Si vous utilisez Microsoft Teams pour tenir des réunions en ligne, vous êtes probablement au courant qu’il est possible d’enregistrer vos réunions.

Les réunions Teams peuvent être tenues dans un canal d’une équipe ou hors canal (équipe).

Selon le type de réunion, les enregistrements ne seront pas conservés au même endroit.

Réunions hors Canal

Si vous planifiez une réunion Teams à partir d’Outlook ou à partir de votre calendrier Teams (sans l’associer à un canal).  L’historique de la conversation sera parmi vos conversation privée et vous y retrouverez un raccourci vers l’enregistrement de la réunion

L’enregistrement de la réunion sera conservé dans l’espace OneDrive de l’utilisateur qui enregistre la réunion sous le dossier « Recordings » (Ou enregistrements), puis sera partagé en lecture seule avec tous les participants de la réunion qui sont membres de l’organisation.

MISE À JOUR: Les enregistrements des réunions sont maintenant dans le OneDrive de l’organisateur de la réunion.

Dossier Recordings ou Enregistrements (selon la langue) sous Mes Fichiers dans OneDrive

Réunion dans le canal d’une équipe

Si vous planifiez une réunion Teams dans le canal d’une équipe, l’enregistrement de la réunion sera conservé dans le site SharePoint qui est associé à l’équipe Teams.

Vous pourrez accéder à l’enregistrement en passant par l’historique de la réunion sous les publications du canal.

Si vous désirez modifier les autorisations ou déplacer l’enregistrement vous pouvez accéder à l’onglet fichier du canal, vous trouverez un dossier « Recordings ».  Plus d’options seront disponible si vous y accédez en passant par le site SharePoint.

Les autorisations sur l’enregistrement seront celles qui sont données aux membres de l’équipe.

Attention: À partir de la mi-novembre 2021 les nouveaux enregistrements de réunions seront automatiquement supprimés 60 jours après l’enregistrement (30 jours pour les licences A1).

Voir l’article suivant pour plus d’information

Microsoft a récemment changé la page d’accueil Microsoft 365 pour nous amener vers la nouvelle page Copilot. Si vous ne l’avez pas encore vu, naviguez vers la page Office.com dans votre navigateur Web. Vous serez redirigé vers https://m365.cloud.microsoft/. Dans cette nouvelle page (voir plus bas) vous trouverez beaucoup d’options de Copilot (Chats, Messages, Agents, conversations, pages). Cette nouveauté ne fait pas l’unanimité, surtout pour ceux qui n’ont pas encore mis en place Copilot dans leur entreprise.

Ce qui dérange encore plus c’est qu’il y a un bouton qui apparaît en bas à gauche, sous le nom de l’utilisateur, qui avise que la version de copilot comporte des limites et donne l’option à l’utilisateur de mettre à jour Copilot (Voir image plus bas)

Heureusement, l’administrateur Microsoft 365, peut aller dans le centre d’administration Microsoft 365 et modifier le comportement pour ne pas offrir la mise à jour de Copilot aux utilisateurs.

Voici les étapes à suivre pour retirer cette option:

1- Naviguer vers le centre d’administration Microsoft 365
2- Aller dans Paramètres
3- Cliquer sur Paramètres de l’organisation
4- Cliquer sur Version d’évaluation et achats en libre-service qui se trouve sous Services

4- Cliquer sur Microsoft 365 Copilot
5- Sélectionner ne pas autoriser

Note: Vous pouvez utiliser cette page pour retirer l’option d’achat de licences en mode libre-services pour beaucoup d’autres produits Microsoft 365.

Mise à jour importante:

L’option ci-haut ne semble pas fonctionner pour tout le monde. Andres Gorzelany, un collègue MVP, a trouvé la solution temporaire suivante. Si vous bloquez l’accès à cet url: https://fd.api.iris.microsoft.com/v4/api/selection/?nct=1&placement=88001115&mclh=bcwaf le bouton disparaît. Nous ne connaissons pas encore si le bloquage de cet URL cause des problèmes. Donc à utiliser à vos risques.

Microsoft vient d’annoncer le retrait éventuel de l’action m’avertir dans SharePoint. Je le dis souvent il faut se méfier lorsque Microsoft ne donne pas d’amour à une fonctionnalité pendant plusieurs années. C’est le cas pour la fonctionnalité M’avertir.  Pour un rappel cette fonction permet de configurer des alertes lorsque des fichiers sont: ajoutés, modifiés ou supprimés.

Depuis un certain Temps Microsoft a mis en place les règles dans les listes et les bibliothèques de documents.  Les règles nous permettent d’ajouter des alertes lorsque des fichiers sont : Ajoutés, modifiés ou supprimés. Vous devriez vous habituer à utiliser les règles, qui se trouvent sous le menu automatiser dans les listes et bibliothèques SharePoint, ou Power Automate si vous désirez recevoir des alertes avec plus de détails.

Voir plus bas un tableau avec les dates clés:

Date	Action
À partir de juillet 2025	La création d’alertes SharePoint sera progressivement désactivée pour les nouveaux environnements Microsoft 365
À partir de septembre 2025	La création de nouvelles alertes SharePoint sera progressivement désactivée pour tous les environnement Microsoft 365
À partir d’octobre 2025	L’expiration des alertes SharePoint (m’avertir) sera activée progressivement. Une fois activée, toute alerte SharePoint aura une validité de 30 jours à compter de sa première exécution, puis elle expirera. Les utilisateurs peuvent réactiver en libre-service des alertes SharePoint expirées et prolonger leur expiration de 30 jours supplémentaires. La réactivation et l’extension des alertes SharePoint peuvent être effectuées à l’aide de l’élément de menu « Gérer mes alertes », en ouvrant l’alerte SharePoint à mettre à jour, en prolongeant sa date d’expiration et en cliquant sur OK.
À partir de juillet 2026	Microsoft supprimera la possibilité d’utiliser les alertes SharePoint ; Les alertes SharePoint existantes ne peuvent plus être étendues et ne fonctionneront plus.

