We’ve all got a few skill tags on our LinkedIn profile, our internal intranet, and on our evergreen resume… 

Now it’s time to assess and grow! By regularly evaluating your skill set, you can identify areas for improvement and focus on developing those that will help your professional growth, and we hope – personal fulfillment. Our industries demand a lot. We give a lot. Skill expansion and honing are tools you control to ensure future responsibilities, and maybe even new roles, find you as you seek them. 

So, we put together a quick-scroll blog of six skill-building resources (and one bonus) to help you discover the resources out there to help you do just that: Know thy skills and grow them. Your command of it puts you in demand.  

Structured learning: Microsoft Learn | Spark possibility. 

Build skills that open doors. And benefit from curriculum experts to do the knowing for you. From awareness of documentation to skill-building hands-on training, through to industry-leading certifications – Microsoft Learn helps you get the most from Microsoft products. 

Microsoft Learn, accessible at learn.microsoft.com, is a dynamic platform designed to provide structured, interactive learning experiences for individuals at all levels of expertise. It offers a wealth of resources, including hands-on labs, tutorials, and certification paths, empowering the Microsoft tech community to discover the latest technologies and advance their professional skills. 

Microsoft Learn (home page screenshot) | Discover and use documentation, hands-on training, and certifications to help you get the most from Microsoft products. Learn.microsoft.com

Review the AI learning hub as a great, recent example.  

And visit Microsoft Learn to discover more. And follow @MicrosoftLearn on social. 

User enablement learning: adoption.microsoft.com  

The Microsoft Adoption Center at adoption.microsoft.com offers invaluable resources for technologists, providing comprehensive guides, best practices, and community support essential for the successful deployment and adoption of Microsoft technologies. By leveraging these tools, professionals can stay ahead of the curve, ensuring seamless integration and maximizing the potential of their Microsoft solutions.  

Microsoft Learn helps you understand how to use technology. The Adoption center provides tools and materials to ensure durable deployment and use of your technology investments. 

Visit adoption.microsoft.com and drive value with Microsoft 365 user enablement tools.

Review the Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption hub as a great example of what to expect.  

One unique skill-building offering you can use from adoption.microsoft.com is the Microsoft 365 Learning Pathways solution. It is a customizable, on-demand learning solution designed to increase usage and adoption of Microsoft 365 services – from within your organization. At the end of the day, the solution is a fully customizable SharePoint communication site within your Microsoft 365 tenant – a training portal to house your organization’s help, support, and community content, to help build digital skills in bite-sized trainings. 

Microsoft 365 Learning Pathways is a free and customizable on-demand training solution for your organization, deployed into your own tenant.

Learn more about the Microsoft 365 Learning Pathways solution and how to deploy it into your own tenant. 

Discover and use proven user enablement resources: https://adoption.microsoft.com. And follow @MSFTAdoption on social.  

Learning within Microsoft 365: Viva Learning  

Where Learning pathways focuses on Microsoft technology, Microsoft Viva Learning is an invaluable tool for fostering skill development within an organization – giving you the ability to aggregate various learning services, like LinkedIn Learning, Coursera, and Skillsoft.

By integrating learning directly into the flow of work, it empowers employees to continuously upskill, driving both personal growth and enhancing organizational value. Viva Learning not only supports individual professional development, it cultivates a culture of continuous improvement and innovation with the ability to track assignments, recommendations, completions, and learning collections. 

Microsoft Viva Learning | Empower employees to grow and develop their professional skills in the flow of work.

Learn more about Microsoft Viva Learning and try it today. It’s a great skill-building resource you can deploy directly within Microsoft Teams. Stay connected with Microsoft Viva in the Microsoft Tech Community. And follow @MicrosoftViva on social. 

support.microsoft.com supports you 

The Microsoft Support website at support.microsoft.com offers a wealth of help and how-to content, empowering you to efficiently accomplish tasks with Microsoft products. It provides step-by-step guides and videos, troubleshooting tips, and comprehensive resources that cater to both novices and advanced users, ensuring everyone can leverage Microsoft tools to their fullest potential. 

Microsoft Support | Find what you need to build, run, and grow your business with help and learning content about Microsoft 365.

The authors and producers of Microsoft Support content work closely with our product makers, giving you both accurate and timely information when new features launch and as changes come to production. 

Visit https://support.microsoft.com to get “help and how to” across all Microsoft products. And check out the Microsoft Teams ‘help and how to’ page as a great example of what you can expect to find; and one of my biased favorites, the Microsoft Lists ‘help and how to’ page.  

