Welcome to the January 22 – 28, 2017 edition of the Office 365 Weekly Digest. Big announcements last week for FastTrack, OneDrive for Business and School Data Sync. There is also an important reminder for Exchange Online / Exchange Online Protection customers who have configured connectors, as well as an announcement on timing for the transition of SharePoint and Exchange Online eDiscovery to the Security & Compliance Center. There are two Ask Microsoft Anything (AMA) events this week – one for OneDrive for Business and the other for Microsoft Flow. Additional information detailing the Office updates for January and videos and labs from the latest Microsoft Tech Summit is included, with posts about the new web parts for SharePoint Online and security and privacy details for Delve and other intelligent experiences in Office 365 wrapping things up.
MESSAGE CENTER
Note: The information below may not be posted to your Office 365 tenant as not all notifications apply to all tenants.
Feature Update: ‘Send as’ and ‘Send on behalf of’ for groups in Outlook
Posted: January 24, 2017 | Urgency: Normal | Category: Stay Informed | Action: Awareness | Office 365 Roadmap ID: 72272 | You can now configure ‘send as’ and send-on-behalf-of permissions for groups in Outlook using the Exchange Admin Center. In addition, Office 365 Group members who have been granted send-as or send-on-behalf-of permissions, can send email as or on-behalf-of the group from within the group space in Outlook. In June 2016, we announced the ‘send as’ capability using PowerShell. Now we have enabled it in the Exchange Admin Center to make it easier for you to configure ‘send as’ and ‘send on behalf of’ permissions for Office 365 group members. Please visit https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/exchange/2017/01/24/send-as-and-send-on-behalf-of-for-groups-in-outlook/ to learn more.
Feature Update: Yammer Group Types
Posted: January 24, 2017 | Urgency: Normal | Category: Stay Informed | Action: Awareness | Office 365 Roadmap ID: 72468 | To pave the way for O365 groups integration, Yammer will be changing its group types to align with O365 group concepts. These changes will include the following: (1) Public Groups – the option for closed membership will no longer be available, (2) Private Groups (Listed) – only the admin of the Yammer group can grant approvals to new members and (3) Private Groups (Unlisted) – only the admin of the Yammer group can grant approvals to new members. Once this is available in your network, you can create an Office 365 Group that uses either Outlook email or Yammer to communicate and share information. If you feel this change is important to you, please update your user training. More details are located at Yammer Groups are now Office 365 Groups and Yammer Tech Community Blog: Changes to Yammer Group Types.
Updated Feature: Calendar events for groups in Outlook
Posted: January 25, 2017 | Urgency: Normal | Category: Stay Informed | Action: Awareness | Office 365 Roadmap ID: 72296 | We’re updating Calendar events for groups in Outlook. We’ll be gradually rolling this out to First Release customers in late January with the worldwide roll out expected to complete by the end of February. Responding to user feedback around lost or missed group events, we are now enabling all groups users to receive calendar events from their joined groups directly in their inbox. This way, users will no longer have to manually add group events on their personal calendar, they will always receive it in their inbox and will be able to action on it as per their personal preference. Users can now create group calendar events with full confidence that they will be delivered to all member’s inboxes. Please visit https://support.office.com/article/0cf1ad68-1034-4306-b367-d75e9818376a for additional information.
Updated Features: Monthly feature updates for Office 2016 for Office 365
Posted: January 25, 2017 | Urgency: Normal | Category: Stay Informed | Action: Awareness | The latest feature updates for Office 2016 for Office 365 are now available. One of the benefits of Office 365 ProPlus is that Microsoft can provide new features for Office apps on a regular basis, through monthly updates. We don’t list all of the features available this month, here; but this month’s update includes new feature updates, as well as other security and bug fixes. The January updates include (but not limited to): changes in shared files, grab object handles with Surface pen to resize, rotate, move and more and Closed captions in PowerPoint. If you have users configured for Current Channel release updates, you may want to get up to speed on the new features this month. Other than that, you do not need to do anything to prepare for this change. For a complete list of all the updates to Office, in January, please visit https://technet.microsoft.com/office/mt465751.
Updated Feature: Simplified sharing from OneDrive for Business from the web
Posted: January 27, 2017 | Urgency: Normal | Category: Stay Informed | Action: Awareness | Office 365 Roadmap ID: 72890 | We’re updating the user experience for sharing files and folders in OneDrive for Business from the web. It is rolling out to customers this month and we expect it to be complete in February. This new sharing experience simplifies the flow of emailing links to colleagues and guests and copying links to the clipboard. Like the original experience, the new experience presents two choices to users who want to share: type email addresses to send a link in email, or copy a link to the clipboard. Both the “Share” and “Get a link” command support all three types of links in OneDrive, including anonymous access links (accessible by anyone), company shareable links (accessible to those within your organization) and restricted links (accessible to a custom set of users both in and outside your organization). This allows users to more easily choose their method of sharing (email or copying to clipboard) while retaining the full set of permissions choices. The new sharing experience respects all IT sharing and access policies in place, so users will be able to get their work done while complying with the practices established by you. Learn more at https://support.office.com/article/89d8c6fa-a70c-4a31-b536-9f6fe94e97bc.