Il y a un outil, que je n’ai pas encore tester pour vérifier le niveau d’utilisation de la fonctionnalité m’avertir dans votre environnement.

SharePoint Alerts Assessment | Microsoft 365 Assessment Tool

Pour plus d’information voici un lien vers l’article de Microsoft en anglais

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/spblog/sharepoint-alerts-retirement/4410402?wt.mc_id=M365-MVP-4024510

Scenario:

If you need a distribution list in Exchange that includes both internal organization contacts and external contacts—without requiring external users to be invited as guest accounts—there’s a simple way to achieve this.

In Exchange Online, external contacts are referred to as Mail Contacts. These allow you to add external email addresses to your organization’s address book, making them available for inclusion in distribution lists. By leveraging Mail Contacts, you can create a fully functional distribution list that includes both internal users and external recipients while keeping everything manageable within Exchange.

Managing email distribution lists efficiently is crucial for organizations that need to communicate with both internal and external contacts. While Exchange Online allows us to create Mail Contacts programmatically using PowerShell scripts or the Exchange Online Management API, automating this process is key—especially when integrating it with Dynamics 365 Marketing Lists.

The Automation Challenge

In my case, I wanted to automatically add new contacts from a specific Dynamics 365 Marketing List to a corresponding Exchange Distribution List. Initially, I considered using Power Automate to invoke a PowerShell script, but that introduced additional complexities:

• Using Power Automate to trigger an Azure Automation Runbook
• Managing authentication and execution permissions
• Handling execution timing and monitoring

A More Efficient Approach: Logic Apps

Instead of relying on Power Automate, I found a better and more streamlined approach—using Azure Logic Apps. Unlike Power Automate, Logic Apps offer built-in functionality to create and execute Runbook Jobs directly within Azure Automation.

What This Blog Covers

In this post, I’ll walk you through:
Setting up an Azure Automation Account
Creating a Runbook to execute a PowerShell script that adds Mail Contacts
Using Azure Logic Apps to trigger the Runbook
Handling authentication across these services

By the end, you’ll have an end-to-end automation setup that seamlessly adds external contacts to Exchange Distribution Lists as soon as they join a Dynamics 365 Marketing List—without requiring manual intervention.

Let’s dive in!

Step 1: Set up the Azure Automation Account

1. Log in to Portal Azure https://portal.azure.com/ and in the search box, type Automation Accounts

2. Click on Create, Select your Subscription and Resource group, and type in the Automation Account Name

2. Then click the Advanced Tab, and on the Managed Identities, select User Assign; we will set up the User Managed Identity in the next steps.

3. Click Review and Create.

Step 2: Setup the User Managed Identity

A common challenge for developers is the management of secrets, credentials, certificates, and keys used to secure communication between services. Managed identities eliminate the need for developers to manage these credentials.

A common challenge for developers is the management of secrets, credentials, certificates, and keys used to secure communication between services. Managed identities eliminate the need for developers to manage these credentials.

While developers can securely store the secrets in Azure Key Vault, services need a way to access Azure Key Vault. Managed identities provide an automatically managed identity in Microsoft Entra ID for applications to use when connecting to resources that support Microsoft Entra authentication. Applications can use managed identities to obtain Microsoft Entra tokens without having to manage any credentials.

So Let’s see how to setup the account with the Required Permissions!

1. On the Search, Type Managed Identities

2. Click Create, Select the subscription, Resource group, and give it a name

3. Then Press Review and Create

4. Open the automation account that we have created in Step no. 1

5. Search for Identity, open the link, select user assigned, and click Add.

6. Add the managed identity that we have just created.

7. Next comes setting the Permissions for the Managed Identity, so go back and open the Managed Identity.

8. Go to Azure Role Assignments and add the Automation Contributor Role; this is required to enable the Logic app to execute the RunBook (we will be creating this in the next step) on the automation account.

9. Grant the Exchange.ManageAsApp API permission for the managed identity to call Exchange Online, Unfortunately, this step can’t be done through the Azure / Entra Portal, so we will be using Graphy API Explorer to achieve this.

Get the Managed Identity’s Object ID

Get Exchange Online Service Principal ID

Open Grap API Explorer, Login ,and run the below query and grap the Exchange online service Principal ID

Method: Get

https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/servicePrincipals?$filter=appId eq '00000002-0000-0ff1-ce00-000000000000'

Assign the Exchange.ManageAsApp Permission

Using Graph Explorer API again, use the below to assign the Exchange.ManageAsApp Permission

POST https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/servicePrincipals/{MANAGED_IDENTITY_OBJECT_ID}/appRoleAssignments
Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "principalId": "{MANAGED_IDENTITY_OBJECT_ID}",
  "resourceId": "{EXCHANGE_ONLINE_SERVICE_PRINCIPAL_ID}",
  "appRoleId": "dc50a0fb-09a3-484d-be87-e023b12c6440"
}

10. Assign Microsoft Entra roles to the managed identity; you will need to assign the Exchange Administrator Role

In the Search type role and select Microsoft Entra Roles and administrators

11. Open Exchange Administrator Assignments and add the user Managed Identity by clicking the Add Assignments Button .. Global administrator privileges will be required for this.

