Category: Microsoft
Category Archives: Microsoft
Early insights from the AI Readiness Survey
Earlier, we announced our AI Readiness Survey — we’re still gathering sample, but we thought we’d share some early insights from more than 500 organizations who’ve already taken part.
Overwhelmingly, these results show the need for ongoing collaboration, education, and experimentation around AI. We’re excited for you to read these insights and share them with your communities. We plan to analyze and release a detailed report of the findings from the survey this summer.
If you haven’t yet, we invite you to take the survey or share it with your networks.
The AI Readiness Survey is conducted by the GivingTuesday Data Commons in partnership with Fundraising.AI and with generous support from Microsoft. Click here for more information about the AI Readiness Survey.
Earlier, we announced our AI Readiness Survey — we’re still gathering sample, but we thought we’d share some early insights from more than 500 organizations who’ve already taken part. Overwhelmingly, these results show the need for ongoing collaboration, education, and experimentation around AI. We’re excited for you to read these insights and share them with your communities. We plan to analyze and release a detailed report of the findings from the survey this summer. If you haven’t yet, we invite you to take the survey or share it with your networks. The AI Readiness Survey is conducted by the GivingTuesday Data Commons in partnership with Fundraising.AI and with generous support from Microsoft. Click here for more information about the AI Readiness Survey. Read More
Email Delay Today
Hello, our company is based in midwest and seeing if anyone is having issues with outbound mail to EOP? We are hybrid and our internal exchange server queues are clear. Also, our spam filtering service is reporting healthy. Otherwise, running a test on the outbound connector to EOP is producing errors and also seeing email delays thru our logging. Microsoft support states their may be issues on their side but nothing has been posted to 365 Health.
Thanks
Hello, our company is based in midwest and seeing if anyone is having issues with outbound mail to EOP? We are hybrid and our internal exchange server queues are clear. Also, our spam filtering service is reporting healthy. Otherwise, running a test on the outbound connector to EOP is producing errors and also seeing email delays thru our logging. Microsoft support states their may be issues on their side but nothing has been posted to 365 Health. Thanks Read More
Integrate the Microsoft.BingAds.UETSdk into our UWP product
Hello,
We are currently trying to integrate the UET (Universal Event Tracking) SDK ([Microsoft.BingAds.UETSdk](https://www.nuget.org/packages/Microsoft.BingAds.UETSdk)) into our UWP product. We have been following the documentation closely, but we encounter an issue as soon as we implement the step “Import all of the .NET Native / CoreCLR props” from [this guide](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/advertising/guides/windows-app-uet-sdk?view=bingads-13#cpluspluswinrt). After adding this step, when we attempt to submit our UWP package to the Windows Store, we receive the error: “You cannot submit pre-compiled .NET Native packages.”
For testing purposes, we created an entirely blank project and followed the instructions step by step:
1. Blank project (UetTestBlank.rar and UetTestBlank_1.0.60.0_x86_x64_arm_arm64) – successfully submitted to the Windows Store.
2. Added only the .dll without modifying project settings (UetTestUetPkgOnly_1.0.60.0_x86_x64_arm.appxbundle and UetTestUetPkgOnly.rar) – successfully submitted to the Windows Store.
3. Modified the project by adding “Import all of the .NET Native / CoreCLR props” (UetTestUetPkgWithProjectFileMod.rar and UetTestUetPkgWithProjectFileMod_1_0_60_0_x86_x64_arm_arm64_appxbundle) – submission failed with the error: UetTestUetPkgWithProjectFileMod_1_0_60_0_x86_x64_arm_arm64_appxbundle 3.2 MB, “Package acceptance validation error: You cannot submit pre-compiled .NET Native packages. Please upload the Microsoft Store appxupload file and try again.”
You can find all the project files here: [Dropbox link](https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/d6hr4k24z7sybzg6172r6/AOqBb_2zMBUPCuKgxrmbwhU?rlkey=1pzpak1l1aqcwuejapmmllpid&st=o2wmzce5&dl=0)
Could there be any inaccuracies in the documentation, or does anyone have experience working with this library who could provide some guidance or examples?
Thank you!
Hello,We are currently trying to integrate the UET (Universal Event Tracking) SDK ([Microsoft.BingAds.UETSdk](https://www.nuget.org/packages/Microsoft.BingAds.UETSdk)) into our UWP product. We have been following the documentation closely, but we encounter an issue as soon as we implement the step “Import all of the .NET Native / CoreCLR props” from [this guide](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/advertising/guides/windows-app-uet-sdk?view=bingads-13#cpluspluswinrt). After adding this step, when we attempt to submit our UWP package to the Windows Store, we receive the error: “You cannot submit pre-compiled .NET Native packages.”For testing purposes, we created an entirely blank project and followed the instructions step by step:1. Blank project (UetTestBlank.rar and UetTestBlank_1.0.60.0_x86_x64_arm_arm64) – successfully submitted to the Windows Store.2. Added only the .dll without modifying project settings (UetTestUetPkgOnly_1.0.60.0_x86_x64_arm.appxbundle and UetTestUetPkgOnly.rar) – successfully submitted to the Windows Store.3. Modified the project by adding “Import all of the .NET Native / CoreCLR props” (UetTestUetPkgWithProjectFileMod.rar and UetTestUetPkgWithProjectFileMod_1_0_60_0_x86_x64_arm_arm64_appxbundle) – submission failed with the error: UetTestUetPkgWithProjectFileMod_1_0_60_0_x86_x64_arm_arm64_appxbundle 3.2 MB, “Package acceptance validation error: You cannot submit pre-compiled .NET Native packages. Please upload the Microsoft Store appxupload file and try again.”You can find all the project files here: [Dropbox link](https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/d6hr4k24z7sybzg6172r6/AOqBb_2zMBUPCuKgxrmbwhU?rlkey=1pzpak1l1aqcwuejapmmllpid&st=o2wmzce5&dl=0)Could there be any inaccuracies in the documentation, or does anyone have experience working with this library who could provide some guidance or examples?Thank you! Read More
i want to share my to do list in Outlook to internal members of my Team
Hello
Please I need your help on this issue.
