Category: Microsoft
Category Archives: Microsoft
Logic Apps Standard Monitoring Dashboards
Recently, we introduced Insights support for Azure Logic Apps Standard, offering curated visualizations as a foundation for monitoring Azure services. These visualizations enable you to monitor Logic Apps Standard applications and workflows effectively.
In integration scenarios, where multiple systems and services interconnect, monitoring is crucial. Azure Logic Apps often serves as the backbone of these integrations, orchestrating complex workflows.
Whether you’re a developer, IT operations team member, or product owner, ensuring that systems run smoothly is essential. This release helps you gain a clear view of data flows, quickly detect and resolve issues, and maintain seamless operations.
Scope
The monitoring dashboards are designed specifically for Logic Apps Standard. The scope of the dashboard is the workflows inside the Logic App. The compute-based dashboard leverages the underlying App Service plan for that Logic App.
Data source
Most charts are based on Azure Metrics, requiring no user configuration. However, run details are not available in metrics, so we use Application Insights as the data source for these.
Visualization framework
The dashboard is built using Azure Workbooks, offering a variety of visualizations. Workbooks are easily extendable, allowing for customization to meet specific needs.
Pre-requisites to use the feature
To effectively use the dashboards, your Logic Apps must be linked to Application Insights to enable telemetry collection. Additionally, it’s crucial to ensure that your application uses the updated V2 schema for telemetry. Here are the steps to update the host.json file to implement the new schema.
Capabilities
The dashboard is organized into four distinct tabs. The workflow starts with an aggregated view of all runs, followed by a summary at the workflow level, and then drills down into the details of specific workflow runs. The final tab is dedicated to performance analysis, focusing on compute utilization.
The dashboard is organized into four distinct tabs. The workflow starts with an aggregated view of all runs, followed by a summary at the workflow level, and then drills down into the details of specific workflow runs. The final tab is dedicated to performance analysis, focusing on compute utilization.
Overview
This section provides a bird’s eye view of your application’s health by displaying the success rates of runs, actions, and triggers. The accompanying table offers detailed counts of runs that have failed, succeeded, or been skipped.
Additionally, trend charts illustrate the patterns of runs, actions, and triggers over the selected time range. This overview helps you quickly assess the status and timeline of your runs. If failures are detected, you can proceed to the workflows tab to pinpoint and analyze them within specific workflows.
Workflows
The workflow and run information is organized into two tables: one focused on successful runs and the other on failed runs. Each table provides detailed, workflow-specific information, including the total number of runs, their statuses, and a breakdown of actions and triggers.
The timeline offers a visual representation of traffic, especially useful in the failure table to track transitions between failed and successful states. At this stage, you can drill deeper into specific workflows and their runs, with detailed information available in the Runs tab.
Runs
The run details are not available in metrics and are pulled from AppInsights associated with your Logic App. For this table to work properly, you need to ensure –
Your Logic Apps is associated with AppInsights resource to push telemetry
The telemetry is based on V2 schema. The below screenshot shows the flag that needs to be added to the Settings in the host.json. Learn more about the v2 schema.
The runs page offers filters to refine runs by workflow name, run status, and client tracking ID. You can select a specific run by clicking on a row, which will open a detailed table showing the actions and their statuses for that run. This helps you identify the exact action that caused a run to fail. Additionally, you can click through the rows to explore more about related dependencies.
Another useful feature in the runs table is the ability to resubmit runs. This is particularly valuable when workflow failures are due to intermittent issues or downstream failures that resolve over time.
Compute
Logic Apps Standard operates on the customer’s compute, providing greater control over the scaling and performance of applications. This section offers insights into compute utilization for your workloads. It’s important to note that compute resources can be shared across multiple Logic Apps, so if you’re sharing an App Service Plan or Workflow Standard Plan, this should be considered.
The first two charts display job count and execution delay in the underlying runtime engine. These metrics help diagnose unexpected performance issues by indicating whether load has increased (more jobs) or whether compute is temporarily unavailable / constrained. You can learn more about the relevance of these concepts here.
The next two charts provide number of nodes (VMs) and the average memory utilization across them. The trend charts should help you see how your application scales up and down and CPU and memory utilization based on those traffic patterns.
These charts represent the memory and CPU utilization trends for the entire App Service plan. If the plan is shared across applications, this will give you the utilization across applications. You should be able to use this in combination with above charts to get a better view into the compute utilization of this Logic App v/s others that use the same compute.
What’s Next
We’re excited to bring you out-of-the-box monitoring capabilities for Logic Apps Standard. We have many enhancements planned for future iterations, including:
Bulk resubmission of runs
Easy one-click transitions between charts (e.g., click on a workflow name to see its runs)
Customizable workbooks to tailor the monitoring experience to your business needs
If this feature is important to you, we’d love to hear your feedback, feature requests, or input on our roadmap.
