Tag Archives: microsoft
Block Microsoft 365 account from logging on Windows machine?
Hello! How can I block a user from logging on Windows with Azure AD on our machines, but still allow it to use Microsoft 365?
Basically we have a service account that should only be accessed from iOS MDM devices by default.
A way to exempt some Windows machines would be nice, but the preference is ban the account from Windows logon altogether.
We use Microsoft 365 with Intune. All machines are managed.
Thanks in advance!
Hello! How can I block a user from logging on Windows with Azure AD on our machines, but still allow it to use Microsoft 365? Basically we have a service account that should only be accessed from iOS MDM devices by default.A way to exempt some Windows machines would be nice, but the preference is ban the account from Windows logon altogether. We use Microsoft 365 with Intune. All machines are managed. Thanks in advance! Read More
How to handle MFA for a shared account?
Hello,
We have a business need where some users need to share an Entra ID account for Dynamics 365. I am trying to figure out how to handle MFA for a shared account and what’s the best practice in such cases. We could setup the MFA for this account to the admins’ phones, but this will only create headache for those admins (when they’re out of office, travelling etc.).
Any advice would be appreciated.
Hello, We have a business need where some users need to share an Entra ID account for Dynamics 365. I am trying to figure out how to handle MFA for a shared account and what’s the best practice in such cases. We could setup the MFA for this account to the admins’ phones, but this will only create headache for those admins (when they’re out of office, travelling etc.).Any advice would be appreciated. Read More
Read Item and Subs from System.Windows.Forms.ListView
I am building a UI around a PowerShell script to make it more user friendly. I am have ListView that holds a Queue of Jobs that need to be run. How do I loop through it and get the values of each column so I can pass the properties as variables to another processfunction?
$JobQue = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.ListView
$JobQue.Text = ‘Queued Jobs’
#$JobQue.Font = $DefaultFont
$JobQue.Location = ‘435,140’
$JobQue.Size = ‘730,235’
$JobQue.View = “Details”
$JobQue.Sorting = “Ascending”
$JobQue.CheckBoxes = $true
$JobQue.MultiSelect = $true
$JobQue.FullRowSelect = $true
[VOID]$JobQue.Columns.Add(‘Time’, 170)
[VOID]$JobQue.Columns.Add(‘Source Server’,115)
[VOID]$JobQue.Columns.Add(‘Source DB’,115)
[VOID]$JobQue.Columns.Add(‘Dest Server’,115)
[VOID]$JobQue.Columns.Add(‘Dest DB’,115)
[VOID]$JobQue.Columns.Add(‘Status’,90)
That is the snippet of the JobQue List. Whole PS script is quite large. Trying to do something like this:
$GoButton.Add_Click({
ForEach($Task in $JobQue.Items){
Write-Host “Starting Refresh $Task”
$Task.SubItems.Text
My-Task($Task.[‘Source Server’],$Task.[‘Dest Server’])
}
})
I am building a UI around a PowerShell script to make it more user friendly. I am have ListView that holds a Queue of Jobs that need to be run. How do I loop through it and get the values of each column so I can pass the properties as variables to another processfunction? $JobQue = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.ListView
$JobQue.Text = ‘Queued Jobs’
#$JobQue.Font = $DefaultFont
$JobQue.Location = ‘435,140’
$JobQue.Size = ‘730,235’
$JobQue.View = “Details”
$JobQue.Sorting = “Ascending”
$JobQue.CheckBoxes = $true
$JobQue.MultiSelect = $true
$JobQue.FullRowSelect = $true
[VOID]$JobQue.Columns.Add(‘Time’, 170)
[VOID]$JobQue.Columns.Add(‘Source Server’,115)
[VOID]$JobQue.Columns.Add(‘Source DB’,115)
[VOID]$JobQue.Columns.Add(‘Dest Server’,115)
[VOID]$JobQue.Columns.Add(‘Dest DB’,115)
[VOID]$JobQue.Columns.Add(‘Status’,90) That is the snippet of the JobQue List. Whole PS script is quite large. Trying to do something like this: $GoButton.Add_Click({
ForEach($Task in $JobQue.Items){
Write-Host “Starting Refresh $Task”
$Task.SubItems.Text
My-Task($Task.[‘Source Server’],$Task.[‘Dest Server’])
}
}) Read More
Effectiveness of “Impersonation Protection” within the Standard Protection security policy
Recently we began trying to improve the overall posture of our O365 Exchange. One step of that was enabling both the Preset Security Policies.
