly identify drifts and threats across users, data and devices to proactively take action; and help them adopt a zero-trust model for themselves and their customers inclusive of adopting least privileged roles as they manage on behalf of their customers. Microsoft 365 Lighthouse makes it easy to leverage the value across the Microsoft 365 portfolio rapidly, assisting you in keeping services, data, apps, and devices secure across all customers. By leveraging the powerful features and benefits of Microsoft 365 Lighthouse, MSPs can securely and effectively manage SMB customers at scale, helping them build successful, long-lasting relationships with their customers. Scale your MSP with standard configuration across your customerAn image of deployment insights across the customers partner manages within Microsoft 365 Lighthouse. You can now establish GDAP relationships with multiple SMB customers at once from the Microsoft 365 Lighthouse and assign users in the partner tenant to security groups with various roles and levels of permissions. Over the next few months, we will be diving into more details about the above areas plus sharing so much more on how Microsoft 365 Lighthouse can help you secure and manage your SMB customers at scale, while making them more productive. -------------------- Read more at https://bit.ly/3mi1BVz Source: Microsoft Tech Community Microsoft 365 Business Blog