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Learn how to use the Multiparty Private Offers Campaign in a Box, August 22 at 9:00 am PDT
Multiparty private offers empower ISVs and channel partners to create personalized offers with custom payouts and sell directly to Microsoft’s enterprise customers through the Microsoft commercial marketplace. As multiparty private offer capabilities expand globally, more ISVs are finding success when they enable their channel partners to sell their apps with these custom deals. The multiparty private offers campaign in a box is available within the Partner Marketing Center for all ISVs, and provides a set of customizable templates that any ISV can use to accelerate their sales with multiparty private offers.
Alliances, Marketing, and Sales leaders should attend this brief webinar to learn more about how to use this campaign to:
• Educate internal sales and channel teams on multiparty private offers
• Recruit and enable channel partners to sell with multiparty private offers
• Promote your marketplace capabilities to your Microsoft contacts
• Market your applications to customers through channel partners
Register here and share your question about multiparty private offers below.
Multiparty private offers empower ISVs and channel partners to create personalized offers with custom payouts and sell directly to Microsoft’s enterprise customers through the Microsoft commercial marketplace. As multiparty private offer capabilities expand globally, more ISVs are finding success when they enable their channel partners to sell their apps with these custom deals. The multiparty private offers campaign in a box is available within the Partner Marketing Center for all ISVs, and provides a set of customizable templates that any ISV can use to accelerate their sales with multiparty private offers.Alliances, Marketing, and Sales leaders should attend this brief webinar to learn more about how to use this campaign to:• Educate internal sales and channel teams on multiparty private offers• Recruit and enable channel partners to sell with multiparty private offers• Promote your marketplace capabilities to your Microsoft contacts• Market your applications to customers through channel partners
Register here and share your question about multiparty private offers below. Read More
Why Aren’t More Organizations Prioritizing Advanced SQL Server Security Measures? Question:
In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, the frequency and sophistication of cyber-attacks are escalating, yet many organizations still lag in implementing advanced security measures for their SQL Server environments. Despite the availability of robust security features and best practices provided by SQL Server, many businesses seem to treat these measures as secondary concerns rather than essential components of their IT strategy.
Why do you think advanced SQL Server security measures are often deprioritized in organizations? Is it a matter of cost, lack of awareness, or something else? What can the SQL Server community and Microsoft do to better advocate for and facilitate the adoption of these critical security practices? How can we collectively work towards a culture where security is integral to SQL Server management rather than an afterthought?
In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, the frequency and sophistication of cyber-attacks are escalating, yet many organizations still lag in implementing advanced security measures for their SQL Server environments. Despite the availability of robust security features and best practices provided by SQL Server, many businesses seem to treat these measures as secondary concerns rather than essential components of their IT strategy.Why do you think advanced SQL Server security measures are often deprioritized in organizations? Is it a matter of cost, lack of awareness, or something else? What can the SQL Server community and Microsoft do to better advocate for and facilitate the adoption of these critical security practices? How can we collectively work towards a culture where security is integral to SQL Server management rather than an afterthought? Read More
A base app which can onboard multiple teams app
I want to develop a Microsoft Teams app that allows onboarding of other Teams apps through an “Add App” action button. Each onboarded app would also have its own chatbot. Is this possible? If so, what’s the best approach, and are there any resources you can recommend?
I want to develop a Microsoft Teams app that allows onboarding of other Teams apps through an “Add App” action button. Each onboarded app would also have its own chatbot. Is this possible? If so, what’s the best approach, and are there any resources you can recommend? Read More
Sales success with the marketplace, what’s new for FY25
The marketplace product marketing team is dedicated to supporting your marketplace success. We’ve heard partner feedback on how to better support your sales success, and for FY25 we have simplified and are committing ourselves to a content governance framework so that you always have the latest to support your sales efforts.
As part of our commitment to keep you up-to-date with the latest, check out these new assets.
NEW: Marketplace: a quick guide for customers (PDF | PPT): short, standalone asset on the value of marketplace for customers
NEW: Private offer checklist (PDF | PPT | Docs): new materials to make private offer adoption simpler
NEW: Multiparty private offer resources for channel partners Onboarding demo video | MPO onboarding guide (partner sign-in required) | MPO documentation
The marketplace product marketing team is dedicated to supporting your marketplace success. We’ve heard partner feedback on how to better support your sales success, and for FY25 we have simplified and are committing ourselves to a content governance framework so that you always have the latest to support your sales efforts.
As part of our commitment to keep you up-to-date with the latest, check out these new assets.