These have been enabled and I’ve set up Impersonation Protection on both with pretty much the same list of internal stakeholders to protect. What we appear to be seeing is that impersonation protection doesn’t work for those users on Standard Protection. Support is telling me that’s how it works and that I should move all of our users to Strict Protection if we want to take advantage of the Impersonation Protection.
My limited tests seem to back this up, but the fact that Impersonation Protection is an available option in the Standard preset policy is baffling if it’s as ineffective as it seems to be.
As a test I setup a new outlook.com account with the name of the a protected user. I then sent an email to my personal Gmail account and two internal employees. The email was delivered to the Gmail account (expected) and to the ‘Standard’ employee. The email to the ‘Strict’ employee was quarantined with a note about impersonation. For the ‘Standard’ employee it was allowed with the note “Allowed by user policy : Trusted recipient address list”. I verified the external address is not in the ‘Standard’ user’s Safe Sender list.
Are others seeing this behavior as well?
Recently we began trying to improve the overall posture of our O365 Exchange. One step of that was enabling both the Preset Security Policies. These have been enabled and I’ve set up Impersonation Protection on both with pretty much the same list of internal stakeholders to protect. What we appear to be seeing is that impersonation protection doesn’t work for those users on Standard Protection. Support is telling me that’s how it works and that I should move all of our users to Strict Protection if we want to take advantage of the Impersonation Protection. My limited tests seem to back this up, but the fact that Impersonation Protection is an available option in the Standard preset policy is baffling if it’s as ineffective as it seems to be. As a test I setup a new outlook.com account with the name of the a protected user. I then sent an email to my personal Gmail account and two internal employees. The email was delivered to the Gmail account (expected) and to the ‘Standard’ employee. The email to the ‘Strict’ employee was quarantined with a note about impersonation. For the ‘Standard’ employee it was allowed with the note “Allowed by user policy : Trusted recipient address list”. I verified the external address is not in the ‘Standard’ user’s Safe Sender list. Are others seeing this behavior as well? Read More
Can SharePoint 365 News posts be emailed to external users?
I’m excited to see this new feature that lets us easily send SPO new posts via email! I’m noticing that when I type in an external email address, whether they are a guest in AAD or not, I’m not able to send the new post to them. I’ve been searching the MS community to see if we can send to external emails, since the marketing documentation says you can “send to anyone.” Is emailing to external email addresses supported?
I’m excited to see this new feature that lets us easily send SPO new posts via email! I’m noticing that when I type in an external email address, whether they are a guest in AAD or not, I’m not able to send the new post to them. I’ve been searching the MS community to see if we can send to external emails, since the marketing documentation says you can “send to anyone.” Is emailing to external email addresses supported? Read More
Azure Arc connected Linux machines
I have multiple Linux (various supported distros) connected to Azure via Arc. MDE has deployed automatically and installed successfully on all systems. I created a security group in Entra and added the Service Principal (Entra device objects do not exist, (should they?)) for each Arc connected machine to that Entra Security Group. I have created an Endpoint Security Policy in the Defender portal and applied it to said Entra Security Group. The goal is to manage the auto deployed MDE installation via this policy.
The policy is not applying to any of the Linux servers. The Arc install appears healthy and mdatp health command is showing Healthy:true Licensed:true and the Arc tags etcetera. There are some error logs in /var/log/microsoft/mdatp but nothing jumps out at me as a cause other than the fact that the managed.json file doesn’t exist. My question is, how do I get the MDE install to be managed via this Endpoint Security Policy?