Microsoft Tech Community  

The Microsoft Tech Community site is a vibrant hub for the best community in tech, offering a treasure trove of technical blogs, engaging events, webinars, AMAs, and lively discussion forums. In my opinion, it should be a near requirement to sign up and establish an MTC user profile, not only to search and consume, but to engage and share. It is an essential platform where members can exchange ideas, seek expert advice, and stay updated on the latest technological advancements, fostering a culture of collaboration and continuous learning. Being a learn-it-all is a two-way street. 

Microsoft Tech Community (Blogs page screenshot) | Visit TechCommunity.microsoft.com.

Check out some of the main site locations to discover what the Tech Community offers: 

Blogs 

Events 

Plus a sampling of the nearly 100 communities:  

Microsoft 365 Copilot 
Microsoft Viva 
SharePoint 
Azure Data 
Community News Desk 

Create your own profile and join the community; sign up and sign in today. And follow @MSTCommunity on social. 

Find your next event: CommunityDays.org 

Events, big and small, all offer opportunities big and small. The opportunity to learn. The opportunity to share. The opportunity to engage at a much deeper level – having the kind of conversations that offer follow up, back and forth, and grounded understanding.   

CommunityDays.org is a phenomenal platform for discovering upcoming in-person and online events tailored to your interests. Whether you’re looking to learn from industry experts, network with like-minded professionals, or promote your own webinars and calls, CommunityDays.org gives you an evergreen map to decide where and where to connect. 

“Events” page on the CommunityDays.org site.

wanted to call out a few upcoming events as examples, to give you a sense of what you’ll find as you peruse CommunityDays.org:  

Low Code No Code – Power Platform Conference | Nov. 9-10, 2024 | Online 

CollabDays Hungary 2024 | Nov. 27-28, 2024 | Budapest, Hungary  

ESPC 2024 | European SharePoint Conference | Dec 2-5, 2024 in Stockholm, Sweden 

CollabCon 2024 + CollabCruise | Dec. 12, 2024 in Orlando, FL  

Note: CollabCruise is Dec.13-16, 2024 

M365 Community Days – Phoenix | Jan. 17, 2025 | Phoenix, AZ 

BONUS SKILL | Invite someone to coffee (or tea) 

Sharing is caring. Sharing coffee (or tea) with others is caring a lot. Sip responsibly. 

Ask questions and share what you know. It’s a two-way street and caffeine paves the way for great connections; maybe a sweet or two – as they say, “Two birds, one scone.” Open up the possibility to sync with another Microsoft 365 community member to discuss the latest features and updates, share tips and tricks for maximizing productivity, or exchange ideas on best practices for collaboration and communication. 

Sharing insights in a relaxed setting over a cup of coffee fosters a more open and engaging conversation, allowing for the free flow of ideas and the building of long-term professional relationships. And hey, share your “what to do in this city” with each other to promote a work/life balance that’s balanced with lasting memories. 

Three artisanal coffees in a row | Grab a new friend or old and steal away a coffee (or tea) chat during an event.

We hope all the above helps navigate where and how you want your skillset to grow. You know thyself. Now, grow thyself.  

Cheers, Mark “Skill building until the end” Kashman

​Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More 

it created a dbcontext with no tables in memory but did not go to connect the existing database file. How can make ef connect the database file like in the windows?

​it created a dbcontext with no tables in memory but did not go to connect the existing database file. How can make ef connect the database file like in the windows?  Read More

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The 24H2 update is not coming

​The 24H2 update is not coming    Read More

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I’m pretty weak with Domains but doing pretty good except for an issue that just popped up on me.  I setup roaming or redirected profiles with GPO and included the “appdata(roaming)” folder and just had first issue with an installation.  I was trying to install Zoom client and it fails.  I had previously tried to install another app that is web related.  It appears that I have a permissions issue writing to whereever these installers need.  I am having a horrible time trying to open up permissions or determine what I really need to do.  I have even assigned the domain user with domain admin rights with no luck.  I have been able to install most other items without issue.  Things like MS Office, printer software, and so on.

​I’m pretty weak with Domains but doing pretty good except for an issue that just popped up on me.  I setup roaming or redirected profiles with GPO and included the “appdata(roaming)” folder and just had first issue with an installation.  I was trying to install Zoom client and it fails.  I had previously tried to install another app that is web related.  It appears that I have a permissions issue writing to whereever these installers need.  I am having a horrible time trying to open up permissions or determine what I really need to do.  I have even assigned the domain user with domain admin rights with no luck.  I have been able to install most other items without issue.  Things like MS Office, printer software, and so on.  Read More

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Compliance Process Automation for Teams is a solution from Open Lake Technology published to Microsoft AppSource. It automatically ensures compliance with financial regulations, providing companies of all sizes alerts and reporting regarding the financial rules about communication services. Microsoft interviewed G.F., head of infrastructure at a European asset manager, to learn what they had to say about the solution.