NEW: Marketplace: a quick guide for customers (PDF | PPT): short, standalone asset on the value of marketplace for customers
NEW: Private offer checklist (PDF | PPT | Docs): new materials to make private offer adoption simpler
NEW: Multiparty private offer resources for channel partners Onboarding demo video | MPO onboarding guide (partner sign-in required) | MPO documentation
AutoText “filename”: automatically update the filename when it changes
Am I missing something obvious here?!?
Using Insert ->Auto-Text -> Filename it inserts the current filename in there. However if I then update the filename (e.g. xxxxx v1.1 to xxxxx v1.2.docx) the filename still remains as it was the first time it was input.
Is there something I can toggle on, or do differently such that the filename is “live” and draws down from whatever I have it the file called?
Thanks.
Am I missing something obvious here?!?Using Insert ->Auto-Text -> Filename it inserts the current filename in there. However if I then update the filename (e.g. xxxxx v1.1 to xxxxx v1.2.docx) the filename still remains as it was the first time it was input. Is there something I can toggle on, or do differently such that the filename is “live” and draws down from whatever I have it the file called?Thanks. Read More
Optimizing fleet management with Microsoft connected fleets reference architecture
For more than a decade, I didn’t own a car, and I relied on the bus to go to work. My bus stop was in front of a bakery, and every morning I would watch delivery trucks come and go. Around me, I saw vehicle fleets of all types: vans delivering freshly baked goods in front of my stop, trailers and trucks bringing large goods, garbage collection, police cars, postal services, and installation vans. Waiting for a bus (and smelling fresh bread) gave me time to look around and appreciate the importance of the movement of people, goods, the delivery of services, and the great potential of optimizing operations and sustainability. This made me wonder: how can Microsoft support companies running fleets to achieve more?
Using connected fleets reference architecture
Fleet operations present a unique set of challenges. A fleet manager must make an efficient route to deliver bread to bakeries, consider how to load the right goods while optimizing for unloading speed, and take into consideration which drivers are available for the morning shift. Additionally, fleet managers must ensure drivers’ safety and that the vehicles are road worthy and compliant. It is also necessary to consider costs – from electrical charging to maintenance. This complex flow of information for both the fleet managers and drivers relies on information from multiple systems, often from different companies, which is time consuming and potentially error prone.
We are supporting our partners with the Microsoft automotive connected fleets reference architecture to optimize fleet applications. The five layers – telemetry platform, fleet integration, data analytics, business integration, and business operations are implemented by partner solutions that interact with the other layers through common integration points.
This enables our partners to collaborate with complementary capabilities and enhance their strengths. As an example, a predictive maintenance request created by monitoring vehicle usage can trigger a repair and maintenance request that automatically influences the scheduling of the vehicles. Now the bakery fleet manager knows how many vans are available for deliveries and how many need repair. We are also working with our partners to simplify this process by creating functional copilots that offer a natural language interface. With a couple of questions, the fleet manager is ready to start the day.
The reference architecture diagram categorizes the elements of a connected fleet solution in blocks (marked with letters) and describes common integration points (marked with numbers).
Vehicles have a connectivity device (1) that can retrieve data from the vehicle electronic control units (ECUs) and their own sensors such as accelerometers and video cameras.
The telematics platform (a) receives telemetry and messages from vehicles and performs device management. The telematics platform sends decoded status / event messages (2) to the fleet integration using a common payload.
Engineering data processing (b) is a specialized telematics platform that specializes in high-resolution telemetry and recordings (3), typically used for validation. These can be sent directly to Microsoft Fabric with event streams.
The fleet management component (c) is a user-facing application that deals with the management of vehicles, drivers, and tasks. It provides information to the fleet manager to optimize operations, such as energy consumption. It consumes status and event messages (4) from the telemetry platform to update the vehicle and task state. The fleet manager uses copilots to simplify interaction with the system.
The data analytics (d) component is based on Microsoft Fabric and uses information from vehicles and all other systems to create insights on the vehicle and business operations.
The low code / no code elements (e) are vehicle or driver management extensions to Microsoft Power Platform to customize business applications using Power Automate or Power Apps. As an example, creation of front-line worker applications with the help of the Microsoft Copilot in Power Apps use turn-by-turn navigation components (6).
A business application is a software solution that helps with a particular business activity or role, such as accounting, inventory, or customer service. Dynamics 365 (f) allows the creation and customization of business applications (7). It is also possible to interact with external / pre-existing business applications (g) using APIs that provide an interface to the data (8).
Partner implementations
Connected fleets are varied, and creating a custom solution requires partners with deep expertise: monitoring the temperature of a trailer to ensure fresh produce, tracking and recovering vehicles, managing a repair shop, analyzing vehicle and business data to create insights, or improve the routes to reduce energy consumption.