Updates to Microsoft Online Services subcontractors list
Posted: January 27, 2017 | Urgency: Normal | Category: Stay Informed | Action: Awareness | Microsoft discloses the names of subcontractors who have access to customer data and provides advance notice of new subcontractors. As a commitment to transparency, anytime we add new vendors/subcontractors, we disclose this information in the Microsoft Trust Center and send you a notification about this change. The Microsoft Online Services Subcontractor List was recently revised to include the subcontractor Larsen & Toubro (L&T) to help manage customer data. Along with this addition, we have updated location information for GP (GLOBAL PROFESSIONAL SERVICES GPSHR) , MIRPL-BGL, and Tecnol De Inf Movil SA DE CV. The new subcontractor can be used 6 months after the publish date. The updated Subcontractor’s List can be found on the Microsoft Trust Center at https://aka.ms/subcontractors.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Azure Active Directory Webinars for February
When: Multiple sessions currently scheduled through February 16, 2017 | Are you looking to deploy Azure Active Directory quickly and easily? We are offering free webinar briefings on key Azure Active Directory deployment topics! Sessions include: Getting Ready for Azure AD, Streamlining Password Management, Securing Your Identities with Multi-Factor Authentication, Managing Enterprise Applications and Accessing Your Organization’s Internal Apps. Each 1-hour or 75-minute webinar is designed to support IT Pros in quickly rolling out Azure Active Directory features to their organization. All webinars are free of cost and will include an anonymous Q&A session with our Engineering Team. So come with your questions! Capacity is limited. Sign up for one or all of the sessions today!
OneDrive: Ask Microsoft Anything (AMA)
When: Wednesday, February 1, 2017 at 9:00am PT | Join the OneDrive product team for an “Ask Microsoft Anything” (AMA) on Wednesday, February 1, 2017 from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. PST / 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. GMT in the OneDrive AMA group. Add the event to your calendar. An AMA is a live online event similar to a “YamJam” on Yammer or an “Ask Me Anything” on Reddit. This AMA gives you the opportunity to connect with the FastTrack team who will be on hand to answer your questions and listen to feedback regarding the recent announcement of the availability of several new capabilities in OneDrive for Business that make it easier than ever to sync, share and collaborate on all your files in Office 365. We hope to see you there!
Microsoft Flow: Community AMA (Ask Microsoft Anything)
When: Thursday, February 2, 2017 at 10:00am PT | We are pleased to announce the Microsoft Flow Ask Microsoft Anything (AMA)! This is your opportunity to ask questions and share feedback directly with the product team. The AMA will take place in the Flow AMA forum of the Power Users Community on Thursday, February 2, 2017 from 10:00 A.M. to 11:00 A.M. PST. Be sure to add the event to your calendar. An Ask Microsoft Anything (AMA) is the same as an “Ask Me Anything (AMA)” on Reddit, or YamJam on Yammer. It provides the opportunity for the community to ask questions and have a discussion with a panel of internal and external experts on a particular topic. In order to get the best value out of this hour, take a look at the flow & etiquette guidelines.
Online Customer Immersion Experience: Test Drive Microsoft Teams
When: Wednesday, February 15, 2017 at 10:00am PT & 12:00pm PT | Around the world teamwork is on the rise. Research suggests employees now work on nearly double the number of teams than they did just five years ago. This means more than ever people are reliant on their peers to help get things done. But a “one size fits all” approach does not work when it comes to group collaboration—different tools appeal to different groups and address unique needs. Join Microsoft to test drive Office 365 and our hottest new collaboration tool: Microsoft Teams. Each 90-minute session starts with an online business roundtable, discussing your biggest business challenges with a trained facilitator and then transitions into a live environment in the cloud. You will receive a link to connect your own device to a remote desktop loaded with our latest and greatest technology so you can experience first-hand how Microsoft tools can solve your biggest challenges. Space is limited: each is session is only open to 12 participants. Reserve your seat now.
FastTrack Webinars: Learn how to do more, together
When: Multiple sessions currently scheduled through February 23, 2017 | Ask questions, learn shortcuts and find out how Office 365 can make you and your team more productive. Each webinar is a live, instructor-led session offered at multiple dates and times. Facilitated discussion follows each session, with opportunities to ask questions and discuss specific scenarios to you. Direct registration links for each webinar are provided below.