I want to share my to do list in Outlook to internal members of my Team.
I would like to know how to share TO DO lists in Outlook with my internal Teams members.
I am also confused with the difference between TASKS and To Do lists.
I was able to share my to-do list with my end user on outlook. But when they click on the link they get the error message
Hello Please I need your help on this issue. I want to share my to do list in Outlook to internal members of my Team. I would like to know how to share TO DO lists in Outlook with my internal Teams members. I am also confused with the difference between TASKS and To Do lists. I was able to share my to-do list with my end user on outlook. But when they click on the link they get the error message Read More
Command Line Development of WebForms with IISExpress
Hi there
Is there a viable workflow for continued development of an existing ASP dot NET Web Forms application just using the command line, a text editor and a web browser, without running Visual Studio (at least not all the time)?
Since Web Forms do not run on dot Net Core, a Windows machine (physical or virtual) is required. The work is being done on a non-Windows machine, and connecting in to the Windows machine via Remote Desktop to run Visual Studio is not a preferred option (though it may be the only viable one, and is what I am doing currently).
In principle working via the terminal, some form of file sync or share, and a browser is possible and I have done it with SSH, MSBuild.exe and IIS Express, but what is missing is all the output from the Output window of Visual Studio. There are various ways of logging that could be set up, but what I like about the Output window is it tells exceptions, as well as debug messages, and I am pretty lost without it.
Any recommendations, other than give up, and keep using Visual Studio?
Hi there Is there a viable workflow for continued development of an existing ASP dot NET Web Forms application just using the command line, a text editor and a web browser, without running Visual Studio (at least not all the time)? Since Web Forms do not run on dot Net Core, a Windows machine (physical or virtual) is required. The work is being done on a non-Windows machine, and connecting in to the Windows machine via Remote Desktop to run Visual Studio is not a preferred option (though it may be the only viable one, and is what I am doing currently). In principle working via the terminal, some form of file sync or share, and a browser is possible and I have done it with SSH, MSBuild.exe and IIS Express, but what is missing is all the output from the Output window of Visual Studio. There are various ways of logging that could be set up, but what I like about the Output window is it tells exceptions, as well as debug messages, and I am pretty lost without it. Any recommendations, other than give up, and keep using Visual Studio? Read More
Exchange Server Apps page Method Not Allowed
Hi All,
We have six exchange server two of server while open Organization, Apps the screen display
The request failed. The remote server returned an error: (405) Method Not Allowed.
Tried many possible no luck, Any idea?
Thank you
Hi All, We have six exchange server two of server while open Organization, Apps the screen displayThe request failed. The remote server returned an error: (405) Method Not Allowed. Tried many possible no luck, Any idea? Thank you Read More
Looking to optimize and manage your cloud resources? Join our Azure optimization skills challenge!
Businesses have committed to the cloud for its scalability, agility, and security. Without optimization, however, this flexibility can lead to unmanaged sprawl. Continuous improvement and careful management through all phases of your cloud journey help you to avoid unexpected costs and inefficient resource allocation while improving security and reliability. Strategic optimization delivers the resiliency to efficiently and securely handle fluctuating workloads with ease, ensuring you manage your environment for optimal performance.
That’s why we’re thrilled to bring you our Azure Optimization Cloud Skills Challenge, a curated collection of learning resources and guidance on optimization tools and best practices from Microsoft that can help your business can thrive in the cloud. This track helps you build cloud resiliency, create reliable and secure workloads, manage cloud spend, and modernize to innovate.
What’s an Azure Cloud Skills Challenge?
Part interactive learning sprint, part competition between you and peers around the globe, Azure Cloud Skills Challenges give you a timeframe to complete a set of courses, exercises, tutorials, and assessments with email reminders to help you stay on track. By completing any challenge within 30 days, you’re eligible for a 50% discount voucher on a related Microsoft Certification exam.
What will I learn in the Optimization Cloud Skills Challenge?
Microsoft offers several solutions and tools to help with cloud optimization within the Azure ecosystem to strategically manage cloud spend, enhance efficiency, and stay competitive in the ever-evolving cloud landscape. Our curated Azure Optimization Cloud Skills Challenge provides insight into the organizational and financial efficiency of integrating Azure solutions into your cloud strategy.
Learn about pricing for cost efficiency with Azure Savings Plan for Compute
The main goals of optimizing your cloud compute resources are to promote efficient usage and simplify management while realizing significant cost savings. An Azure Savings Plan for Compute goes beyond just offering discounts—they provide a holistic approach to cloud optimization.