Step 4: Import Exchange Management Modules

1. Open the Automation Account that we have created in step 1
2. Navigate to Shared Resources -> Modules
3. Click Add Module

4. Click Browse from gallery

1. Open the Automation Account
2. Navigate to Process Automation -> Runbooks
3. Search for PackageManagement and select and choose the Runtime Version 5.1

4. Repeat for Add PowerShellGet and choose Runtime Version 5.1

5. Repeat for ExchangeOnlineManagement and choose Runtime Version 5.1

Step 5: Create a runbook in Azure Automation

1. Open the Automation Account
2. Navigate to Process Automation -> Runbooks
3. Click on Create a runbook. Make sure you are using Runtime Version 5.1 because PowerShell works only for this Version

4. Open the Run Book and click Edit in Portal.

5. Paste the below Powershell Script that connects to exchange

//The below piece of code sets parameters on the run book so that when called from a logic app we can pass these parameters to the run book.
param (
    [string]$MailContactName,
    [string]$MailContactEmail,
    [string]$DistributionList
)
// Connects to Exchange online via the managed Identity that have been setup in step 3
Connect-ExchangeOnline -ManagedIdentity -Organization Organisationdomain.onmicrosoft.com -ManagedIdentityAccountId {Managed Account Identity ID}

//Creates a mail contact in Exchange
New-MailContact -Name $MailContactName -ExternalEmailAddress $MailContactEmail

//Add mail Contact to the Distribution List
Add-DistributionGroupMember -Identity $DistributionList -Member $MailContactEmail

6. After that Click Save and Publish

7. You can then test the runbook by clicking the Test Pane on the Edit in Portal Screen of the runbook, entering the parameters and clicking start.

Step 5: Create the Logic App

So the Logic app will be created in a schedule and can query any enterprise connector like dataverse and then call the runbook that has been created in Step 5

1. From the Azure Portal , Look for Logic Apps and click Add
2. Choose the Hosting Plan, and here you can select the Consumption plan

3. Select the subscription, the Resource Group and add the logic app name

4. Click Review and Create and then Create

5. On the created Logic app, search for Identity, Navigate to user assigned and add the Managed identity created in step 2

5. Navigate to the Logic app designer. On the Add Trigger step, choose schedule and set the recurrence schedule. Then, add Action and look for Create Job and select the one under Azure Automation

6. Set the Connection Name and Choose the Authentication Type as Logic Apps Managed Identity

7. Select the Subscription, Resource Group, Automation Account, Run book and pass the required Parameters

8. Save and test the Logic App

Resources:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/identity/managed-identities-azure-resources/overview

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-au/powershell/exchange/connect-exo-powershell-managed-identity?view=exchange-ps&WT.mc_id=M365-MVP-9501

Les conversations/clavardages dans Microsoft Teams sont conçues pour des échanges rapides et informels qui ne nécessitent pas une structure ou une organisation rigoureuse.  Dans une conversation de groupe, il est difficile de regrouper tous les messages qui sont reliés à un sujet.

Si vous utilisez les conversations dans Microsoft Teams, vous savez probablement déjà que vous pouvez nommer une conversation de groupe.

Pour ajouter un nom à une conversation de groupe :

1. Cliquez sur l’icône de crayon qui se trouve à droite des noms des participants à la conversation.

2. Inscrivez le nom que vous voulez donner à votre groupe (Conversation), puis cliquez sur Enregistrer.

Dans une conversation de groupe, les messages se placent de façon chronologique. Lorsque divers sujets sont traités, ceci fait en sorte que, par exemple, une réponse à la question 1 est placée après la question 2.

Si vous voulez séparer les messages qui sont partagés avec un groupe d’utilisateurs sous des thèmes ou des sujets différents en utilisant Microsoft Teams, vous avez deux options :

1. Créer une équipe Teams qui vous permet de nommer et de répondre à une publication afin que toutes les réponses à la publication soient regroupées sous la publication originale.  Dans une équipe Teams vous pouvez aussi classer les publications dans des Canaux, ce qui vous permet un deuxième niveau de classement des publications/messages.
2. Si vous utilisez les conversations/clavardages, vous pouvez créer plusieurs conversations nommées qui seront partagées avec le même groupe d’utilisateurs.  Cette méthode vous permet de classer les messages des conversations par thèmes/sujets.

Pour créer une nouvelle conversation qui vous permettra de regrouper les messages à propos d’un nouveau sujet avec un groupe d’utilisateurs avec qui vous avez déjà une conversation existante:

1. Créer la nouvelle conversation
2. Ajouter les participants à la conversation
3. Avant d’envoyer un message, cliquer sur la flèche qui se trouve à droite des noms des participants invités

Lorsque vous cliquez sur la flèche qui est à droite des noms des participants, vous pourrez ajouter un nom à cette nouvelle conversation.

L’utilisation de plusieurs conversations/clavardages de groupe portant des noms différents vous permettra de mieux retrouver les conversations qui sont partagées avec votre groupe car elles seront classées sous des thèmes/sujets différents.

Saviez-vous que lorsque vous modifiez un document dans Word (Version Microsoft 365), vous avez l’option d’envoyer une copie du fichier en format PDF avec Outlook?

Idéalement, lorsque vous voulez collaborer sur un document, vous devriez toujours choisir l’option d’envoyer un lien.

J’ai plusieurs clients qui, dans certains cas, tiennent à envoyer une copie PDF d’un document.

Avant de découvrir cette nouvelle option, ils enregistraient le fichier sous le format PDF et ensuite ils allaient dans Outlook pour créer un nouveau courriel, ils ajoutaient le PDF en pièce jointe.

Maintenant, ils envoient une copie PDF de leurs documents à partir de l’option de Partager dans Word!

Note :  Le document Word doit être enregistré dans Microsoft 365 (SharePoint, Teams ou OneDrive).

Dans Word (Version Microsoft 365) cliquer sur Partager, et ensuite et sélectionner l’option Partager

Dans la page des paramètres de partage:

• Cliquer sur les trois points …. (en haut à droite)
• Cliquer sur Envoyer une copie
• Sélectionner Fichier PDF
• Cliquer sur Envoyer

Vous serez redirigé vers la page d’un nouveau courriel Outlook et une version PDF de votre document Word sera ajoutée en tant que PDF.