- Use Office 365 to achieve more: Discover how to get work done more efficiently with Office 365 | Video
- Your files anywhere: Discover new ways to achieve more by getting work done with your documents from anywhere | Video
- Make meetings matter: Discover how Office 365 can help you get the right people achieving more together by connecting online through Skype for Business | Video
- Bring your team together with Yammer: Discover how to successfully launch a Yammer Network within your organization | Video
- Get it done from anywhere: Discover how to access Outlook from anywhere and share your files to get things done in real time | Video
- Key roles in making Office 365 successful: Discover how different roles work together to execute a successful launch | Video
- Build awareness: Foster adoption of Office 365 in ways that matter to end users; understanding training resources and develop champions | Video
BLOG ROUNDUP
Office 365 news in January—updates to OneDrive, Activity feed and more
Happy New Year from Office! We’re kicking off 2017 with updates to OneDrive, the Activity feed within the Office apps, Office Lens integration on Android, Office Insider for iPhone and iPad, Microsoft StaffHub and more. Learn more about what’s new for Office 365 subscribers this month at: Office 2016 | Office for Mac | Office Mobile for Windows | Office for iPhone and iPad | Office on Android Phones and Tablets.
OneDrive brings new file collaboration and management features to the enterprise
In today’s digital workplace, the amount of content produced is growing exponentially, and working relationships change by the day. To maintain productivity in this environment, it’s essential that people can easily access and collaborate on team files in and outside their organizations from anywhere, on any device. We are excited to announce availability of several new capabilities in OneDrive for Business that make it easier than ever to sync, share and collaborate on all your files in Office 365. Updates include syncing SharePoint sites and OneDrive for Business shared folders, a standalone Mac client, a new onboarding experience, simplified sharing options, streamlined guest access and many features that empower administrators to manage with confidence such as the ability to block syncing of specific file types and deny syncing to non-domain joined PCs. | Microsoft Mechanics: OneDrive sync client updates and the new OneDrive Admin Center
FastTrack expands to support Windows 10, Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Teams
We are announcing several enhancements to FastTrack for Office 365, as well as previews of FastTrack for Windows 10 and FastTrack for Dynamics 365. Just like FastTrack for Office 365 and EMS, FastTrack for Windows 10 and Dynamics 365 provides customers with resources and tools to support onboarding and user adoption. During the preview, eligible customers can request onboarding assistance through their certified Microsoft partner or their Microsoft account team at fasttrack.microsoft.com. Our goal has always been to provide the best experience for our customers, so they can move to the cloud with confidence. Expanding FastTrack to Windows 10 and Dynamics 365 represents our commitment to supporting customer success service for the Microsoft Cloud. FastTrack now serves more than 4,000 new customers every month. We’re working with thousands of partners and customers worldwide, enabled over 22,000 customers and migrated a total of 3.7 PB of customer data to date. Every day, we help organizations worldwide, from major retailers like Macy’s to consulting services like Mott MacDonald and non-profit organizations like The Global Fund, embrace digital transformation and make their experience with Office 365 and EMS a success. | Microsoft Mechanics: An overview of the FastTrack digital experience and resources
Evolving Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection with URL Detonation and Dynamic Delivery
We built Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection to provide nearly unparalleled email security with little impact on productivity. Advanced Threat Protection defends your organization from today’s growing and evolving advanced threats with powerful safeguards like Safe Links, which provides time-of-click protection to help prevent users from opening or accessing malicious links, and Safe Attachments, which protects users from opening malicious email attachments. We’re pleased to announce availability of two new capabilities—URL Detonation and Dynamic Delivery—which improve the security Advanced Threat Protection provides while keeping people productive. URL Detonation helps prevent your users from being compromised by files linked to malicious URLs. Dynamic Delivery delivers emails to the recipient’s inbox along with a “placeholder” attachment notifying the user that the real attachment is being scanned—all with minimal lag time.
SharePoint and Exchange Online eDiscovery Transitioning to Office 365 Security & Compliance Center
On July 1, 2017, Microsoft will disable the ability to create new In-Place eDiscovery searches and In-Place Holds (*-MailboxSearch) in the Exchange Admin Center in Exchange Online. We’ll also disable the creation of new cases in the eDiscovery Center in SharePoint Online. Instead, we invite you to use the Security & Compliance Center to fulfill your organization’s eDiscovery needs. In both cases, you will still be able to edit and run existing searches in the Exchange Admin Center and work with existing cases in the SharePoint eDiscovery Center. Microsoft is decommissioning these eDiscovery tools because of their limited breadth across Office 365 services. The Security & Compliance Center supports permissions, cases, holds and exports as well as Advanced eDiscovery features such as Themes, Email Threading, Near Duplicate Detections, and Predictive coding. These changes only apply to the Exchange Admin Center in Exchange Online and the eDiscovery Center in SharePoint Online. On-premises and dedicated deployments of these tools will continue to be supported.