The first module in the Optimization Cloud Skills Challenge focuses on Azure Savings Plans for Compute, aimed at showing you how to significantly optimize the cost of your resources when compared with pay-as-you-go prices. This learning module explores features, benefits, and ideal use cases, then walks you through the purchase process.
By the end of this module, you’ll learn to efficiently utilize resources, simplify management, and realize significant cost savings.
Discounted cloud resources, upfront commitment with Azure Reserved Instances
Azure Reserved Instances (RIs) let you lock in significant discounts on virtual machines and other compute resources by pre-paying for a commitment in a specific region. You can change the scope or size of your RI as needed and combine with Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server licenses for a powerful cost-saving solution.
In the Azure Reserved Instances module of the Optimization Cloud Skills Challenge, you’ll learn how to analyze and buy reserved instances, optimize against underused resources, and understand the benefits provided through compute purchases.
Learn how to analyze, purchase, and optimize your cloud resources for consistent and significant discounts with Azure Reserved Instances.
Free cloud cost and security insights with Azure Advisor
Azure Advisor acts as your digital cloud consultant, continuously analyzing your cloud resources, including configuration and usage telemetry. Advisor identifies opportunities to optimize your deployments across four key areas: cost, security, performance, and reliability.
It recommends ways to reduce your Azure bill by suggesting more cost-effective resources or identifying underutilized services.
Our Azure Advisor learning module will show you how to get the most out of your Azure investment by ensuring your cloud resources are efficiently configured.
Monitor spending using Microsoft Cost Management
Microsoft Cost Management offers detailed insights into resource usage, budgeting options, and cost optimization recommendations. Features like reserved instances and cost allocation reports help you identify areas for savings and ensure your cloud spending aligns with your budget.
The Describe Cost Management in Azure learning module explores different methods to estimate, track, and manage costs in Azure. You’ll be introduced to factors that impact costs in Azure and tools to help you both predict potential costs and monitor and control costs.
Guide your cloud journey to success: Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework and Well-Architected Framework
Microsoft offers two invaluable frameworks that provide best practice guidance and checklists to help your team manage and govern your cloud, avoid costly mistakes, and keep your workloads secure. The Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF) and Well-Architected Framework (WAF) are resources your business can leverage to build and manage cloud-hosted applications in a cost-effective way. The Azure Optimization Cloud Skills Challenge goes in-depth on these frameworks to provide a fundamental understanding of optimization best practices.
Getting started with the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure: Emphasizing critical aspects of cloud transition, including strategy, readiness, planning, and execution, CAF aligns business objectives with technical requirements, ensuring a seamless transition to the cloud while optimizing for cost, reliability, and security. In this introduction, you’ll learn how to overcome common challenges associated with cloud adoption.
Address tangible risks with the Govern methodology of the Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure: Any technical change made in the process of cloud adoption and optimization introduces risk to your environment. In this module you’ll see how CAF’s Govern methodology mitigates risks to adopt the cloud with confidence.
Complementing CAF, the Well-Architected Framework offers a systematic approach to evaluate architectures against five key pillars, each of which has their own learning module:
Operational excellence: Design an Azure architecture that uses modern practices and gives you full visibility into your environment.
Cost optimization: Apply cost optimization guidance in your architecture to sustain and improve your ROI.
Performance efficiency: Explore how to scale your system to handle load, identify network bottlenecks, and optimize your storage performance.
Security: Incorporate security into your architecture design and discover tools to help you create a secure environment through all the layers of your architecture.
Reliability: Apply reliability guidance in your architecture to improve your workload’s availability and resilience.
What can I learn next?
After completing the Optimization Cloud Skills Challenge, you’ll find there’s lots more to discover on Microsoft Learn.
Our Learn Live sessions deliver technical readiness and skilling programming in a television format, typically broadcasted live with Q&A and available on-demand.
Azure Optimization Virtual Training Days aim to funnel Microsoft’s know-how into helping you optimize and manage your cloud investment. Guided by a Microsoft Technical Trainer, you’ll discover how Azure guidance, resources, and practices can streamline your cloud spend, enable modernization, and fuel innovation in the cloud.
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Can’s sign into Outlook.com
I cannot sign into my Outlook.com email account. It gives me the attached error message.
I cannot sign into my Outlook.com email account. It gives me the attached error message. Read More
To Do in Outlook Due Date reverts to previous day
As you can see in the screenshot, I created a Task on the second, but when saved it shows the first.
When trying to change the date, it reverts to the previous date.
All dates in BIOS, Computer, Outlook, OWA are correct.
Thank you in advance.
As you can see in the screenshot, I created a Task on the second, but when saved it shows the first. When trying to change the date, it reverts to the previous date. All dates in BIOS, Computer, Outlook, OWA are correct. Thank you in advance. Read More
Why do bulk download requests from One Drive fail?
Not sure if this is a code related issue, or a network issue. or node related issue. It is hard to pinpoint any root cause as the data received is variable and inconsistent. When requesting downloads in bulk from the Graph API using Fetch and node JS there appears to be an intermittent problem.
At first it was assumed that node and fetch were struggling with the number of requests being made for example we would run an API request to gather info on 1000 files and for each file request a download using the methods provided by the Microsoft JavaScript SDK for the M365 API.
What was initially discovered was that when 2000+ files were requested multiple downloads would fail. For example, only 700 of these files would land on disk. In circumstances where downloads were failing there appear to have been no retry attempts.