What do you like best about Compliance Process Automation for Teams?

This solution helps our organization be compliant with all the financial regulations across EMEA. We have a global solution ensuring the capture and archiving of all the regular interactions of the Modern Workplace (Microsoft Teams), and the automated controls guarantee our compliance with MIFID2 and DORA regulations.

How has Compliance Process Automation for Teams helped your organization?

The solution helped us comply with MIFID2 and the upcoming DORA regulation by providing a global supervision tool, ensuring the organization complies with all of the DORA requirements.

How is customer service and support?

We have direct access to the support team to ensure fast deployment and efficient support.

Any recommendations or insights to other users considering this product?

This product is the perfect fit for any financial or banking company. It’s a one stop shop to comply with all of the regulations of today and tomorrow. In addition, the process guarantees our compliance with the Modern Workplace (Teams) and the trading environment (Trading turret) with a simple and agnostic interface. Our Compliance and Management teams are using the dashboard and real-time reporting to check the company’s global compliance.

On a scale of 1 to 5, what is your overall rating for the solution?

5

​Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More 

Hi, is it possible to use the copilot integration with Microsoft stream to ask queries regarding the entire catalogue (e.g. “In which video was X discussed?”). I can only see info about using copilot to ask questions about a certain video.  

​Hi, is it possible to use the copilot integration with Microsoft stream to ask queries regarding the entire catalogue (e.g. “In which video was X discussed?”). I can only see info about using copilot to ask questions about a certain video.    Read More

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Hello,

I need to move items but need to set the @microsoft.graph.conflictBehavior to replace.

What I’m currently trying to do in python but doesn’t set the @microsoft.graph.conflictBehavior strategy:

import requests
import json
requests.patch(
‘https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/drives/MYDRIVEID/items/MYITEMID?@microsoft.graph.conflictBehavior=replace’,
data=json.dumps({‘parentReference’: {‘driveId’: ‘MYDRIVEID’, ‘path’: ‘MYNEWPARENTLOCATION’}}),
headers={‘Authorization’: ‘Bearer MYTOKEN’, ‘Content-Type’: ‘application/json’, ‘Prefer’: ‘IdType=”ImmutableId”,bypass-shared-lock’}
)

This gives me error 409 conflict, but I want the replace to force the move of folder to its new parent locaiton.

Any idea ?

Thanks

​Hello,I need to move items but need to set the @microsoft.graph.conflictBehavior to replace.What I’m currently trying to do in python but doesn’t set the @microsoft.graph.conflictBehavior strategy:import requests
import json
requests.patch(
‘https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/drives/MYDRIVEID/items/MYITEMID?@microsoft.graph.conflictBehavior=replace’,
data=json.dumps({‘parentReference’: {‘driveId’: ‘MYDRIVEID’, ‘path’: ‘MYNEWPARENTLOCATION’}}),
headers={‘Authorization’: ‘Bearer MYTOKEN’, ‘Content-Type’: ‘application/json’, ‘Prefer’: ‘IdType=”ImmutableId”,bypass-shared-lock’}
) This gives me error 409 conflict, but I want the replace to force the move of folder to its new parent locaiton. Any idea ? Thanks  Read More

​

A reader asked why the Entra admin center includes an option to manage per-user MFA settings for accounts. I don’t know why Microsoft added this option, but it doesn’t take away from the strategy to enforce and manage multifactor authentication through conditional access policies. Microsoft has been very focused on CA policies for the last few years and per-user MFA will eventually be subsumed into the CA strategy.

https://office365itpros.com/2024/10/30/per-user-mfa-entra-admin/

​A reader asked why the Entra admin center includes an option to manage per-user MFA settings for accounts. I don’t know why Microsoft added this option, but it doesn’t take away from the strategy to enforce and manage multifactor authentication through conditional access policies. Microsoft has been very focused on CA policies for the last few years and per-user MFA will eventually be subsumed into the CA strategy.
 
https://office365itpros.com/2024/10/30/per-user-mfa-entra-admin/  Read More

​

Excel 365. I have a small range “noteList” of 1 column (L) and 30 rows (13-43) on sheet “Home”. I created a userform to add and clear contents of rows (to facilitate doing this from any sheet in the workbook). When user clears a row of data it leaves an empty row so my data list may have one or several empty rows. When adding a new record to the range it is always added to the first empty row at the bottom of the range (.Cells(.Rows.Count, “L”).End(xlUp).Row + 1). I am trying to find a way for vba when adding new data to either choose the first available empty row from the top; or after adding the new row contents at the bottom re-organize/consolidate the range to move data up as needed to fill any empty rows. I cannot add/delete rows because there is other data on the sheet, I can only add/clear contents.