Il ne vous restera qu’à saisir le nom du destinataire et ajouter du texte dans le corps du courriel.

L’efficacité de Microsoft Teams tient en partie à sa capacité de pouvoir communiquer facilement avec des personnes externes ce n’est pas nouveau. Par contre ce qui est nouveau, c’est que des personnes mal intentionnées peuvent se faire passer pour des personnes qu’elles ne sont pas et commencer une discussion avec vos utilisateurs. Rien de plus… Continue reading Protégez votre fédération Teams du PHISHING

Pour épingler une application dans la barre de navigation de gauche de la page Office.com, vous devez :

1- Explorer toute vos applications en cliquant sur le bouton du lanceur d’application, puis sur Explorer toutes les applications

2- Cliquer sur Toutes vos applications

3 – Positionner votre curseur sur l’application que vous voulez épingler, cliquer sur l’ellipse (…) et cliquer sur Épingler

L’application Forms sera maintenant épinglée dans la barre de navigation de gauche

Si vous avez plusieurs comptes Microsoft 365, il vous est probablement déjà arrivé de créer une réunion Teams dans la mauvaise organisation lorsque la réunion est créée dans Outlook. Dans ce cas quand vous rejoignez la réunion, vous n’êtes pas le propriétaire. Et dans le pire des cas, vous êtes pris dans la salle d’attente, car lors de la planification vous avez permis seulement à certain comptes d’éviter la salle d’attente.

Microsoft a ajouté une fonctionnalité dans Outlook qui vous permet de sélectionner avec quel compte/organisation vous désirez créer la réunion Teams.

Merci Microsoft !

SharePoint provides powerful collaboration features to users including lists and libraries, and while transparency is crucial, there are instances where hiding a list or library becomes essential for optimizing user experiences and/or maintaining data integrity. Example: Power Apps often relies on SharePoint lists as data sources. However, not all lists are meant for end users to view directly. By hiding lists or libraries from SharePoint UI, you can prevent end users from editing the data directly from SharePoint lists.

In this blog post, we’ll explore how to hide a SharePoint list or document library using PnP PowerShell & CLI for Microsoft 365 and view all hidden lists/libraries in SharePoint site using PnP PowerShell & CLI for Microsoft 365.

Hiding a SharePoint List or Library using PnP PowerShell

You can use below PnP PowerShell script to hide a SharePoint online list or document library from SharePoint UI (Site Contents page):

# SharePoint Online site URL
$siteUrl = Read-Host -Prompt "Enter your SharePoint online site URL (e.g https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/work)"

# Display name of SharePoint online list or document library
$listName = Read-Host -Prompt "Enter the display name of your SharePoint list or library (e.g My List)"

# Connect to SharePoint online site
Connect-PnPOnline -url $siteUrl -Interactive

# Hide SharePoint online list from UI
Set-PnPList -Identity $listName -Hidden $true

# Disconnect SharePoint online connection
Disconnect-PnPOnline

Hide a SharePoint List or Library using CLI for Microsoft 365

Use below CLI for Microsoft 365 script to hide a SharePoint list or document library from SharePoint UI:

# SharePoint Online site URL
$siteUrl = Read-Host -Prompt "Enter your SharePoint online site URL (e.g https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/work)"

# Display name of SharePoint online list or document library
$listName = Read-Host -Prompt "Enter the display name of your SharePoint list or library (e.g My List)"

# Get Credentials to connect
$m365Status = m365 status
if ($m365Status -match "Logged Out") {
   m365 login
}

# Hide SharePoint online list or library from UI (Site Contents)
m365 spo list set --webUrl $siteUrl --title $listName --hidden true

# Disconnect SharePoint online connection
m365 logout

View hidden lists/libraries in SharePoint site using PnP PowerShell

You can use below PnP PowerShell script to view all hidden lists and libraries in the given SharePoint site:

# SharePoint Online site URL
$siteUrl = Read-Host -Prompt "Enter your SharePoint online site URL (e.g https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/work)"

# Connect to SharePoint online site
Connect-PnPOnline -url $siteUrl -Interactive

# View all hidden lists/libraries in a SharePoint online site
Get-PnPList | Where-Object {$_.Hidden -eq $true}

# Disconnect SharePoint online connection
Disconnect-PnPOnline

View hidden lists/libraries in SharePoint site using CLI for Microsoft 365

Use below CLI for Microsoft 365 script to view all hidden lists and document libraries in the given SharePoint online site:

# SharePoint Online site URL
$siteUrl = Read-Host -Prompt "Enter your SharePoint online site URL (e.g https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/work)"

# Get Credentials to connect
$m365Status = m365 status
if ($m365Status -match "Logged Out") {
   m365 login
}

# Hide SharePoint online list or library from UI (Site Contents)
m365 spo list list --webUrl $siteUrl --properties "Id,Title,Url" --filter "Hidden eq true" | ConvertFrom-Json

# Disconnect SharePoint online connection
m365 logout

Learn more

• Change SharePoint Online List URL using PnP PowerShell
• SharePoint Online: How to change the placeholder text in the search box
• Enable/Disable SharePoint Online List Comments using PnP PowerShell
• Set SharePoint site home page using PnP PowerShell and CLI for Microsoft 365
• Register SharePoint Document Library as an Organization Assets Library using PowerShell

In my previous blog, I explained how to create a modern calendar view in SharePoint Online/Microsoft Lists. In this blog we will see how to add the modern calendar to a SharePoint online page.

We have a List web part in SharePoint online which allows you to display a list from your site on a page. But currently it doesn’t support modern calendar views. So, you will need to use below workaround to add Modern Calendar to a SharePoint Online page.

Workaround

We can use Embed web part in SharePoint online to add modern calendar to a page.