Imagine for a moment that your company provides repair and maintenance services to cranes and forklifts in logistic centers. You are responsible for managing a large fleet of repair vans and must ensure that the drivers have the right skills, parts and tools depending on the job, that they know where to go and that they get a good overview of the tasks before they get there. If they get delayed, you need to inform the customer and potentially reschedule the appointment. Having the right data at your fingertips will allow you to take the right decisions and have a successful business. The following video shows how our partners work together to create these solutions.
Using Microsoft’s horizontal platforms (Azure, Fabric, Power Platform, Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365), partners with industry expertise create composable fleet management solutions. Our robust global partner ecosystem includes several system integrators (SI) and independent software vendors (ISV) with whom we collaborate to support the needs of the automotive industry. Accenture, Annata, Bosch, Connected Cars, DSA, HERE Technologies, KPIT, Mojio, Netstar, and TomTom have created implementations to address a wide range of challenges and business functions.
Accenture
The Intelligent Fleet Management System from Accenture allows fleet owners and operators to gather real-time data on vehicles, customers, and operations, enabling them to make informed decisions by translating this data into meaningful insights. Their Intelligent Fleet Management system can consume events and status messages from multiple telemetry platforms simultaneously. The vehicle feeds were combined with additional fleet and vehicle metadata, as well as driver assignments, to build use cases such as vehicle tracking, energy consumption, geofences and fleet insights. The usage of Power BI to generate custom reports and integrated with Power Automate to create automatic notifications.
Bosch
The Bosch Automotive Connectivity Hub is an end-to-end connectivity retrofit solution for digital fleet services that includes software and hardware components. It offers standardized data exchange between vehicle cloud, and services, and services for vehicle health, efficiency, and safety and security, and the option to integrate with any third-party services. Bosch services can be integrated into individual frontends to deliver fleet management service providers more options towards their customers. Bosch Connectivity Control Unit (CCU) can connect to an accelerometer to measure roll, pitch, yaw and send crash events in case of exceeding specific thresholds. The information was processed using their Automotive Connectivity Hub to send event and status messages. The information was displayed using a Real Time Dashboard built on Microsoft Fabric.
Netstar
Netstar integrated their RF recovery devices and telematics platform, sending status events. Their new Fleet Management copilot uses the telemetry data collected in Microsoft Fabric Real Time Analytics database integrated with additional fleet information and reference documentation.
TomTom
Front-line workers must react quickly to changing road conditions to ensure the optimal travel time to their next task. This requires integration of logistics tasks with vehicle navigation and the dispatcher, specific to the fleet type. TomTom has a proof-of-concept Turn-by-Turn PowerApps component that can be easily integrated in front-line worker applications using low-code / no code. The component can be easily connected to logistic tasks stored in Dynamics 365 business applications.
Connected Cars
Connected Cars offers a connectivity platform for vehicle management with real-time diagnostics and proactive maintenance to optimize vehicle operations and extend vehicle longevity. Connected Cars CC-Link device and their CC-DataStream telematics platform collects deep technical vehicle telemetry from the OBD-II port using Unified Diagnostic Service commands (2). Their CC-ConnectedWorkshop fleet management solution processes these events and generates dealership related leads and predictive maintenance events (2). Their Connected Cars App can react to the events and provide notifications to the drivers.
Annata
Annata offers a suite of digital business capabilities for automotive, trucks, buses and equipment business built on Microsoft Dynamics 365. It integrates Microsoft Technologies such as Microsoft Copilot and PowerPlatform. Annata integrated vehicle repair and maintenance events to their Annata 365 automotive business platform (which includes a dealer management system). Specifically, they consume leads created from CC-ConnectedWorkshop and create Service Appointment proposals. The dealership can then establish contact with the vehicle owner to schedule a visit, ensure that the parts are available and reserve necessary resources, mechanics, equipment, bay, and parts.
KPIT Technologies
Vehicle downtime is detrimental for fleet operators because it directly affects productivity and disrupts schedules. Efficient and proactive repair and maintenance operations minimize downtime, extend vehicle lifespan, enhance safety and optimize operational costs.
KPIT Repair and Maintenance copilot built on Trace2Fix is designed to help technicians identify the most probable causes of failure and suggest appropriate repair procedures. This copilot retrieves customer and vehicle data from various aftersales systems, providing context for faults and ensuring precise, first-time-right diagnosis and repair.
HERE Technologies
Secure data sharing that enforces user privacy is a cornerstone of the digital economy. HERE Technologies Trip Anonymizer removes personally identifiable information (PII) from collected vehicle trips and enables use cases such as geospatial analysis.