The flows were checked for event loop lag and the CPU for excessive usage. Neither were apparent as issues. What was indicated in a error response was that fetch was just failing. It was not receiving a response.
A timer was added to create a space between individual requests, this worked and did mediate well.
However, it was also apparent that download requests were failing when smaller amounts of files were requested, for example between 400 and 500. It is conceivable that this should not be a problem for an API to manage.
I am just wondering if anyone else has encountered similar problems.
Not sure if this is a code related issue, or a network issue. or node related issue. It is hard to pinpoint any root cause as the data received is variable and inconsistent. When requesting downloads in bulk from the Graph API using Fetch and node JS there appears to be an intermittent problem. At first it was assumed that node and fetch were struggling with the number of requests being made for example we would run an API request to gather info on 1000 files and for each file request a download using the methods provided by the Microsoft JavaScript SDK for the M365 API. What was initially discovered was that when 2000+ files were requested multiple downloads would fail. For example, only 700 of these files would land on disk. In circumstances where downloads were failing there appear to have been no retry attempts. The flows were checked for event loop lag and the CPU for excessive usage. Neither were apparent as issues. What was indicated in a error response was that fetch was just failing. It was not receiving a response. A timer was added to create a space between individual requests, this worked and did mediate well. However, it was also apparent that download requests were failing when smaller amounts of files were requested, for example between 400 and 500. It is conceivable that this should not be a problem for an API to manage. I am just wondering if anyone else has encountered similar problems. Read More
Audience targeting not working
Hi,
I have a SharePoint comms site using SharePoint online. I have a Power Automate flow that runs behind the site so that when I post news to the site, a flow is triggered that sends an email to a target audience group(s) that appear in a list on the SharePoint site.
This was working well until I recently changed some of the audience group names (to reflect changes in the business). Now, my flow no longer works as it is looking for groups that have now changed.
I’ve updated the MS365 group names and although they do show when I try to edit the audience from the page details (see image), when I update the page, the audience has reverted back to it’s previous iteration.
Please can someone advise why this is happening and how to encourage the SharePoint site to accept the new audience names?
Hi, I have a SharePoint comms site using SharePoint online. I have a Power Automate flow that runs behind the site so that when I post news to the site, a flow is triggered that sends an email to a target audience group(s) that appear in a list on the SharePoint site. This was working well until I recently changed some of the audience group names (to reflect changes in the business). Now, my flow no longer works as it is looking for groups that have now changed. I’ve updated the MS365 group names and although they do show when I try to edit the audience from the page details (see image), when I update the page, the audience has reverted back to it’s previous iteration. Please can someone advise why this is happening and how to encourage the SharePoint site to accept the new audience names? Read More
Have a safe coffee chat with your documentation using Azure AI Services | JavaScript Day 2024
In the Azure Developers JavaScript Day 2024, Maya Shavin a Senior Software Engineer at Microsoft, presented a session called “Have a safe coffee chat with your documentation using Azure AI Services”. And she introduced innovative approaches for integrating AI technologies to ensure the safety of document-based Q&A systems.
Let’s dive into the content!
What was covered during the session?
Now let’s talk about what was covered during the session! If you wish, you can watch the video of the session at the link below:
Introduction to AI-Powered Safety in Documentation
Maya opened her presentation by introducing her background in Microsoft’s industrial AI division, where she focuses on incorporating AI technologies into industry-specific applications. With over a decade of experience in both Front-End and Back-End development, she also highlighted her contributions to the Tech Community as an author and Community Organizer.
Concept of Document Q&A Assistant
Maya described the document Q&A assistant as a straightforward interaction system where an AI, not a human, responds to user queries. The system processes in two primary phases:
Injection Phase: here, documents are uploaded, segmented, indexed with metadata and stored in a searchable database.
Query Phase: the phase where the AI retrieves and summarizes relevant document sections in response to user queries.
The Importance of Content Moderation
A significant portion of her talk focused on content moderation, crucial for preventing inappropriate or harmful content from undermining the AI system’s integrity. She explained how AI responses could potentially reflect, or be influenced by, the offensive content within user inputs. To combat this, Microsoft promotes responsible AI practices structured around in:
Fairness: AI systems should treat all people fairly.
Reliability and safety: AI systems should perform reliably and safely.
Privacy and security: AI systems should be secure and respect privacy.
Inclusiveness: AI systems should empower everyone and engage people.
Transparency: AI systems should be understandable.
Accountability: People should be accountable for AI systems.
For more information on Microsoft’s Responsible AI Practices, visit the link.
Azure AI Content Safety
Maya introduced Azure AI Content Safety, a pivotal service for detecting harmful content in both user inputs and AI-generated responses. This service supports multiple programming languages and offers a studio experience for testing various content sensitivity levels. Its primary features include:
Text Analysis API: Scans text for sexual content, violence, hate, and self-harm with multi-severity levels.
Image Analysis API: Scans images for sexual content, violence, hate, and self-harm with multi-severity levels.
Text Blocklist Management APIs: The default AI classifiers are sufficient for most content safety needs; however, you might need to screen for terms that are specific to your use case. You can create blocklists of terms to use with the Text API.
To understand how Azure AI Content Safety works, there’s a video below about the service:
Demonstrating Azure AI Content Safety in Action
Maya demonstrated how to integrate Azure AI Content Safety into a JavaScript project. She showcased a function that analyzes content and adjusts responses based on predefined sensitivity levels, thus preventing the system from providing harmful output.