Follow below steps to embed modern calendar to a page:

1. Go to your SharePoint list and open the calendar view.

2. Copy the URL of calendar view from browser and note it down as we will use it in later steps.

3. Go to your modern SharePoint page and open it in Edit mode by clicking Edit button from top right corner.

4. Add Embed web part on your page and open it in edit mode.

5. Construct the embed code using the <iframe> tag in below format:

<iframe src="https://<tenant>.sharepoint.com/sites/siteName/Lists/ContentScheduler/Calendar.aspx" width="100%" height="600"></iframe>

6. Replace src attribute in above code with the URL of calendar view we noted in step 2.

7. In the property pane of Embed web part, paste the embed code into the Website address or embed code box.

7. Close property pane of Embed web part and Publish/Republish the page.

You will see the final output on SharePoint page like given below:

UPDATE: SharePoint out of the box List web part now supports modern calendar views (to show on modern pages), see Add Modern Calendar to a SharePoint Online page using List web part.

Learn more

• Microsoft Lists: Calendar view item drag and drop
• Unscheduled Pane in Microsoft Lists Calendar Views

Microsoft announced breakout rooms in Microsoft Teams last year. Now, Microsoft is adding persistent breakout rooms; the ability to reassign participants when rooms are open and the ability for organizers to set timers for breakout sessions.

Organizers can now set a timer for Breakout rooms from the Breakout Room settings. After timer has expired, rooms will automatically close and participants will come back to the main meeting.

Room assignment retention provides the ability to persist room configuration and assignment over multiple sessions. With participant reassignment capability, organizer will now be able to move joined participants across rooms and main meeting also when rooms are opened.

When this will happen

Rollout will begin mid-April and should be complete by late April.

How this will affect your organization

Organizers who are configuring and managing Breakout Rooms on a Teams desktop client will have access to below three options. For participants, the feature is supported by all devices and clients that support breakout room participation.

1. Room assignment retention (new default behavior)

Participants remain assigned to their breakout rooms unless the meeting organizer chooses to change them. The assignment persists across subsequent sessions or recurring meetings.

2. Participant reassignment while rooms are open

Organizers may reassign joined participants across rooms and the main meeting room when the breakout rooms are open. Currently reassignment works only when breakout rooms are closed.

3. Set timers for breakout sessions

Organizers can set a timer for all breakout rooms created in a meeting session via the Breakout rooms settings panel.

When the organizer has set a timer, the clock will show participants the time left in the room (countdown) rather than time elapsed. 

The timer alerts participants that the breakout room session will close in 60 seconds. Then the organizer can choose:

• to automatically redirect participants to the main meeting room (auto-move On) or 
• to provide participants with the option to return to the main meeting room or disconnect. Should the timer expire before participants take action, they will see an alert informing them that the session has ended which contains a button to return to the main meeting.

Notes

• Once the organizer opens a timed breakout room, participants are invited to join; the timer starts when the first participant joins.
• If no participants join, the breakout room will not open.  
• If all participants leave a breakout room before the timer expires, the room will close automatically. 

What you need to do to prepare

You might want to notify your users about this new capability and update your training and documentation as appropriate. 

Learn more: Use breakout rooms in Teams meetings will be updated after launch.

Finally Microsoft is releasing much anticipated feature in SharePoint online – Collapsible sections on modern pages. This new feature will allow users to create rich, information-dense SharePoint pages with sections that can expand and collapse. As part of this release, Microsoft will enable the page authors to configure sections within the modern SharePoint page to be able to expand, collapse and set the default page-load state for the section.

Users will have the ability to show collapsible page sections in an accordion view (collapsed or expanded) or as tabs (future release). The accordion view will be collapsed by default, but can be set to show expanded. This feature will help users to quickly navigate between the page sections and consume the page content more easily.

Release Timeline

Microsoft will begin rolling out this feature to Targeted release tenants (selected users and organization) in early July (complete) and expect to be complete for Standard release in late September (previously late July).

How this will affect your organization

This feature will give page authors new ways to build rich and interesting SharePoint pages with collapsible sections – accordion or tabs.

When you will edit a section on modern page, you will see collapsible group options like below:

Note: Tabs layout will be rolled out with future releases.

Set Expand/Collapse icon alignment & show divider line between sections

Starting from September 2021, you have two more settings on Edit section panel as shown below:

• You can set Expand/Collapse icon alignment to Left or Right
• You can show divider line between two sections

Anchor links on collapsible section heading

On SharePoint online modern pages, anchor links are automatically added to H1, H2, and H3 headings when you add those in Text web part. Similar anchor links are now available on collapsible section headings as shown in below image. When you hover over collapsible section heading, you will see a link symbol. Clicking this link will give you the full URL of modern page, including the anchor in browser URL bar. You can also right-click on the link to copy it.

What you need to do to prepare

You might want to notify your users about this new capability and update your training and documentation as appropriate.

Learn More

• Add sections and columns on a SharePoint modern page

---

Update from Microsoft

We have updated the rollout timeline. While in Targeted Release we received valuable feedback around the behavior of anchor links when used in collapsible sections as well as some formatting issues experienced by users of right-to-left languages. We feel that both of these issues are important for us to address prior to making the feature generally available. We are actively addressing these issues now and expect the solution to reach General Availability with all fixes in place by the end of September 2021. Thank you for your patience.

Updated September 30, 2021: As shared previously, the new collapsible Sections was deployed to 100% of Targeted Release customers. We held the solution at the Targeted Release phase while we addressed some issues that were reported with the solution. The issues have now been addressed and we will be resuming the global rollout to all customers. It is now our expectation that we’ll complete the rollout of the feature by the end of October 2021. Thank you for your patience.

When you add a List web part or Document Library web part on modern pages to show the (filtered) list items or documents, it shows See all link at the top right corner of web part as shown in below image. By clicking this See all link, users can navigate to the full list/library page.