My code thus far:

Private Sub UserForm_Initialize()

Me.StartUpPosition = 0
Me.Top = Application.Top + 100
Me.Left = Application.Left + Application.Width – Me.Width – 575
ComboBox1.List = Worksheets(“Home”).Range(“L13:L43”).Value
End Sub
Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()
Dim noteList As Range, i As Range

Set noteList = Range(“L13:L43”)

Set i = noteList.Find(Me.ComboBox1.Value, LookIn:=xlValues)

i.Offset.ClearContents

Unload Me

End Sub
Private Sub CommandButton3_Click()

Dim lngR As Long

With Worksheets(“Home”)

lngR = .Cells(.Rows.Count, “L”).End(xlUp).Row + 1

.Range(“L” & lngR).Value = Me.TextBox2.Text

End With

Unload Me

End Sub
Private Sub CommandButton2_Click()
Unload Me

End Sub

I am still new to vba and cannot figure this out.

Sorry if this question is redundant, I already posted one similar but got no responses and could not find the post again so I don’t know what happened to it.

​Excel 365. I have a small range “noteList” of 1 column (L) and 30 rows (13-43) on sheet “Home”. I created a userform to add and clear contents of rows (to facilitate doing this from any sheet in the workbook). When user clears a row of data it leaves an empty row so my data list may have one or several empty rows. When adding a new record to the range it is always added to the first empty row at the bottom of the range (.Cells(.Rows.Count, “L”).End(xlUp).Row + 1). I am trying to find a way for vba when adding new data to either choose the first available empty row from the top; or after adding the new row contents at the bottom re-organize/consolidate the range to move data up as needed to fill any empty rows. I cannot add/delete rows because there is other data on the sheet, I can only add/clear contents.My code thus far:Private Sub UserForm_Initialize()Me.StartUpPosition = 0Me.Top = Application.Top + 100Me.Left = Application.Left + Application.Width – Me.Width – 575ComboBox1.List = Worksheets(“Home”).Range(“L13:L43”).ValueEnd SubPrivate Sub CommandButton1_Click()Dim noteList As Range, i As RangeSet noteList = Range(“L13:L43”)Set i = noteList.Find(Me.ComboBox1.Value, LookIn:=xlValues)i.Offset.ClearContentsUnload MeEnd SubPrivate Sub CommandButton3_Click()Dim lngR As LongWith Worksheets(“Home”)lngR = .Cells(.Rows.Count, “L”).End(xlUp).Row + 1.Range(“L” & lngR).Value = Me.TextBox2.TextEnd WithUnload MeEnd SubPrivate Sub CommandButton2_Click()Unload MeEnd Sub I am still new to vba and cannot figure this out.Sorry if this question is redundant, I already posted one similar but got no responses and could not find the post again so I don’t know what happened to it.  Read More

​

Greetings,

Welcome to the Microsoft Community.

To address the issue of your computer freezing, I recommend examining the Task Manager for potential solutions. Begin by launching the Task Manager with the shortcut Ctrl + Shift + Esc and navigating to the Processes tab. Look for any applications consuming excessive CPU, memory, or disk resources as this could be the source of the freezes.

Additionally, it would be beneficial to review your hardware setup. Locate “System Information” in the Start menu to access a comprehensive list of your system’s hardware and software configuration. Once the System Information window is open, go to the top menu, click on File, choose to Export, specify a save location, assign a name to the file, and save it. You can then share the system information file with a cloud service such as Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, etc.

Following these steps can help identify the underlying cause of the problem, providing essential information for troubleshooting purposes.

For further troubleshooting tips, explore additional recommendations at: Windows-based computer freeze troubleshooting – Windows Client | Microsoft Learn

​Greetings, Welcome to the Microsoft Community. To address the issue of your computer freezing, I recommend examining the Task Manager for potential solutions. Begin by launching the Task Manager with the shortcut Ctrl + Shift + Esc and navigating to the Processes tab. Look for any applications consuming excessive CPU, memory, or disk resources as this could be the source of the freezes. Additionally, it would be beneficial to review your hardware setup. Locate “System Information” in the Start menu to access a comprehensive list of your system’s hardware and software configuration. Once the System Information window is open, go to the top menu, click on File, choose to Export, specify a save location, assign a name to the file, and save it. You can then share the system information file with a cloud service such as Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, etc. Following these steps can help identify the underlying cause of the problem, providing essential information for troubleshooting purposes. For further troubleshooting tips, explore additional recommendations at: Windows-based computer freeze troubleshooting – Windows Client | Microsoft Learn  Read More

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