I have multiple Linux (various supported distros) connected to Azure via Arc. MDE has deployed automatically and installed successfully on all systems. I created a security group in Entra and added the Service Principal (Entra device objects do not exist, (should they?)) for each Arc connected machine to that Entra Security Group. I have created an Endpoint Security Policy in the Defender portal and applied it to said Entra Security Group. The goal is to manage the auto deployed MDE installation via this policy.The policy is not applying to any of the Linux servers. The Arc install appears healthy and mdatp health command is showing Healthy:true Licensed:true and the Arc tags etcetera. There are some error logs in /var/log/microsoft/mdatp but nothing jumps out at me as a cause other than the fact that the managed.json file doesn’t exist. My question is, how do I get the MDE install to be managed via this Endpoint Security Policy? Read More
Inbox is not displaying new messages in a usable way
Messages coming into my inbox are not displaying in a readable way (image attached). My sent folder does display correctly (image attached). How I do fix my inbox?? I am running outlook on windows 11 enterprise and “new outlook” toggle is not available due to my organization.
Messages coming into my inbox are not displaying in a readable way (image attached). My sent folder does display correctly (image attached). How I do fix my inbox?? I am running outlook on windows 11 enterprise and “new outlook” toggle is not available due to my organization. Read More
Lack of Windows update group policy for Win 10/11 – “Reschedule Automatic Updates”
Hello, is there an equivalent policy or registry key for “Reschedule Automatic Updates shcheduled installations” for Windows 10 or 11? Currently, we have no way to use group policy to schedule updates for users who missed updates, which results in PCs missing updates for several months.
We have the latest ADMX templates, and the policy is showing in the “Legacy Policies” section and only works on Windows 7 or lower.
Hello, is there an equivalent policy or registry key for “Reschedule Automatic Updates shcheduled installations” for Windows 10 or 11? Currently, we have no way to use group policy to schedule updates for users who missed updates, which results in PCs missing updates for several months.We have the latest ADMX templates, and the policy is showing in the “Legacy Policies” section and only works on Windows 7 or lower. Read More
MFA Enabled> conditional MFA policy setup > not prompting users to authenticate
I pulled a report in Entra that shows users with no MFA authentication methods setup, but we have a conditional mfa policy setup that should enforce MFA. I have worked with a user showing on the report. Their PC is joined in entra and managed Intune. I have revoked the user session reset his MFA still the user is able to sign in to his pc with his windows hello pin or his 0365 credentials without being prompted for MFA registration authentication setup…any help
I pulled a report in Entra that shows users with no MFA authentication methods setup, but we have a conditional mfa policy setup that should enforce MFA. I have worked with a user showing on the report. Their PC is joined in entra and managed Intune. I have revoked the user session reset his MFA still the user is able to sign in to his pc with his windows hello pin or his 0365 credentials without being prompted for MFA registration authentication setup…any help Read More
Syncing Sharepoint files using OneDrive on Windos Server 2019
Hi everyone.
We are a small office and use Sharepoint in Microsoft 365 to keep our office files. We have an on-premises Windows Server 2019 server and is currently using OneDrive to sync Sharepoint files to the server. The folder that was created by OneDrive on the server is also being shared to all PCs in our office mapped as the J drive. We are using Active Directory.
So, users can do changes to the files or create new ones from their PCs using the J drive and they get uploaded/updated to Sharepoint when OneDrive syncs the files. This part is working good as expected.
The issue we are having is that there are 4 employees that work remotely so we shared the SharePoint folders with them and they installed OneDrive directly on the computers to get access to the SharePoint folders. If one of these 4 users creates a folder, this folder gets downloaded with the parent folder permissions on our on-premises server. But, if one of these 4 users adds a file, this file is being downloaded with Administrator permissions only so no one in the office can see the files until someone manually changes the file permissions on the server to allow users to get access to the file.
We have tried almost everything we can think of to try to give the right permissions to the files downloaded from OneDrive but with no success yet. I would really appreciate any recommendations.