Mojio
Mojio provides a turnkey connected mobility SaaS service with easy to install retrofit hardware devices. Mojio integrated their Fleet Force system to the standardized data feed. Their fleet management solution offers an easy-to-use web and native mobile apps interface for both fleet managers and drivers.
DSA Daten-und Systemtechnik GmbH
High-resolution data collection enables automotive engineers to perform system validation and root cause analysis in test and validation fleets to accelerate vehicle development. DSA telematics unit XCG and PRODIS.DriveRecorder, collects high-resolution telemetry data streamed directly into Microsoft Fabric. This data is collected from the CAN bus at speeds up to 100 hertz and can include thousands of vehicle signals, which makes it useful for detailed vehicle performance analytics. Additionally, DSA integrated to the standardized data feed for commercial vehicles and remote diagnostics capabilities.
The road ahead
Delivering goods and services around the world demands immense coordination among multiple companies. The complexity of these relationships highlights the critical role of transportation in our modern world. This makes fleet management essential, as it involves coordinating vehicles, drivers, routes, schedules, safety, compliance, and operational efficiency. Supporting our partners to create composable, modular and flexible solutions help companies adapt better to a fast moving and interconnected world.
I am thrilled to collaborate with our partners. Their industry expertise, combined with the scalable, secure, and reliable approach from Microsoft that will create dynamic, composable fleet management solutions.
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Support Tip: Enforcement of multifactor authentication for Intune admin center sign-in coming soon
As cyberattacks become increasingly frequent, sophisticated, and damaging, safeguarding your digital assets has never been more critical. In October 2024, Microsoft will begin enforcing mandatory multifactor authentication (MFA) for the Microsoft Azure portal, the Microsoft Entra admin center, and the Microsoft Intune admin center. Services administered through the Microsoft Intune admin center, such as Windows 365, this enforcement will also impact admin access to administer these services. You can apply to postpone the enforcement prior to October 15th.
We published MC862873 to all Intune customers this week. We’ve included the Message center post below.
Take action: Enable multifactor authentication for your tenant before October 15, 2024
Starting on or after October 15, 2024, to further increase security, Microsoft will require admins to use multi-factor authentication (MFA) when signing into the Microsoft Azure portal, Microsoft Entra admin center, and Microsoft Intune admin center. Note: This requirement will also apply to any services accessed through the Intune admin center, such as Windows 365 Cloud PC. To take advantage of the extra layer of protection MFA offers, we recommend enabling MFA as soon as possible. To learn more, review Planning for mandatory multifactor authentication for Azure and admin portals.
How this will affect your organization:
MFA will need to be enabled for your tenant to ensure admins are able to sign-in to the Azure portal, Microsoft Entra admin center and Intune admin center after this change.
What to do to prepare:
If you have not already, set up MFA before October 15, 2024, to ensure your admins can access the Azure portal, Microsoft Entra admin center, and Intune admin center.
If you are unable to set up MFA before this date, you can apply to postpone the enforcement date.
If MFA has not been set up before the enforcement starts, admins will be prompted to register for MFA before they can access the Azure portal, Microsoft Entra admin center, or Intune admin center on their next sign-in.
For more information, refer to: Planning for mandatory multifactor authentication for Azure and admin portals
There’s several blogs and documentation updates already published regarding enforcement, including:
Announcing mandatory multifactor authentication for Azure sign-in
Planning for mandatory multifactor authentication for Azure and admin portals
Update on MFA requirements for Azure sign-in
Microsoft will require MFA for all Azure users
A few notes to help clarify the experience:
This enforcement is for admins, not for user device enrollment. If you want to require multifactor authentication for Intune device enrollments, see the following documentation: Require multifactor authentication for Intune device enrollment.
Postponement applies to all properties (the Azure portal, the Microsoft Entra admin center and the Microsoft Intune admin center). If you apply to postpone the MFA enforcement, we still recommend enabling MFA ahead of your tenant’s new enforcement date of March 15, 2025.
More information can be found in Azure’s blog: Announcing mandatory multi-factor authentication for Azure sign-in. We’ll add more information as we publish it. Please let us know if you have any questions during this important security implementation.
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
KB5041578 causing Windows Server 2019 to be unresponsive
In testing the August 2024 security update for Windows Server 2019 (KB5041578) we are finding the update causes some Windows Server 2019 servers to become unresponsive.
There is also a thread on Reddit of many admins experiencing this same behavior.
A workaround has been to stop the “Cryptographic Services” service, purge the contents of C:windowssystem32catroot2
Reboot, then install KB5041578 and the issue does not occur.
Performing these steps on a “broken” server that was patched before performing these steps also fixes the issue, however you can’t log on to the VM when this is occurring due to the performance issue, it must be done remotely.