Announcing School Data Sync general availability
We are excited to announce that School Data Sync (SDS), our online classroom automation solution, is moving from preview to general availability! Please fill out this request form to sign up, and we’ll help you to deploy it—for free. SDS helps schools automatically create online classrooms in Office 365 from their Student Information System (SIS or MIS). SDS supports virtually every SIS on the market, and hundreds of customers in over 20 countries have already used it to sync over 100,000 teachers and 2 million students. SDS imports user profiles and rosters from a SIS into Office 365 and automatically keeps them up to date. Schools often find it can be costly and time-consuming to maintain the online classrooms because rosters naturally change throughout the year. With SDS, IT admins can save time creating online classrooms, and teachers can enjoy online classrooms that are up and running with students on the first day of the term. SDS also helps SIS and app partners to save time and money by integrating with each other through a single platform—Office 365. Customers with SDS enjoy the benefits of using Office 365 Education with partner applications Microsoft Classroom Preview, OneNote Class Notebooks and Office 365 Groups and Sites.
NOTEWORTHY
Microsoft Tech Summit: Updated Videos
All of the sessions from the recent Microsoft Tech Summit in Chicago on January 19 – 20 are now available! Key Office 365 sessions include Understanding Cloud networking planning and troubleshooting with Office 365, Accelerating Office 365 deployment and user adoption, Office 365 Groups – Overview & Administration, Explore OneDrive for Business key features and roadmap, Get the most out of the Office 365 security solutions, Keep your OneDrive and SharePoint content safe, What’s new in Office 365 management – usage reporting, change management and service health, and many more! | See where the Microsoft Tech Summit will be next
New Office Labs on TechNet Virtual Labs
Exciting news, we have added all of the Tech Summit Office and Windows labs to TechNet Virtual Labs. Just click on the direct link below, filter by “Events” and “Tech Summit” and you’ll see all of the Office and Windows labs that we made available for our global Tech Summit event series this year. For Office, you’ll find labs on Office 365 Groups, Office Development, Excel, Security and Compliance, Delve, Skype for Business, Office Pro Plus, Exchange and more! Direct Link – TechNet Virtual Labs
SOF Quality User Experience published recordings
If you missed our live trainings, delivered from January 17 to January 19, or want to watch them again, you can find the recordings here for: What’s new in SOF – January 2017 edition, Managing a high quality and reliable service delivery and Roles and Responsibilities beyond Skype for Business operations. | Related: Using Call Quality Dashboard (CQD) to investigate Media Quality – Stories from engineering
REMINDER: Important notice for Office 365 email customers who have configured connectors
Beginning February 1, 2017, Office 365 will no longer by default support relaying messages for specific scenarios. If you’re an Exchange Online or Exchange Online Protection (EOP) subscriber and you have configured connectors, this post contains important information that might impact your organization. To make sure that your mail flow isn’t interrupted, we strongly recommend that you read this post and take any necessary action at your earliest convenience. | KB3169958 – Important notice for Office 365 email customers who have configured connectors
New web parts for your modern communications in SharePoint Online
The SharePoint team is excited to announce we’re adding three new web parts to the toolbox when creating team news articles and modern pages: (1) Image gallery, (2) Bing maps and (3) Quick charts. These new web parts are rolling out to 10% of First Release customers now. The Image gallery web part lets you share collections of pictures on a page. Simply select your images with the file picker, or drag them on to the web part. Once you’ve built your collection, you can reorder them with drag and drop as well. This web part makes it easy to add a map to your page. Simply enter an address or a well-known location name, and your map dynamically appears. If you want to pick a different map type, you can of course do that… as well as change the zoom level, label your map pin with a friendly name, etc. The Quick chart web part allows you to easily visualize simple data on your page. Enter your data points with labels, pick your chart type, and publish.
Understanding security and privacy of Delve and intelligent experiences in Office 365
Within Office 365, Delve is an intelligent service aimed at helping users stay in the know – to discover new, relevant information and people based on who they work with and the content they work on. Delve proactively discovers content across Office 365 and connects users to content and people, intuitively and in a personalized fashion. Powered by the Microsoft Graph, Delve brings you information from across Office 365 – OneDrive for Business, SharePoint Online, Exchange Online, Yammer, Office 365 Video and more. Delve will only show you content that you have access to—it always respects the permissions and security policies of that content. We want to provide insight and clarity for the security and privacy that comes with, and backs, Delve in Office 365. And to be clear about what role the Microsoft Graph plays, examples of how it is used in Delve and throughout Office 365.