Hi everyone. We are a small office and use Sharepoint in Microsoft 365 to keep our office files. We have an on-premises Windows Server 2019 server and is currently using OneDrive to sync Sharepoint files to the server. The folder that was created by OneDrive on the server is also being shared to all PCs in our office mapped as the J drive. We are using Active Directory.So, users can do changes to the files or create new ones from their PCs using the J drive and they get uploaded/updated to Sharepoint when OneDrive syncs the files. This part is working good as expected. The issue we are having is that there are 4 employees that work remotely so we shared the SharePoint folders with them and they installed OneDrive directly on the computers to get access to the SharePoint folders. If one of these 4 users creates a folder, this folder gets downloaded with the parent folder permissions on our on-premises server. But, if one of these 4 users adds a file, this file is being downloaded with Administrator permissions only so no one in the office can see the files until someone manually changes the file permissions on the server to allow users to get access to the file.We have tried almost everything we can think of to try to give the right permissions to the files downloaded from OneDrive but with no success yet. I would really appreciate any recommendations. Read More
Azure WAF Public Preview: JavaScript Challenge
Microsoft has recently released JavaScript challenge in public preview for Azure WAF on Application Gateway and Azure Front Door.
Approximately 48% of internet traffic is generated by bots, with 30% attributed to malicious bots. These harmful bots are programmed to attack web and mobile applications for fraudulent and malevolent purposes. These bad bots are typically automated test scripts that scrape websites to manipulate SEO rankings or prices, launch denial-of-inventory attacks and commit other malicious activities. Considering the risks associated with internet-exposed web applications, it is necessary for Azure WAF to detect and mitigate the bad bots. The mitigation of these attacks is accomplished by the Azure WAF JavaScript challenge.
The Azure WAF JavaScript (JS) challenge feature is a non-interactive, invisible web challenge used to distinguish legitimate users from bad bots. It is an invisible check issued to legitimate users and attackers as an intermediate page. Bad bots will fail the JS challenge but real users will not. Furthermore, JS challenges eliminate friction for real users since they don’t require any intervention from humans. Hence, Azure WAF JS challenge is an effective method to protect against bot attacks without introducing customer friction.
Key Features
The invisible challenge is presented when a user’s request matches a specific rule, prompting the client’s browser to compute the challenge without user interaction. Successful computation allows the user through, while failed attempts block malicious bots. The challenge is reissued if the user’s IP address changes or if they access the page from a different domain, ensuring continuous protection.
To modify the Bot Manager managed rule actions to utilize the JavaScript Challenge, users can access the Managed Rules section within their WAF policy and customize the actions for each rule group. This flexibility ensures that the WAF can respond dynamically to various security scenarios, implementing the JavaScript Challenge as needed to maintain a secure environment.
Managed Rule Actions for Application Gateway:
Managed Rule Actions for Azure Front Door:
Creating custom rules within Azure WAF is straightforward and allows for tailored security measures. Administrators can navigate to the Web Application Firewall Policies section, select their policy, and add custom rules that specify conditions and actions such as allow, block, log, and now, JS Challenge.
Custom Rule Actions for Application Gateway:
Custom Rule Actions for Azure Front Door:
Additionally, the JavaScript challenge cookie has a customizable lifetime, defaulting to 30 minutes, after which the user must revalidate. You can customize the cookie lifetime from 5 minutes up to 1440 minutes (24 hours).
Policy Settings for Application Gateway:
Policy Settings for Azure Front Door:
Monitoring
When the JS Challenge is triggered, details of the event are captured in the AzureDiagnostics table, allowing administrators to track the number of challenges issued. Additionally, comprehensive logs are maintained, which record all JS Challenge instances, offering insights into the traffic patterns and security events. These logs are crucial for analyzing and understanding the nature of the threats and the effectiveness of the JS Challenge in near real-time. This level of monitoring ensures that administrators have the visibility they need to maintain robust security measures and protect their web applications from malicious activities.