But sometimes when you are showing the filtered list views or custom created list views on modern pages, you don’t want other users to access the original list/library and switch between views or modify existing list views. Previously there was no SharePoint out of the box way to hide the See all link from web parts. But, recently Microsoft has added a new option to Show/Hide “See all” button in list/library web part property pane settings.

Show/Hide See All link from SharePoint list/library web parts

Follow below steps to show/hide See all button from list web part in SharePoint online:

1. Go to SharePoint modern page where you have added the list/library web part.

2. Open the page in Edit mode by clicking Edit button from top right corner.

3. Click on the Edit web part button against your list/library web part.

4. Toggle Show “See all” button option and change it to Hide “See all” Button as shown in below image.

5. Click Apply button.

6. Click on Publish/Republish button to save the changes to the modern page.

Here’s how the list/library web part will look after you hide the “See all” link from web part settings:

Using pages in SharePoint is a great way to share information or any news/announcement in your organization to SharePoint site users. SharePoint site pages can be improved by utilizing banner images in the page title area. Adding banner images to the page title area not only makes the page more visually appealing but also helps to convey the page’s purpose to the user more quickly and effectively.

In this blog post, we will see how to change the SharePoint Page Banner Image using PnP PowerShell.

First of all upload a high quality image in one of the document libraries in your SharePoint site. SharePoint site page banner images in title area look best when they are landscape or 16:9 or greater in aspect ratio, and when they are at least 1 MB in size. Check this Microsoft official documentation for recommended specifications for banner images: Image sizing and scaling in SharePoint modern pages

Then you can use below PnP PowerShell script to update the banner image at the top of the SharePoint online modern page:

# SharePoint online site URL
$siteUrl = "https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/wlive"	

# Connect to SharePoint online site  
Connect-PnPOnline -Url $siteUrl -Interactive

# Update SharePoint site page banner image
Set-PnPPage -Identity "Open-Door-Policy" -HeaderType Custom -ServerRelativeImageUrl "/sites/wlive/SiteAssets/work-remotely.jpeg"

Once you run above script successfully, you will find that banner image for your SharePoint site page is updated successfully:

Learn more

• SharePoint Online: Create a blank page without header & title
• Add/Update image columns in SharePoint/Microsoft Lists using PnP PowerShell
• SharePoint Online: How to change the placeholder text in the search box
• Enable/Disable SharePoint Online List Comments using PnP PowerShell

The internal name of a SharePoint column is a unique name that is automatically generated by SharePoint when a column is created. It is used by SharePoint internally to reference and retrieve the value of a particular column associated with an item or document. The internal name is generated based on the display name you provide but all special characters and spaces will be replaced with Unicode’s by SharePoint. Internal name is generated only once while creating a new column and it cannot be changed even if you change the display name of SharePoint column.

The internal name is not visible to users in the SharePoint user interface by default, but it is commonly used in various scenarios, such as in SharePoint REST APIs, Power Automate flow expressions, Power Apps formulas, PowerShell, etc. to interact with column data programmatically.

Where are Internal names of SharePoint columns used?

1. Custom Scripts: When creating custom scripts, such as JavaScript or PowerShell, the internal names of columns are required to reference and manipulate the values of the columns while interacting with SharePoint data.
2. Workflows: In SharePoint Designer workflows or Microsoft Power Automate (formerly known as Microsoft Flow), the internal names of columns are used to reference the values of the columns as inputs or outputs in the workflow actions and in expressions.
3. Custom Solutions: When building custom solutions, such as SharePoint apps, SharePoint framework (SPFx) web parts, or custom code, the internal names of columns are required to interact with the columns programmatically.
4. Power Apps: Few of the Power Apps functions like ShowColumns, SortByColumns, etc. requires using internal names of SharePoint columns in formula.
5. JSON Formatting: Internal name of SharePoint column is required in JSON formatting to reference the column value with [$InternalNameOfColumn] syntax.

How to find the Internal name of a SharePoint column?

Using Modern experience list view

You can use sorting or filtering options from SharePoint online modern experience list view to find the internal name of a SharePoint column. Sort by and Filter by options are supported by most of the column types in SharePoint like Single line of text, Choice, Number, Date and Time, Yes/No (Boolean), Person or Group (single selection), etc.

For this afticle, we will use sorting based on SharePoint choice column as an example:

1. Go to the SharePoint online list for which you want to check the internal name of a column.

2. Click on column name/header from the list view and select either Ascending (A to Z) or Descending (Z to A) option from the popup menu:

3. SharePoint will sort the list view based on selection and the browser URL will be changed like:

https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/wlive/Lists/InternalNames/AllItems.aspx?sortField=ChoiceColumn&isAscending=false

Where column name (ChoiceColumn) after sortField= is the internal name of your SharePoint choice column.

4. Similarly, when you use Filter by option in SharePoint modern experience to filter the list view based on Date and Time column (named as Start Date), SharePoint changes browser URL like:

https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/wlive/Lists/InternalNames/AllItems.aspx?FilterField1=Start_x0020_Date&FilterValue1=2023-04-05&FilterType1=DateTime

Where column name (Start_x0020_Date) after FilterField1= is the internal name of your SharePoint date and time column. Notice _x0020_ in internal column name which is an Unicode encoding of the space character in the display name of date and time column (Start Date).

Using Classic experience List settings page

Few of the SharePoint column types like Multiple lines of text, Hyperlink or Picture, Image, etc. does not support sorting or filtering from SharePoint modern experience list views. So, you have to use the classic experience list settings page to find the internal name for such SharePoint columns.