This function works by categorizing content into several types of sensitive material—like hate speech, sexual content, and violence—and filtering them accordingly.
She also mentioned the use of the Azure AI Content Safety SDK for JavaScript/TypeScript, which you can find at the link
Comparing Azure AI Content Safety and Azure OpenAI Content Filters
Maya also compared the Azure AI Content Safety with OpenAI’s content filtering features. She highlighted that while Azure AI Content Safety is versatile and can be integrated into various AI workflows, OpenAI’s content filtering is bundled with their services and might not incur additional costs.
However, Azure AI Content Safety offers more control over the moderation process and supports more languages.
Final Thoughts and Steps Forward
Concluding her talk, Maya stressed the ongoing need for manual oversight in content moderation to ensure that AI interactions remain appropriate and effective. She encouraged attendees to implement Azure AI content safety in their projects to enhance the security layers of their AI applications.
Maya Shavin’s session provided valuable insights into the mechanisms of safeguarding AI-driven document assistants, ensuring that they operate within the realms of safety and ethics dictated by modern AI standards.
Azure Developers JavaScript Day Cloud Skills Challenge
Don’t forget to participate in the Azure Developers JavaScript Day Cloud Skills Challenge to test your knowledge and skills in a series of learn modules and learn more about Azure services and tools. As I mentioned in the previous articles, besides the challenge is over, you can still access the content and learn more about the topics covered during the event.
Link to the challenge: JavaScript and Azure Cloud Skills Challenge
Additional Resources
If you want to learn more about Azure AI Content Safety Services, especially if you’re JavaScript Developer, you can access the following resources:
Azure AI Content Safety
Azure AI Content Safety SDK for JavaScript/TypeScript
Documentation – Azure AI Content Safety REST client library for JavaScript – version 1.0.0
Stay Tuned!
If you wish, you can follow what happened during the two days of the event via the playlist on YouTube. The event was full of interesting content and insights for JavaScript developers!
If you are a JavaScript/TypeScript developer, follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn Glaucia Lemos for more news about the development and technology world! Especially if you are interested in how to integrate JavaScript/TypeScript applications with the Azure, Artificial Intelligence, Web Development, and more!
And see you in the next article!
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
when clicking an image is opening Mail app instead of Outlook
Hi guys, hope you are doing well. So I have an image and then we have a few options we can choose when clicking the image ( site, from a link, one drive, web search…) it is already added mailto:email address removed for privacy reasons?subject=SharePoint Inquiry but it is opening Mail apps and asking to log in there which is annoying and a waste of time. We want a link that will directly open Outlook which is the app we all use and have open. Can you please direct me which is the best way to do it ?
Hi guys, hope you are doing well. So I have an image and then we have a few options we can choose when clicking the image ( site, from a link, one drive, web search…) it is already added mailto:email address removed for privacy reasons?subject=SharePoint Inquiry but it is opening Mail apps and asking to log in there which is annoying and a waste of time. We want a link that will directly open Outlook which is the app we all use and have open. Can you please direct me which is the best way to do it ? Read More
Complete Range of cells
Excel is not letting me use the autofill function when I am creating a numeric list of continuous numbers. If I drag the bottom right corner down, the automatic function just copies the first number in all the subsequent cells. I need the continuous numbers to appear. ie. 123456….
Excel is not letting me use the autofill function when I am creating a numeric list of continuous numbers. If I drag the bottom right corner down, the automatic function just copies the first number in all the subsequent cells. I need the continuous numbers to appear. ie. 123456…. Read More
Is there a way to do a global replace from within spellchecker?
I often end up with documents (especially documents generated by Adobe Acrobat) that have a large number of repetitive errors, like a “-” in the middle of a word, but I never know for sure if any particular error is common enough to merit going to the trouble to do a global find and replace. It would be nice if I could do that from within the spellchecker. Is there someway to tell the spellchecker as you are stepping through words that it flags to go ahead and replace some particular word with an alternative spelling throughout the entire document?
I often end up with documents (especially documents generated by Adobe Acrobat) that have a large number of repetitive errors, like a “-” in the middle of a word, but I never know for sure if any particular error is common enough to merit going to the trouble to do a global find and replace. It would be nice if I could do that from within the spellchecker. Is there someway to tell the spellchecker as you are stepping through words that it flags to go ahead and replace some particular word with an alternative spelling throughout the entire document? Read More
Table: Formula to return a value from the table if other cells contain certain values
Hi everyone!
I have a table (like in the screenshot below) that contains certain values in column D/E/F/G. I want to create a formula in which you can enter in the below B2/B3/B4 values from columns D, E and F and depending on the row in the table where all 3 values are true, then B5 returns the corresponding value from column G in that row.
Does anyone have any idea which formulas I could use for this? Thank you so much for your ideas! 🙂
Hi everyone! I have a table (like in the screenshot below) that contains certain values in column D/E/F/G. I want to create a formula in which you can enter in the below B2/B3/B4 values from columns D, E and F and depending on the row in the table where all 3 values are true, then B5 returns the corresponding value from column G in that row. Does anyone have any idea which formulas I could use for this? Thank you so much for your ideas! 🙂 Read More
M365 Community Conference: Keynote – The Age of Copilots
Session: Keynote: The Age of Copilots
Speaker: Jeff Teper, President – Microsoft 365 Collaborative Apps & Platforms
The Microsoft 365 Community Conference is a premier event that brings together professionals from around the globe to explore the latest innovations in Microsoft 365, including Copilot, Microsoft Viva, Teams, and more. The conference took place April 30 to May 2, 2024, at the Swan & Dolphin Resort in Orlando, Florida, the conference offered over 150 sessions, workshops, and unparalleled networking opportunities.