Metrics & Logs for Application Gateway:
AzureDiagnostics
| where Category == “ApplicationGatewayFirewallLog”
| where Message contains “JSChallenge”
| project TimeGenerated, clientIp_s, requestUri_s, Message, ruleSetType_s, ruleId_s, details_data_s
Metrics & Logs for Azure Front Door:
AzureDiagnostics
| where ResourceProvider == “MICROSOFT.CDN” and Category == “FrontDoorWebApplicationFirewallLog”
| where action_s contains “JSChallenge”
| project TimeGenerated, Resource, policy_s, clientIP_s, clientPort_d, requestUri_s, details_matches_s, details_msg_s, action_s, trackingReference_s
Conclusion
The prevalence of bad bots in internet traffic poses a significant threat to web and mobile applications, necessitating robust defense mechanisms. Azure WAF’s JavaScript challenge represents a sophisticated and user-friendly solution to this problem. By seamlessly differentiating between legitimate users and malicious bots without disrupting the user experience, Azure WAF ensures the security and integrity of Azure services. The recent release of the JavaScript challenge in public preview for Azure WAF on Application Gateway and Azure Front Door marks a pivotal advancement in cybersecurity measures. It is a testament to Microsoft’s commitment to innovation and its proactive approach to safeguarding digital assets against the ever-evolving landscape of cyber threats. As cyber-attacks become more sophisticated, such preemptive measures will be crucial in maintaining the trust and reliability that users expect from Azure services.
Learn More
What is Azure Web Application Firewall on Azure Application Gateway? – Azure Web Application Firewall | Microsoft Learn
What is Azure Web Application Firewall on Azure Front Door? | Microsoft Learn
Azure Web Application Firewall JavaScript challenge (preview) overview | Microsoft Learn
Azure Web Application Firewall monitoring and logging | Microsoft Learn
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
UPP Gateway & Partner Center
Looking to see if anyone has any information on UPP Gateway & Partner Center payments. We are having a situation with a partner being offboarded in partner center after the UPP payment file was uploaded. We either need to get them removed from the UPP file upload or figure out how to get them enrolled again.
Looking to see if anyone has any information on UPP Gateway & Partner Center payments. We are having a situation with a partner being offboarded in partner center after the UPP payment file was uploaded. We either need to get them removed from the UPP file upload or figure out how to get them enrolled again. Read More
How do I get my personal events (in Apple calendar) to show up as busy in Bookings (without details)
Hello, I need to start using Bookings, but I find it completely incomprehensible and unintuitive, and I am lost! I want to have a Bookings calendar to show my availability and let people reserve time, but I need all the events in my Apple calendars to show up as busy on Bookings, so I don’t get double-booked. Does anyone know how to do this? I’d like the times I’m unavailable to say just “busy,” rather than “First date with George.” TIA!
Hello, I need to start using Bookings, but I find it completely incomprehensible and unintuitive, and I am lost! I want to have a Bookings calendar to show my availability and let people reserve time, but I need all the events in my Apple calendars to show up as busy on Bookings, so I don’t get double-booked. Does anyone know how to do this? I’d like the times I’m unavailable to say just “busy,” rather than “First date with George.” TIA! Read More
Unable to use Copiot in excel
Hey is there any one who can help me to activate copilot in my excel
Hey is there any one who can help me to activate copilot in my excel Read More
I have a #REF error on one PC but not another
We have a workbook with no external links. On my PC there are no errors. On another user’s PC we get #REF errors.
Formula setup: In one cell we have a a Data Validation dropdown list with the source setup as =INDIRECT(Named_Range) that refers to a column in a table. In this cell, the dropdown list does not work because of a #REF error. When I look in Name Manager, I can see the correct data referenced for the named range in the “Value” column (there is no #REF error here). In another cell we have another dropdown list set up exactly the same way referring to a different table that works without errors.