Follow below steps to find the internal name of multiple lines of text column using SharePoint classic experience list settings page:

1. Go to the SharePoint online list for which you want to check the internal name of a column.

2. Click on Settings (gear) icon from the top right corner and select List settings:

3. From list settings page, scroll down to the Columns section and click on the column name for which you want to find the internal name:

4. SharePoint will open column settings page for the respective column with browser URL like:

https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/wlive/_layouts/15/FldEdit.aspx?List=%7B6FBA7FAE-AFC0-45D6-99EE-0AB20629EE41%7D&Field=MultilineTextCol

Where column name (MultilineTextCol) after Field= is the internal name of your SharePoint online multiple lines of text column.

Note: You can use this classic experience method to find out the internal name of SharePoint columns for all column types.

Using SharePoint REST API

You can use SharePoint REST API endpoint like below to get the internal name of SharePoint column based on it’s display name. Open URL in below format directly from browser tab:

https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/SPConnect/_api/web/lists/getbytitle('InternalNames')/fields?$select=Title,InternalName&$filter=Title eq 'Multiline Text Column'

Using PnP PowerShell

You can use below PnP PowerShell script to find the internal name of SharePoint online list column using PnP PowerShell:

# SharePoint online site URL
$siteUrl = "https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/wlive"

# Display name of SharePoint list
$listName = "InternalNames"

# Display name of SharePoint list column
$columnName = "Multiline Text Column"
 
# Connect to SharePoint online site
Connect-PnPOnline -Url $siteUrl -Interactive
 
# Get internal name of SharePoint list column
Get-PnPField -Identity $columnName -List $listName | Select Title,InternalName

Using CLI for Microsoft 365

You can use below CLI for Microsoft 365 script to find the internal name of SharePoint online list column using CLI for Microsoft 365:

# SharePoint online site URL
$siteUrl = "https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/wlive"

# Display name of SharePoint list
$listName = "InternalNames"

# Display name of SharePoint list column
$columnName = "Multiline Text Column"
 
# Get Credentials to connect
$m365Status = m365 status
if ($m365Status -match "Logged Out") {
	m365 login
}

# Get internal name of SharePoint list column
m365 spo field get --webUrl $siteUrl --listTitle $listName --title $columnName --output text

Best practices for naming SharePoint columns

When creating columns in SharePoint, it’s important to follow best practices for column naming to avoid using special characters or Unicode characters in internal names. Here are some recommended best practices:

1. Use only alphanumeric characters: Stick to using letters (A-Z, a-z) and numbers (0-9) in column names. Avoid using special characters such as @, #, $, %, _, etc. Avoid column names beginning with numbers.
2. Avoid spaces: Use PascalCase to separate words in column names instead of spaces. For example, use ColumnName instead of Column Name. This can help prevent issues with URLs, Unicode encoding, and referencing column names in scripts or code.
3. Avoid reserved words: SharePoint has reserved words that are used for system functionality, and using them in column names may cause conflicts. Examples of reserved words include “ID”, “Modified”, “Created”, “Title”, etc. Avoid using these reserved words as column names.
4. Keep it concise and meaningful: Use descriptive and meaningful names for columns that clearly indicate their purpose. Avoid using vague or generic names that may be confusing or ambiguous to users. Use column description to provide more information about the columns.
5. Be consistent: Establish a consistent naming convention for columns across your SharePoint site or site collection to ensure uniformity and ease of management. This can also help with documentation, training, and maintenance of your SharePoint environment.

I hope you liked this article. Give your valuable feedback & suggestions in the comments section below and share this article with others.

Learn more

• SharePoint Online: Apply JSON View formatting using SharePoint REST API
• Change SharePoint Online List URL using PnP PowerShell
• SharePoint Online: Download files using JSON Formatting
• Create a SharePoint online site using Power Automate flow

Yesterday, Microsoft started to rolling out the preview of the new Microsoft Teams desktop app for Windows. The new Microsoft Teams desktop app is built on a foundation of speed, performance, and flexibility – saving you time and helping your organization work together more efficiently.

If you are in the Microsoft Teams public preview program, you will have access to the Try the new Teams toggle right away once Microsoft Teams administrator turns ON the preview of the new Microsoft Teams Windows client. However, if you are in the Targeted release program, you will have access to the preview of new Microsoft Teams starting mid-April 2023.

Turn ON the Preview of new Microsoft Teams Windows client

As a Microsoft Teams administrator, you can control which users can see the Try the new Teams toggle to use the new Microsoft Teams. You can use the new setting available in Microsoft Teams admin center named as Use New Teams Client to enable the new Microsoft Teams Public Preview for users in your organization.

Follow below steps to roll out the Preview of new Microsoft Teams via Microsoft Teams admin center:

1. Go to the Microsoft Teams admin center

2. Select Teams > Teams update policies from the left navigation as shown in below image:

3. You can select + Add to create a new policy or select an existing policy to open Update policy panel. For this blog post, we will select existing update policy named as Global (Org-wide default) which applies to all users in your organization:

4. Choose the appropriate option for Use new Teams client setting from drop down:

• Not enabled: This option hides the new Teams toggle switch. Users won’t be able to opt in to the new Teams.
• Users can choose: This option shows the new Teams toggle switch allowing users to opt into the new Teams, and switch back if they need to.
• Microsoft controlled: This is a default option. This lets Microsoft control whether the new Teams toggle switch is shown or not based on product readiness.

5. Select Apply to save the changes

When you update the policy setting from Microsoft Teams Admin Center, the new setting will be applied to respective users immediately. The users don’t need to restart the Microsoft Teams desktop client.

Learn more

• Pronouns in Microsoft 365 Profile Cards in Microsoft Teams and Outlook Web
• Reactions in Microsoft Teams Meetings
• How to disable chat in Microsoft Teams meeting
• Introducing history menu in Microsoft Teams desktop

In this article, I will demonstrate how to provision a SharePoint online modern site using a Power automate flow. As there is no standard Power automate action for creating a SharePoint site (previously called “site collections”) using SharePoint connector, we will use the Send an HTTP Request to SharePoint action and SharePoint REST API in Power automate flow.

