Tony Redmond

Microsoft now supports the migration of modern public folders to Exchange Online. ISV solutions allow you to migrate public folders to other places, like Office 365 Groups and shared mailboxes, which seems like a lot more interesting.

The IT world often focuses on big changes and announcements instead of looking at how small changes can really make a difference. One example is how Microsoft has changed what happens when users recover deleted items to allow items go back to where they came. It’s a great change, even if it is seven years overdue.

Backup solutions for Office 365 are available from many ISVs. However, six years after the Office 365 launch, no product exists that takes a comprehensive and integrated approach to Office 365 applications.

Microsoft has updated Yammer so that new groups use the Office 365 Groups service to manage the identity and membership of the groups. There are far too many “groups” in that last sentence, which kind of illustrates how a surplus of groups might be building up within Office 365.

Outlook desktop includes Task and Contacts functionality that has not changed in years, which is why many users probably don’t use these client features. Mobile apps exploit Tasks and Contacts and make them much more usable.

Office 365 Groups now support the addition of Exchange Online mail contacts as external group members. The new feature solves a problem for many tenants but it does not help you to convert old DLs that contain mail contacts.

Microsoft is very keen that Office 365 tenants should move away from email distribution groups to embrace the world of Office 365 Groups. There is lots to like about Groups, but I have some doubts about the way Microsoft is cajoling people to move.

Microsoft is obviously putting a lot of effort into improving the functionality available in the OWA and Outlook clients, but only for Office 365 users. It’s now got to the point where on-premises customers must be wondering where their next update will arrive. The answer may be “Never”.

Microsoft gave details of many new features at the SharePoint Virtual Summit. Introducing a modern SharePoint Admin Center is the best feature in my eyes, but then again, I am not a SharePoint Pro.

Microsoft is convinced that Office 365 tenants should move from old-fashioned email distribution lists to embrace the new world of collaboration enabled by Office 365 Groups. A new conversation method allows OWA users to convert DLs that they own. Is it a winner?

Microsoft has released the Report Message add-in for Outlook 2016 to help Office 365 users report when spam arrives into Inboxes or messages are incorrectly treated as Junk. It’s a good way to get information about new threats to Microsoft security researchers.

Microsoft has updated the Outlook apps for iOS and Android so they can now access conversations in Office 365 Groups. It’s a good step forward, if only maybe to reduce the number of Office 365 related apps you have to install on a phone.