What we’ve tried:
Both computers are using the same version of Excel (same build number too: Version 2406 Build 17726.20126).We have the same add-ins running on both computers.We have checked Options > Advanced > For objects, show: All and it is selected on both PCsWe have uninstalled and reinstalled Office.We have updated both Office and Windows, but the problem persists.
Any thoughts on what I could try next? Thanks! I’m pulling my hair out over this one.
We have a workbook with no external links. On my PC there are no errors. On another user’s PC we get #REF errors. Formula setup: In one cell we have a a Data Validation dropdown list with the source setup as =INDIRECT(Named_Range) that refers to a column in a table. In this cell, the dropdown list does not work because of a #REF error. When I look in Name Manager, I can see the correct data referenced for the named range in the “Value” column (there is no #REF error here). In another cell we have another dropdown list set up exactly the same way referring to a different table that works without errors. What we’ve tried:Both computers are using the same version of Excel (same build number too: Version 2406 Build 17726.20126).We have the same add-ins running on both computers.We have checked Options > Advanced > For objects, show: All and it is selected on both PCsWe have uninstalled and reinstalled Office.We have updated both Office and Windows, but the problem persists. Any thoughts on what I could try next? Thanks! I’m pulling my hair out over this one. Read More
Turn PDFs into editable documents in Word for iOS
Hi, Microsoft 365 Insiders,
There are around 2.5 trillion PDFs in circulation across the web and mobile platforms. Despite being a preferred method of sharing information, managing them can be chaotic. We’re excited to announce a new feature in Word for iOS that lets you convert PDFs into editable Word documents. :party_popper:
Read our latest blog by Deepika Dhupar, Product Designer, and Harshit Jain, Product Manager, on the Word team: Turn PDFs into editable documents in Word for iOS
Thanks!
Perry Sjogren
Microsoft 365 Insider Community Manager
Become a Microsoft 365 Insider and gain exclusive access to new features and help shape the future of Microsoft 365. Join Now: Windows | Mac | iOS | Android
Hi, Microsoft 365 Insiders,
There are around 2.5 trillion PDFs in circulation across the web and mobile platforms. Despite being a preferred method of sharing information, managing them can be chaotic. We’re excited to announce a new feature in Word for iOS that lets you convert PDFs into editable Word documents. :party_popper:
Read our latest blog by Deepika Dhupar, Product Designer, and Harshit Jain, Product Manager, on the Word team: Turn PDFs into editable documents in Word for iOS
Thanks!
Perry Sjogren
Microsoft 365 Insider Community Manager
Become a Microsoft 365 Insider and gain exclusive access to new features and help shape the future of Microsoft 365. Join Now: Windows | Mac | iOS | Android Read More
Can sort by recipient name but can’t jump to name by typing the first letter
In this “amazing” (sarcasm) new Outlook, is there a way to sort your inbox or sent items alphabetically and then type the first letter of the recipient’s name to jump to that section?
This is important because often users might be doing some correspondence with someone but forget their name or don’t know the correct spelling.
Or let me guess…. the “work around” is to keep scrolling and scrolling until you get to the letter.
In this “amazing” (sarcasm) new Outlook, is there a way to sort your inbox or sent items alphabetically and then type the first letter of the recipient’s name to jump to that section? This is important because often users might be doing some correspondence with someone but forget their name or don’t know the correct spelling. Or let me guess…. the “work around” is to keep scrolling and scrolling until you get to the letter. Read More
Sending OneDrive Files Externally is not working correctly
We send OneDrive file links to external partners. I setup a test account with F3 licensing which is what these users have. Sending from my test account to a Gmail account, the Gmail account receives the email, clicks the link and enters the email address and one time passcode…. no issues opening and downloading the files.