The conference keynote was headlined by Microsoft’s Jeff Teper, President – Microsoft 365 Collaborative Apps & Platforms. Jeff focused on three foundational elements: AI, collaboration, and content management, integrating Copilot with Teams and SharePoint for a seamless experience. The underlying technology, a Large Language Model (LLM) like GPT-4 but hosted by Microsoft, offers enhanced security, and is integrated with user data through the Microsoft Graph and Microsoft 365 apps, including web search capabilities.
Security, compliance, privacy, and responsible AI are at the forefront of Copilot’s design. Demonstrations by Miceile Barrett showcased the versatility of Copilot, from personal to work accounts, and the ease of switching between tasks, whether it’s choosing new colors for a product or finding the right document with a OneDrive query. Copilot Studio stands out by allowing the creation of tailored Copilots, leveraging over 1,000 data sources, including the Microsoft Graph, with customizable logic and management capabilities. With Visual Studio, users can further personalize their experience by building customizations, connections, and models, making Copilot a truly adaptable and powerful tool for the modern workplace.
The new Microsoft Teams desktop client is set to deliver a reimagined experience with a focus on performance and simplicity. Boasting over 320 million monthly active users, the updated client promises to be twice as fast and features a more streamlined user interface. A significant update is on the horizon, which will merge personal and work accounts into a single client. Derek Snyder showed key highlights, including the introduction of a Discover feed, akin to social media but designed to be genuinely useful, and the ability to archive channels. Users will appreciate the enhanced search capabilities within chats and the option to forward messages.
Naomi Moneypenny took the stage and told us how SharePoint Online is set to undergo its most significant transformation in 24 years, introducing Copilot in SharePoint to revolutionize content creation and management. These new features will allow users to create natural language prompts as a column to automatically summarize each document’s content, streamlining workflows and enhancing productivity. The platform is also introducing SharePoint eSignature to digitize document approval workflows securely. With “The New SharePoint Experience,” users can expect custom fonts, new page designs, and a more personalized approach to content management.
Moreover, Copilot will enable the creation of pages based on content with a specific focus and audience, catering to diverse needs. Viva Amplify assists in distributing content and monitoring the performance of campaigns, further extending SharePoint’s capabilities. In addition, Copilot in Stream is set to redefine the future of video communication by offering features like removing filler words and bad takes, ensuring that users present their best selves in virtual meetings. These innovations represent a leap forward for SharePoint Online, cementing its status as a flexible and dynamic content management platform.
OneDrive is undergoing a significant transformation as well, leveraging SharePoint’s updates for its backend to enhance its capabilities. This change aims to unify the user experience across various Microsoft platforms, ensuring that OneDrive offers the same experience in Teams, Outlook, the web, and soon, the Microsoft 365 web app. A notable addition is Copilot in OneDrive, bringing with it the ability to summarize content, including within PDFs. The General Availability (GA) of Copilot in OneDrive is scheduled for this summer, marking a milestone in the platform’s evolution. This integration is part of a broader initiative that encompasses OneDrive, SharePoint, Viva Amplify, and Stream, indicating a concerted effort to streamline and amplify productivity within the Microsoft ecosystem.
It is evident that the future of workplace collaboration and productivity is being reshaped by the integration of AI and user-centric design. The Microsoft 365 Community Conference not only showcased the latest advancements in Microsoft 365 but also set the stage for a new era of intelligent and seamless work experiences. With the promise of enhanced performance, deeper collaboration, and innovative content management solutions, Microsoft is paving the way for organizations and individuals to achieve more.
Daniel Glenn (Microsoft MVP); Speaker; CollabFront Owner and Microsoft 365 Consultant
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
M365 Community Conference: How SharePoint can help you maximize the value of your content processing
Session: How SharePoint can help you maximize the value of your content processing
Speaker: Chris Bortlik, Kristen Kamath, and Sanjoyan Mustafi
Content is the lifeblood of every organization but managing it effectively can be challenging. Traditional methods of content management are often manual, error-prone, and inefficient. That’s why SharePoint offers a set of cloud content management capabilities that leverage AI to help you organize, process, and govern your content with ease and speed. “Content is what makes copilot what it is” – Chris Bortlk
I was lucky enough to attend the Microsoft 365 Collaboration Conference 2024 session by Chris Bortlik, Kristen Kamath, and Sanjoyan Mustafi, who demonstrated how SharePoint and its new premium features can help you maximize the value of your content with AI-powered content processing. The approach for the session was not your generic feature list but utilized a collection popular business scenarios that can be improved using content AI, Premium, and more. They walked through each scenario and demonstrated how what an optimized solution could be then walked backwards for what solutions were put together to make it work.
What is AI-powered content processing?
AI-powered content processing is a set of features and tools that SharePoint provides to help you analyze, extract, and act on the information in your documents. It uses advanced AI models to understand the content and context of your files, and automatically apply metadata, tags, translation, OCR, and more. It also enables you to streamline your content-centric workflows, such as collecting signatures, generating documents, and annotating files.