Follow below steps to create a SharePoint online modern communication site using Power Automate flow:

1. Go to make.powerautomate.com and create a new Instant cloud flow with Manually trigger a flow trigger.

2. Add Send an HTTP request to SharePoint action in Power automate flow.

3. Use configurations for Send an HTTP request to SharePoint action in below format:

Method: POST

Uri: _api/SPSiteManager/create

Headers:

{
	"accept": "application/json;odata=verbose",
	"content-type": "application/json;odata=verbose"
}

Body:

{
	"request": {
		"Title": "My Communication Site",
		"Url": "https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/MyCommSite",
		"Description": "My Communication Site created using Power Automate flow",
		"Owner": "gsanap@contoso.com",
		"Lcid": 1033,
		"WebTemplate": "SITEPAGEPUBLISHING#0",
		"SiteDesignId": "6142d2a0-63a5-4ba0-aede-d9fefca2c767",
		"ShareByEmailEnabled": false
	}
}

Where,

Url

URL for the new SharePoint online modern site (site collection)

LCID

Locale identifier (LCID) for the site language. 1033 is for English language, check LCID for other languages at: Language.Lcid property

WebTemplate

WebTemplate property is used to specify which type of SharePoint site to you want to create. You can use following values for this property:

• Communication Site: SITEPAGEPUBLISHING#0
• Team Site (not connected to M365 group): STS#3

SiteDesignId

SiteDesignId property is used to apply site template (previously called “site design”) to newly created SharePoint site.

If you want to apply an out-of-the-box available site template, use the following values:

• Topic: 96c933ac-3698-44c7-9f4a-5fd17d71af9e
• Showcase: 6142d2a0-63a5-4ba0-aede-d9fefca2c767
• Blank: f6cc5403-0d63-442e-96c0-285923709ffc

ShareByEmailEnabled

If this property is set to true, it will enable sharing SharePoint files via Email.

Your final Power automate flow should look like this:

4. Save your flow and Run it using Test > Manually options at the top right corner. After flow run completes successfully, navigate to the site URL mentioned in Send an HTTP request to SharePoint action in Power automate flow and you will see a newly created SharePoint online modern communication site like:

Learn more

• Update SharePoint Site Logo using Power Automate
• SharePoint Online: Add Site Collection Administrator (SCA) using Power Automate
• Add an image to SharePoint Image columns using Power Automate

In my previous blog about image columns in SharePoint, I explained all you need to know about New Image column type in SharePoint online including how to create an image column, how to add image to a list item, where the Images will be stored, etc.

Last year Microsoft added support for displaying images from SharePoint Online/Microsoft Lists to Power Apps canvas apps. Now, Microsoft is adding support for adding, updating, and deleting images from image columns in SharePoint online/Microsoft Lists using Power Apps canvas apps.

Newly created canvas apps that have a SharePoint data connection and are connected to a list can use controls that can add, update, or delete images from the SharePoint list. To use the same functionality in existing canvas apps, you have to delete the existing SharePoint data connection and then re-add it to refresh the data schema.

Configure SharePoint Form control to add pictures/images

Follow below steps to configure SharePoint Form control in canvas app to add pictures/images to SharePoint lists:

1. Create a SharePoint online list and then create an image column in the SharePoint list.

2. Go to make.powerapps.com, create a blank canvas app and add SharePoint list data source.

3. Add Form control in app from Insert > Forms > Edit form

4. Set Data Source property of form control to SharePoint list data source and DefaultMode property to FormMode.New

5. Select form control from tree view, click on Edit fields option from Properties panel at the right side of screen.

6. Add your image column to form using + Add field option on Fields panel and select Add picture as a Control type as shown in below image. Power Apps will add Add picture control inside the data card for image column.

7. Add a button control in canvas app and set it’s OnSelect property to:

SubmitForm(Form1)

8. Now when you run the canvas application, you can select an image from your computer using Add picture control and save it to SharePoint list using SubmitForm() function used in button control.

Using Patch() function to add/update image column using Power Apps

You can also use the Patch() function to add or update an image in image columns in SharePoint/Microsoft Lists using Power apps canvas apps. You can use similar code as given below on OnSelect property of button control:

Patch(
    'Logo Universe',
    Defaults('Logo Universe'),
    {
        Title: TextInputControl.Text,
        Image: ImageControl.Image
    }
)

Delete an image from SharePoint image column using Power Apps

You can delete an image from SharePoint image column using Blank() value for image column in Power Apps Patch function:

Patch(
    'Logo Universe',
    Defaults('Logo Universe'),
    {
        Title: TextInputControl.Text,
        Image: Blank()
    }
)

Limitations

1. Images up to 30MB in size are supported while adding/updating images.
2. Below image formats are supported currently while using this feature.

Supported Image formats

Below image formats are supported currently while using this feature:

• JPG and JPEG
• PNG
• GIF
• TIF and TIFF
• HEIC and HEIF
• JPE, MEF, MRW, NEF, NRW, ORF, PANO, PEF, RW2, SPM, XBM, XCF

Release Timeline

• Targeted Release: Rollout started in late September 2022 (previously early September 2022) and expected to complete by mid-October 2022 (previously mid-September 2022).

• Standard Release: Microsoft will begin rolling out this feature in mid-October 2022 (previously mid-September 2022) and expects to complete it by late October 2022 (previously late September 2022).

Learn more

• Power Apps can now display images from SharePoint Online/Microsoft Lists
• Add an image to SharePoint Image columns using Power Automate
• Add/Update image columns in SharePoint/Microsoft Lists using PnP PowerShell

I hope you liked this blog. Please give your valuable feedback & suggestions in the comments section below and share this blog with others.