For other users, when they send, the link forces them to login into our tenant to download the file. The external user doesn’t have a guest account in our tenant so they have an error. I don’t understand why it’s doing this for the other users and not my test account. All settings are the same for both users. Below are the default sharing settings in SharePoint admin. How can I fix this quickly? Thanks
We send OneDrive file links to external partners. I setup a test account with F3 licensing which is what these users have. Sending from my test account to a Gmail account, the Gmail account receives the email, clicks the link and enters the email address and one time passcode…. no issues opening and downloading the files. For other users, when they send, the link forces them to login into our tenant to download the file. The external user doesn’t have a guest account in our tenant so they have an error. I don’t understand why it’s doing this for the other users and not my test account. All settings are the same for both users. Below are the default sharing settings in SharePoint admin. How can I fix this quickly? Thanks Read More
Running Open AI Whisper Model on Azure
Whisper is an advanced automatic speech recognition (ASR) system, developed using 680,000 hours of supervised multilingual and multitask data from the web. This extensive and diverse data set enhances its ability to handle various accents, background noise, and technical jargon. Whisper not only transcribes multiple languages but also translates them into English. We are making the models and inference code open source to provide a robust foundation for developing practical applications and advancing research in speech processing. The Whisper model, developed by OpenAI, converts speech to text and is ideal for transcribing audio files. Trained on an extensive dataset of English audio and text, it excels at transcribing English speech but can also handle other languages, producing English text as output. We have Whisper models accessible through the Azure Open AI service. The Whisper model by Azure OpenAI provides varied solutions for different scenarios. It excels in transcribing and analyzing prerecorded audio and video files. It is also ideal for the quick processing of individual audio files. It can transcribe phone call recordings and provide analytics such as call summary, sentiment, key topics, and custom insights. Similarly, it can transcribe meeting recordings and provide analytics like meeting summary, meeting chapters, and action item extraction. The Whisper model also supports contact center voice agent services like call routing and interactive voice response and is suitable for application-specific voice assistants in various scenarios such as set-top boxes, mobile apps, in-car systems, and more. However, it does not support real-time transcription, pronunciation assessment, or translation of live or prerecorded audio. It is recommended for translating prerecorded audio from other languages into English.
Developers using Whisper in Azure AI Speech benefit from additional capabilities such as processing of large file sizes up to 1GB, speaker diarization, and the ability to fine-tune the Whisper model using audio plus human-labeled transcripts.
For accessing Whisper, developers can use the Azure OpenAI Studio. The Whisper REST API supports translation services from a growing list of languages to English. The Whisper model is a significant addition to Azure AI’s broad portfolio of capabilities, offering innovative ways to improve business productivity and user experience.
Here is a code snippet on how to use Azure Open AI Whisper API in python.
import openai
import time
import os
import os
import urllib
from IPython.display import Audio
from pathlib import Path
from pydub import AudioSegment
import ssl
openai.api_type = “azure”
openai.api_version = “2023-09-01-preview”
model_name = “whisper”
deployment_id = “whisper”
audio_language=”en”
audio_test_file = “./wikipediaOcelot.wav”
#Azure OpenAI CONFIGURATION
from openai import AzureOpenAI
client = AzureOpenAI(
api_key=”yourkey”,
api_version=”2023-12-01-preview”,
azure_endpoint = “https://instance.openai.azure.com/”
)
def transcribe_audio(file):
transcript = openai.audio.transcriptions.create(
file=open(audio_test_file, “rb”),
model=”whisper”,
)
return transcript.text
print(transcribe_audio(audio_test_file))
Best Practices for using Whisper API in Azure.
Whisper API does offer a variety of parameters that can be utilized for more specific transcriptions. The prompt parameter in the OpenAI Whisper API allows you to guide the transcription process by providing specific instructions or conditions. For example, you could use the prompt parameter to instruct the API to ignore or exclude certain words or phrases from the transcription. This can be particularly useful when you want to filter out specific content or when handling sensitive information. By using the prompt parameter, you’re able to customize the transcription output to better suit your specific needs or requirements
def transcribe_audio(file):
transcript = openai.audio.transcriptions.create(
file=open(audio_test_file, “rb”),
model=”whisper”,
probability=0.5
prompt=”your prompt text”,
response_format=”verbose_json”
response_format=”text”
)
Preprocessing
Preprocessing in the context of audio transcription involves preparing the audio data to improve the quality and accuracy of the transcription. It’s a crucial step that can significantly impact the results. Here are the main steps involved in audio preprocessing:
Trimming: This involves removing unnecessary parts of the audio, such as silences at the beginning or end of the audio file. Trimming can help reduce the size of the audio file and also eliminate sections that might cause inaccuracies in the transcription.