In testing the August 2024 security update for Windows Server 2019 (KB5041578) we are finding the update causes some Windows Server 2019 servers to become unresponsive. There is also a thread on Reddit of many admins experiencing this same behavior. A workaround has been to stop the “Cryptographic Services” service, purge the contents of C:windowssystem32catroot2 Reboot, then install KB5041578 and the issue does not occur. Performing these steps on a “broken” server that was patched before performing these steps also fixes the issue, however you can’t log on to the VM when this is occurring due to the performance issue, it must be done remotely. Read More
New cloud-ready application templates for accelerating your development
New extensible blueprint templates are available to help accelerate your app development. Each of these templates is fully working and ready to deploy reusable infrastructure and proof-of-concept code through Azure Developer CLI to GitHub Codespaces or VSCode.
Azure AI Studio starter template: Get started in Azure AI Studio to work on any template
Contoso Chat Retail with Azure AI Studio and Prompt Flow: Build a retailer chat agent with RAG for data-grounded customer support
ChatGPT-like app with your data using Azure OpenAI and Azure AI Search (Python): Create ChatGPT-like apps with your data with RAG.
Setting up Azure OpenAI as a central capability within your organization: Guide and tools for Azure OpenAI: cost. security, and monitoring
Azure API Management with Azure OpenAI template: Securely integrate Azure OpenAI in apps with API Management and Azure Developer CLI
Create plugins to enhance an existing Copilot’s functionality: Augment the capabilities of Copilot to interact with your own apps
Develop Power Platform Connectors for customer copilots in Copilot Studio: Create low-code AI apps that can extend Copilot Studio for customers
Build your own copilot with Semantic Kernel: Maintain full control by building end-to-end AI experiences
Explore the entire template library: browse for fully working, cloud-ready applications to deploy with Azure
If you are using app advisor, the self-guided experience that surfaces the latest resources and recommendations based on your current development stage, you will also be presented with templates that are relevant to your current stage of development.
*Note that this list of templates is subject to change as new templates become available.
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Converting text to numbers with Excel Copilot
Greetings, This is the fourth in a series of posts that provides examples of what is possible with Copilot in Excel. Today I will use a list of major league baseball ballparks in the United States.
I would like to fix up the Distance to center field column to remove the metric measurements so that it can be sorted correctly. To accomplish this, I’ll start by clicking on the copilot button on the right side of the Home tab, showing the copilot pane and type the prompt:
Add a new column for center field distance, converting it to numbers and ignoring the part in parentheses.
Excel Copilot looks at the content in the table and then suggests inserting a new calculated column that uses the Textbefore function to remove the extraneous information.
Hovering the mouse cursor over the “Insert column” button in the copilot pane shows a preview of what inserting the new column formulas will look like. From the preview, it looks like it is doing what I wanted.
Clicking on the Insert Column button will accept the proposed change, inserting a new calculated column formula that extracts just the distance in feet, allowing me to sort the list correctly.
Over the coming weeks I will be sharing more examples of what you can do with Copilot in Excel.
Thanks for reading,
Microsoft Excel Team
*Disclaimer: If you try these types of prompts and they do not work as expected, it is most likely due to our gradual feature rollout process. Please try again in a few weeks.
Greetings, This is the fourth in a series of posts that provides examples of what is possible with Copilot in Excel. Today I will use a list of major league baseball ballparks in the United States.
Table with these columns: Name Capacity Location Surface Team Opened Distance to center field Roof type. First 2 rows of data: American Family Field‡ 41,900[1] Milwaukee, Wisconsin Grass Milwaukee Brewers 2001 400 feet (122 m) Retractable Angel Stadium 45,517[2] Anaheim, California Grass Los Angeles Angels 1966 396 feet (121 m) Open
I would like to fix up the Distance to center field column to remove the metric measurements so that it can be sorted correctly. To accomplish this, I’ll start by clicking on the copilot button on the right side of the Home tab, showing the copilot pane and type the prompt:
Add a new column for center field distance, converting it to numbers and ignoring the part in parentheses.
Excel Copilot looks at the content in the table and then suggests inserting a new calculated column that uses the Textbefore function to remove the extraneous information.
Looking at A1:H31, here’s 1 formula column to review and insert in Column I: Center Field Distance Extracts the distance to center field in feet by converting the text value to an integer, providing a clear numerical representation of each stadium’s center field distance. =INT(TEXTBEFORE([@[Distance to center field]], ” feet”))
Hovering the mouse cursor over the “Insert column” button in the copilot pane shows a preview of what inserting the new column formulas will look like. From the preview, it looks like it is doing what I wanted.
Picture of the list of stadiums with a preview of the new center field distance column that would be added.