They had a good driving point during the session about the size and complexity of unstructured data in M365 that drove home the importance of solutions they went through. By 2025, 80-90% of data growth will be associated with unstructured data. With this incredibly large amount of unstructured data, which Chris stated now includes the addition of ~2.5 billion documents a day into M365, leads to challenges in discoverability, security, and retention to the content. They then began to break down where AI can help.
Existing challenges with AI-powered content processing
In this session they introduced 3 key challenges or scenarios that could be improved with content AI which included:
Information overload
Chris talked about how this is the challenge of “why you should tag it” without an incentive. You can use AI to discover and reuse knowledge from your documents, without having to read through and classify large sets of documents manually.
Lost information
You can use AI to connect and manage your content, and improve its security and governance with integration to Microsoft Information Protection. Chris talked about how even not being able to find content can be considered lost information!
Loss in productivity
You can use AI to automate the capture, ingestion, and categorization of your content, and reduce the time and effort spent on manual data entry and tagging. This was all about how manual data entry delays actual processing.
What are some of the scenarios where AI-powered content processing can help?
Next, they showcased three scenarios that Kristen started and went through where AI-powered content processing can help you optimize your content management and business processes. This included:
Business process automation
This was my favorite demo as I see it as the top scenario I am seeing in the real world. Kristen went through how you can use AI to process invoices, receipts, contracts, and other common documents, and extract key metadata pairs, such as total amount, due date, vendor name, etc. She also showed how you can use setup autofill columns, trigger workflows, annotate files, assemble documents, merge and extract PDFs, and query content based on metadata. This was full of demos about ways to extract and utilize metadata so you can turn your library experience into something like this!
Business process automation
Kristen highlighted prebuilt models that exist including invoices, receipts, contracts to get started in this space while showing the coolest part of the demo for new autofill columns which actually uses LLM logic to fill metadata!
She ended with showing how OCR is utilized to pull info from an image-based document including and that content query is what is actually used to search for information in the library easier such as finding invoices over $5000.
Content migration
Next up was content migration which focused on how you can use AI to organize your content when you migrate it from other sources, such as file shares, legacy systems, or third-party cloud services. You can also use AI to classify, summarize, identify the language, and apply taxonomy tags to your content when it gets to M365. Additionally, show that you can use AI to translate your content into over 100 languages, and OCR to make your image-based files searchable and governable. Kristen explained how you should make your migrations “smarter” by preconfiguring the destination document libraries with something like this:
Content migration
Kristen showed how you can use taxonomy tagging which can automatically apply tags from a companies managed term set and how to use OCR for post migration for DLP policies to reduce oversharing.
She then showed how you can translate documents with over 100 different languages directly in SharePoint and then trigger built in rules, similar to the drop off folder experience we’ve had in the past!
Collecting signatures
Sanjoyan took the stage next to talk about how you can use the new SharePoint eSignature solution to request and sign documents directly within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, without having to use extra logins or applications. You can also integrate with Adobe Sign and DocuSign, and leverage SharePoint’s advanced content management tools, such as content query, content assembly, and Microsoft 365 Archive to build solutions around colleting signatures.
SharePoint eSignature is a first party provider within M365 and the beautiful part is it is starting from within a document library in SharePoint and the document ends up back in the same folder after signature, which includes permissions just like where you started.
Sanjoyan showed how you could imitate this process through Teams as well while showing how you can see the document stages of where the document is at in its signing lifecycle.
He ended with details on pricing and roadmap which they key points were if you don’t use it, you don’t pay for eSignature! This is in the process of deployment across geos, commercial, and GCC tenants in which there are nuances of who has what, but the plan is to have it globally available in 2025. Some of the nuances are highlighted in the eSignature roadmap below.
What is the roadmap for AI-powered content processing?
The session also shared a small roadmap of the coming soon features in this space highlight the ones I am most excited for with Autofill columns and Sensitive information detection.
This was a great session that highlighted real-world scenarios for using content AI and didn’t feel like new feature blitz. There are so many tools and understanding how they work together is key in figuring out what you can do within your own organization. Great job Sanjoyan, Kristen, & Chris!
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
The Link Between Viva Engage Usage and 21% Higher Employee Retention Rates
Attracting and retaining top talent is a strategic imperative for leaders, emphasizing the need to focus on employee engagement and experience. Engaged employees not only contribute to a positive workplace atmosphere; they are also more productive, innovative, and committed to their roles, which directly enhances organizational performance and success. This blog post will delve into the significance of fostering employee engagement and how tools like Microsoft Viva Engage, part of the Viva Suite, can significantly boost retention. Glint, a people success platform now integrated into Viva Suite, emphasizes that engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave their organizations, further underscoring the importance of cultivating an environment that promotes commitment and advocates for the company as a great place to work.
Viva Engage and Employee Retention
As part of Network Analytics, we report a proxy of employee retention to not only highlight the value of Viva Engage but also highlight opportunities to more deeply engage employees in order to further improve the employee experience. In developing this metric, we’ve explored the relationship between Viva Engage usage and employee retention and consistently find — in line with research from Glint People Science — that employees who use Viva Engage have higher retention rates than those who don’t. Looking at the 1,000 largest Viva Engage customers (in terms of monthly active users), we see the employees at companies that using Viva Engage have an average yearly employee retention rate that is 16 percentage points higher than those who didn’t use Viva Engage (93%-77%). Note: All data has been anonymized and aggregated prior to analysis. Any statistics, trends, or insights shared are based on collective data.