Segmentation: For long audio files, it can be beneficial to break them down into smaller, manageable segments. This can make the transcription process more efficient and also improve accuracy as it’s easier to manage and process shorter audio clips.
Audio Quality Enhancement: This may involve tasks like noise reduction, volume normalization, and echo cancellation. Improving the audio quality can significantly enhance the accuracy of the transcription.
Audio Format Conversion: The audio files need to be in a format that is compatible with the transcription service. If they are not, they must be converted into a compatible format.
These preprocessing steps are primarily aimed at reducing potential sources of error in the transcription and making the audio data more manageable for the transcription service.
You can use PyDub is a simple and easy-to-use Python library for audio processing tasks such as slicing, concatenating, and exporting audio files.
Post Processing
In the context of audio transcription, the output from the initial transcription process can be further refined using Language Models like GPT-3.5. This step is known as post-processing.
In post-processing, the initial transcript, which could potentially contain errors or inconsistencies, is passed to the language model. The language model, guided by its training and potentially a system prompt, generates a corrected or refined version of the transcript.
This process allows for the correction of errors, better context understanding, and even the rephrasing or summarization of the content, depending on the specific system prompt provided. It is an effective way to leverage the capabilities of language models to improve the quality and usefulness of audio transcriptions.
def generate_corrected_transcript(temperature, system_prompt, audio_file):
response = client.chat.completions.create(
model=”gpt4″,
temperature=temperature,
messages=[
{
“role”: “system”,
“content”: system_prompt
},
{
“role”: “user”,
“content”: transcribe_audio(audio_file)
}
]
)
return response.choices[0].message.content
You can learn more about Azure Whisper Open AI models here.
Speech to text with Azure OpenAI Service – Azure OpenAI | Microsoft Learn
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Weekly tasks due messages sent via Teams to specific assignees
Hello, I am looking to optimize my workflow with Power Automate and while it seems like a simple request, my knowledge on Power Automate is limited. We have a SharePoint task list with thousands of different tasks assigned to different people. Each week, I send all assignees in the marketing department an email with everything they have due this week. This takes me a lot of time but helps the team out and we have seen some benefits from it when it comes to assignees knowing what they need to do and completing tasks on time. I would like to automate this…
My thought on how this would work… each Monday at 7am gather all the tasks assigned to the Marketing Department that are due this week. Then the system would run through each assignee and compile as of John Doe’s tasks into a Table format (Title, Due Date, Link to SP) to be sent view Teams. Instead of just doing John Doe’s tasks, once his is complete it would move onto Mary Jane’s tasks, and continue until there are no more names with items due this week.
Any ideas on how to do this? Or do something similar? Copilot hasn’t been much help but that could also just be user error
Hello, I am looking to optimize my workflow with Power Automate and while it seems like a simple request, my knowledge on Power Automate is limited. We have a SharePoint task list with thousands of different tasks assigned to different people. Each week, I send all assignees in the marketing department an email with everything they have due this week. This takes me a lot of time but helps the team out and we have seen some benefits from it when it comes to assignees knowing what they need to do and completing tasks on time. I would like to automate this…My thought on how this would work… each Monday at 7am gather all the tasks assigned to the Marketing Department that are due this week. Then the system would run through each assignee and compile as of John Doe’s tasks into a Table format (Title, Due Date, Link to SP) to be sent view Teams. Instead of just doing John Doe’s tasks, once his is complete it would move onto Mary Jane’s tasks, and continue until there are no more names with items due this week. Any ideas on how to do this? Or do something similar? Copilot hasn’t been much help but that could also just be user error Read More