Clicking on the Insert Column button will accept the proposed change, inserting a new calculated column formula that extracts just the distance in feet, allowing me to sort the list correctly.
Picture showing the Excel workbook with copilot pane open. Includes the Stadiums table with Center field distance column added.
Over the coming weeks I will be sharing more examples of what you can do with Copilot in Excel.
Thanks for reading,
Microsoft Excel Team
*Disclaimer: If you try these types of prompts and they do not work as expected, it is most likely due to our gradual feature rollout process. Please try again in a few weeks.
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Using Graph API to create a OneNote tab in a Teams Channel
Hello,
I’m trying to create a new tab in an existing channel that opens a OneNote notebook using Graph API. According to official documentation (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/api/channel-post-tabs?view=graph-rest-1.0&tabs=http), the call should look like this:
POST https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/teams/{team-id}/channels/{channel-id}/tabs
{
“displayName”: “OneNote”,
“email address removed for privacy reasons” : “https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/appCatalogs/teamsApps/0d820ecd-def2-4297-adad-78056cde7c78”,
“configuration”: {
“entityId”: “<Notebook_id>”,
“contentUrl”: “<OneNote_notebook_url>”,
“websiteUrl”: “<OneNote_notebook_url>”
}
}
It worked smoothly, but since recently, when you open the tab in Teams (desktop or web), it shows an error message stating that “the application can’t be reached”. In the end, the tab is created but OneNote notebook is not opened.
Reading the official documentation here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/teams-configuring-builtin-tabs#onenote-tabs it mentions that when creating OneNote tabs, “configuration is not supported“. Does this mean now you can’t specify the OneNote notebook to open in the tab using Graph API?
Any suggestions or recommendations?
Thanks in advance!
Ferran
Hello,I’m trying to create a new tab in an existing channel that opens a OneNote notebook using Graph API. According to official documentation (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/api/channel-post-tabs?view=graph-rest-1.0&tabs=http), the call should look like this: POST https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/teams/{team-id}/channels/{channel-id}/tabs
{
“displayName”: “OneNote”,
“email address removed for privacy reasons” : “https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/appCatalogs/teamsApps/0d820ecd-def2-4297-adad-78056cde7c78”,
“configuration”: {
“entityId”: “<Notebook_id>”,
“contentUrl”: “<OneNote_notebook_url>”,
“websiteUrl”: “<OneNote_notebook_url>”
}
} It worked smoothly, but since recently, when you open the tab in Teams (desktop or web), it shows an error message stating that “the application can’t be reached”. In the end, the tab is created but OneNote notebook is not opened.Reading the official documentation here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/teams-configuring-builtin-tabs#onenote-tabs it mentions that when creating OneNote tabs, “configuration is not supported”. Does this mean now you can’t specify the OneNote notebook to open in the tab using Graph API?Any suggestions or recommendations?Thanks in advance!Ferran Read More
calculating an age range across multiple sheets
I am trying to extrapolate an age range (i.e. 20-29) using information contained with in the same columns but on different sheets. I tried to find the value of age 20 on a single sheet using the formula =COUNTIF(ACTIVE!N:N, “20”), but the value is clearly incorrect. By looking at the column on just the one sheet, there should have been “0” age 20, but it gave me “28” . There are 27 entries in that column of ages ranging from 24-92.
suggestions?
I am trying to extrapolate an age range (i.e. 20-29) using information contained with in the same columns but on different sheets. I tried to find the value of age 20 on a single sheet using the formula =COUNTIF(ACTIVE!N:N, “20”), but the value is clearly incorrect. By looking at the column on just the one sheet, there should have been “0” age 20, but it gave me “28” . There are 27 entries in that column of ages ranging from 24-92. suggestions? Read More
Azure DevOps Timeline/Roadmap Native Function
Is there a way to create a “timeline” or “roadmap” view in Azure DevOps natively, without installing and paying for an extension?
A simple ask, to see Epics indivdually as rows vertically and Sprints horizontally.
Epics are still limited to only being assigned to 1 sprint?
Is there a way to create a “timeline” or “roadmap” view in Azure DevOps natively, without installing and paying for an extension? A simple ask, to see Epics indivdually as rows vertically and Sprints horizontally. Epics are still limited to only being assigned to 1 sprint? Read More
Where is Location data in Outlook retrieved from?
In new Outlook you can set Location for if you are in Office or working Remote. From where are these options retrieved? We can only see Office and Remote but since we are a multinational company we need to have the different offices in the list. Where can we define the list?
In new Outlook you can set Location for if you are in Office or working Remote. From where are these options retrieved? We can only see Office and Remote but since we are a multinational company we need to have the different offices in the list. Where can we define the list? Read More
Azure SQL Databases – one or multiple servers?