We have also found that the difference in retention rates increases the more intensely the employee uses Engage. That is, employees who write or react on Engage have higher retention rates than employees who only view; employees who only view on Engage have higher retention rates than those who don’t use Engage at all.
While we can’t say that using Viva Engage causes employees to stay at their jobs longer, we can say, at the very least, data shows that engaged employees tend to gravitate to Engage and that Viva Engage helps a company to activate engaged employees at scale.
We’re exploring whether using Viva Engage has an effect on how long employees stay with a company. Direct experiments aren’t possible in this case, so we’ve turned to existing data for insights. We observed this trend: companies with a higher percentage of employees using Viva Engage also show higher employee retention rates after one year. We looked at different industries and adjusted for factors like company size, country, and industry type. Our analysis suggests that for every 10 percentage point increase in Engage usage within a company, there’s an associated increase of 1.1 percentage points in the rate at which employees are retained, annually. Notably, this retention increase holds true whether comparing different companies or when tracking the same company over time. It’s not definitive proof that Viva Engage alone boosts retention, but it indicates that Viva Engage, alongside other employee engagement strategies, seems to be linked to better retention outcomes.
Average of share on Engage and employee retention rates by industry
To put this impact into perspective, let’s assume a company has 10,000 employees and 70% of their employees are using Viva Engage. Increasing usage to 80% (1,000 additional employees using Engage) would lead to 110 more employees retained within the year. The cost of replacing an hourly employee is estimated to be $1,500. This would translate to $165,000 in yearly savings. The cost of replacing a salaried employee, on the other hand, is estimated to be 50%-200% of their annual salary. Assuming a $60,000 average yearly salary and the cost of attrition being 50% of their yearly salary, the potential savings in retention costs is $3.3 million.
As excited as we are to share these findings, we are even more excited to continue expanding the value of Viva Engage by creating features and experience that improve the employee experience. For more information about Viva Engage Network Analytics, check out this blog post (Network Analytics available now in Viva Engage – Microsoft Community Hub).
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
MVP’s Favorite Content: Blazor, Dynamics 365 F&O, Windows
In this blog series dedicated to Microsoft’s technical articles, we’ll highlight our MVPs’ favorite article along with their personal insights.
JinSeok Kim, Developer Technologies MVP, Korea
Build a Connect Four game with Blazor – Training | Microsoft Learn
“Connect-four enables everyone to develop very famous game. We can learn the basics of Blazor web app to create this game. It’s very interesting, and, after learning, we can play it with our friends.”
(In Korean: Connect-four는 한국에서는 입체사목게임으로 알려진 보드게임입니다. 이 게임을 만들면서 블레이저 웹앱을 만드는 법을 배우게 됩니다. 게임을 만드는 것이니 꽤 재밌습니다. 그리고 배우고 나면 친구랑 게임을 해볼 수 있는 재미도 있습니다.)
*Relevant Video: As the community leader from Blazor Korea User Group. I appeared on this video: [Korean] Let’s Learn.NET – Blazor (youtube.com)
Tomomitsu Kusaba, Developer Technologies MVP, Japan
The FAST and the Fluent: A Blazor story – .NET Blog (microsoft.com)
“Recommended article from the Fluent UI Blazor team, a UI framework for Blazor. Blazor itself is a fantastic web framework, and it demonstrates that standardizing the UI can make development more efficient.”
(In Japanese: BlazorのUIフレームワークであるFluent UI Blazorチームからのおすすめ記事。Blazorそのものは素晴らしいWebフレームワークであり、UIに関しても標準化することによってより効率的に開発できることを示しています。)
*Relevant Activities:
– Blog: アクセシビリティの観点から見たFluent UI Blazorのすすめ (zenn.dev)
– Event: .NETラボ 勉強会 2023年12月 – connpass
– Video: Fluent UI Blazorの新しいComponentについて (youtube.com)
Parag Chapre, Business Applications MVP, Australia
Virtual entities overview – Finance & Operations | Dynamics 365 | Microsoft Learn
“I recommend exploring “Enabling Virtual Entities in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations Using Power Automate” for its transformative potential. This content delves into seamlessly integrating external data within Dynamics 365 through Virtual Entities and Power Automate. By enabling this feature, organizations can enhance productivity, efficiency, and decision-making processes. Virtual Entities facilitate real-time access to external data sources without complex data replication. Power Automate automates workflows, streamlining data integration tasks. This combination empowers users to harness the full potential of Dynamics 365, optimizing business operations. Exploring this content offers valuable insights into leveraging technology for data-driven decision-making and operational excellence.”
*Relevant Blog: Enabling Virtual Entities in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations Using Power Automate – Parag Chapre
Maison da Silva, Windows and Devices MVP, Brazil
REAgentC command-line options | Microsoft Learn
create partition primary | Microsoft Learn
Resize-Partition (Storage) | Microsoft Learn
“Solution for error 0x800706643 when installing Update KB5034441 with Recovery Partition before System Partition.”
*Relevant Blog: Solução erro 0x800706643 ao Instalar Atualização KB5034441 com Partição de Recuperação antes Partição do Sistema – Maison da Silva
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More