When I create an Azure SQL Database, I have option to create it on a new SQL Server, or on an existing SQL Server. If I create multiple Azure SQL Databases – when would I want to create it on it’s own server versus putting them all on a single server?
When I create an Azure SQL Database, I have option to create it on a new SQL Server, or on an existing SQL Server. If I create multiple Azure SQL Databases – when would I want to create it on it’s own server versus putting them all on a single server? Read More
What needs to be changed in existing product code to code for MSIX, from Scratch?
I see many articles regarding the handling and packaging of existing applications, but I cannot find anything along the lines of “if you want to change your code for MSIX, this is how” (or how to code for MSIX from day 1). How about an example of a product that was coded in VB .Net (or similar language) and was subsequently packaged in a MSI installer. Now show the new version of that same code with the changes to fit MSIX, (registry, whatever else). If the exe is being executed by the installer and it puts up a dialog that the user needs to respond to, how to handle that (in that custom actions are only available at the beginning and end of the MSIX packaging, and not while installing).
Something along the lines of “This must change”, if you want to write code for MSIX packaging.
I see many articles regarding the handling and packaging of existing applications, but I cannot find anything along the lines of “if you want to change your code for MSIX, this is how” (or how to code for MSIX from day 1). How about an example of a product that was coded in VB .Net (or similar language) and was subsequently packaged in a MSI installer. Now show the new version of that same code with the changes to fit MSIX, (registry, whatever else). If the exe is being executed by the installer and it puts up a dialog that the user needs to respond to, how to handle that (in that custom actions are only available at the beginning and end of the MSIX packaging, and not while installing). Something along the lines of “This must change”, if you want to write code for MSIX packaging. Read More
the الدفع بعد النتيجة 00964 784 248 8906 جلب الحبيب العنيد في ساعات أبو خضرfinal
but I am not able to view anything other than the final (key) frame.شيخروحاني Other sources claim that Samsung Motion Photos stored in OneDrive can رقم شيخ في المانياbe viewed in the MS Photos app on Windows. Photos does indeed seem to recognize motion photos, but clicking on the provided “MOTION” button does not play the 3 second video. Instead the screen goes dark for 3 seconds and then redisplays the final (key) frame. Am I doing something wrong? Have OneDrive.com or MS Photos been downgraded to remove this functionality
but I am not able to view anything other than the final (key) frame.شيخروحاني Other sources claim that Samsung Motion Photos stored in OneDrive can رقم شيخ في المانياbe viewed in the MS Photos app on Windows. Photos does indeed seem to recognize motion photos, but clicking on the provided “MOTION” button does not play the 3 second video. Instead the screen goes dark for 3 seconds and then redisplays the final (key) frame. Am I doing something wrong? Have OneDrive.com or MS Photos been downgraded to remove this functionality Read More
Counting employees during each hour of the day
Hello. I am having a hard time figuring out how to use functions to count the number of staff I have working during each hour of the day. I am a beginner, but I enlisted the help of someone who has more experience and they aren’t able to figure it out either.
I have 45 employees in a 24/7 department, so there are night shift staff that start on 1 day and finish on the next – that is throwing a huge wrench into things.
The schedule also has 30 minute lunches built into their day, so there is a 30 minute overlap that I don’t want to include those people into.
I do my schedule in excel per pay period as shown below. I am willing to adapt the way I currently do the schedule if needed, I just need to save myself time and prevent miscounting errors.
Any help would be appreciated.
Hello. I am having a hard time figuring out how to use functions to count the number of staff I have working during each hour of the day. I am a beginner, but I enlisted the help of someone who has more experience and they aren’t able to figure it out either. I have 45 employees in a 24/7 department, so there are night shift staff that start on 1 day and finish on the next – that is throwing a huge wrench into things. The schedule also has 30 minute lunches built into their day, so there is a 30 minute overlap that I don’t want to include those people into. I do my schedule in excel per pay period as shown below. I am willing to adapt the way I currently do the schedule if needed, I just need to save myself time and prevent miscounting errors. Any help would be appreciated. Read More
How to find customers visiting other shops for the same product in my shop within 14 days
I have data showing the following columns: Customer Name, Date of Visit, Shop (my shop, other shops), Product, Price.
I need to find the customers visiting other shops for the same product in my shop within 14 days.
I tried doing a simple IF(AND,… formula but it doesn’t catch customers who’s jumping from my shop to another and back for various products within a month.
I have data showing the following columns: Customer Name, Date of Visit, Shop (my shop, other shops), Product, Price. I need to find the customers visiting other shops for the same product in my shop within 14 days. I tried doing a simple IF(AND,… formula but it doesn’t catch customers who’s jumping from my shop to another and back for various products within a month. Read More